The CAMRA (The Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment)

Project V: Knowledge Management, Transfer, and Learning


This project is supported by the grant from DHS-EPA Cooperative Center of Excellence on the Methods and Science to Conduct Microbial Risk Assessment in Support of Homeland Security Objectives.


Project V. Title: Knowledge Management, Transfer, and Learning

Investigators : PI: Rosina Weber and Ewen Todd, Co-PIs: Hyoil Han, Michael Atwood, Charles Haas, Drexel University. (Dr. Ewen Todd, Michigan State University)

Institutions: Drexel University 3141 Chestnut street Philadelphia, PA 19104; Center for Food Safety and Toxicology, Michigan State University.

Project Period: Starting on Sep. 15, 2005 and ending on Sep. 14, 2010

Budget: $679,272

Project Summary:
It is the overall objective of this project to investigate and implement effective and efficient methods to enhance the understanding of microbial risk assessment (MRA) as a body of knowledge. For this purpose, we focus on education and collaboration in combination with technological methods to promote knowledge leveraging, management, transfer and learning among members of the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment (CAMRA). These are the objectives, approaches, and expected results from this project:

1. Build an online collaborative repository. This will be a knowledge repository because it will use learning units represented as a knowledge formalism. Learning units will specify the task where they can be reused. The knowledge repository will promote knowledge leveraging and sharing among CAMRA’s members.
2. Reason with learning units for knowledge discovery. The learning units are amenable to automated reasoning. Reasoning methods can leverage MRA’s knowledge.
3. Build a data warehouse from data linked to the learning units. Additional knowledge discovery methods can be applied over the data warehouse. The data warehouse will be publicly available.
4. Develop targeted educational programs.

Expected Results and Benefits:
Approaches will achieve development of an intellectual knowledge base and a CAMRA website and other dissemination means. This will support the community of practice for risk assessment principals. Produce productive and effective knowledge sharing. Finally research data will be used to develop a framework for different community of users for MRA for BAC and recommendations for policy to reduce the risk of transmission of select and other agents to populations in the U.S.. Educational programs will produce core graduate level courses for MRA, on-line learning tools and workshops to support collaborations and common aims.