Class meets Tuesdays from 4:00 pm to 5:15 pm (location: TBD). Each class format will be a combination of lecture and discussion, typically with expert, guest participants. In each of weeks 1-9, there will up-to-an-hour prep (e.g., a reading) before the class, which includes student-defined questions for the in-class meeting, and there will be up-to-an-hour post-class responsibilities (e.g., a blog post). The expectation is that for this 1 credit course, you will spend approximately 3 hours per week, including in-class time. Weeks 10-14 will be spent working on an individual or team project.
Week 1 (August 28): Overview of the course. Class format, grading, website; Overview of factors relating to the immediate implications of New Madrid Earthquake for warning, evacuation, building and other infrastructure safety, search and rescue, demands for medical attention, roads and transportation, and cellular networks and other IT (and thus, communication with families); Critical thinking that is both open and skeptical regarding known science about and response plans to a New Madrid earthquake; Is Vanderbilt prepared and how can we better prepare; Differences between risk perception and actual risk.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 1 (action plan) by Friday, August 31 1:00 pm.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Question to Week 2 guest based on their bio and the week 2 readings by Monday, September 3 at 1:00 pm
Week 2 (September 4): The science and experience of a powerful New Madrid Earthquake on Vanderbilt and Nashville, and earthquakes generally, including relevant geology of the region, ground waves and warning times, measuring earthquakes (seismographs, Richter scale), and estimating magnitude of earthquakes before monitoring existed (e.g., in 1811 and 1812). Guest facilitators: Dr. Garrett Tate, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University;
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 2 by Friday, September 7 1:00 pm.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Question to Week 3 guests based on their bio and the week 3 readings by Monday, September 10 at 1:00 pm
Week 3 (September 11): More on implications of earthquake on building safety, and on other structures; What are the weak points in current Vanderbilt and Nashville buildings — residential, administrative, physical plant (water, energy), etc — and how might these weaknesses be remediated? A description of current building codes and their importance. Plans and timeline for re-occupancy of buildings following a quake. Guest facilitators: Dr. Curtis Byers, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University; Clint Camp, W&A Engineering
- Blog Post 4 is being combined with next week’s questions.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Questions on Week 4 readings by Tuesday, September 17 at 12:00 pm
Week 4 (September 18): Session at Vanderbilt office of Emergency Preparedness. Overview of the Vanderbilt Emergency management team operations, both during the acute period of Earthquake and aftershocks, and the weeks and months to follow.Psychological and law enforcement considerations. Search and rescue, including by drones and other robotic means. Continuing on advice (and recommendations) on provisioning food, water, and other necessities for students, staff, particularly residential staff and faculty, and roles of various campus players. Guest Facilitators: Johnny Vanderpool, Director, Vanderbilt University Public Safety; Office of Emergency Preparedness, Fire, Workplace Safety; Jim Kramka, Senior Director of Housing Operations; Mark Petty, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Plant Operations; Mitchell Lampley, Director of Engineering and Technical Support, Plant Operations; Lisbeth V. Wyatt, Director of Operations, Plant Operations
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 5 by Friday, September 21 1:00 pm.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Question to Week 5 guests based on their bios and the week 5 readings by Monday, September 24 at 1:00 pm
Week 5 (September 25): More on implications for transportation networks, and implications for maintaining supply chains of food and other necessities (e.g., travel to and from Vanderbilt). The basics of risk assessment — how much investment is it worth to Vanderbilt to prepare for a large earthquake in western TN. The class will also discuss case studies of other low probability, high impact events, such as monitoring for near-Earth asteroids, the Yellowstone caldera, and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (though admittedly, all are motivated by much higher impact events). Guest Facilitators: Professor Mark Abkowitz, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Professor Hiba Baroud, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; David ter Kuile, Campus Dining
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 6 by Friday, September 28 1:00 pm.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Question to Week 5 guests based on their bios and the week 5 readings by Monday, October 1 at 1:00 pm
Week 6 (October 2): Class attends the Parker Lecture with Dr. Rae Zimmerman, who works on urban planning, transportation, and resilience.
Week 7 (October 9): Design considerations for information technology, including infrastructure for telework and teleclass, mobile app warning systems for incoming earthquake ground wave (it had better not sound like a tornado warning); non-cellular communication systems for communications with families; non-cloud apps for acute conditions, cloud-based apps for awareness and training. Guest Facilitators: Vice Chancellor John Lutz, VUIT See his slides here.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 7 by Friday, October 12 1:00 pm.
- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Question to Week 8 guest based on their bio
and the week 8 readingsby Monday, October 15 at 1:00 pm
Week 8 (October 16): A retrospective on previous classes and critical thinking in science and engineering, as well as risk assessment, both formal and informal perception of risk. Guest Facilitators: Professor Jonathan Gilligan
Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on Blog Post 7 by Friday, October 19 1:00 pm.- Post to Brightspace Discussion Board on two possible topics (of approximately 50 words each) for your end-of-semester project by Monday, October 22 at 1:00 pm
Week 9 (October 23): Review and discussion of possible projects; e.g., designing a mobile application to warn of incoming shock waves; a report on emergency robotics search and rescue, including demonstrations with drones; roles for residential faculty and staff, and provisioning of their residences; an analysis of telework capabilities under disaster conditions; development of training and awareness materials; researching the 1811-12 earthquake effects on early Nashville, and today’s methodology for estimating their magnitude; a fictional short-story, set in the near future, on the implications of an earthquake on Vanderbilt and Nashville, with some treatment of technology; a graphic design poster/flyer/e-image to increase awareness). (Expectation: 1.75 hours outside of class on project) Guest Facilitators: Wond’ry (Robert Grajewski, Deanna Meador, Kevin Galloway, and/or Dominique Anderson)
Week 10 (October 30): submission and discussion with instructor of student proposals for projects, and draft grading rubrics for each (Expectation: 3 hours outside of class on project)
Week 11 (November 6): overview on project proposals in class, and individual meetings on project progress with individuals and teams (Expectation: 1.75 hours outside of class on project)
Week 12 (November 13): individual and team meetings with instructor on project progress (Expectation: 3 hours outside of class on project)
Thanksgiving Break (November 20)
Week 13 (November 27): individual and team meetings with instructor on project progress (Expectation: 3 hours outside of class on project)
Week 14 (December 4): project poster session (Expectation: 1.75 hours outside of class on project)