The EON HDC initiative is a nation-wide network of training and research centers established to address various aspects of homeland security and defense, from physical terrorism to border security, bio terrorism to intelligence. The centers enable US government agencies, including federal, state and local agencies, to efficiently develop, educate, and train appropriate personnel in all phases of homeland security including detection, preparation, prevention, protection, response and recovery.
The Virtual Engineering Center at Stevens is to be created to promote the use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Visualization technologies for solutions of complex and data intensive engineering problems. This Center will be an Institute-wide asset managed by the Design & Manufacturing Institute (DMI) at Stevens. Its mission will be to investigate the application of VR in problems related to:
- Homeland Security and Defense (HSD) Research and Training for Protecting the Metropolitan Region
- Product Realization and Manufacturing Simulation for Defense and Commercial Applications
The center is envisioned to be equipped with the latest high-end VR systems and software through a major grant provided by EON Reality, Inc. to DMI. This capability will allow the ability to demonstrate, interactively practice and evaluate new innovative VR solutions in different areas of engineering. DMI is teaming with EON Reality, the leading interactive visual content management software provider worldwide to facilitate the center.
The overall goals of this initiative are:
- To facilitate creation of scalable and useful VR and visualization solutions for complex and data intensive engineering problems
- To support VR education and application development
- To assist in securing funding for the Center's research and development resources and infrastructure
- To create Industrial partnerships by collaborating with commercial companies and the Government agencies
"One important aspect of the center is to provide VR based Training for Protecting the Metropolitan Region," said Souran Manoochehri Director of DMI at Stevens. "This includes a comprehensive modeling and simulation capability to visually demonstrate, interactively practice and evaluate specific national security threat scenarios. Other application areas include Product Realization and Manufacturing Simulation for Defense and Commercial Applications, Harbor Security and Maritime Systems, Cyber Security, Systems Design and Operational Effectiveness Program and Environmental Systems."
"This partnership adds a very important component to our ongoing efforts within Homeland Security,"' said Mats W. Johansson, President of EON Reality. "Bringing together the expertise of Stevens in defense and manufacturing with EON's scalable software and seamlessly integrated display solutions will provide an effective resource for research and training. First responders can learn how to move/operate safely and quickly and make faster, more informed decisions. We believe that this approach provides a very cost-effective method of deploying Homeland Security training as it reduces field exercise time, increases retention rate and even provide self study capabilities."
Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science, management and technology management, as well as a baccalaureate in business and technology, and in the humanities and liberal arts. The university, located across the Hudson from New York City, has a total enrollment of about 1,740 undergraduates and 2,600 graduate students. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at http://www.stevens.edu/.
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