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Think your city is ready for a cyber-attack? Think again according to our experts

There is no way around it; every day there are new cybersecurity threats to not only individuals, but governments at all levels as well. There have been some high-profile breeches that involve major cities like Atlanta and Baltimore. But those attacks are going to all levels, and recent research has shown most municipalities and cities are ill-prepared for cyberattacks. Research conducted by Donald Norris, PhD, and Laura Mateczun, JD, of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County along with William Hatcher, PhD, Wesley Meares, PhD, and John Heslen, PhD, of Augusta University, found various reasons why local governments struggle with cybersecurity. The research shows local governments recognize the need for cybersecurity but are not taking crucial next steps to ensure cybersecurity by integrating policies into daily management practices. Not just that, some local governments were unaware how often they were under cyberattack. Throw in budgetary constraints, and it leads local governments to be in a tough situation.  That, unto itself, is a major sticking point, but the burden could be lessened. “Effective cybersecurity is expensive and too much of a strain on the budgets of many cities and counties,” said Hatcher, chair of the Department of Social Sciences in Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Augusta University. “This is why we suggest regional solutions to the program, so multiple governments carry the cost.” Meares, associate professor and MPA director in Pamplin College, added it’s not just the financial aspect, but said there’s a shortage of cybersecurity talent nationwide, which compounded with limited budgets, makes it tough to compete. In the quest for talent between private and public sector, usually the private sector can offer more to entice a cybersecurity expert to come work for them. There’s also an issue of many local governments using dated technologies, which may be easier for cyber criminals to attack. “Local government is increasingly being more digitally connected, with vital infrastructure, data and services connected which creates more opportunities for cyber-attacks. Additionally, local governments tend to lag in updating critical technology due to limited resources (both human and financial resources),” added Meares. None of this comes as a surprise in the lack of cybersecurity training. “It’s an expensive service for local governments to provide. This is why we suggest more budgetary support for the training,” said Heslen, assistant professor in Pamplin College. “We’re also unsurprised because local governments often struggle to fund professional training in other areas.” But researchers say there are ways to improve upon safety of critical data most notably adopting dedicated cybersecurity budgets funded at an appropriate level in all local governments. Those resources can help address many limitations in local government cybersecurity programs, from staffing and hardware and software deficiencies to awareness training for all parties in local governments. They also recommend the adoption and implementation of cybersecurity policies to manage and regulate actions taken by all that affect the organization’s cybersecurity. By taking the recommended actions, local governments will have a better chance to provide high levels of cybersecurity and protect their information assets more effectively. This is an important topic and if you are a journalist looking to know more about the importance of being ready and able to react if and when a municipality comes under threat from a cyber-attack - then let us help/. William Hatcher and John Heslen are both available to speak with media - simply contact them now to arrange an interview today.

'Shake it Off' - Do Grammy-Winning Pop Artists Take More Creative Risks Than Their Runners-Up?

