Master's in Emergency & Disaster Management
On-Campus Course Schedule for Spring 2025

Advanced GIS

Reducing the impacts of future disasters requires a comprehensive understanding of disaster risk in all its dimensions including vulnerability, capacity, exposure, hazard characteristics and the environment. Understanding how to measure and communicate disaster risk is a core principle for both global disaster risk reduction. Through all phases of disaster management, GIS provides tools and methods to examine and anticipate hazards and risks, protect lifelines, and enhance resilience, while helping to illustrate complex information to improve decision making. Risk analysis provides the factual basis for hazard mitigation planning and disaster risk reduction activities. In this course, students will learn fundamental concepts, tools, and methodologies for applied GIS analysis and visualization of hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities. The first half of the course provides a hand-on tutorial of ArcGIS Pro, a powerful and industry-leading software for geospatial analysis. Students will benefit from lab assignments and project-based exercises, coupled with readings. The course integrates perspectives from contemporary literature in the physical and social sciences to identify and describe risk, vulnerability, and disaster resilience with empirical data and real-world examples. Students will apply their understanding of course concepts and methods in a semester- long, iterative final project in which they develop a GIS data and analysis to support practical, evidence-based decision-making for emergency and disaster management.

Capstone

This course is primarily focused on the culminating project required to graduate with the Masters of Emergency & Disaster Management degree from Georgetown University. The Capstone course is designed to guide students through the process of integrating the knowledge gained during their EDM coursework into the final requirement of their degree—the Capstone project. The class will assess a student’s ability to conduct research and apply their knowledge to a real-world problem or to a specific issue within the field. For their Capstone project, students will utilize research skills to identify a topic that meets the approval of the EDM Faculty Director, articulate a research question, propose a thesis, utilize existing literature and arguments, select methods, collect and analyze data, draw conclusions, and make recommendations. Students will work with a dedicated advisor to develop the project, orally present the project to a review committee, present their work at a poster session at SCS, and submit their written Capstone project for final evaluation. Although the Capstone project is largely self-directed, this course is designed to add structure to the process of completing the project. A foundation in research and methodology will be laid in the early part of the semester but as the course progresses, the student is expected to function independently. The course instructor and the Capstone Advisor will provide guidance and feedback throughout the semester. To ensure each student completes their project on time, elements of the Capstone project will be due and graded throughout the semester. Enrollment in this course is through application and approval. A minimum final grade of “B” is required in the Capstone course in order to qualify for graduation, regardless of the student’s cumulative GPA. If a student receives a final grade below B in the Capstone course, s/he must retake the course.

Note: Registration requires department approval. This course section is a traditional in-person section and a core requirement of the degree. Students must complete this course with a grade of B or better.

EDM Internship

Ethics & Critical Dec Making

The Ethics course is a core course in all Georgetown SCS MPS programs. Students are introduced to ethical methodologies, principles, values, and frameworks as related to the processes of risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, and consequence prediction and management. Students study discipline- and field-specific codes of ethics within the profession. The course explores the ethical responsibilities all disaster management professionals have to themselves, organizations, the government, and the public. Students will apply an ethical decision-making framework and gain experience in decision-making surrounding ethical issues in disaster management with an all-hazards perspective including aspects of public health engagement. Discussions include ethical situations based on past and current real-world scenarios, including the uncertainty, probability, and consequences of risk assessment and communication, with topic discussions focusing on the ethical issues facing emergency managers. During their final project, students codify an individual code of ethics in relation to professional codes.

Note: This course section is a traditional in-person section and a core requirement of the degree. Students must complete this course with a grade of B or better.

GIS for EDM

This course is for emergency and disaster management students interested in learning the many facets of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for emergency management. The unfortunate reality is that emergencies and disasters will continue to proliferate in size, scope, and intensity. More people in diverse geographical contexts will be affected by future emergencies. Given that emergencies are fundamentally spatial in nature, GIS plays a critical role in emergency management. In this course you will learn the conceptual, technological, analytical and representational capacities of GIS as as they apply to the policy and practice of emergency management. Note that this course is not a comprehensive GIS software training course. Rather, the course has been designed to give you ideas and examples that will show you what GIS is capable of doing for emergency management. You will learn basic geographic data and software skills in order to begin using GIS for emergency management applications. This course will prepare you for further in depth course work on GIS as a standalone subject and/or the application of GIS to your specific emergency management interests.

