U.S. Attorney General visits Auburn to Examine Initiatives Addressing Nation’s Public Safety Threats

The nation’s top law enforcement official, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, visited Auburn University  Friday to examine two Auburn initiatives designed to protect the public—one focused on the national opioid crisis and the other involving the world’s most advanced detector dogs.

Sessions visited Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine for a look at its Canine Performance Sciences program, which is internationally known as the preeminent provider of canine detection technology.

“It’s classic of Auburn’s practical contribution to making this a better world,” Sessions said after examining the canine program. “We need to protect this country from terrorist attacks.  How do you do it? One of the best systems whatsoever is these fabulous dogs. They’re training them. They’re raising them. They’re breeding them. They are the best dogs in the world.”

The Auburn-led program is widely recognized by government and industry and supports a national initiative to advance canine sensor capabilities for the interdiction of chemical, biological and explosive threats to public safety and national security.  Auburn is using its wealth of research talent and capability across campus to provide a blueprint to breed and train the best detector dogs in the world.  One example of a recent university-wide collaboration is the use of MRI scanning to non-invasively study dogs’ brain activity to possibly pinpoint—prior to expensive training—whether dogs can become top detectors.

In 2015, Auburn was granted a patent for its Vapor Wake®technology that applies the physics of fluid dynamics in which people in motion leave an aerodynamic plume in their wake. Vapor Wake®dogs can detect hand-carried and body-worn explosives in persons and follow the plume of vapor and chemical particulates entrained in the person’s wake until the target is identified. The dogs are trained for 15-18 months, compared to only two to four months for standard explosive detection dogs.

Auburn University President Steven Leath thanked Sessions for his visit and said he looked forward to continued collaboration on such areas of vital national importance.

“We’re pleased to show the Attorney General how Auburn is leading the way on key initiatives that protect the public,” Leath said. “Teaming with government leaders, we are advancing research toward life-saving solutions that include a focus on the national opioid epidemic and making our public spaces safer with the world’s most advanced canine mobile detection system.”

Posted by chesliepickett on Sep 24 2018. Filed under Health & Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.