Big data and analytics are increasingly becoming a vital component in the pursuit of advanced scientific knowledge, health care statistics, global health security, and national and international security. Big data and analytics in the biological sciences might also present risks and unique challenges to national and international security.

Nunn School Assistant Professor Margaret E. Kosal has been invited to serve as an expert on an FBI-sponsored working group looking at scientific and technological advancements in big data and analytics, applications of this field to different life science fields, and potential benefits or risks to national and international security.

This year-long project includes an upcoming public forum on 1 April 2014 in Washington, DC hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy (CSTSP) and the Biological Countermeasures Unit of the WMD Directorate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This event will bring together scientists across a range of disciplines, security professionals, and science and security policy experts to explore ways to leverage the beneficial applications and identify potential risks of big data and analytics to biological security. Full agenda of the event available at here. The event will be broadcast live via an interactive webcast which can be accessed here. 

Working at the intersection of science and security, Dr. Margaret Kosal is among the foremost experts on the weapons of mass destruction and the national security implications of emerging and dual-use technologies; such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and the cognitive neurosciences. She earned a doctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and has served previously in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and as an advisor to the Chief of Staff of the US Army as part of his Strategic Studies Group (SSG). Her book Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense (Springer Academic Publishers, 2009) explores scenarios and strategies regarding the benefits and potential proliferation threats of nanotechnology and other emerging sciences for national security.