Center for Biomedical Science and Policy

Program

GMU Center for Biomedical Science and Policy

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GMU-NSF Conference on Disrupting Operations of Illicit Supply Networks

Conference Program

The conference will provide opportunities to discuss future research directions in the area of illicit supply networks and promote further collaborations among the participants including:

  • Principal Investigators and other investigators of the NSF: D-ISN grant awardees
  • Selected researchers working in the field
  • Relevant NSF program directors
  • Government officials working in the area of national security
  • Representatives from other relevant policy and business institutions and research centers

Location

3351 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington VA, 22203
1st Floor, Van Metre Hall (VMH), Arlington Campus, GMU 
Campus Map

Conference Hotel

Hilton Arlington

950 North Stafford St. I Arlington VA 22203
Ballston Metro Station

The hotel is about a 15 minute walk to the conference at GMU Mason Square-Van Metre Hall (formerly called Arlington Campus) or a 2 block walk from the Virginia Square Metro Station (1 stop from Ballston).

Walking Directions

Restaurant Information 

Though there is no pre-planned dinner for Monday evening March 27th, we encourage you to self-organize group dinners at local restaurants. To assist in picking out restaurants, we have assembled a list of possibilities that are open on Mondays here.

Topics

  • Human Trafficking
  • Arms/Drug Trafficking
  • Antiquities/Wildlife/Organ Trafficking
  • Pharmaceutical and Other Counterfeit Product Trading
  • Financial Fraud/Money Laundering
  • Cybersecurity/Darknet Trading

Program

Day 1. March 27 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM)

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Breakfast (Multipurpose Room)

8:30 AM – 8:40 AM
Opening Remark (Dr. Hadi El-Amine, SEOR/GMU) (Multipurpose Room)

8:40 AM – 9:00 AM
Welcoming Remark & Awardees Introduction (Dr. Georgia-Ann Klutke, ENG/NSF) (Multipurpose Room)

9:00 AM – 9:45 AM
Keynote Speaker 1: Dr. Mark Shaw (Multipurpose Room)
Director, Global Initiative
Title: The Evolving Response to Organized Crime

10:00 AM – 11:30 PM
Sessions 1: Four Concurrent Sessions (See Session Information below for rooms)

Session 1A: Human Trafficking (Room: Multipurpose 125/126)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Lauren Damme, U.S. Department of Labor

  • Sex Trafficking
  • Labor Trafficking

Session 1B: Other Trafficking (Room: 113)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Mark Shaw, Global Initiative

  • Arms Trafficking
  • Drugs Trafficking
  • Antique Trafficking
  • Wildlife Trafficking
  • Organ Trafficking

Session 1C: Illicit Trading and Dark/Deep Web (Room: 121)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Alan Bersin, Altana.ai.

  • Pharmaceutical Counterfeit Product Trading
  • Other Counterfeit Product Trading
  • Dark/Deep Web Trading

Session 1D Illicit Financial Transaction & Cybersecurity (Room: 466)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Arion Cheong, Stevens Institute of Technology

  • Financial Fraud
  • Money Laundering
  • Cybersecurity

11:30 AM – 12:30 AM
Greeting from Dr. Shehu, Amarda / Dr. Kamaljeet Sanghera
The Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA)/GMU)

D-ISN Awardee Poster Session – Part I (Multipurpose Room)

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM 
Lunch (Poster Session – Part I cont’d.)

1:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Sessions 2: Four concurrent Sessions (See Session Information below for rooms)

Session 2A: Human Trafficking (Room: Multipurpose 125/126)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Tina Faulkner, U.S. Department of Labor

  • Sex Treafficking
  • Labor Trafficking

Session 2B: Other Trafficking (Room: 113)
Moderator/Rapporteur: David Thompson, Altana.ai.

  • Arms Trafficking
  • Drugs Trafficking
  • Antique Trafficking
  • Wildlife Trafficking
  • Organ Trafficking

Session 2C: Illicit Treading and Dark/Deep Web (Room: 121)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Peter Swartz, Altana.ai.

  • Pharmaceutical Counterfeit Product Trading
  • Other Counterfeit Product Trading
  • Dark/Deep Web Trading

Session 2D: Disseminating your Work: Best Practices to Broaden Impacts and for Media Outreach (Room: 466)
Moderator/Rapporteur: Buzz McClain, GMU

3:15 PM – 3:45 PM
Coffee & Refreshment

3:45 PM – 04:30 PM 
Keynote Speakers 2: Dr. Alan Bersin1 & Dr. Peter Swartz2 (Multipurpose Room)
1Former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and DHS Assistant Secretary of Policy and International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer; Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center; and Executive Chairman of Altana.ai.
2Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Altana.ai
Title: Globalization 2.0, Supply Chain Visibility and The Challenges of Countering Transnational Illicit Trade

4:30 PM  
Adjourn

Day 2. March 28 (8:00 AM – 2:00 PM) – All events in Multipurpose Room

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Breakfast

09:00 AM – 09:45 AM 
Keynote Speaker 3: Ms. Delphine Schantz (on behalf of Dr. Jean-Luc Lemahieu, UNODC)
Director, New York Office, UNODC
Title: Illegal Economy and Illicit Financial Flows: Key Challenges and Measurement Perspectives

09:45 AM – 10:00 AM 
Group Discussion Preparations

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM 
Group Discussion
Group discussion to prepare a summary report for each theme (A-D) based on the Day 1 sessions

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Coffee & D-ISN Awardee Poster Session – Part II

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Box Lunches & Wrap-up Session
Remark by Dr. Susan Margulies, Assistant Director, ENG/NSF
The designated facilitators from each theme (A-D) will share the discussion results with all the participants and discuss future steps in addressing each issue.

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
Keynote Speaker 4: Dr. Michaëlle De Cock
Head, Research and Evaluation Unit, ILO-FUNDAMENTALS
Title: “why is solid research critical to combat forced labour and trafficking in persons?”

1:45 PM – 2:00 PM 
Closing Remark (Dr. Georgia-Ann Klutke, NSF)

2:00 PM
Adjourn

Organizers

Prof. Hadi El-Amine, College of Engineering and Computing, George Mason University

Prof. Naoru Koizumi, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University

Sponsor

The Operations Engineering (OE) program / The National Science Foundation (NSF)

GMU Co-Sponsor

The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA)

The Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA)

The Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC)

The Center for Biomedical Science and Policy (CBSP)