Taylor Swift has had a career marked by an evolution in sound and style. Swift emerged into the industry a country star and was later rebranded a pop icon. She’s gone on to explore alternative rock and indie folk sounds. Research by Giacomo Negro, professor of Organization & Management and professor of Sociology (by courtesy), suggests Grammy award wins may be credited as the catalyst for these changes. Swift, who holds 11 Grammy awards, won her first in 2010, taking home Album of the Year for country album “Fearless,” then again for her first exclusively pop album “1989” and again in 2021 for her indie folk album “Folklore.” Each time she earned another Grammy, she tried something new. Swift is not the only one. After winning Album of the Year in 1988 for classic arena rock album “The Joshua Tree,” U2 released “Achtung Baby,” an album that dabbled with kraut rock and electronic music. Similarly, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” won them Album of the Year in 1978, after which, they released their double album “Tusk,” an experimental record that incorporated punk-rock. Does Missing out on a Grammy Win Make Artists Timid? Negro’s research shows Grammy award winners tend to release albums that are more distinct from the work of other artists, whereas Grammy nominees who do not win create music that is more similar to other artists than they had prior to their nomination. Negro co-authored the research with Balázs Kovács from Yale University and Glenn Carroll from Stanford University–a culmination of more than five years of work. Negro says he has always been interested in cultural production, and he set out to study the patterns of differentiation in the music market. He chose the Grammys because these symbolic awards provide a situation similar to a natural experiment that is hard to find in real life or without a controlled environment. The Grammys are also unique because they share the names of both the award winners and the nominees, presenting a comparison among candidates of similar quality. To explore this question, Negro obtained data from four main sources: Grammy Awards Academy, online music database AllMusic, Spotify, and Billboard. From the academy information, he collected data for the Grammy nominated artists and winners from 1959 to 2018 in four “general” categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year,and Best New Artist. From AllMusic, they collected data based on the Grammy information that included artist name, recording name, year of release, record labels the artists released the music with, the production team they worked with, and the stylistic tags attached to each recording. Spotify holds a repository of popular songs; from here, they sourced data on the songs’ sonic features, which are the objective parameters of the music that qualify how the music sounds and is measured by algorithms, including tempo, genre, and key. Looking at the Billboard charts for the 2000s, they found the most albums that sold the most copies. “We combined all of this information coming from different sources, which was a challenge and an endeavor by itself, to attach information related to styles, sonic features, performance on the chart, and performance with the awards,” Negro says. They compared albums of Grammy winners with the albums of the nominees, then compared these with albums from a group of artists in the general market matched on a series of characteristics (such as genre and length of recording career). The researchers found that after artists win a Grammy, they become more experimental with their work, whereas the runners-up make music that is stylistically more conventional. This latter result was unexpected. Negro argues that there is value to be seen in the Grammys–even though it may be criticized for being too commercial or questioned for its relevance–because it has an impact on the music market and the careers of artists who are nominated and awarded. “These prizes celebrate creativity and innovation but may have unintended consequences in terms of their artists’ behavior,” he adds. “If more people become more conventional because of not receiving an award, one implication for cultural production is that awards have mixed impact. They benefit winners because they afford them more autonomy and, perhaps, confidence to explore new ideas, but they don’t necessarily benefit innovation in the field overall because more artists are just becoming more conventional.” He offers that, conversely, there may be a positive impact for artists who were not nominated at all. These artists may try to imitate the winners and try different things in the future. From this, it is clear that there is a benefit to mention who wins an award, but he says it is inconclusive whether there is a benefit to sharing the names of shortlisted candidates. What are the Greater Cultural Implications? “It’s interesting to observe how cultural production is sensitive to symbolic awards,” Negro says. “We tend to think that artists mainly follow their muse or their inspiration, but they respond to the stimuli around them.” Negro speculates that the results found in this study might apply to other industries in which producers or artists can combine different elements of styles to create their products, such as book publishing, visual arts, film, or television. He adds, these results may apply more generally to other markets and professional settings, in which employers create programs of rewards for employees. A bestowal of such awards may empower winners to continue with their behaviors, while discouraging those who were not recognized for their efforts, leading them to return to more typical behaviors. Negro is interested in following up this research by looking at the general impact of all Grammy Awards–not just the general ones–to see if specialized awards have a similar impact. He is also curious to investigate the patterns of collaboration between artists, and if stylistic changes are related to changes in the people artists work with. When Business Meets Research, What Can Students Take Away? Negro says this research also yielded findings that his team did not expect, as in the difference between winners and non-winning nominees. Where they thought they may see similarities, they, instead, saw differences, reiterating the importance of questioning how industries operate. To inquisitive students he advises, “Keep your eyes open and be curious about understanding why or how things work the way they do. Then, be persistent because it can take a long time to bring your idea to fruition.” Interested in knowing more or connecting with Giacomo Negro - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview or time today.

