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Business Students Analyze Homeland Security Challenges In Three-Year NCITE Project

This spring, NCITE wrapped up its three-year workforce development initiative, Applying Business Curricula to National Security. Read below for more on the student projects and their DHS end-users.

  • published: 2026/09/08
Three women stand together in conversation at an indoor event. The woman in the center gestures with one hand while speaking to the woman on the right, who is holding a can of Sprite.

Course instructors and NCITE research leads Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles, Ph.D. (left) and Erin Bass, Ph.D. (middle) speak with NCITE business graduate student Karlie Chonis (right).

Business training — data analysis, supply chain management, strategic thinking, and more — is highly valuable in any field. How could it support homeland security?

This spring, NCITE wrapped up its three-year workforce development project, Applying Business Curricula to National Security. The lead researchers, Erin Bass, Ph.D., and Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles, Ph.D., exposed business students in UNO MBA Capstone and Data Analytics courses to the field by partnering with DHS practitioners on real problem-sets.

Over 8-10 week sprints, student cohorts developed solutions for DHS partners on issues ranging from recruitment and retention to supply chain security, gaining insight into the complex problems and career opportunities in the field. In turn, practitioners gained auxiliary analysis, benefiting from the unique training of the business field. The researchers facilitated 33 student teams over the course of the three-year initiative.

End users included:

  • Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center (CBP NTC)
  • Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT)
  • Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
  • DHS Office of Intelligence & Analysis (DHS I&A)
  • DHS Science & Technology Directorate (DHS S&T)
  • National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)
  • U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM)

Why it matters

In an increasingly diverse and sophisticated threat landscape, multidisciplinary counteraction is more important than ever. Deepening the bench of the homeland security workforce ensures a holistic approach to tomorrow's security challenges.

Zoom in

Read below for a few student project highlights.

▶️ Bomb threats are on the rise, with an average of three threats per day in the U.S. Though the vast majority of cases don't involve actual bombs or IEDs, businesses shoulder a significant financial and operational burden responding to these threats. Students analyzed such swatting incidents and conducted surveys and one-on-one interviews to refine a financial impact calculator for the DHS Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA); with it, both CISA and businesses can better quantify losses and justify prevention efforts.

▶️ NE-focused

  • In one cohort, students examined how Nebraska's transportation network — highway, railroad, air travel — is used for illicit goods trafficking (drugs, weapons, etc.). Students built a strategic framework for state agencies for detection and counteraction, which advised ramping up monitoring of high-risk routes and strengthening partnerships between transportation companies, law enforcement, and logistics firms. They also encouraged integrating AI, blockchain, and IoT technologies to monitor and flag suspect activity.
  • Another cohort examined how to safeguard Nebraska's food supply chain from natural and human-made disruptions. Over a third of Nebraska's economy is fueled by the agricultural industry, which accounts for close to a fourth of the state's jobs. Students investigated the risks posed to the production, processing, distribution, retail, and consumption stages of the chain, including natural, economic, operational, and cybersecurity threats. In addition to recommending technology integrations for monitoring risks from threats like climate change, students advised adopting blockchain technologies to bolster stakeholder cybersecurity and drones for efficient surveillance of large swaths of farmland.

▶️ Suffering from non-standardized ad-hoc training, siloed information across departments, and a clunky project intake process, the Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center (CBP NTC) partnered with UNO MBA Capstone students to improve the agency's internal efficiency. Students created a standardized intake request form and identified best practices to improve and maintain the NTC's interdepartmental training and knowledge transfer abilities.

What they’re saying

  • Erin Bass, Ph.D. | Instructor and Primary Investigator

“This project showed students that business skills have a meaningful place in national security. By working directly with DHS practitioners on real challenges, they gained a new perspective on the field while contributing ideas that agencies could immediately put to use.”

Big picture

This initiative served to bolster recruitment efforts across DHS by developing a pipeline of talent from UNO, while also providing the national security workforce with tangible outcomes addressing their current needs.

What’s next

One of the spring 2026 projects served as the basis for NCITE's burgeoning microcredential program, which is designed to convert NCITE research into educational programming for practitioners across the homeland security enterprise. The program will roll out in 2027.