Bryan Ruef, Cal State Fullerton Student, Combats Coronavirus as a First Responder and Entrepreneur | College of Business and Economics at CSUF (bryan-ruef-cal-state-fullerton-student-combats-coronavirus-as-a-first-responder-and-entrepreneur)

An ambulance rushes to a call in an urban area.

Photo from CSUF News

When Cal State Fullerton computer science student and CSUF Startup Incubator resident Bryan Ruef isn’t studying, he is making a difference as the U.S. combats coronavirus – both as an emergency medical technician helping out with local needs in Orange County and as founder of 10-8 Systems, a next-generation computer-aided dispatch system used by first-responders globally.

“First-responders are definitely at risk in this pandemic,” says Ruef. “We walk into patients’ homes, and we’re in the back of a small ambulance with little space between us and those who are ill.”

Ruef is also making a difference through his brainchild, 10-8 Systems, which assists dispatchers by providing the exact location of an emergency and better anticipating needs; along with its other capabilities, the system is in great demand across the nation.

The new federal stimulus package, which earmarks billions of dollars for improved security and spawned a surge in private security services as commercial and industrial sites are closed, has provided new avenues for 10-8 Systems to make an impact.

“Some federal agencies are using this opportunity to move to modern systems, and they want to do it quickly,” says Ruef. “We just signed a five-year agreement with a city in Maryland, and we’ve been given the green light by a federal police agency to deploy to their locations across the United States.”