From homeland security hub to enduring legacy

Though its mission wrapped early, CAOE shaped student leaders and delivered solutions for real-world challenges

At a bustling security checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, travelers moved swiftly through the line, unaware that an experiment was quietly unfolding in the background. Algorithms designed by Arizona State University students were testing how real-time staffing decisions could reduce delays while keeping the skies safe.

For seven years, this kind of behind-the-scenes innovation was the calling card of the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency, or CAOE. Established in 2017 as a Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, Center of Excellence, CAOE transformed raw data into tools for decision-makers while training hundreds of students to take on the complex challenges of national security.

Though the center has since concluded its operations, its influence continues in the careers of alumni, the collaborations it forged and the research that remains active across ASU and beyond.

Building a cross-university mission

Led by ASU and joined by a 25-university consortium, CAOE was a hub for tackling problems that cut across the homeland security enterprise. Projects spanned everything from supply chain resilience to data privacy — always balancing urgent operational needs with the broader goal of preparing the next generation of experts.

Ross Maciejewski, director of the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, and Pitu Mirchandani, now a Fulton Schools emeritus professor, co-founded the center. Maciejewski served as its director.

“For students, CAOE wasn’t just a research center,” Maciejewski says. “It was a launchpad for careers in government, industry and academia. We wanted them to graduate with both theoretical depth and the ability to solve real-world problems.”

Ross Maciejewski, co-founder and director of CAOE, speaks at the 2018 Congressional Briefing on the Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence program. Photo courtesy of CAOE

A leader who saw the big picture

For Maciejewski, who began his graduate studies in the wake of 9/11, homeland security research has always been personal. His early work in visual analytics was funded by DHS, and CAOE gave him the opportunity to continue in applied problem spaces where data and decision-making directly affected lives.

“As director, Ross created an environment where faculty and students alike could take on problems of national importance while growing their own expertise,” says Ronald Askin, a Fulton Schools emeritus professor and former CAOE assistant director. “Ross had the rare ability to maintain an emphasis on both rigorous research and student development while keeping us focused on how our work would make a difference outside the university.”

Maciejewski’s leadership continues today in the Fulton Schools, and in the broader data science community where he was recently inducted into the prestigious Visualization Academy by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, underscoring his national influence in analytics and decision-making.

Turning research into real-world impact

CAOE’s portfolio spanned a wide range of national security challenges, with projects that reached from airports to waterways to data networks.

Working with IBM and the TSA, researchers developed simulation tools to predict passenger flows and optimize officer schedules. Their “plan of day” scheduler was piloted in live operations at Phoenix Sky Harbor and tested at least two other major airports, a significant example of academic research directly shaping federal practice.

Beyond aviation, the center built models to safeguard marine transportation, helping agencies anticipate how natural disasters or geopolitical events might ripple through fragile supply chains.

As cyber threats grew, CAOE advanced privacy-preserving methods that enabled analysts to gain insights from sensitive datasets without compromising civil liberties, while also pioneering cryptographic approaches to secure biometric and facial recognition information in an era of expanding surveillance.

The center also worked on the front lines of chemical threat preparedness, using red teaming exercises to help DHS anticipate emerging risks and prepare responders for scenarios beyond today’s playbooks. Together, these efforts exemplified the center’s mission of blending rigorous research with real-world impact.

“Our strength was being able to span agencies, academia and problem domains,” Maciejewski says. “We weren’t siloed. We were a place DHS could come for science and solutions.”

Students at work at the 2025 Designing Actionable Solutions for a Secure Homeland, or DASSH, design challenge where they pitched and proposed solutions to new challenges created by the rise of artificial intelligence. Photographer: Cynthia Gerber/ASU

Training the next generation

Workforce development was at the heart of CAOE’s mission. Undergraduate and graduate students alike participated in research projects, hackathons and immersive programs such as the summer Quantitative Analytics Workshop.

Students took part in design challenges, like the annual Designing Actionable Solutions for a Secure Homeland, or DASSH, competition, where teams tackled real DHS problem statements under expert mentorship. These experiences often served as steppingstones, with many participants going on to careers in federal agencies, defense contractors and academic research.

Reflecting on that impact, former assistant director Amy Bennett notes that the center broadened students’ view of security.

“CAOE showed students that homeland security isn’t just about what you see at the airport or the border,” she says. “It’s also about engineers, economists and computer scientists using their skills to strengthen systems we all rely on.”

Closing a chapter, carrying forward the mission

CAOE formally concluded in 2025, two years earlier than its original 2027 funding horizon, as part of federal cost-cutting measures. The center had received positive feedback and commendations during its biennial review in October 2024, but a DHS decision led to the closure of most Centers of Excellence, including CAOE.

Even so, its legacy lives on in both research and leadership. Faculty continue to advance projects seeded by the center, and Maciejewski has carried lessons in team building and applied science into his role directing one of the nation’s largest computer science degree programs.

Nadya Bliss is the executive director of the Global Security Initiative, under which CAOE was housed. She says CAOE was an important part of ASU’s broader security mission.

“Centers like CAOE prove that universities can be trusted partners in addressing national security challenges,” Bliss says. “CAOE exemplified GSI’s vision of security research. Its work was interdisciplinary, applied and deeply connected to national needs.”

Looking ahead, Maciejewski is optimistic about the future of ASU’s research enterprise and its ability to address challenges far beyond homeland security. From data visualization to human-AI collaboration, from resilient infrastructure to privacy-protecting technologies, he sees opportunities for the university to remain a vital part of solving complex, high-stakes problems.

“These aren’t finished stories,” he says. “They’re foundations that others will keep building on.”

Though its chapter as a DHS Center of Excellence has ended, the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency leaves behind a lasting imprint, seen in the leaders it developed, the innovations it seeded and the pathways it opened for future discovery.