How much exercise is too much? Georgia Southern researchers study cardiovascular health in ultramarathon runners to better understand impacts of physical activity

Is too much of a good thing actually a bad thing? That’s what researchers in Georgia Southern’s Biodynamics and Human Performance Center aim to find out through a recent study of 75 ultramarathon runners during the 50th anniversary of the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run (WSER) in California. The study focuses on the benefits of physical activity beyond the typical recommended amount by examining the cardiovascular effects of extreme exercise in the WSER, a 100-mile trail race through the Sierra Nevada mountains that climbs more than 18,000 feet and descends nearly 23,000 feet before runners reach the finish. Drs. Grosicki and Babcock (University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus) work through the night to collect cardiovascular measures on race finishers. “We know that exercise is beneficial for health, and national and international public health agencies, such as The American Heart Association, advise that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week,” said Gregory Grosicki, Ph.D., associate professor in the Waters College of Health Professions Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology. “Moreover, there is a dose-response relation between exercise and health, whereby an individual can gain even more health benefits by being active for up to 300 minutes per week,” he continued. “However, it is uncertain whether exercising for greater than 300 minutes will confer any additional health benefits, and importantly, excess exercise may actually detract from cardiovascular health.” It is important to note, Grosiciki said, that this apparent “partial loss of health benefits” from excess exercise is theoretical for the time being. “Studies such as ours will help to determine whether this hypothesis is valid, and if so, what can be done about it,” he said. This is the third year Grosicki and colleagues attended WSER to collect data on some of the world’s most extreme athletes. Previous studies focused on changes in gut health during exercise, which, believe it or not, may actually be linked to changes in cardiovascular health. Associate Professor Gregory Grosicki, Ph.D., and research colleagues stand at the start line of the Western States Endurance Run. Grosicki recruited 10 research faculty and students from Auburn University, Florida State University, San Francisco State University and the University of Colorado Anschutz to assist in the data collection. “We measured blood pressure, arterial stiffness, heart size and function and kidney blood flow, and we collected blood and urine from 75 athletes pre-race, 55 of which completed the race and returned for post-race measures,” stated Grosicki. “This is, without question, the largest and most comprehensive dataset ever to be collected at a single event like this.” WSER begins in Olympic Valley, California, and ends in Auburn, California, and is considered one of the oldest and most competitive ultramarathons in the United States. Participation is highly selective, and if chosen, athletes have only 30 hours to cover the distance. The Western States Endurance Run Research Foundation funded this project. This is exciting research and you are a reporter looking to contact Gregory Grosicki, Ph.D. from the Waters College of Health Professions Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology - then let us help. Simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department Earns Lantern Award for World-Class Excellence

ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department is one of 53 emergency departments around the world to receive the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) Lantern Award for 2023, recognizing the excellence of its caregivers in incorporating evidence-based practice and innovation. The ENA Lantern Award celebrates emergency departments that demonstrate exceptional leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research performance. It honors the late Florence Nightingale, who is credited as the founder of modern nursing and is referred to as the “Lady With the Lamp” for her round-the-clock care given to wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. “Every day, our caregivers bring to life the ChristianaCare values of love and excellence through the ways they care for our neighbors who come to the Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department,” said Danielle Weber, MSN, MSM, RN-BC, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive and chief nursing officer of Wilmington Hospital. “By putting the patient first and rethinking outdated models of care, we have created a better experience for patients at a time when they are often most in need. This recognition signifies the transformative effect of our commitment to being exceptional today and even better tomorrow.” Rooted in history, focused on the future Wilmington Hospital has served the community for nearly 125 years, meeting diverse medical needs and providing a safety net for people in underrepresented communities. The Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department is the second-busiest ED in the state, with 58,744 visits in fiscal year 2023. Combined, ChristianaCare’s emergency departments are ranked 12th in the United States and 7th on the East Coast in number of patient visits, according to the American Hospital Association. A highly engaged staff supports the high volume of work in the department, where nurses serve in collaborative decision-making, shared governance and nurse autonomy, “practicing in an environment of empowerment,” said ED nurse Christina Hoddinott, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CEN, CPE, who helped work on the Lantern application for Wilmington ED. “The staff who perform the work participate in decision-making that directly affects their practice,” Hoddinott said. “When our patients walk through our emergency department doors in their unexpected and stressful moments of need, we do everything we can to see that they receive the highest level of care.” Doreen Nord, MSN, RN, CEN, NPD-BC, nurse manager for Wilmington Hospital ED, said the Lantern award reflects the greatness seen every day among its nursing caregivers. “Their commitment and compassion shine, and there is never a doubt about who is most important — our patients,” Nord said. “We are honored by this recognition, the highest available in emergency nursing.” A collaborative effort Wilmington Hospital ED and the other Lantern recipients were recognized in the Hall of Honor at Emergency Nursing 2023, ENA’s annual conference, Sept. 21-23, in San Diego, California. See the list of other award recipients here. “Each and every emergency department on this list has worked extremely hard implementing innovations to better their emergency department for staff and patients alike,” said ENA President Terry Foster, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN. “Hearing the excitement these EDs had when notified that they were a recipient was so heart-warming and reminded me of the commitment that ED nurses have to continuous improvement.” In Wilmington, the spirit of collaboration and support among caregivers creates an environment that ensures patients receive the highest level of care. Hoddinott likens her fellow caregivers to puzzle pieces — each one is dynamic and unique. “When the pieces come together, we have one big complete puzzle. We are a team that supports each other during stressful moments, happy occasions and all the in between,” she said. “Our team does not take for granted the ‘specialness’ we have here, and our patients can truly feel that when they come through our doors.”

Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, Georgia Southern University and Ogeechee Technical College forge transformative partnership

In a milestone collaboration aimed at fostering workforce development, innovation, and community enrichment, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA), Georgia Southern University and Ogeechee Technical College are signing a formal agreement to work together in addressing regional workforce needs while advancing academic excellence and technological innovation. Ogeechee Technical College President Lori Durden, HMGMA CEO and President Oscar Kwon, and Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero sign transformative agreement surrounded by officials from both institutions and HMGMA. The partnership will encompass a diverse range of initiatives that reflect the shared commitment HMGMA and its local education partners have to catalyze positive change for both the academic community and the broader society. Leveraging their respective strengths, this collaboration aims to address workforce demands, create transformative educational pathways, and drive impactful research endeavors. “Together, we are not just building cars; we are building futures, strengthening the community and driving progress,” said HMGMA CEO Oscar Kwon. “That is part of Hyundai’s mission: progress for humanity. Our partnership with these institutions reflects our shared vision for a brighter, more innovative future.” As part of this partnership, Georgia Southern University has committed to build on the success it has already seen in recruitment services for HMGMA. These services will include on-campus information sessions, dedicated company recruiting events, and on-campus interview days for graduating seniors. By bridging the gap between academia and industry, the University is ensuring that its students are well-prepared for the demands of the professional world. The university also will offer professional development certifications and courses for the company’s employees through its Continuing and Professional Education programs. “This partnership stands as a testament to the value of collaboration between academia and industry in driving holistic growth,” said Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero. “By uniting forces, HMGMA and Georgia Southern University are forging a path that not only elevates educational opportunities but also cultivates a thriving community equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.” Georgia Southern also will strengthen its alliance with Ogeechee Technical College to create revised and expanded articulation agreements, pathway programs, and credit transfers. These initiatives will pave the way for the development of collaborative academic programs tailored to meet the specific workforce needs of the region. This includes exploring innovative degree pathways such as Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, as well as fostering additional academic collaborations that align with workforce-driven educational programs. Ogeechee Tech’s commitment includes continuing its record of providing training to local companies to include implementing the Electric Vehicle Professional Technical Certificate of Credit and Hybrid/Electric Vehicle Repair Technician Technical Certificate of Credit programs, and developing Industrial Maintenance Noncredit Training for HMGMA Employees. Additionally, Ogeechee Tech agrees to provide on-campus recruitment events and career fairs to current and past graduates. “Ogeechee Technical College is very excited about entering into this MOU with HMGMA,” said Lori Durden, president of Ogeechee Tech. “This has been several months in the making, and like other institutions and technical colleges in our region, we are going to do all that we can to support the efforts of our Governor to make Georgia the electric mobility capital of America. This is an exciting day for Ogeechee Technical College, and we look forward to supporting the evolving workforce development needs of this region.” With the Memorandum of Understanding, HMGMA will help promote educational opportunities in the region; develop internship, career pathway programs, and other appropriate work-based learning opportunities; and commit to exploring potential research, innovation, and commercialization projects. Interested in learning more or looking to talk with Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero about this exciting new partnership ? Contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Progress lost? Is there any chance for lasting peace in the Middle East?

