“NSF Award”

National Science Foundation has awarded a $2.5 million Information Technology Research Grant to Cornell University for the development of "Self-Configuring Sensor Networks for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation, and Recovery." The project team, led by Professor Steve Wicker, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, includes molecular biologists, device physicists, telecommunications engineers, information theorists, game theorists, and civil engineers. The focus of the research effort will be the development of self-configuring wireless sensor networks that can quickly and reliably determine the location of survivors and the presence of toxic chemicals, biohazards, extreme heat, and radiation at disaster sites. The goal is to more quickly rescue survivors while protecting the lives of rescue personnel against unseen dangers. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Wadsworth Laboratories at the New York Department of Health.