Media Relations
News Releases
For Release Upon Receipt - September 4, 2003
Contact:
Ann Marie Menting, 617/353-2240, amenting@bu.edu
BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENT NAMED ONE OF FIRST 100 HOMELAND SECURITY FELLOWS IN NATION
(Boston, Mass.) — As the second commemoration of the twin tragedies of Sept. 11 approaches, 100 students across the United States will begin appointments as the first Homeland Security Fellows, young researchers whose work may prove critical to helping protect this nation from future terrorist acts. Ogi Ogas, a first-year graduate student in Boston University’s Cognitive and Neural Systems Department, is one of this select 100.
Open to all students who are U.S. citizens and interested in pursuing scientific and technological innovations applicable to the nation’s security, the Homeland Security Fellowship Program is administered by the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This year’s pool of applicants numbered nearly 2,500 with the final group made up of 50 undergraduates and 50 graduate students.
“I was deeply affected by the events on 9/11,” says Ogas, “so I was very pleased when I learned that my research could be applied to homeland security needs. This fellowship lets me pursue my interest in the basic sciences and math in a way that will help the country’s anti-terrorism efforts.”
Ogas’s successful application highlighted his research on techniques for data analysis known as data mining. Working in collaboration with Gail Carpenter, professor and director of graduate studies in the Cognitive and Neural Systems Department at Boston University, Ogas will develop computer algorithms and new software that can better distinguish, or “mine,” the unusual from the usual in very large sets of data. Security applications include the analysis of information from visa applications and the analysis of visual and other data on individuals in public areas such as malls and airports. A recent report shows that the data analysis software of various companies failed during tests at Boston’s Logan Airport.
The fellowship allows Ogas to focus on his academic studies and his research by providing him with full tuition and fees for the 2003–04 academic year as well as a monthly stipend.
In her recommendation to the selection committee, Carpenter notes that Ogas’s “academic record is splendid” and that it features “stellar transcripts and perfect GRE scores.” It is Ogas’s passion for learning, however, that Carpenter says truly sets him apart from his peers. In words that may illustrate the spirit and intent of both the Fellowship and Ogas’s research, Carpenter says that “Ogi Ogas is one of those rare students who learns as if his life depended on it.”
A JPEG image of Mr. Ogi Ogas is available at http://www.bu.edu/photo/POST571AMOO
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