Dr. Nursen Zanca (fourth from right), Economics Coordinator at the University of the Incarnate Word, and Nicholas Randol (third from right), graduate student at UIW, presented their research finds to the BTI Institute leadership and Research Committee as part of the Department of Homeland Security Minority Serving Institution Summer Research Team on July 25, 2019, at the University of Houston.

The presentation was the culmination of ten weeks of research on their project, "The Global Terrorism Index: Methodology & Meaning." 

"It is very difficult to study terrorism," said Mr. Randol. "There are many organizations with various definitions and data sources."

The project had four objectives. 

• Investigate the methodology and the meaning of the Global Terrorism Index.
• Investigate the past and present trends in the GTI score for the United States.
• Investigate the economic cost of terrorism to the U.S. economy. 
• Investigate an alternative index, called "Regional Terrorism Index" for metropolitan areas.

"The GTI is a macrolevel index," said Dr. Zanca. "It does not allow us to make local decisions about threats  and how to allocate our resources."

The research team will return to the University of the Incarnate Word and continue their research on regional application. 

Presentation | Here

UPDATE | August 15, 2019

Mr. Randol presented his poster during the 2019 COE Summit in Arlington, VA. The Student Poster competition was an opportunity for the student researchers to discuss their projects with a series of judges who assessed the students' ability to articulate the science behind the project as well as the presentation of the poster display.