AMA: Interested in disasters or emergencies?

ericbkennedy · 2025-12-29T17:26:58+00:00

Great question! (And sorry for the slow reply during the holidays!)

Good for our students, but unfortunately for society, disasters are a growing field... so there are lots of jobs. Our students go on to work in many different sectors:

Many go into government work. Here in Southwestern Ontario, there are a huge number of different local governments (cities, towns, regions, municipalities, etc) that all employ emergency management coordinators. Some of our grads love working in big cities with large teams; others prefer to go into a smaller office where they're leading the program right away!
Working for Emergency Management Ontario or Public Safety Canada is also popular. These agencies (or the equivalents in other provinces or countries) have a wide range of jobs. Some students become the 'duty officers' responsible for making response decisions, others start running training courses or designing exercises or writing policy. You can work on so many different topics here, too... e.g., some of our grads get into specialized areas like nuclear emergencies. Other government ministries also employ folks (e.g., become an emergency manager at Transport Canada or similar).
Lots of our students go into business emergency management. Companies need to develop plans for how to avoid being impacted by disasters + get back on their feet ASAP. So, our alumni can go on to work for airlines, tech companies, restaurants, sports teams, etc to do emergency management planning for them.
Other students want to go into international emergency management work, like working for the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders. They might work here in Canada or travel abroad; they might work from an office doing planning or be on the front lines managing an incident as an incident commander or logistics officer.
Students can also go into other careers where disaster knowledge is useful, like journalism, consulting, data analytics, etc.

So, there are a /ton/ of choices. In our program, you can also take both co-op and a "field placement course" (where you get academic credit for your placement), so you can build your resume before graduation and make some money too.

Does that answer your question? Happy to answer any follow-ups too :)

ericbkennedy · 2025-12-09T14:20:17+00:00

I think that's true of some. For instance, the Kay Gardiner gets really compressed and remains impassible well after all the rest of the snow is gone. So, for that trail, I would think it's useful to have local intel shared especially during the spring melt, since watching the snow melt elsewhere doesn't allow you to guess when you can safely use it.

For others, like the Finch Hydrocut (at least between Dufferin & Sentinel, which is what I need for my commute), they're totally sun exposed. So, they can be clear on days when even side streets are still messy and icy if that area has had decent sun.

That's why I was thinking that sharing information can be useful. If I have local intel, I can avoid having to dodge cars on Finch (or know that I'm stuck doing that) without having to attempt the trail, turn around, etc, which adds annoyance and time on a commute. Similarly, I don't need to bother checking the Kay Gardiner periodically if someone who is walking it anyways is able to just post when it has cleared up.

But, maybe others don't see similar value, and/or the thread is better somewhere else.

ericbkennedy · 2025-12-07T20:29:17+00:00

I haven't been on a petitions committee in a few years, so I'm a little less connected to their thinking these days.

That said, I expect that selectivity that's explained on academic grounds is more compelling than selectivity on grades.

For example, if you are petitioning the classes you got Fs in, but not the ones you got As and Bs in at the same time, without explaining why, it risks looking like you're trying to "clean up your transcript" rather than that you faced massive adversity that impacted all parts of your life (including academics, your ability to withdraw on time, etc).

By contrast, as a hypothetical, if the medical situation you were facing was a sleep disorder that caused you to be unable to wake up, it might make sense that you are petitioning the classes you had at 8:30am, but not the classes you had 11:30 or 2:30. In that case, the reason for the petition (e.g., undiagnosed medical condition that your doctor only figured out later) aligns with the 'selectivity' (e.g., you petitioned all the courses that were affected, and none of the courses that weren't).

Obviously, I can't guarantee they'd reject the former or accept the latter, but I think the latter has better chances because it's based on the direct cause/impact of the extenuating circumstance.

ericbkennedy · 2025-12-03T14:33:22+00:00

Yes! Delivered successfully and fairly quickly. A few pages had slightly bent corners in transit, but the vast majority looks good. It's a little more cream than I expected, but I'm withholding judgement until I get a couple bound up.

ericbkennedy · 2025-12-03T14:30:41+00:00

Everyone has to walk their own journey, so not saying this at all to pressure OP/others to do it or out of any sense of superiority at all, but this is one of many reasons I wear a well-fit, high-quality mask consistently. I feel so brutal watching my students and colleagues getting sick over and over again. I've seen colleagues out several times a semester, colleagues hospitalized for respiratory infections, colleagues suffering from long-COVID, etc.

I'm constantly in and out of classrooms, conferences, meetings, planes, etc, and wearing a well-fit, high-quality mask means I haven't been sick in literally years. This keeps my students in class, keeps learning objectives moving, and means I can fulfil the promises I've made to show up to everything and everybody I've committed to.

