
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627
kwent2@unm.edu
November 13, 2006
UNM Founding Member of Southwest Border Security Consortium
The University of New Mexico is one of nine research universities in four states that are joining together to form the Southwest Border Security Consortium as a way to promote scientific and policy solutions for issues affecting the U.S.-Mexico border region. The announcement was made this afternoon at ComDef Tucson 2006, an international conference in Tucson on technologies for border security, defense and commerce. The institutions include Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, the University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, Texas A & M Engineering, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
UNM brings expertise in the area of transborder legal issues, modeling the spread of infectious diseases, biotechnology, environmental modeling and cognitive and decision sciences to the consortium. The Utton Transboundary Resources Center in particular has had experience with different legal regimes including the U.S., Mexico, and the individual border states. Utton Transboundary Resources Center Director Marilyn O'Leary says, “Legal and policy issues frame what can be done in other areas at the border and this is the area in which UNM has extensive expertise.”
UNM coordinator for the consortium project is Associate Vice-President for Strategic Projects Frank Gilfeather. His role will be to help match UNM expertise and faculty with their counterparts at other institutions in joint projects. UNM faculty are keenly interested in understanding the environment, legal and water issues in the border area.
“One very important of aspect of border security is the monitoring and modeling of the flow of infectious disease,” says Gilfeather, “as the Rio Grande Valley is a natural pathway for natural or induced pathogens.” UNM Vice President for Research and Economic Development Terry Yates has done seminal work in the spread of infectious disease such as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and is considered an international expert in the field.
Gilfeather says UNM leads a related consortium which includes New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech focusing on threat reduction. The NM Threat Reduction Consortium is one of two national consortia, the other led by Penn State University doing research and development directly with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency on activities that include chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosive threat reduction. These multiple consortia activities along with joint efforts with New Mexico Department of Energy and Department of Defense laboratories make UNM very active in supporting research and development in areas related to protection, security and threat reduction of the nation.
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