The Protective Technology Center (PTC) at Penn State was established prior to the events of 9/11 to focus research and development activities with the goal of protecting people and infrastructure from terrorist attacks. The center encourages the use of multi-disciplinary research teams to address problems related to blast, shock, impact, and biological terrorism related concerns. The center is house in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, but researchers include faculty, staff, and students from multiple Colleges within Penn State as well as the Applied Research Laboratory