Mr. Ryan is a retired US Army officer and currently a Professor at Jacksonville State University's Department of Emergency Management within the Institute of Emergency Preparedness. The program provide instruction on various aspects of emergency preparedness with a focus on terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, medical aspects of emergency management, public health preparedness, biodefense, and biosecurity. His research interests are biothreat pathogen detection, agro-terrorism and the role of military forces in disaster response and humanitarian assistance.Since 2003, Professor Ryan has also served as Managing Director of Quetzal Consulting, Inc. a private firm specializing in a wide array of consultative services related to biothreat pathogen detection, tropical diseases research, course development, diagnostics development, marketing and product management. Services are provided to the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, defense contractors (SAIC, GeoCenters and EAI) and biotechnology and diagnostics companies, among others.