Graduate Certificate in Environmental Hazard Mitigation and Restoration

This course addresses the fundamental principles and theory of emergency and disaster. It covers the conceptual necessities for effective preparation, response, and recovery. It identifies specific examples of effective theory in practice in different systems.

This is a survey course that is designed to introduce students to the concepts of emergency management. Topics covered include the history of the field, hazard analysis, mitigation, planning, communication, response, recovery, and terrorism. Students conduct interview research with an emergency manager and conduct a site visit of an emergency operations center.

This course is a study of the major legal, regulatory, and policy framework that encompasses environmental programs and projects in the United States and with international political, commercial, and non-governmental institutions. The primary learning approach used in this course will be case studies.

The study and consideration of global environmental and climate change are of increasing significance to society. In this course, students will examine the evidence for and causes of global environmental change and will analyze potential impacts on environmental policy and society. Emphasis will be on the implications of environmental change for environmental managers, including management decision-making, the adequacy of the current regulatory framework in addressing these problems, and the effect on future policy and legislation.

This course provides an overview of what is known about natural hazards, disasters, recovery, and mitigation, how research findings have been translated into policies and programs; and a sustainable hazard mitigation research agenda. The course also provides an examination of past disaster losses and hazards management over the past 50 years, including factors--demographic, climate, social--that influence loss.

This course will examine the concept of restoration ecology, which employs science, applied techniques, and environmental design principles to restore ecological processes and biological communities on disturbed, degraded, or altered landscapes. Students will conduct scientific study and explore techniques used in restoring endangered species, native prairie, rare plants, riparian areas, streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, watersheds, woodlands, and wildlife habitat. Course Objectives: • Explain the philosophy, scientific foundation, and challenges of restoration ecology. • Apply the principles of restoration ecology through the development of a detailed restoration plan. • Analyze habitat requirements, ecosystem function, and anthropocentric influences to determine the restoration approach for a species or population. • Assess the various scales of restoration (organism to landscape) to develop a holistic approach to ecosystem restoration and management. • Analyze the impacts and threat of climate change on ecosystems.

This course presents an introduction to the dynamics of ecosystems and the effects of toxic substances on its living and nonliving components, and incorporating human health issues and concerns. Students will examine the regulatory framework for environmental contaminants issues and detail the federal regulations, policies, and guidelines under which current environmental remediation is done. A key aspect of the course will be the application of risk assessment principles through case studies to gain an understanding of how to develop remediation plans and restoration alternatives that meet or exceed established regulatory guidelines.