CAOE hosts 30-hour student competition

Guarding ‘soft’ locations — places of worship, museums, schools, stadiums and other public places — from terror attacks presents a complex challenge for those protecting them. To obtain some fresh eyes and new perspectives on these challenges, the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency hosted a two-day student competition in February 2023.

The Designing Actionable Solutions for a Secure Homeland Hackathon, or DASSH, drew more than 20 teams from 11 colleges across the country to design effective responses to soft location threats for the Department of Homeland Security. The weekendlong student-engaged design challenge paired students with academic and industry mentors to solve problem scenarios.

The winning team was made up of five computer science students from ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering: Nathan McAvoy, Fawwaz Firdaus, Kalyanam Priyam Dewri, Camelia Ariana Binti Ahmad Nasri and Rui Heng Foo.

Their design, titled Live Emergency Response System, secured them a $10,000 prize. It uses artificial intelligence in closed-circuit television cameras to detect firearms on a potential terrorist, and radar mapping tracks the target’s movements and provides first responders with information, including the suspect’s location.

“Our national security depends on the continuous innovation of strategies and the cultivation of a skilled workforce to foresee and prevent emerging threats,” said Ron Askin, executive director, CAOE. “DASSH provides an important opportunity to engage a new cadre of students in sharing their ideas and talents and, hopefully, to pursue Homeland Security Enterprise careers, ultimately minimizing the potential sources and consequences of disasters.”