Michael Chumer, PhD, is a research professor in the Department of Information Systems at New Jersey Institute of Technology, specializing in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He is also a faculty member in the State of New Jersey’s Preparedness College, Director of the Technical Committee of the NJ Business Force’s Business Emergency Operations Center (BEOC), and Director of the NJIT MS Emergency Management and Business Continuity program.

As a Homeland Security private sector advocate and subject matter expert (SME), Chumer is called upon to provide guidance on collaborative communication models that engage the private sector with the public sector during all dimensions of Homeland Security emergency management. He is a participant in the Highland’s Forum, a Department of Defense think tank that advises the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Networks and Information Integration. His research focuses on command and control as used in the military and its application to emergency response during multi-agency collaboration such as experienced in Katrina and the recent tsunami disasters. He has written about command and control and is incorporating that knowledge into command center operations that benefit the public and private sectors during Homeland Security- enabled emergency management.

As a Marine Corps Officer, he started the first systems analysis and design function at the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Automated Services Center on Okinawa Japan and consulted with the Chinese Marines on Taiwan in the development of large mainframe computer and communication systems. He also worked with the C4 (command, control, communication, computers) organization at Headquarters Marine Corps assisting in the design of satellite-based Battlefield Information Systems.

Chumer is co-editor of Managing Knowledge: Critical Investigations of Work and Learning, a book that investigates issues surrounding the present formulation of IT-based Knowledge Management.

Chumer is the Principal Investigator on a recent $4.5 million award from the Department of Defense in the area of Homeland Security and Homeland Defense.

Chumer is a 1964 graduate of the US Naval Academy and a 1970 graduate of Georgia Tech in Information Science. He earned his PhD from Rutgers University in Communication and Information Science.

Last update: March 2, 2010