Emergency Preparedness Leaders Gather to Discuss NYU’s LaSER Project

    NYU’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (CCPR) held a symposium on March 3 to discuss the University’s Large Scale Emergency Readiness Project (LaSER), which is focused on government and private sector disaster preparedness and response. Chaired by Lewis Goldfrank, professor and chair of emergency medicine, LaSER is supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

     LaSER, in part, includes PLAN C (Planning with Large Agency-Networks against Catastrophes), a multi-agent, computer- based model that creates real- time simulations of emergency response. PLAN C provides a platform on which emergency planners and managers can analyze the effectiveness of plans such as investments in ambulances, defibrillators, and citizen preparedness. A demonstration of PLAN C at the event focused on the platform’s capabilities to simulate multiple catastrophic events.

   Keynote speeches at the symposium were delivered by Joseph Bruno, commissioner, New York City Office of Emergency Management, and Michael Balboni, deputy secretary for public safety, State of New York.

   NYU’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response currently manages 22 research projects with over 60 faculty and staff participants. The center is a national resource with added focus on the unique issues related to emergency preparedness and response in the urban environment.

  Read more about PLAN C in the April 18 issue of NYU Research.