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About Us.

What is CIRAT?

Mercyhurst Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training

The Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training (CIRAT) provides students with applied experience and resources to hone their skills in the various intelligence, data science, and cybersecurity fields.
The CIRAT has worked with more than 300 government entities, private sector companies, and nongovernmental organizations on real-world projects, giving nearly 1,300 students marketable applied experience in their fields of study before they graduate. Student analysts gain real-world skills in competitive intelligence, strategic intelligence, tactical intelligence, data analytics, and cyber security by working with the following different types of companies across the nation and internationally:

-National security organizations
-U.S. government agencies
-Private sector businesses
-Law enforcement groups
-Competitive intelligence organizations
-Nongovernmental organizations

Director of Operations, Brian Fuller, presents the CIRAT Lab to interested high school seniors

Where Are We?

The Mercyhurst Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training has a facility on the Mercyhurst University Campus located in Erie, PA.

Who Are Our Students

CIRAT analysts are mentored by experienced staff and faculty within the disciplines in which CIRAT operates. The CIRAT team is composed of undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of majors across the University including:

Intelligence Studies

Cybersecurity

Data Science

Marketing

Graphic Design

International Business

Communications

How Does The CIRAT Operate?

The Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training consists of 3 Guardian Programs and 3 Production Labs, allowing students to gain experience in different areas of Intelligence, Data Science, or Cybersecurity.

Each one of the Programs or Labs has a student director that is either a graduate student or an upperclassmen and is fully staffed by students. The Programs and Labs taskings and projects are edited and overviewed by a professor or other faculty member.

Students have the ability to begin working in one of these areas beginning in their freshman year. Freshman will work on projects in our Freshmen Shadow program where they will assist upperclassmen and other students with the tasking of the project. As the student develops they will move to a full analyst position, lead analyst position, and potentially a lab or program director position.

Guardian Programs

Watch

 ​The Watch is a program that monitors and analyzes a dynamic list of client indicators on a global scale. Some capabilities include geopolitical risk analysis, air and marine monitoring, and comprehensive open-source research.

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SAINT

SAINT works to actively engage the surrounding community and NGO clients to help combat human trafficking, kidnapping, and runaway situations for at-risk persons by directly applying Mercyhurst University’s student talent in cyber security, intelligence analysis, and data science with access to state-of-the-art technology.

RFJ

The Rewards for Justice (RFJ) is a DOJ program that generates useful information that protects Americans and furthers U.S. national security. The program offers rewards for information on terrorism, foreign-linked interference in U.S. elections, and foreign-directed malicious cyber activities against the United States.

Production Labs

Business Innovation & Intelligence Lab – BI2

The Business Intelligence and Innovation Lab team empowers corporate security practitioners and their executives with the ability to ingest information both quickly and efficiently by breaking down said information into manageable and actionable levels. Through the utilization of both open-source intelligence and business information analysis, the members of BI2 can create and leverage intelligence-driven security, risk research, and tools to assist corporate security leaders in identifying and communicating information that is relevant to both the security and the supply chain for private sector businesses.

Innovation Entente Lab –
IEL

The IEL is a member of the Northwest PA Innovation Beehive Network focused on providing competitive business intelligence products, data science solutions, and cybersecurity support to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the greater Erie region and Northwestern Pennsylvania.

NWPA Innovation Beehive Network

Intelligence Fusion Lab –
IFL

The IFL is a production lab outfitted with the capability to provide strategic and competitive business intelligence through open-source research methods to collect, process, analyze, and distribute professional products to real-world clients. Strategic intelligence services involve the analysis of geopolitical events, adversaries, and courses of action development while defining operational landscapes and offering potential outcomes in months or years to come. Competitive business intelligence focuses on the private sector and offers insight into the competitive landscapes of a business, the competitive advantages and disadvantages, supply risk and security, and the effects of geopolitical-driven issues. The IFL also provides experienced student analysts, data scientists, and cybersecurity majors who work to support daily company intelligence/information operations directly.

Meet Our Leadership.

The Best People To Support Your Project
John Olszowka

John Olszowka

Associate Vice President, Strategic Initiatives

Brian Fuller

Brian Fuller

Executive Director Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training (CIRAT) Office of Strategic Initiatives