War is on again in the Middle East - and after years of talks, negotiations and most recently the Abraham Accords - has it all been lost now that war has returned? Glen Duerr, Ph.D. a Professor of International Studies at Cedarville University and a renowned expert in the areas of international relations and comparative politics, can explain the peace process and what might be next in Arab-Israeli relations. If you're covering this ongoing war and need to know more - then let us help with your questions and stories. Dr. Duerr is an expert on this subject and is available to speak to media regarding this topic– simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.

UC Irvine expert on metacognition: Megan Peters

How do our brains take in complex information from the world around us to help us make decisions? And what happens when there’s a mismatch between how well your brain thinks it’s performing this function and how well it’s actually doing? UC Irvine cognitive scientist Megan Peters takes a deep dive into metacognition - our ability to monitor our own cognitive processing. To reach Prof. Peters, contact Heather Ashbach at hashbach@uci.edu or 949-284-1577. “Our brains are fantastically powerful information processing systems. They take in information from the world around us through our eyes, ears, and other senses, and they process or transform that sensory information into rich internal representations — representations that we can then use to make useful decisions, to navigate effectively without running into things, and ultimately, to stay alive. And interestingly, our brains also can tell us when they’re doing a good job with all this processing, through a process called metacognition, or our ability to monitor our own cognitive processing. My name is Megan Peters, and I’m an associate professor in the department of Cognitive Sciences at UC Irvine. I’m also a Fellow in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Brain, Mind, & Consciousness program and I am president and chair of the board at Neuromatch. My research seeks to understand metacognition — how it works in the brain, and how it works at a computational or algorithm level — and it also seeks to understand what this metacognitive processing might have to do with the conscious experiences we have of our environments, of each other, and of ourselves. So in our research group, we use a combination of behavioral experiments with humans, brain imaging (like MRI scans), and computational approaches like mathematical modeling and machine learning or Artificial Intelligence, to try to unravel these mysteries. I think my favorite overall line of research right now has to do with cases where our brains’ self-monitoring sometimes seems to go wrong. So what I mean is, sometimes your brain “metacognitively” computes how well it thinks you’re doing at this “sensory information processing” task, but this ends up being completely different from how well you’re actually doing. Imagine it this way: you’re driving down a foggy road, at night in the dark. You probably can’t see very well, and you’d hope that your brain would also be able to tell you, “I can’t see super well right now, I should probably slow down.” And most of the time, your brain does this self-monitoring correctly, and you do slow down. But sometimes, under some kinds of conditions or visual information, your brain miscalculates, and it erroneously tells you, “Actually you can see just fine right now!” So this is a sort of “metacognitive illusion”: your brain is telling you “you’re doing great, you can see very clearly!” when in reality, the quality of the information that it’s receiving, and the processing it’s doing, is really poor, really bad — in essence, that means that you can feel totally confident in your abilities to accurately process the world around you, when in fact you’re interpreting the world totally incorrectly. Now normally, in everyday life, this doesn’t happen of course. But we can create conditions in the lab where this happens very robustly, which helps us understand when and how it might happen in the real world, too, and what the consequences might be. So this is fascinating both because it is a powerful tool for studying how your brain constructs that metacognitive feeling of confidence, and also because — in theory — it means that your subjective, conscious feeling of confidence might be doing something really different than just automatically or directly reading out how reliably you brain is processing information. And that could eventually provide a better way to investigate how our so-called phenomenological or conscious experiences can arise from activity patterns in your brain at all.” To reach Prof. Peters, contact Heather Ashbach at hashbach@uci.edu or 949-284-1577.

