Today's students will be the future of emergency responses.

Robert Griffin, founding dean of UAlbany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, spoke to JoDee Kenney about leading the program and what the program offers.

The school includes three departments – information sciences and technology that include areas like advanced tech with drone lab or data analytics. There is also cyber security and emergency management and homeland.

“I jokingly refer to it as the ‘college of full job security,” Griffin said. “When you think about the need for cybersecurity specialists for emergency managers, preparedness, intelligence analysts and folks who are involved in data analytics or AI or intelligence. There are so many jobs that are out there right now. So, it's a resource rich field for people looking for good jobs.”

Griffin says the program was designed almost from the start to make sure that there's a crossover between theory and practice.

“So, there's experiential learning requirements. internship requirements, and training requirements,” he said. “We approach it this way - think about being a doctor at some point you need to know if you can handle blood and handle a body. We want our students to get out into the field and realize there are hardships with this, but there are also huge rewards to help a community that has been impacted by a disaster.”