Homeland Security unveils first 'center of excellence'

The Homeland Security Department on Tuesday announced that the University of Southern California will house the department's first "center of excellence."

The designation means that the university will receive $12 million in funding over three years to study risk analysis and the economic impact of terrorist threats and attacks.

"We are confident that the cooperative efforts of the first Homeland Security center of excellence will greatly enhance our ability to combat terrorism by empowering the best scientific minds at our nation's universities to tackle the challenges we face," Charles McQueary, the department's undersecretary for science and technology, said in a release.

Randolph Hall of USC's engineering school and Detlof von Winterfeldt of its policy, planning and development school will head the center. Hall is an expert in transportation, logistics, engineering and mathematical modeling, and Winterfeldt focuses on risk and decision analysis.