It's a fabulous fall - and our expert can explain why all those colors come out this time of year

Autumn has arrived.  And as we all take time to welcome this wonderous palette that nature delivers year after year, those who are curious about all those colors are looking for answers. Why there are so many different shades, tints, and tones? What causes the colors to change? And where's the best place to find one of nature's finest displays of leaves? It's a topic that comes up every year, and recently Connecticut Public Radio connected with UConn's Bob Fahey to get some of the answers about autumn in New England. I ventured into a forest in northeastern Connecticut with two UConn tree experts. We met up at Horsebarn Hill, one of the best viewpoints in the state, surveying a rolling river valley showing off with fall colors. We see oaks just starting to turn red. Nearby hickories provide a dash of yellow – and, of course, the maples are already stealing the show, even on a cloudy day. Here’s what I found out: Our trees are diverse One reason the foliage is so good is simply due to the number of species we have. “We have a very diverse hardwood forest in this part of New England,” said Bob Fahey, an associate professor and forest ecologist at UConn. “We have both species that are more southern species and also some of the more northern species.” “In comparison to say, the Mid-Atlantic or other places that have lots of deciduous species, we have maples, which are just the best,” he said. “We also have a number of species that have nice yellow foliage,” he said. “Birches and beech. If you go a little bit farther south from here, mostly what you have is oaks. And oaks can have good fall foliage colors, but there are a lot of times they don't and they don't last for as long.” We have lots and lots of trees The diversity of species provides a diversity of color, said Tom Worthley, an associate extension professor and a forester at UConn. He asked me to remember the last time I flew over Connecticut. What did you see, he asked. Lots of trees, right? “Most of the ground is covered by a tree canopy,” Worthley said, noting that some estimates put that tree canopy cover at around 75% of the land area of the whole state. “Back where we were standing a few minutes ago, we had some cherry trees,” Worthley said, his eyes scanning the trees enveloping us. “There's a few remnant ash, there's some walnut around the edges here. And let's see, some hickory.” A walnut tree towers over us – and there are even some white pines. It’s that varied bioscape that sets New England forests apart. “Even in my two-acre forest behind my house, I have 22 different species of tree, which is more than some regions of the northern part of the U.S.,” Fahey said. Travel to the west, and what you’re likely to see are lots of evergreens and aspen trees. “Not that there aren't others, there are plenty of others, but not in the same abundance and not in the same kind of mix that we have around here,” Worthley said. Climate plays a role Across New England are rolling hills with microclimates that can contribute to vibrant fall colors. “You’ll see ... highly different color in different parts of the landscape, which has to do with temperature differences,” Fahey said. Combine that with Connecticut’s mix of southern and northern species and the colors here might not be as exciting and bright as what you would see in Vermont and New Hampshire, Fahey said. But our foliage season can sometimes last a little bit longer. One reason? Oaks. “We have so much more of that oak component,” Fahey said. “The oaks will hold their leaves until the end of October.” Moisture, temperature and the amount of daylight all contribute to how long it takes for a tree to shed its leaves. And, for each species, the calculation is different. “A tree makes an economic decision,” Worthley said. “It decides, ‘Well, it's costing more in energy to keep these leaves going than what they're producing for me and so it's time to shut them off.’” Why do leaves fall anyway? It’s when leaves are green that the most important work is happening, pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and giving us oxygen. And for that green color, we can thank the pigment chlorophyll. “The color that's in the leaves – is always there from the time the leaf is grown,” Worthley said. “As the growing season fades, the chlorophyll disappears,” he said. Then the other colors in the leaf can begin to show off. Pigments like anthocyanins (reds and purples) and carotenoids (yellows and oranges) peek out, tiny threads in an autumnal blanket transforming New England’s green forests into a richly colored landscape. The colors are out - but only for a limited time.  If you're a journalist looking to know more about this topic before all the leaves fall, then let us help. Dr. Fahey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment and Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He is also the George F. Cloutier Professor in Forestry, director of the UConn Forest, and associate director of the UConn Eversource Energy Center. Simply click on his icon now to arrange a time to talk today.

