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  1. UNO
  2. News
  3. Students, Faculty Help Bring Closure to Families of Pearl Harbor Victims

Students, Faculty Help Bring Closure to Families of Pearl Harbor Victims

Since 2016, Sachin Pawaskar, Ph.D., and his students have helped the U.S. Government identify previously unknown victims from disasters and conflicts, including from the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which was attacked in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

  • published: 2021/12/07
  • contact: Eva Burklund - University Communications
  • search keywords:
  • is&t
  • research
An archival photo of the capsized USS Oklahoma

A total of 429 crewmen aboard the USS Oklahoma were killed in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941, after the ship quickly capsized from numerous torpedo hits. (Courtesy: National Parks Service Archives)

A logo for the Commingled Remains Analytics Ecosystem (CoRA) program

The Commingled Remains Analytics Ecosystem (CoRA) program was developed by UNO faculty and students to help the Department of Defense identify co-mingled remains of fallen military service members

UNO alumnus Ryan Ernst speaks before a delagation from the U.S. Department of Defense

UNO alumnus Ryan Ernst, of Columbus, Neb., presents his work on the CoRA system, a computer science program developed at UNO to help identify fallen service members, to representatives of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) on May 17, 2019.

Sachin Pawaskar

"As a civilian, this project allows me to serve my country and to honor the fallen soldiers from past conflicts, people who have served our country and given their lives for it,” - Sachin Pawaskar, Ph. D., MBA, MS, a professor of practice in the College of Information Science & Technology.

It was 80 years ago, on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S.S. Oklahoma was one of the many ships bombed and sunk by the Japanese Empire in the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. After the U.S.S. Oklahoma sank, nearly 400 of the victims were unidentifiable. Since that time, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has existed with the mission of identifying the now more than 80,000 service members who have been lost in military conflicts.

This is where UNO’s Sachin Pawaskar, Ph. D., MBA, MS, a professor of practice in the College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T), comes in. In 2016, Pawaskar formally launched the Commingled Remains Analytics Ecosystem (CoRA) project, which was started to streamline the process of identifying individuals lost in the sinking of U.S.S. Oklahoma. The project began when Franklin Damann, deputy laboratory director of the DPAA at Offutt Airbase, reached out to UNO’s College of IS&T about finding ways to make the long process of identifying individuals more efficient.

“Partnering with UNO to develop CoRA has been interesting and a learning experience for us all. I have worked with Dr. Pawaskar a lot over the years and many students at UNO, including a capstone class, and I’ve really enjoyed it,” said Carrie LeGarde, the USS Oklahoma project lead. "We have been trying to create this system to help us complete our mission, but it has been a way to learn about development and collaborating with other fields of study.”


Learn more about UNO's commitment to supporting veterans and military-affiliated individuals



Since the beginning of the project, over 90% of the 380 service members that perished on the U.S.S. Oklahoma have been identified, a percentage that Pawaskar said is unheard of in terms of identifying previously unidentified armed forces members. Such a feat was achieved through the gathering of specific characteristics of the bones that have been recovered including DNA analysis, isotope analysis, taphonomy, pathology, and trauma, as well as the use of measurements to create a biological profile for each specimen which includes determination of age, sex, stature and ancestry.

“It allows the anthropologist to create a holistic picture of what's going on at the specimen level, at the individual level, and at the project level” Pawaskar said. “So, the objective is to make it easier to segregate these bones into individuals.”

Since being launched CoRA has turned a weeks-long process of looking through hand-written notes and Excel spreadsheets into a job that can be done in a matter of hours and days. As more service members can be identified, more of their families can find closure.

“Listening to the stories at the family events held by DPAA where people who are 70 [or] 80 years old, talking about how they never saw that uncle of theirs and how their grandma would tell stories about them,” Pawaskar said. “Hearing these stories can make grown men have tears in their eyes. And so, I feel very passionate about bringing closure to the families of the service members lost to past conflicts.”


Watch: IS&T Research on Identifying Fallen Service Members Focus of Department of Defense Visit to UNO





Because of its successes in identifying those lost on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, the CoRA project was expanded, now covering other projects where service members’ lives were lost, such as the Korean War; Operation Tidal Wave, a bombing campaign over Romania during World War II; and the Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific.

Although the project initially focused on identifying fallen service members, the applications of the CoRA software ranges from helping local law enforcement identify victims in a crime, to identification victims of mass causality events, to assisting in the identification of victims of genocide,

“And I'm sure in the future there will be more projects,” Pawaskar said. “It is mostly designed for projects that have difficult challenges where there are commingled remains that is to say where there is mixing of bones from different individuals in one in one grave or an incident."

Even with successes in identifying many fallen service members and the expansion of the project, there are still some who have not been identified.

“It’s heart-wrenching for the families whose family member may not have been identified. But we don't give up hope,” Pawaskar said. “We always hope that in the future there might be newer techniques and breakthroughs that come up that allow us to make progress on them.”

Currently, the United States is among the only countries in the world spending resources on bringing back and identifying fallen service members, and the mission to identify all those lost to conflict has not ended, even as the story for most killed on the U.S.S. Oklahoma has some closure now.

“As a civilian, this project allows me to serve my country and to honor the fallen soldiers from past conflicts, people who have served our country and given their lives for it,” Pawaskar said. “I’m also an immigrant. What better way is there for me to contribute to my country and do meaningful work that brings closure to the families of these fallen soldiers.”

A ceremony for the U.S.S. Oklahoma will be streamed for public viewing at 3:30 P.M. on Dec. 7. You can access the livestream here.


About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.

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