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Graduate courses in resilience engineering through the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering blend traditional and emerging engineering practices with policy, planning, education, and environmental protection to empower graduates to tackle escalating challenges in natural, built, and sociocultural systems.

CEE CoursesGraduate Programs
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Located a few miles from Washington, D.C., UMD students have unparalleled access to professional advancement opportunities in industry and government.

Students in these courses are immersed in a new engineering paradigm that pushes beyond the traditional focus on resistance to strengthen communities vulnerable to disasters. The curriculum takes a multifaceted approach to explore how system performance can be sustained and even improved under a broad range of threats, including both man-made and natural disasters. 
 
Through cross-discipline courses taught by internationally-recognized experts, students develop expertise in the four key components of resilience: plan, resist, recover, and adapt. 

Featured Courses

For additional course information, visit the UMD Schedule of Classes at Testudo.

Risk Analysis for Engineering (ENCE620)

Sources of hazards, definition of risk, system analysis, functional modeling and analysis techniques, probabilistic risk assessment procedure, risk methods, risk acceptance, assessment of failure likelihood, consequence assessment, risk benefit assessment, uncertainty surces and types, modeling uncertainty, risk analysis and decision making under uncertainty, collection of data, expert-opinion elicitation, human-machine interface and human factors engineering.

Project Risk Management (ENCE622)

Introduction to identifying, analyzing, assessing, and managing risks inherent to engineering projects. Includes: probability modeling, choice and value theory, schedule and cost risk, risk mitigation and transfer, and contract considerations of project risk. Examples are drawn from construction, software development, systems integration, and other large engineering projects; and cover probability basics, subjective probability, statistical data analysis, introduction to decision theory, Monte Carlo simulation, value of information, and risk-based decision making.

Assessment of Natural Hazards for Engineerng Applications (ENCE633)

Ensuring the resilience of infrastructure and other engineered systems requires an assessment of the natural hazards to which the systems are exposed. Probabilistic natural hazard assessment evaluates how likely a location is to experience hazard events (e.g., hurricanes or earthquakes) and how likely those events are to cause various impacts (e.g., large surges, intense rainfall, high winds, or ground shaking). This course will review the basic science of natural hazards and provide the foundational concepts of probability and statistics required for developing models to assess the frequency and severity of natural hazards. This course will present methodologies for assessment of multiple types of natural hazards (e.g., seismic, precipitation, riverine, coastal, and wind hazards).

Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering: Disaster Resilience Seminar (ENCE688T)

This seminar with address varied topics in identifying, analyzing, assessing, and managing engineered systems resilient to natural, anthropogenic, and other hazards. This seminar series comprises guest lectures and internal faculty and student presentations on topics related to disaster resilience. Examples are drawn from foundational concepts; hazard science; planning, engineering, and design; risk and resilience assessment; and implementation.

For additional course information, visit the UMD Schedule of Classes at Testudo.

Uncertainty Modeling and Analysis (ENCE627) 

Definition of engineering systems, knowledge levels using information science concepts as applied to engineering systems, sources and types of knowledge and ignorance, uncertainty sources and types for engineering systems, probability models, statistical models, fuzziness, fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, fuzzy arithmetic, imprecise probabilities, evidence methods, uncertainty measures, uncertainty management, uncertainty reduction, applications of these analytical methods to engineering systems and in decision making.

Project Risk Management (ENCE627) 

Introduction to identifying, analyzing, assessing, and managing risks inherent to engineering projects. Includes: probability modeling, choice and value theory, schedule and cost risk, risk mitigation and transfer, and contract considerations of project risk. Examples are drawn from construction, software development, systems integration, and other large engineering projects; and cover probability basics, subjective probability, statistical data analysis, introduction to decision theory, Monte Carlo simulation, value of information, and risk-based decision making.Through experiential learning, lectures, and case studies, the course introduces the underlying policies, programs, and protocols related to the emergency management cycle to better manage the impacts of natural disasters. Students will learn the importance of incorporating disaster-resilient concepts and emergency management principles in project management, engineering, and planning processes to be better equipped to contribute to a more sustainable and disaster-resilient future.

Earthquake Engineering (ENCE715) 

Review of SDOF and MDOF structural dynamics; characteristics of earthquakes; philosophies of seismic design; elastic and inelastic response spectra; design for ductility; principles of capacity design; design of structural systems requiring special performance criteria.

 

Faculty

Bilal Ayyub Bilal Ayyub

PROFESSOR | DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
301-299-9375 | ba@umd.edu

Ayyub is a past chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate and a member of the National Academies panel charged with reviewing the fourth National Climate Assessment. He has authored and co-authored more than 600 publications, including eight textbooks and 14 edited books. Ayyub is also the editor-in-chief of the ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems. 
Greg Baecher Gregory Baecher

Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering
301-405-1972 | gbaecher@umd.edu

A National Academy of Engineering member, Baecher has served on a number of U.S. National Research Council committees and boards, including the Water Science and Technology Board, the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources and the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment. Following Hurricane Katrina, he was named to the Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce, which performed the post-Katrina assessment for New Orleans. 
Michelle Bensi Michelle "Shelby" Bensi

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
301-405-4248 | mbensi@umd.edu

Bensi is chair of the project team responsible for the ASME/ANS External Flooding PRA Standard. Prior to joining CEE, she worked as an engineer for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for seven years. At NRC, Bensi was responsible for site-specific technical reviews for new and operating nuclear reactors, performed research and technical review activities related to probabilistic hazard assessment, led development of agency guidance, and worked on a number of policy papers. 
Gerry Galloway Gerry Galloway

Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering
301-405-7768 | gegallo@umd.edu

A member of the National Academy of Engineering and co-chair of the National Academies' Measuring Community Resilience study committee, Galloway joined UMD following a 38-year career in the U.S. Army, retiring as Brigadier General. During his time in the Corp of Engineers, he served as district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, MS and later as a presidential appointee to the Mississippi River Commission for seven years. 
Sandra Knight
Sandra Knight

SENIOR RESEARCH ENGINEER
301-405-1900 | skknight@umd.edu

Knight is the former Deputy Associate Administrator for Mitigation for FEMA, where she was responsible for the nation’s floodplain mapping, management and mitigation grants supporting the National Flood Insurance Program, environmental compliance for the agency, and oversight of the National Dam Safety Program. Prior to that, she oversaw the development of policies and strategies to ensure scientific excellence at NOAA and worked as a research hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 
​Ed Link Ed Link

SENIOR RESEARCH ENGINEER
301-405-1148 | elink@umd.edu

Link served as the director of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, leading the forensic analysis of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the pioneering risk assessment methods for large, geographically distributed infrastructure systems. This work earned him the McGraw Hill Engineering News Record Award of Excellence in 2006. Prior to joining UMD, he served as the Director of Research and Development and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Chief of Engineers, and Commander, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 
Allison Reilly Allison Reilly

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
301-405-8846 | areilly2@umd.edu

Reilly is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis, INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, and the American Society of Civil Engineers who works at the intersection of infrastructure resilience and individual decision-making. She was previously a research fellow at the University of Michigan and a post-doctoral research associate at Johns Hopkins University. Reilly also served as a research analyst for the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, a federally-funded research and development center in support of the Department of Homeland Security. 

 


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