As an interdisciplinary research center at The University of Alabama, our research is at the heart of our software development process and essential to the CAPS mission.
From traffic safety to law enforcement to weather preparedness, our developers, social scientists, and analysts are constantly looking for ways to build products and solutions that make the world a safer and better place.
We conduct our own software research and development and partner with various colleges within the University to deliver high-quality, well-informed work. Additionally, we collaborate with research centers at other universities including Mississippi State University, University of Puerto Rico, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Our research generally falls into three main categories: Social Science, Traffic Safety, and Public Outreach. Within these categories, our continually expanding research areas currently include Weather and Disaster Response, Law Enforcement, Transportation and Traffic Safety, Human Trafficking, Cybersecurity Education and Outreach.
Our research processes include:
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Focus Groups
- Direct Observation
- Organizational Analysis
- Big Data
- Data Analytics
- Information mining
- Algorithms
- Optimization
- Resource Allocation
- Countermeasure Design
- Multidisciplinary Relationships
- Software engineering and virtual reality
Social Science & Research
CAPS researchers are well-versed in the complex and significant social issues that present challenges to public safety. Our interdisciplinary approach to research results in robust and applied solutions to managing the human factor in public safety and communication.
- Data: Just as our research informs our software solutions, the data gathered with CAPS software helps direct ongoing research. Read the Research Papers
- Research Projects: We partner with faculty and organizations throughout Alabama and the country to focus on specific challenges in applied settings. Learn More
- Conferences: CAPS researchers routinely present and attend social science, emergency management, meteorological, and public safety conferences. Learn More
- Public Applications: We use our focused research to create applications and solutions to community and organizational problems. Read the Research Papers
Traffic Safety Research
CAPS empowers decision-makers with expertly derived information.
- Forecasting: We conduct special studies on traffic safety using data from our analytics software and disseminating it for public use.
- Research Papers Our traffic safety research is at the foundation of many of our projects and is routinely expanded upon in academia. Read the Research Papers
- Conferences: CAPS researchers are found at many national-level traffic safety conferences as presenters and attendees. Learn More
Outreach Efforts
CAPS provides outreach services to train users on the systems we have developed and demonstrate the application of our research results. These services to state and federal agencies have expanded dramatically over the past decade.