What's the science behind detection dogs? What do we know about the canine olfactory system? What is the animal husbandry behind training and caring for detection dogs? Find out at the first webinar of CEE's new Square Root of STEM series. Educators, students and community members are welcome to join us on an exploration of how STEM topics and skills intersect with our modern lives. Watch the recording on YouTube.
Speaker Information:
Cynthia Otto, Ph.D. is a tenured associate professor of Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine, after 23 years as an attending clinician in the Emergency Service, in 2015 she transitioned to full-time Executive Director of the Penn Vet Working Dogs Center and Canine Sports Medicine clinician. Dr. Otto is board-certified in both veterinary emergency and critical care and veterinary sports medicine. She began monitoring the health and behavior of Urban Search and Rescue dogs in October of 2001 after serving as a first responder for the 9/11 attacks. This work inspired her to establish the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, the premier national research and development program for detection dogs.
Andrew Hotinger is one of TSA's headquarters canine coordinators and National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program social media consultant. While working for the TSA in regulatory compliance, the administration’s K-9 program was started. Though he’d never had any experience with animal training beyond his own dogs, Andrew realized the opportunity and applied to the program. Once accepted, he went to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas for training and met Cheddar– a 2-and-a-half-year-old yellow lab. As part of the first class of graduates of the TSA’s K-9 program, they had to start their program at Dulles from the ground up, helping to develop procedures and policies as they worked. Hotinger eventually moved on to become a canine coordinator at the TSA– a position that only came about because of his work with Cheddar.
Alex Reeb is an Instruction Systems Specialist at TSA's Canine Training Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas. This site trains and deploys both TSA-led and state and local law enforcement-led canine teams. These teams, made up of a canine and a handler, support the day-to-day activities that secure and protect transportation environments. The CTC is considered the center for excellence in explosives detection canine training, and is the only program of its kind in the Department of Homeland Security and the second largest in the federal government, after the Department of Defense. The site contains 17 indoor venues that mimic a variety of transportation sites and modes. This includes a cargo facility, an airport gate area, a checkpoint, a baggage claim area, the interior of an aircraft, a vehicle parking lot, a light rail station, a light rail car, an air cargo facility, a mock terminal, and open area searches venues for air scenting.
About: This is the first webinar in CEE's Square Root of STEM webinar series. Join us every second Tuesday of the month from 5 – 6 pm, ET, starting October 12th. Webinars will explore a variety of topics that illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of STEM and the real-world applications of STEM skills. Topics to include Disease Sniffing Dogs, Space Engineering, the Science of Sports, Agriculture and Technology, and more. Educators, students and community members are welcome to join us on an exploration of how STEM topics and skills intersect with our modern lives.