Dec 03, 2024  
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

Disaster Science and Management (PhD)


The purpose of graduate education in Disaster Science & Management is to provide students with the intellectual ability to understand, create, integrate, and apply sophisticated discipline- specific interdisciplinary knowledge to the disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation. Recognizing that the discipline itself is inherently interdisciplinary and continues to evolve, students are expected to acquire the vocabulary and critical thinking skills to acquire and evaluate future knowledge.

Toward these ends, the following are the goals for the DISA PhD:

  • Program Educational Goal #1: Students will be able to explain the development of disaster science as an interdisciplinary field. This includes the principal theoretical approaches from geography, sociology, political science, and anthropology and how they have evolved over time.
  • Program Educational Goal #2: Students will articulate how the interconnection of social, natural, and technical systems generates hazards and vulnerabilities along axes of gender, race, class, sexuality, and age, among other human attributes, characteristics, and identifiers.
  • Program Educational Goal #3: Students will comprehend theories of individual and organizational responses to hazard and disaster in such areas as warning, evacuation, donations, volunteers, emergence and convergence, and other areas.
  • Program Educational Goal #4: Students will critically analyze scientific arguments; dissect the structure and argumentation style of scientific papers; and form research questions, propositions, and hypotheses.
  • Program Education Goal #5: Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research and writing by developing, proposing, and implementing a research plan leading to a successful dissertation.

 

 

Requirements for the Degree:


The Doctor of Philosophy in Disaster Science & Management requires 47 credits of graduate- level coursework beyond the Master’s degree including 9 credits of dissertation. Students are expected to demonstrate interdisciplinary strength across both social disaster sciences and engineering or natural disaster sciences, as well as advanced methodological skills. The 47 credits of coursework are specified in the individual planned program of study, and must include:

Core Requirements:


15 credits

Equity, Justice, Disparities, or Vulnerability of Disaster:


3 credits. Choose one of the following:

Disaster-focused Social/Public Health Sciences:


3 credits. Choose one of the following:

Physical or Natural Science or Engineering:


3 credits. Choose one of the following:

Other Requirements:


Interdisciplinary Research and Grant Proposal Development


3 credits.

Research Methods/Analysis Courses


(9 credits, 6 credits at advanced level) 

Courses must be pre-approved by the Disaster Science & Management Program committee or a designated sub-committee.

Dissertation:


9 credits.

Doctoral Professional Development:


(1 credit during first two semesters; 2 credits total)

Credits to Total a Minimum of 47


Last Revised 2024-2025 Academic Year