Tunnel to be featured on National Geographic

A West Virginia University project to seal off transportation tunnels during a terrorist attack or natural disaster will be profiled this week on the National Geographic channel.

The project - a plug designed to inflate should there be a fire or a breach in a transportation system - will be featured in the show "Hi-Tech War on Terror." The program airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28.

The work of researcher Julio Davalos is sponsored in part through the state's Research Challenge Fund, which is funded by video lottery proceeds. In 2007, Davalos received a five-year, $1.5 million Research Challenge Grant to establish a Center for Transportation Security and Infrastructure Innovations.

01/27/2009