Securing the Arctic: UB School of Management research receives multi-year grant from Department of Homeland Security

By Alexandra Richter

BUFFALO, N.Y. —  Kyle Hunt, assistant professor of management science and systems in the University at Buffalo School of Management, was recently selected to be part of the launch of a new Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate initiative that will address critical security issues in the Arctic.

Through the ADAC-ARCTIC Center of Excellence, a consortium of academic, industry, government, laboratory and local and indigenous community partners will provide access to rigorous research and education resources for DHS, and broader homeland security stakeholders.

“With the changing ecosystem in the Arctic increasing risk to operational missions and the narrowest distance between mainland Alaska and mainland Russia only about 55 miles, this initiative will leverage the expertise within the nation’s colleges and universities to help meet homeland security needs in the complex and evolving Arctic domain,” says Hunt.

Hunt’s project, titled “Assessing and Mitigating Risks in the Arctic: A Multi-Stakeholder Framework,” will use mathematical techniques to determine the best way for stakeholders to collaborate and share resources in an effort to secure the U.S. Arctic from natural disasters and foreign adversaries. The project has secured initial funding of $200,000 per year for two years.

Hunt will collaborate with the University of Alaska Anchorage and DHS agencies to build on his previous research that used game theory to tackle pressing security challenges.

“This project is a natural next step in my research using mathematics to model strategic interactions between those defending against threats and those perpetrating them,” says Hunt. “We will focus on developing new models to study contemporary threats in the Arctic and test these models in real-world scenarios.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate will provide ADAC-ARCTIC with $46 million over a 10-year cooperative agreement period, supporting a research portfolio developing multidisciplinary solutions focused on natural and man-made disasters, ice melt and communications infrastructure. The consortium will be led by the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Undergraduate and graduate students from the School of Management will join Hunt and collaborator Jun Zhuang, Morton C. Frank Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Research is set to begin with a kickoff meeting with the Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C. in February.