To participate visit www.npsrelief.org ; Whitepapers must be submitted to the Naval Postgraduate School no later than July 1, 2013. Contact Tristan Allen, Research Assistant at the Naval Post Graduate School at 831-704-6542 with any questions.

 While programmers have developed numerous disaster applications, finding and using the applications during or just prior to a crisis can pose seemingly insurmountable challenges. STAR-TIDES is working to compile a list of these disaster applications so that they can be more easily accessible to the public and crisis responders. If you are aware of any mobile, web-based or SMS applications that could be useful in a post-disaster environment, please feel free to share them with us, particularly in applications designed/ used internationally. Please contact David Becker at david.becker@ndu.edu with comments or assistance. Thank you for your assistance! For a list of the apps we have already found, click here!

 
On May 5-9, TIDES team participated in Camp Roberts-RELIEF field experimentation (Research and Experimentation for Local and International Emergency and First Responders) at Paso Robles, CA. The interagency event brought together participants from the Department of Defense, US civilian agencies, private sector and NGOs dealing with humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR)/emergency response efforts in order to test out new technologies, approaches and policies. The experiments involved NDU, NPS, FEMA, DHS, as well as members private sector and volunteer technical community. The experiments included rethinking FEMA's Disaster Recovery Centers operations and approaches;  using crowdsourcing to create better communications maps during disasters; and working on creating a partnership between major social media sites to allow for aggregation of photos taken inside the disaster zone with geocoded metadata. Click here for pictures of the experiments! You can also find the pictures on our Facebook page when you "Like" us!

 

To review the Request for Information (RFI) and apply to participate in the

13-4 event in AUGUST 2013, please visit the  NPS RELIEF Website: www.npsrelief.org; Whitepapers must be submitted to the Naval Postgraduate School no later than July 1, 2013.  Contact Tristan Allen, Research Assistant at the Naval Post Graduate School at 831-704-6542 with any questions.

 This year, USAID afforded TIDES the opportunity to speak, moderate, and exhibit at the Aid International Development Forum (AIDF) from 21-22 May 2013. Surrounded by exhibitors focused on sustainable solutions for development and emergency support, TIDES members were able to reconnect with STAR-TIDES members and learn about many others!

Samuel Bendett, TIDES researcher on Domestic disaster issues, spoke at the 'Public-Private Partnerships -  Action Beyond Rhetoric' session during AIDF. He discussed ongoing disaster relief/emergency response field experiments led by the TIDES Project and Naval Postgraduate School that bring numerous inter-agency and non-government partners to Camp Roberts, CA. Sam talked about who participates at Camp Roberts, why they do it and what goes on there. His presentation focused with the recent example - how our joint efforts have enabled FEMA to gain rapid situational awareness in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Fellow panelists included representatives from Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and Global DIRT - Disaster Immediate Response Team. TIDES Director, David Becker, also moderated a panel discussion. Click here fore pictures of the event!  You can also find the pictures on our Facebook page when you "Like" us!

 From 14-16 May 2013, TIDES and 13 companies, NGOs and military from the STAR-TIDES network exhibited for the 5th time at the EAST:Joint Warfighting Conference at Virginia Beach. Sponsored by AFCEA and Navy Post Graduate school, EAST:JWF collects together new, influential and  innovative companies to exhibit their products for the military, brings in speakers of the highest levels in the military, and provides ample opportunities for professional education.

Providing innovative, sustainable, low-cost technologies, the STAR-TIDES exhibit provided a unique opportunity for military to explore solutions that align with the fiscal constraints of today. Much interest was generated by visitors.  Within the sphere of the STAR-TIDES booth itself, exhibitors found ample internal networking opportunities. TIDES would like to sincerely thank the J7: Future Joint Force Development for their support, the

Civil-Military Fusion Centre, Decadome, Energy Dense Power Solutions,

 STAR-TIDES exhibitors were also afforded the opportunity to attend the daily keynote speaker luncheon. Among the headlining speakers at the overall conference, Mr. Frank Kendall, III Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, or USD(AT&L), spoke about the current Department of Defense fiscal environment and the current operating budget's lack of stability. Key points to his speech included that DoD must get to a more reasonable budget (not one as drastic as sequestration), hedge investments in the future by keeping the industrial base in tact and by financing some innovation selectively, emphasize the right training of right jobs, and streamline rules. General Robert W. Cone; Commander of TRADOC also spoke about Strategic Manpower, and "How do we capture the lessons learned- an objective analysis." He spoke of the need to train for network centric warfare with Digital divisions and institutional investments in Cyber. Additionally,  as conflict is inherently a human endeavor, the most recent wars have hallmarked the need to invest in the human domain, notably with regionally aligned forces. "When the train slows down, now is the time to train."