This announcement was distributed on our university’s faculty and staff listserves earlier today.

I know that these seminars should probably make me feel more protected and secure, but they seem to provide, at best, a very odd and somehow unsettling note on which to begin the new academic year.

I wonder if participants are expected to bring their own petri dishes. 

_______________

From: Boonshoft School of Medicine Marketing and Communications

Subject: FBI Academic Biosecurity Workshop to be held at Wright State University Student Union on Sept. 10

Date: August 16, 2013 10:30:31 AM EDT

To: Undisclosed recipients

Many individuals and groups have threatened to attack the United States with biological weapons. They have targeted laboratories, biotechnology companies, scientists and students.

To raise awareness of these and other biosecurity risks, a free workshop and seminar will be held at Wright State University in the Student Union on Sept. 10, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

The FBI Academic Biosecurity Workshop will be in the morning, 8 a.m. to Noon.

The FBI will provide a biosecurity overview and breakout group discussions. FBI experts will address international and domestic terrorism, cyber security, protection of intellectual property and proprietary information, dual-use research, workplace violence, security challenges and insider-threat mitigation. They will share information and provide training for researchers, faculty, administrators, staff and students.

The training also is open to law enforcement officers, first responders, government employees, health care providers and biotech company employees.

The workshop seeks to establish and solidify mutually beneficial relationships between law enforcement, research institutions, community stakeholders and academia. Wright State is one of only 10 universities nationwide hosting the FBI Academic Biosecurity Workshop.

The Wright State University Weapons of Mass Destruction seminar will be in the afternoon, 1 to 5 p.m.

It will feature speakers R. William Ayres, Ph.D., interim dean of the WSU Graduate School; Larry C. James, Ph.D., WSU associate vice president for military affairs; and Richard Maier, special agent with the FBI Cincinnati Division and WMD coordinator.

The open forum panel discussion includes Carol Sabourin, Ph.D., senior research leader at Battelle and chief scientist for biomedical research; Maj. Paul Eden, Ph.D., toxicology program manager of the Molecular Bioeffects Branch at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; and Capt. Kelley Williams, an Army officer who specializes in biological warfare.

The WSU Department of Environmental Health and Safety is sponsoring the morning workshop. The WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the WSU School of Professional Psychology are sponsoring the afternoon seminar.

To register for the event, contact ____________ at __________. Include name, agency or company, phone and email address. Registrants should specify whether they want to attend the morning, afternoon or both sessions.