Middle East 101: Our expert walks you through centuries of tension and how we go to where we are today

There's nothing new about tensions, clashed and all out war in the Middle East. For thousands of years, it has been an area that has seen bloodshed, war and very few moments of peace. With all of the world watching the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a quick lesson in the history of the region might help everyone understand this very complex region a little easier. It's why we sat down with Glen Duerr, Ph.D. a Professor of International Studies at Cedarville and a renowned expert in the areas of international relations and comparative politics. If you're covering this ongoing war and need to know more - then let us help with your questions and stories. Glen is an expert on this subject and is available to speak to media regarding this topic– simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.

“Three-Dimensional” Warfare Adds to Uniqueness, and Danger, of an Israeli Offensive in Gaza

In the weeks following the attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, all signs indicate that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are planning a ground offensive within the Gaza Strip. An incursion into the strip, where Hamas is headquartered, would be distinct by nature; Israel has engaged within Gaza only a handful of times since 2005, when it dismantled its own settlements there. But according to Frank Galgano, PhD, an associate professor of geography and the environment at Villanova University and an expert in military geography, any ground offensive in Gaza would be unique—and dangerous—given the geography of the territory. “It's not a traditional geography of a conflict,” Dr. Galgano said. “Gaza is basically the size of Philadelphia. When you go into it, you’re fighting in a city, or a densely populated urbanized area, and it becomes three-dimensional warfare.” By “three-dimensional,” Dr. Galgano is referencing the ability of Hamas combatants to engage by ground, from high up inside or on top of buildings and from below, using the vast network of tunnels Hamas has constructed throughout Gaza. These dimensions complicate planning and add to the danger for Israeli soldiers. Conversely, they provide a serious advantage to Hamas militants. “It's also a very confined area,” he said. “It's so densely populated and heavily urbanized. That's the operational environment… With all operations in urban environments, you’re dealing with cultural features, too. In Gaza, you’ve got mosques, schools, museums; you have civilian population integrated into the battlefield. That makes things very difficult. Hamas will take advantage of that urban geography.” That population density, which is among the highest in the world with more than 2.2 million people on 140 square miles of land, significantly impacts the strategy and abilities of Israeli ground forces. Galgano contrasted it with other operational environments, such as the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. “There are movement corridors, ridges, valleys, avenues of approach and communication—all this stuff that makes sense from moving units around the battlefield,” Dr. Galgano said. “It is not the same in Gaza. It’s highly condensed in that vein.” There are other unique factors at play, too. Hamas reportedly has nearly 200 hostages from their October 7 attack. Dr. Galgano believes they are being strategically held throughout Gaza. “[these hostages are] probably in subterranean areas and bunkers well underground,” he said. “That, or they will put them in their headquarters [as a deterrent to Israeli strikes]. Israel probably knows exactly where some of these hostages are, [but] what do they do?” Dr. Galgano also considers the battle inexperience of IDF reservists as well. The IDF are “very well trained,” he said, and have many professional standing units, but in an offensive like this, “they need manpower and that’s going to be their reservists. “In 1967, 1973 and 1983, when Israel called up their reservists, [many] were war veterans already. Now, it’s different. They haven’t fought a ‘big’ war since 1983, so there is an inexperience level at play too.” Ultimately, Galgano thinks that if the IDF enter Gaza, they are going to “go up the middle and split the Gaza Strip in half… They are going to take out Hamas infrastructure in [Gaza City and Khan Younis], their two centers of gravity.” He thinks they will be able to do so, barring something unforeseen, “fairly easily.”