Penn State Risk Courses I Would Have Taken Way Back When…
Sunday, December 21st, 2008Each semester when the schedule of classes are posted, I often find myself perusing the listing to pick out those courses offered at the University Park campus of Penn State that seem like they would be helpful for improving my understanding of risk and risk analysis. I don’t actually plan on taking any of these. But so far I picked out the following from the undergraduate (and graduate) course catalog:
- B A 497: Risk and Decisions (3): Conceptualizing decisions involving risk, analyzing choices, estimating the risk, and communicating the analysis
- CMPSC 443 Introduction to Computer and Network Security (3): Introduction to theory and practice of computer security with an emphasis on Internet and operating system applications [Sp09, TR 1615-1730]
- EARTH 101: Natural Disasters: Hollywood vs. Reality (3): Analysis of the causes and consequences of natural disasters; comparison of popular media portrayal of disasters with perspective from scientific research [Sp09, TR 945-1100]
- ENNEC 473: Risk Management in Energy Industries (3): Analysis of strategies for mitigating business risk from market, atmospheric, geophysical uncertainties including the use of energy/mineral commodity futures/options, weather derivatives, and insurance [Sp09, TR 945-1100]
- FIN 413: Risk Management and Financial Institutions (3): Measuring and managing risk faced by financial institutions.
- GEOSC 402Y: Natural Hazards (3): Case studies of the causes and consequences of natural disasters; analysis of disaster impact in different economic, cultural, and social conditions [Sp09, MWF 1010-1100]
- HLS 410: Public Health Preparedness for Disaster and Terrorist Emergencies (3): Analyzes the history of terrorism and explores the preparation and response to specific terrorist threats, natural disasters, and conventional catastrophes.
- I E 454: Applied Decision Analysis (3): Theory and practice of decision analysis applied to engineering problems.
- I H S 470: Analytical Methods for System Safety (3): Quantitative and qualitative methods of system safety of analysis are covered; issues in risk assessment, acceptance, analysis, and communication, as well as accident cost analysis and cost-benefit analysis are included.
- INS 301: Risk and Insurance (3): Introduction to the principles and methods of handling business and personal risks; emphasis on insurance techniques.
- INS 405: Corporate Risk Management (3): Insurance management for corporate organizations; self-insurance, risk transfer, and other alternatives to insurance.
- INS 575: Risk Management (2): Develop an understanding of the risks facing corporations and the methods available to deal with those risks.
- IST 564: Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management (3): Examines the fundamental elements of crisis, disaster, risk and emergency management. Emphasis is placed on the use of analytic methods and information technologies to prepare for, protect against, respond to, and recover from the effects of naturally-occurring (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, diseases) and anthropic hazards (e.g., industrial accidents, malicious attacks).
- M E 446: Reliability and Risk Concepts in Design (3): Introduction to reliability mathematics. Failure data collection and analysis. Components and systems reliability prediction. Effects of maintenance on reliability. Risk Analysis. Case studies in engineering applications.
- METEO 460: Weather Risk and Financial Markets (3): This course will introduce the role that weather plays as a source of financial and operational risk for businesses, market and other institutions [Sp09, TH 1115-1230]
- METEO 476: Atmospheric Natural Disasters Seminar (3): Survey of naturally occurring, catastrophic meteorological events, including severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, aviation hazards, floods, and severe winter storms.
- P ADM 401: Introduction to Homeland Security (3): This course provides foundational knowledge about homeland security, including policy, organization, and legal issues in the American context.
- P ADM 404: Homeland Security and Defense in Practice (3): This course analyzes, evaluates, and critiques homeland security plans in practice.
- SCM 456: Supply Chain Risk Analysis (3): Business processes are modeled as a network of queues using discrete-event simulation and analyzed model outcomes using statistical methods.
- SRA 311: Risk Management: Assessment and Mitigation (3): Assessment and mitigation of security vulnerabilities for people, organizations, industry sectors, and the nation.
Note that I included IST and SRA courses for completeness. Of course there are plenty other courses of interest to me, such as a pair on creative problem solving in the systems engineering program, one on biological networks in the physics department (PHYS 597B), one on game theory in the economics department, and a host of others.


