Hazards, Resilience & Human Security
The United Nations recently estimated worldwide economic natural disaster losses from
1999 to 2018 at $2.9 trillion, which is a 68% increase from the prior 20-year period.
Our faculty focus on human security in the face of hazards such as climate change,
global terrorism, pollution, conflict, and contagious disease, as well as on building
societal resilience across local, regional, and global scales.
Courses and Degrees
Courses in Hazards, Resilience, and Human Security cover topics of natural and anthropogenic hazards, health and disease, terrorism, crime, conflict, and climate change. Students taking these courses will gain an understanding of hazards, societal vulnerabilities, and policy and planning approaches to promote resilience and human security. These courses can be combined within the Hazards, Resilience, and Human Security Emphasis for the Geography BS. Undergraduates can also use these courses as part of an interdisciplinary Hazards and Emergency Management Certificate.
Faculty
Tim Collins
Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies – human-environment interactions; vulnerability; hazards and disasters; environmental justice; health disparities; climate change, water, wildfire, and air pollution
Tom Cova
Professor -- Environmental hazards, emergency management, transportation, geographic information science
Philip Dennison
Professor, Chair, and Director of URSA Lab -- hyperspectral, multispectral, and lidar remote sensing of terrestrial ecosystems, wildfire and firefighter safety, imaging spectroscopy
Andrew M. Linke
Assistant Professor -- political geography, political violence, Kenya, spatial statistics, GIS, climate change and conflict
Richard Medina
Associate Professor -- GIS, spatial analysis, geography of terrorism and insurgent activity, complex systems in social and geographic spaces
Kathleen Nicoll
Associate Professor -- geomorphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geoarchaeology, arid lands, petroleum geology