Community Partners

Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, Extreme Events Lab

Designed primarily to support research and experimentation in the areas of hard and soft data fusion, visualization, and sonification; the Extreme Events Laboratory (EEL) features 4 large wall-mounted HD LCD displays, 2D and true stereoscopic 3D projectors, a stereoscopic 3D Head-Mounted Display (HMD), haptic input devices, motion and acoustic sensors, various video and still cameras, several MacPro workstations, a conference area with a 54″ HD LCD TV, and 8 professional-quality loudspeakers for experimentation with immersive 3D sonification.

Located in Room 211 of the IST building, this facility is intended to allow our researchers to run end-to-end experiments that improve situational awareness and enhance our ability to optimally leverage all available sensors, human observers, and technology in order to escape “information overload” and extract the true meaning hidden within the vast mountains of available data.

Contact: wshumaker@ist.psu.edu

Website: https://ist.psu.edu/research/centers_labs/nc2if

Penn State University, Red Cell Analytics Lab

Anticipating security threats, analyzing disaster response, and thinking critically about how to better evaluate and manage threats — these are all things that Penn State’s Red Cell Analytics Lab (RCAL) students do every day.

Housed in the College of Information Sciences and Technology but open to any active Penn State student, the RCAL student organization provides hands-on experience using structured analytics to examine real-world problems — from cyber threats to natural disaster response and everything in between.

Contact: Jake Graham: jgraham@ist.psu.edu

Website: http://rcal.ist.psu.edu

Penn State Office of Emergency Management

The Emergency Management Office provides emergency planning in compliance with federal and state emergency management regulations for all Penn State locations.

The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for:

  • Developing, updating and exercising the overall University Emergency Operations Plan.
  • Overseeing and coordinating emergency planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts at all locations.
  • Educating the community on how to best protect themselves by following all applicable regulations and best practices.
  • Facilitating exercises, and coordinating drills in support of the plans.
  • Notifying the community upon declaration of a state of emergency, including appropriate external Emergency Management Agencies and maintaining the University’s Emergency Operations Center.
  • Coordinating centralized resources with responsible personnel at all campus Commonwealth Campus locations if an emergency is declared affecting those units.

 

Contacts:

Website: http://police.psu.edu/about-emergency-management

Centre Region Office of Emergency Management, State College, PA

Since 1990, on behalf of its six member municipalities, the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG) has operated a regional emergency management program.  Coordinating their efforts with the Pennsylvania State University, Centre County Office of Emergency Services and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the municipalities adopted a single emergency operations plan, designated a shared emergency operations center, and recommended the appointment of an Emergency Management Coordinator.

The Centre Region Emergency Management Council, consisting of the municipal manager from each participating municipality, the COG Executive Director, the Vice Chair of the COG and a Pennsylvania State University representative, has oversight of the Centre Region Emergency Management Program.

Contact: Shawn Kauffman: skauffman@centreregionema.com

Website: http://www.crcog.net/EM

Centre County Emergency Communications Center

Established in 1994, The Centre County Emergency Communications Center has been serving residents and businesses from our renovated facility in the Willowbank Office Building. Centre County 911 is constantly striving to meet the needs of the public using the latest, state-of-the-art radio, telephone, map and  (computer aided dispatch) systems.

The department employs 32 skilled and educated professionals. The office houses the Director, Assistant Director, Department Secretary, Addressing Specialist, Addressing/ALI Database Manager, Addressing Field Technician, Supervisor of Technical Services, Quality Assurance Supervisor and 25 telecommunicators. In addition to being full time employees at 911, many of us are or have been part-time first responders (firemen, EMTs and police officers).

Email: Dale Neff, Director: Addressing@centrecountypa.gov

Website: http://centrecountypa.gov/index.aspx?NID=249

Alpha Fire Company, State College, Pennsylvania

The Alpha Fire Company is an all volunteer company of firefighters dedicated to providing professional fire and rescue services throughout the area. We are a diverse group and our membership is comprised ofindividuals employed in diverse fields including computer technicians, sales people, mechanics, police officers, landscapers, bankers, and Penn State students, faculty and staff. Simply put we are your neighbors.

Contact: Steven Bair: sbair@centreregionfire.com

Website: http://alphafire.com/

Centre Life Link EMS, State College, Pennsylvania

Centre LifeLink EMS is a non-profit organization providing a variety of services to Centre County, PA and surrounding areas. Our primary response area is the Centre Region, covering a population of approximately 80,000.

Centre LifeLink provide s24-hour ALS and BLS emergency service for the Borough of State College, College Twp., Harris Twp., Ferguson Twp., Patton Twp., and mutual aid to surrounding areas of Centre and Huntingdon Counties.  Call volume is approximately 7,000 calls per year, with the majority being emergencies.

Centre LifeLink operates out of three stations to allow us access to the largest area in the shortest amount of time. The main station is located on Puddintown Rd. in College Township. They also operate two satellite stations, one in Patton Township and one on University Drive Extension.

Centre LifeLink EMS operates a total of seven ambulances and four non-emergency vans, responding to an average of 21 calls per day.

Contact: Scott Rawson: srawson@centrelifelink.com

Website: http://www.centrelifelink.com/

Mission Critical Partners

At Mission Critical Partners, we provide more than just public safety consulting—we partner with you in your critical mission. That’s because we know that in the complex world of public safety, your communications system forms the backbone of virtually everything you do. Every call. Every record. And it has to be right, every time.

When you work with Mission Critical Partners, you work with the largest, most experienced and knowledgeable team of specialized professionals in the industry. We focus exclusively on public safety and emergency communications. At the end of the day, our success is based on your success and your mission critical operations… Because the mission matters.

Contact: inquiry@mcp911.com

Website: https://mcp911.com/