Professor Kyle Lutes (left) and his students developed a valuable tool for WHI.
USA (MNN) -- In an effort to better be the hands and feet of Christ in an emergency, World Hope International recently enlisted the help of Purdue University's technology department.
The system they created eliminates much of the paperwork and allows quick response in the first crucial 48 hours of a crisis. Emergency management typically deals with preparing, supporting, and rebuilding a society or community when natural or man-made disasters occur.
In that first window, chaos generally rules the area, and infrastructure is unreliable. A quick response can make a life or death difference in many survivors' lives.
That said, the team developed a new web-based disaster management software program that will streamline crisis response. It allows WHI to keep track of supplies, volunteers, and command sites.
In an effort to create a more effective means of managing the daily operations of a disaster command center, WHI sought a technological solution from Purdue University. Through Purdue's academic resources, a student team offered WHI this critical tool as a gift of intellectual property.
Ten students designed the software during a spring semester course under Kyle Lutes, Associate Professor of Computer and Information Technology. Over 1,370 hours were spent on application development, resulting in a product value that Purdue estimated at over $68,000.
