Online Master's in Emergency & Disaster Management
Online Course Schedule for Summer 2026

Climate Change

The climate is changing, and humans are a main cause. The impacts of climate change will shift the frequency, intensity, duration, and spatial extent of extreme weather events we have seen in the past. However, planning efforts to adapt to climate change and build resilience are still in their early stages. The role of emergency management and disaster risk reduction is often described in the field as critical to efforts to adapt to climate change - yet few communities are successfully demonstrating what it looks like to have emergency and disaster management fully engaged in climate mitigation and preparedness. The fundamental science behind climate change is well-established, however, uncertainties about both human behavior and downscaling to the time horizon of extreme events will never make perfect climate prediction possible. There are many aspects of resilience that can be improved despite this challenge, and climate science continues to evolve its best practices for using physical and social science to support decisions that require greater precision, including the design of infrastructure. Communities that are successfully planning for climate change are moving past debates on science to equitable engagement that facilitates knowledge sharing across the silos of planning, hazard mitigation, public works, public finance, public health, ecosystem management, and economic development. There is tremendous potential for the perspectives of emergency and disaster management to inform this dialogue and sustain learning for adaptation and resilience building, but this will require transformative approaches that bridge the traditional timescales of EDM, focused on past events, with those of planning, which acknowledge that the weather patterns of yesterday are not the weather patterns of tomorrow. This class will challenge students to examine how emergency managers and others involved in disaster risk reduction can engage with adapting to and mitigating the consequences of climate change at the local, state, federal, and international levels. It is not an operational instruction course, but rather a survey class intended to introduce students to a broad range of issues, practical research, and the state of practice.

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 is a core requirement of the degree. Students must earn 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.

Global Health & Crisis Manage

This course examines current issues and challenges of global health, with a focus on analyzing and responding to global health challenges and international policies. Analysis of national and transnational health trends, including communicable and non-communicable disease burdens. The course introduces essential concepts, principles, and goals of global health and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to addressing global health problems. It will then analyze the different social, political, and economic determinants of health disparities across the globe. Students will apply these concepts to current and emerging global health priorities such as climate change and how to effectively manage future pandemics and crises. Throughout the course, students will gain critical thinking experience in applying tools and frameworks towards addressing diverse global health needs.

Hazard Economics

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the multi-scalar and multi-dimensional economic aspects of natural and anthropogenic hazards. The course explores hazard economics prior, during, and after a disaster in both the US and across the globe. Topics of discussion include hazard-specific economic impacts and losses, insurance and policies related to risk, the moral hazards of disaster relief, business continuity, critical infrastructure, climate change, and more. Students will gain an understanding of hazard economics through case studies, peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed literature, discussions with their peers, and research centered around an economic aspect within the emergency and disaster management field.

Hazard Mitigation Planning

Hazard mitigation is vital in enhancing community resilience and sustainability by reducing the risks from natural and anthropogenic hazards. This course explores the theories and concepts of hazard mitigation, with particular attention paid to planning and the planning process employed to develop hazard mitigation plans. Students will become familiar with the legal and policy frameworks around hazard mitigation, the plan documents themselves, and the importance of critically evaluating plans in order to identify opportunities and constraints in implementing mitigation. Coincident with case studies and readings, students will apply their knowledge through online discussions, evaluating hazard mitigation plans, and developing a mock mitigation plan.

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.

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.