Exercise Design Students Conduct 'Road 2 Resilience' Exercise


20 Nov 2019
Walton County, Florida

This week Professor Rob McDaniel and the students from the FSU Exercise Design class conducted a tabletop exercise in collaboration with Walton County Emergency Management. Road to Resilience focused on the recovery phase after a disaster, something rarely at center stage in emergency management exercises. Another unique aspect of this exercise was the all-female design team, consisting of Katelyn White, Leah Pearce, and Adrianna Tran. Over the course of the semester, these ladies designed, organized, and coordinated the exercise under the direction of Professor McDaniel. The exercise was attended by over 150 participants from Walton County's local government and private sector and touched on topics of post-disaster housing, social services, economic recovery, and infrastructure redevelopment.

Post Maria UAS Projects in Puerto Rico


17 July 2019

EMHS faculty and staff met with Marina Moscoso and other potential partners to discuss the Casa Taft 169 project at Casa Taft in Santurce, PR. Casa Taft 169 is a community-based organization dedicated to addressing the increasing problem of abandoned properties in Puerto Rico post-hurricane Maria. Ms. Moscoso presented participants with a map of the Machuchal neighborhood in Santurce, PR, and detailed the areas of interest for potential UAS or other student projects. A walk was taken of the Machuchal neighborhood to get a sense of the operating environment and to scout potential locations for UAS operations. A 7 hectare proof of concept flight was flown over a section of the neighborhood so that EMHS researchers could provide Ms. Moscoso with a data set sample. A fully rendered orthomosaic map was delivered for evaluation.

More Student Opportunities at JIATFS


11 December 2017

Key West, Florida. Professor Robert Duggleby recently traveled to the Joint Interagency Task Force - South, to meet with the organization's leadership and discuss the FSU/EMHS internship program. As a result of the outstanding past performace of our students, EMHS will now be able to place two interns there every semester. Pictured alongside some of the JIATS leadership team is current FSU/EMHS student Bethany Smith and Professor Duggleby. Read more about the EMHS internship program.

Advanced UAS Training at FSFC


20 October 2017

The EMHS/CDRP UAS team conducted an "Advanced UAS Operations for Public Safety" training at the Florida State Fire College, October 16-20, 2017. This week-long course combined in-class instruction with outdoor activities that reinforced classroom learning and gave particpants real-world experience using new tactics and procedures. Student activities included technical recon over a "visual obstacle course," advanced search techniques and an assortment of night flight missions. A huge thank you to our friends at the FSFC and to all the UAS teams that attended from all over the US. Public organizations or individuals interested in attending future events or having an event custom tailored to their industry can contact info@em.fsu.edu for more details. Pictured: a DJI Inspire 1 with LumeCubes flies outside a burn building simulating the search for victims inside.

EMHS Receives NSF Grant


21 September 2017

The Emergency Management and Homeland Security program was awarded its first National Science Foundation grant for the project: "RAPID: Collaborative Research: Unmanned Aerial System Datasets from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma" under the direction of David Merrick and in collaboration with a separate proposal from Texas A&M Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) under the direction of Dr. Robin Murphy. This grant will help fund research aimed at organizing and cataloging digital media collected by the EMHS/CDRP UAS Team, CRASAR and others during their deployments for hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The year-long RAPID project will organize unmanned aerial system (UAS) data from 119 flights taken after Hurricane Harvey and 247 flights post Hurricane Irma. Initial tasks to be completed as part of this project include screening for personal privacy identification and compliance with applicable state laws. Other activities will include hosting a virtual workshop to introduce the dataset and access procedures for researchers that wish to work with this data. A follow up workshop will be held at the 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Safety Security and Rescue Robotics to discuss the results of the research using these datasets and how to acquire datasets in the future.

Student Disaster Corps (SDC)


05 September 2017

The EMHS Program is seeking out current FSU EMHS students to participate in a new volunteer opportunity to assist the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management in its Hurricane Irma activation. This opportunity is known as the Student Disaster Corps (SDC).

Student volunteers will be asked to join DEM officials in the State Emergency Operations Center and assist in any ways necessary. If you are looking for real-world experience in emergency management, it really doesn't get any better than this.

If interested, please e-mail disastercorps@em.fsu.edu 

New Website


11 May 2017

Our primary web presence - em.fsu.edu - has gotten a new look and new content. Designed to work on a variety of devices, the new site looks and functions great on your laptop, your iPad, and your phone.

The new site is cleaner and easier to navigate, and help current and prospective students find the information they need to be successful.

As we continue to roll out new features, let us know what you like and what you don't. You can reach us at emcertinfo@em.feu.edu or via Facebook.