Methods for ED&HU; Crisis Mgmt

The emergency and disaster management discipline is increasingly faced with complexity--complexity in crisis situations, politics and policy, social vulnerability and resilience, community perceptions of risk, and more. These complexities can be addressed by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data and results, and it is important to understand the different research approaches available to researchers and knowledge practitioners. It’s also important to understand the different philosophical assumptions and interpretive foundations that frame our understanding. This course explores quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research approaches, drawing on the interdisciplinary literature that emergency and disaster management draws from. Students will conduct critical evaluations of research design and dissemination, and construct a research proposal for a topic of their choice. This course also explores the many ethical considerations taken when conducting research in the emergency and disaster management discipline.

Note: This course must be taken in the semester prior to Capstone. Registration requires department approval.

Post Disaster Recovery

Project Mgmt & Budgeting

Disaster management professionals must learn how to develop all-hazards preparedness plans addressing multiple types of emergencies and disasters (including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, public health emergencies, and technological disasters). This course equips students with the knowledge and tools they need to successfully execute project management techniques and thereby perform efficient planning and response activities. Students will practice competent risk assessment and risk communication processes with ethical project management strategies. This course also teaches students how emergency management programs fit into the strategic/fiscal plans and priorities of governments and organizations. Furthermore, students learn how to develop and manage a budget and how to create a realistic fiscal plan for high consequence/low probability events. By the end of the course, students will be able to advocate for the importance of prevention, mitigation, and financial preparedness in emergency and disaster management.

Public Health & Emeg. Mgmt

This course investigates the role of public health and emergency management professionals in planning for and responding to public health (PH) emergencies. Topics covered include: public health law, public health preparedness and response, pandemics/outbreak detection and response, the impact of natural and manmade disasters on community health, disaster epidemiology (post-disaster disease spread), and the psychosocial impact of disasters. This course also provides perspectives on managing PH emergencies in the developing and “Third” world as well as “First World” environments. Case studies of recent events will be explored as well as analysis of historical public health crises such as Katrina, SARS, H1N1, COVID-19, and major earthquakes/tsunamis. Cases will highlight the challenges that complex disasters have on the health of communities and how these health issues further complicate emergency management efforts.

Risk Perception Awareness

In this course, students develop the skills to successfully communicate with various stakeholders concerning disaster preparedness and management. Particular emphasis is given to the awareness of risk perception, and its subsequent effects on risk tolerance and hazard mitigation.

Socio-Cultural Dimensions

This course focuses on the many ways in which socio-cultural features of a community may impact different aspects of disaster planning, response, and recovery. Students learn to integrate these considerations into the planning process and how to incorporate considerations for vulnerable populations. This course also teaches students to recognize and plan for socio-cultural and/or geo-political sensitivities while minimizing unintended social or health consequences.

Theory & Legal Framework

This course will provide the disaster risk management student with an advanced All-Hazards preparedness view of the complexities of emergency management and disaster response, from local, state, and international/ global perspectives. It grounds students in the historical context and rapidly changing factors impacting Global and U.S. emergency management practices, including theoretical concepts (such as risk, hazard, sustainability, resilience, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation), legal structures, the risk assessment community and their skill sets and core competencies. Students understand the evolution of the emergency management system, environmental public health systems (and opportunity for integration), and public expectations, perceptions, and engagement. By the end of this course, students will demonstrate how to respond to historical and hypothetical scenarios by applying knowledge of hazards, public health considerations, community readiness, and regulations.

Note: This course section is a traditional in-person section .

WMD & Terrorism

This course introduces the students to the emergency management aspects of a terrorist attack. A range of scenarios will be examined, including the challenges associated with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive hazards. Students will look at the planning challenges from preparedness through to recovery, with comparative analysis to natural disasters to determine the different requirements. Particular focus will be given to real world examples where possible. Terrorism & WMD requires students to examine the elements of a coordinated, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline response. When planning against such high impact-low probability scenarios students will explore horizon scanning for threats and countermeasures, risk communication and the use of ICT to support planning and decision making.