As we approach the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States, Virginia Tech has compiled a list of faculty members available to discuss the impact on the U.S. economy, technology, and international relations and the U.S. response.
Business, Finance
Don Chance, First Union Professor of Financial Risk Management, can talk about the impact of September 11 on financial markets and investing. Dr. Chance says the following:
September 11 had a tremendous impact on financial markets. In addition to the simple fact that there was substantial operational damage to many important firms, it sent jitters into the minds of investors who feared and continue to fear war and more terrorist attacks. It is my view that the financial markets have not recovered from this investor anxiety and now have corporate accounting scandals they're in no mood to deal with.
An important lesson learned from 9-11 in the financial markets was the necessity for readiness for large scale operational shutdowns. Wall Street firms had gotten a taste of how bad things could get and they have since tightened up their operational procedures and backup systems. Ultimately, this should reduce the chance of large scale discontinuous operations in the future. This will have lasting positive effects on the markets.
As for the individual investor, fear of any kind is the greatest deterrent to a bull market. In the period between 9-11 and the recent wave of corporate accounting scandals, the stock market refused to conform to the economic outlook. A small portion of this was the Enron story, but Enron did not touch the pocketbooks of most Americans. September 11 had a very long-term impact that we would still be seeing quite clearly today if we weren't overwhelmed with accounting scandals.
I suspect that if Bin Laden is captured or proven dead, we would see the mother of all bull markets. Until that happens, investors will remain wary. That doesn't mean the markets will continue to go down, but widespread and long-term optimism isn't likely to return anytime soon on its own, even after the fallout from the accounting scandals subsides.
France Belanger, Director, Center for Global Electronic Commerce and associate professor of accounting and information systems, can discuss the telework/telecommuting phenomenon and how September 11th really changed the perspective of organizations and individuals in this matter. She can also discuss security awareness (but not security from a technical perspective).
Families
Anna Beth Benningfield, two-time president and fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, can discuss couples and trauma. "The economic downturn in particular has been very scary," says Benningfield. "Many people are very sobered by what has happened: the job losses, couples going from two incomes to one, working harder and being asked to do more, the loss of retirement money."
Scott Johnson, specializes in family and trauma. "Now we are beginning to see cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)," says Johnson. "As expected, PTSD shows up when things calm down and people feel safe enough to experience stressful feelings."
Communication Technology
George Morgan, Suntrust Professor of Finance and director of the Center for Wireless Telecommunications, says that September 11 increased interest in wireless telecommumications, which he can describe.
Charles Bostian, Clayton Ayer Professor of electrical and computer engineering, can talk about disaster communication technology; the increased interest in homeland security technologies, and disaster response.
Scott Midkiff, professor of electrical and computer engineering, can talk about interest in homeland security technologies and disaster response, changes in research funding, and changes in research priorities since September 11.
Nations, regions, politics, and policy
William Ochsenwald, professor of history and co-author of "The Middle East: A History," the most widely-used college text on the subject, can talk about the impact of September 11 on the Middle East, such as the impact on Islam, Islamic radicalism, Saudi Arabian and September 11, the history of Islamic fundamentalism before September 11, the war in Afghanistan, and U.S. relations with the Middle East. This fall, he will be teaching a new university honors course on Nationalism and Islam in the Modern Arab Middle East.
Gerald Toal, professor of geography and international affairs, based at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center, can talk about the September 11 impacts in Russia and Bosnia.
Same as above plus Afghanastan, Homeland Security
Doug Borer, associate professor of political science, can address questions related to Afghanistan, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and national security. Regarding Homeland Security, he says "The Homeland Security initiative is a good idea in theory, however the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS), in which the government plans to enlist millions of American volunteers to spy on their fellow Americans, is ill conceived and symbolic of how government responds to its own failings."
Col. Chuck Payne, Deputy Commandant of the Corps of Cadets, is an expert in military historian and has Army infantry and special operations experience. He can talk about the military effort following September 11, particularly the ground war in Afghanistan. He says, "We need to be there and we are doing the right thing."
Col. Ed Schwabe, Corps of Cadets faculty member, is a military historian with infantry experience. He can talk about the military effort that has followed September 11, in particular the tactical and strategic combat operations in Afghanistan and the stateside efforts to interface the military and homeland security.
Preparedness, response, recovery
Frederick Krimgold, co-director of the World Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Virginia Tech outreach administrator in Northern Virginia, has several projects underway that relate to protection of civilian populations from attack: * One with FEMA is the development of terrorist risk evaluation criteria for commercial buildings. * A project with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Govenments is for a Regional Risk Assessment for Critical Infrastructure* A US/ Russia workshop funded by the US Citizens Research and Development Foundation on the development of intelligent maps for first responders. * He is also working on a proposal with Medhi Setareh in architecture for the use of virtual environment (CAVE) technology for training search and rescue teams* He has participated in a number of conferences since September 11 on the topic of preparedness, response, and recovery for "extreme events."
Bruno Sobral, director of Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and research professor in plant pathology, physiology, and weed science, says he feels that science has responded to September 11 by becoming more proactive.
"Scientists in bioinformatics and genomic research are performing fundamental research that will adapt to efforts at prevention, protection, and prediction. VBI's PathPort project is an example of this type of flexibility. PathPort will create a science portal that will allow scientists and other relevant parties to access information about known pathogens and their near relatives. While this is applicable to protection against bioterrorism, it will also aid farmers to prevent natural-occurring pathogens from destroying their crops. Such knowledge and decision-making tools will give us firm ground from which to improve society on many levels.
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