A helicopter crashed in the United Kingdom on Wednesday; 15 minutes later, a funnel cloud touched down in Pell City, Ala., shortly before an incident of school violence broke out in Loxahatchee, Fla. — all of which were noticed in a Texas university classroom.

DRC/Candace Carlisle

University of North Texas professor Jack Rozdilsky navigates through situational awareness software, which tracks emergencies around the world. The software is new to UNT and was unveiled as part of a new emergency operations lab on Wednesday.

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The University of North Texas unveiled a new emergency operations center on Wednesday that brings real-world emergency situations to the classroom for students to practice on.

And students could use the practice, said Eliot Jennings, a university lecturer and emergency operations coordinator.

“We do a great job, but there is no practical experience other than internships,” Jennings said.

The emergency degree program, which has about 200 students currently enrolled, is the largest in the United States, and it was the first degree program for emergency management in the nation, he said.

Having a state-of-the-art lab is necessary for the program to stay on top of ever-changing technology, said professor Robert Bland, chairman of UNT’s Department of Public Administration.

“As a faculty, we knew we should do this. We did not want to be left behind,” Bland said.

The Grainger Foundation donated about $30,000 worth of equipment and software to the program, he said.

Two separate emergency software programs help give students the tools to compile data streams to make life-or-death decisions, said professor Jack Rozdilsky.

“We’re working the same information that the professionals use,” Rozdilsky said. “We can make mistakes. If we make a mistake on this, it’s OK. We can go back and learn from it.”

As he navigated through one of the software programs Wednesday, he switched modes from academic to professional, showing concern about a funnel cloud moving through Alabama at 45 mph.

An Army depot, with possible arms, and a large city were in the direct path of the storm.

“We hope they have a good plan in place,” he said. “If we were in class right now, this is what the students would be looking at.”

The new lab will help students gain the necessary skills to use both natural and social sciences to solve complex problems that arise in possible emergency situations, Rozdilsky said.

“We don’t know what we will respond to in a day — we’re dealing with the unknown,” he said.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com