Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Assistant Professor Margaret E. Kosal was an invited speaker at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) 2015 Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Science and Technology (S&T) Conference, held 12-14 May in St. Louis MO.

On Tuesday, 12 May, spoke on “Big Data, Social Media, and Chem-Bio Events.” She discussed the potential use of Big Data analytics and data from social media for nonproliferation, verification, and detection of chemical and biological events ranging from chemical and biological warfare agents to terrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

Kosal was also an invited speaker on a special panel on “Threat Forecasting, Technology Watching, and Horizon Scanning,” that also featured DTRA Chief Scientist, Dr. Stephen Wax and Mr. Kristopher Gardner. Director the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) Office of Technical Intelligence (OTI). 

This international conference examines the best, newest, and most dynamic developments in basic and applied research within the chemical and biological defense landscape. Over 1200 participants attended the conference, including US and foreign military representatives, US government representatives, academic and industrial researchers in the medical and physical sciences, DTRA science and technology program managers, and other representatives of the chem-bio defense community. Through keynote, oral, and poster presentations, the conference addressed key areas of foundational research, including: Novel Threat and Disruptive Chemical and Biological Discovery; Dynamic Functional Materials; Applied Mathematics and Innovative Computational Tools; Flexible Design, Synthesis and Manufacturing; and Systems Biology and Engineering. Plus areas of increased focus, including:  Disease Surveillance, Characterization and Point of Need Diagnostics; Adaptive Medical Therapeutics and Technologies; Rapid Response and Recovery Science and Technology; and Threat Activity Sensing and Reporting.