Counter-Terrorism Panel — SRA Club

After elections in the SRA Club took place, I was given the responsibility of coordinating the Counter-Terrorism Panel session that was to be held in the Fall. In the recently completed Spring semester, Max Gruber and Terrance Melonas had slated in 4 speakers for the event: John Horgan, Philip Jenkins, Kevin Murphy, and Dave Hall. All four with their doctorates, they each have a unique perspective and background in Counter-Terrorism and their bios are below. The real news here is that I have hammered out a date for the event, with location pending. Thursday, October 2, 2008 will be when this event will be hosted by the SRA Club. As i said, location is pending and I will post some information about topics in the coming months. Keep checking back for updates!

Dr. John Horgan (ICST Bio)

On November 1, 2007, John Horgan became the new Director of ICST (International Center for the Study of Terrorism). Prior to his arrival at Penn State, he was based at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews. Dr. Horgan is one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of terrorism, and has published extensively on the area. A Chartered Psychologist, he was awarded his PhD (Applied Psychology) from University College, Cork, in 2000. While based in Ireland, he conducted extensive research on the activities of Irish Republican terrorist movements, and in particular published a series of noted articles on the fundraising operations of the Provisional IRA. He is currently finishing a major research project on disengagement and de-radicalization from terrorism, and his latest book Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements (NY and London: Routledge, 2008.) presents the results of his detailed fieldwork interviews he has conducted in several countries. Dr. Horgan is a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Terrorism and Political Violence, Terrorism Research, and the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling.

Dr. Philip Jenkins (Dep’t of History and Religious Studies Bio)

US history (twentieth century); Historical study of religion; Politics and modern society; comparative colonialism.

“I work in several quite diverse fields in both History and Religious Studies. Broadly, my major current interests include the study of global Christianity, past and present; of new and emerging religious movements; and of twentieth century US history, chiefly post-1975. I also have an enduring interest in issues of crime and deviance, and the construction of social problems. I have published more than twenty books, which have been translated into ten languages. Some recent titles include The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity (2002), Decade of Nightmares: The End of the 1960s and the Making of Eighties America (2006) and God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam and Europe’s Religious Crisis (2007) My most recent book is The Lost History of Christianity (2008), on the history of African and Asian Christianity.”

Dr. Kevin Murphy (Dept of Psychology Bio)

Dr. Murphy’s areas of research include personnel selection and placement, performance appraisal and honesty in the workplace. Current research projects focus on the role of contextual factors and rater goals on performance evaluations. Kevin is the Editor of Journal of Applied Psychology, and serves as a member of the editorial boards of Human Performance, Human Resource Management Review, Journal of Industrial Psychology, International Journal of Management Reviews and International Journal of Selection and Assessment.

Dr. David Hall (College of IST Bio)

Dr. David L. Hall was appointed associate dean for research and graduate programs in Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology on January 31, 2001. He is responsible for overseeing IST’s Ph.D. and Master’s Degree programs as well as research grant administration and leadership of IST faculty research efforts. Hall joined IST from the University’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) where he served as associate director and senior scientist. At ARL, he oversaw the 150-person Information and Network Systems Office, comprised of four divisions: Information Science and Technology, Navigation Research and Development, Systems and Operations Automation, and Communications Science and Technology. He has more than 25 years of experience in research, research management, and systems development. He is the author of more than 175 papers, reports, books and book chapters, and he has delivered numerous lectures on his research, research management, and artificial intelligence. His book, Techniques in Multisensor Data Fusion, has been used as a text at the State University of New York-Buffalo, George Mason University, Colorado State University, the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, and the Naval Post Graduate School. In addition to these activities, he has been a faculty member at Penn State and the University of Colorado and has served on the graduate-degree candidacy committees of nearly a dozen students. Among his numerous recognitions, Hall has been listed in Who’s Who in Frontiers of Science and Technology and Who¡¦s Who Worldwide Registry of Business Leaders. Prior to joining the University in 1993, Hall worked with HRB-Systems Inc., in State College, Pennsylvania, since 1979. His most recent post with HRB was as director of research and operations programs.

Research and Teaching: Hall’s research has covered a wide variety of areas, including stellar structures, celestial mechanics, digital signal processing, software engineering, and automated reasoning. Multisensor data fusion is a particular focus for Hall and his work in this area is recognized both nationally and internationally. Hall has conducted and led research projects for such sponsors as NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Naval Research Lab, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Air Force Rome Air Development Center, the Department of Defense, and private aerospace corporations. Courses taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level include advanced physics, modern physics, astronomy, celestial mechanics, artificial intelligence and knowledge-based systems, information systems and project management, and information fusion.