Kansas University political science faculty have been called on to lend their expertise to the war on terror.

A political forecasting program organized at KU has been asked to join the International Center for the Study of Terrorism, a network of universities in the U.S. and abroad that will work together in the investigation of terrorism. The center is based at Pennsylvania State University.

“We have a strong focus on the concept of actionable knowledge,” said Kevin Murphy, Penn State psychology professor and the center’s director. “We can’t simply do good academic work. It’s absolutely critical that we translate what we do.”

The newly formed consortium will rely primarily on faculty in the social and behavioral sciences, including sociology, political science and religious studies.

It will investigate the root causes of terrorism and find ways to warn people of the threats.

“We know much less than we need to know about the decisions people make in terms of joining terrorist groups,” Murphy said. “We simply don’t have enough of the combination of solid data and good research to understand the motivations.”

The center also hopes to use its findings to advise policy makers. For example, the center could evaluate airport security systems in a country and determine whether that technology could be useful in other countries.

Murphy said the center also could tackle the U.S.’s color-coded security alert system and propose better alternatives.

KU political science professors Philip Schrodt and Deborah Gerner more than a decade ago began work on the Kansas Event Data System.

The program analyzes news reports and picks up on patterns as a form of political forecasting. It can predict, for example, overall levels of violence in an area with an accuracy of 60-80 percent.

Schrodt and Gerner have used the program to study the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, which is their area of focus. But it can be used for other areas as well, Schrodt said.

And that is how it can contribute to the terrorism center.

“We’ve basically built a tool,” Schrodt said. “It’s a tool anybody can use.”

KU has not been called on to assist in a project yet, but it may in the future. The center, funded with about $100,000 from the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority and the Keystone Homeland Security University Research Alliance is in the process of writing proposals to solicit more financial support, Murphy said.