The National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska recently hosted a two-day conference entitled, "Agile defense: Building resilience against emerging threats," bringing together nearly 200 researchers and students from the University of Nebraska System (NU) with Department of Defense program managers and leaders and NSRI staff from across the country.
The conference, held at the Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln, Nebraska, featured a keynote discussion between General Anthony Cotton, commander of United States Strategic Command, and Dr. Jeffrey Gold, NU president. It also featured a keynote presentation from Brigadier General (Ret.) William King, principal at Booz Allen, entitled, “From contemplation to action: Shifting strategies and anticipating transformative results."
"The integration of new novel ways to accomplish my mission as well as my fellow Combatant Command’s missions is incredibly important," General Cotton said during the conversation. "A lot of this starts with academia. You can think about challenges we face or opportunities we have to improve in innovative ways that we might not. That’s why it’s exciting to work with Dr. Gold and the university team, and Rick Evans and the NSRI team about what we can bring to bear through our UARC."
Plenary and breakout sessions actualized the theme of the event. Working group co-chairs created opportunities for attendees to dig into the research challenges and opportunities within the following areas:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Biological defense
- Chemical defense
- Food, agricultures and environment security
- Joint electromagnetic spectrum operations
- Medical countermeasures
- Strategic deterrence
- Wearable sensors
A highlight of the conference was a poster and demonstration session featuring more than 30 research efforts presented by faculty, students and staff. Projects ranged from AI for strategic deterrence to drug development and from core facilities to one-health surveillance.
The event also showcased an NSRI field operations and training full-scale exercise with the Nebraska National Guard 72nd Civil Support Team (CST). Conference attendees observed a coordinated response in action and engaged with subject matter experts to gain insights into advanced detection, sampling and analysis techniques.
Initial feedback from participants highlighted the value of the content shared and networking opportunities created by the conference. Nearly 80 percent of respondents stated that they were likely or very likely to recommend the event to colleagues in the future, and 75 percent of respondents shared that the conference has or could create new research opportunities, collaborations or initiatives.
As the DOD-designated University Affiliated Research Center of USSTRATCOM and NU, NSRI will continue to purposefully convene leading academic researchers and national security leaders to ensure U.S. safety and preparedness against increasingly sophisticated threats, said Maj. Gen., USAF (Ret.) Rick Evans, NSRI executive director.
"Each year, I am so proud to step into this room and see the intellectual capacity convened here to help our institute meet its mission," Evans said during his welcome remarks. "With the university, NSRI is constantly delivering critical research and development solutions to help keep our warfighters and Nations safe."
View Day 1 and Day 2 summaries on LinkedIn.
