UA Symposium: Using Analytics in Preventing Biological Terrorist Attacks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It’s almost too horrible to think about — a terrorist attack using infectious diseases.

But, according to those who study such things, many consider a terrorist attack of a biological nature inevitable. Thus, the level of preparedness that will influence the ultimate outcome of a deliberate act of biological terrorism must be considered.

Last June, the Government Accountability Office released a study recommending the Homeland Security Council direct the National Security Staff to identify a focal point to lead the development of a national bio-surveillance strategy.

The use of analytics to circumvent the intended outcome of such an event by alerting health officials in its earliest possible stages is one of many topics to be presented at the second major analytics symposium scheduled for Feb. 2 and 3 at the Hotel Capstone on The University of Alabama campus.

Dr. Tom McGinn of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Sam Edgemon of SAS Corp. will address the issue in a presentation titled, “Why we need Real-time Analytics in Bio-Surveillance” at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 3.

McGinn is the Office of Health Affairs’ senior health advisor for the North Carolina Be Prepared Collabatory for Biopreparedness. NCBPrepared is developing a comprehensive state-wide system that analyzes public health trends and reduces homeland security threats.

He was also the deputy commander for the federal Veterinary Medicine Assistance Team, through which he served at ground zero of the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

McGinn was the director of Emergency Programs and assistant state veterinarian to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In this position, he provided subject matter expertise on matters concerning the reduction of vulnerabilities produced by natural or man-made disasters, disease outbreak and/or terrorist attacks.

He also served as a member of the Governor’s Terrorism Task Force after which the governor appointed him to the State Emergency Management Commission.

Edgemon is a consultant in the SAS US Business Analytics Consulting Practice. In his role as an analytical consultant, Edgemon is responsible for supporting analytical needs in both pre-sales and post-sales engagements. His project roles range from a contributing analyst to project leader and all aspects of managing technically-oriented projects.

He has experience in government, environmental issues, biological surveillance, health care, pharmaceuticals, the automotive industry, financial services, education, gaming, recreation and agriculture.

His interests include database marketing and customer relationship management, covering a range of functional areas including response modeling, customer acquisition/retention, customer profiling/segmentation and survey analysis.

He has recently been involved as the technical project lead for an initiative originated by the Department of Homeland Security to develop new and superior “early alert” systems for naturally and unnaturally occurring biological events. Edgemon holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in statistics from the University of Tennessee.

“The corporations represented at this symposium are the most important players in the world in business analytics,” said Dr. J. Michael Hardin, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce, whose institute of Business Analytics is coordinating the event.

“Business analytics is a key component for every business in the world, from the smallest to the largest, and today’s highly sophisticated software packages can analyze organization-wide operations from top to bottom,” Hardin said. “Faculty members at the Culverhouse College of Commerce are keenly aware of the importance business analytics will play in the future, and this upcoming symposium will be an excellent forum for demonstrating that.”

Hardin said business analytics includes data mining and other analytic practices to make extensive use of data, statistics and modeling to help business people better understand past events and predict future events more accurately.

“Analytics always has played a major role in business, but today’s technology allow us to analyze larger and more diverse data sets a lot faster,” Hardin said.

Symposium topics will range from applications of predictive models and other business analytic methods to corporate/academic partnerships and curriculum issues. Participants will include practitioners, faculty and students with interests in business analytics.

For additional information or to register for the Business Analytics Symposium visit http://cba.ua.edu/basymposium, e-mail Dr. Denise McManus, director, Institute of Business Analytics at  dmcmanus@cba.ua.edu, or phone the department of information systems, statistics, and operations management at 205/348-6085.

The agenda:

February 2, 2012 – Hotel Capstone

1 pm – Speeding up Discovery John Sall SAS

2 pm – The DNA of a Great Data Miner Dan Thorpe Sam’s Club

2:45 pm – Break with Refreshments

3 pm – Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: Project Analytics – The Medication of Success Frank Payne PCQ Intl.

3:45 pm – State Farm’s Research & Development Center: A different type of Internship Scott Farris State Farm

4:30 pm – Break with Refreshments

4:45 pm – SAS Rapid Predictive Modeler Tom Bohannon amd Andre de Wal SAS

5:30 pm – Reception (hor d’oeuvres and drinks)

 

February 3, 2012 – Hotel Capstone

8:30 am – Why we need real-time Analytics in Bio-Surveillance Tom McGinn, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Sam Edgemon –SAS, Corp.

9:30 am – Analytics Behind the Storm:  Learning from the 2011 Tornadoes Mike Rowell ALFA Insurance

10:15 am – Break with Refreshments

10:30 am – Can we make better healthcare decisions? Gregg Phillips AutoGov

11:15 am – Partnering for the Analytics Center of Excellence (COE):  Combining Academic and Corporate Approaches Gene Grabowski, Jr., Ford Motor Credit Company and Denise McManus, The University of Alabama

noon – “What are you looking for in Analytics?” Survey Results -Mike Adams and Matthew Lawrence The University of Alabama

12:30 pm – Closing