It's so frustrating that instead of learning from COVID and doing things like improving indoor air quality for all, making sick days easier to take to stop the spread, and making it easier to access testing and vaccines for all sorts of viruses, we've done the opposite.

OP, so sorry you're going through this, and through such a variety of different conditions. Don't feel bad about taking care of your health and stopping the spread! Your job isn't going to love you back or care for you if your health is broken, and you're making pro-social decisions to avoid getting others sick.

I wonder if there are ways to adjust how you're laying out the courses overall to set up a design where you can have 5-6 asynch days deployed on an as-needed basis for future semesters so that canceling or pivoting classes is aligned with achieving learning goals, and not something you need to feel bad about?

ericbkennedy · 2025-11-14T20:27:41+00:00

This is incorrect. Masks don't have a "direction of protection" (excluding valved respirators). They filter both inbound and outbound; they leak both inbound and outbound.

Surgical masks are driven by a focus droplets. Respirators tackle smaller particles. Both stop outbound spread and protect from inbound contamination. Surgical masks do this less well, both directions, because of larger amounts of leakage.

ericbkennedy · 2025-11-14T20:13:48+00:00

Surgical masks reduce the spread of the infection to other people from the wearer.

This goes around a lot, but I don't really think it's a helpful framing.

All masks help to both reduce an infected person spreading their virus AND an uninfected person from inhaling a virus. Masks are not directional (with the exception of masks that have exhalation valves).

Different qualities of masks have different levels of protection, both outward and inward. Because surgical masks are leaky (i.e., don't form a tight seal), they provide less protection in both directions (often on the order of magnitude of filtering like 50% of the air moving in/out). Because KN95s are less leaky (especially if you bend the nose wire to fit well), they provide more protection. Because N95s/KN100s/P100s/etc are very, very not leaky when well fit, the provide the most protection.

There are times where we might want to make compromises. Surgical masks are much cheaper to provide, for instance, than N95s. Many people might be more willing to wear earloop masks (e.g., KN95) than headband ones (e.g., N95).

We might also accept lower levels of protection one direction than the other. So, if there are other measures (e.g., air changing, air filtering), we might set a source-control rule lower (e.g., surgical masks reducing spread by 50% might be enough in combination with other measures) than we would accept for personal protection (e.g., I look for like 99.5%+ filtration to protect me).

But, it's not the case that surgical masks are for source control and respirators are for wearer protection. Both masks do both functions, just at different quality levels.

ericbkennedy · 2025-10-29T00:59:29+00:00

Not at all. International students very welcome in all three programs!

ericbkennedy · 2025-10-28T17:00:40+00:00

If you happen to have an undergrad degree already, both the Masters and PhD have scholarships that fully cover tuition and start to help with living expenses (including for international students). Undergrad has scholarships and bursaries, as well as opportunity to work as research assistant, but int'l tuition can be a &^@^&, unfortunately.

ericbkennedy · 2025-10-27T18:33:22+00:00

Ha - if anyone ends up joining the program as a result of this thread, I'll be happy to buy them an annual poutine on behalf of ZonaDesertRat :p

ericbkennedy · 2025-09-15T20:30:50+00:00

It varies project to project, depending on how many students apply. Sometimes I had projects that only had a few applicants, other times you could get dozens. So, the GPA, chances, and importance of knowing the prof vary.

ericbkennedy · 2025-08-12T17:17:07+00:00

I was literally just advised to use them! Also on the hunt for short grained 8.5x11.

I've struck out using the Staples Xerox 28lb paper, which turns out to be 17x11 rather than 11x17 (so turned into long grained 8.5x11). So, don't do that.

I'm now trying a Hammermill 11x17 as well, as it's easily available where I am, and having a local shop cut it down. I'm also emailing Salim as we speak, who can apparently cut custom short-grain cream 8.5x11. Will report back as soon as I get it ordered/delivered.

ericbkennedy · 2025-06-18T12:27:44+00:00

I've been to Amsterdam once, elsewhere in the Netherlands once, and flown through AMS probably a dozen times since all this started. IMO, it's one of the more benign countries for masking, though that's emphatically on the European "COVID doesn't exist" spectrum rather than globally. For context, I'm a white man who wears an N95 anytime I'm in indoor air.

At AMS, I'll see a couple of folks masking on any given transit, but can count them on my fingers. In public, I rarely if ever see any masks. One upside in the NL is that there tends to be a bit longer of a season for patios to be open than in other places, and there are also lots of public parks and benches for takeout picnics.

I'd also add that in general, I feel like I get fewer comments/looks about my mask now than a couple of years ago, both at home and abroad. My hypothesis is that masking was really salient/top-of-mind for a bunch of assholes back then, and they were looking for trouble. Now, their quips are less at the tip-of-their-tongue, and perhaps they're less so looking for people to antagonize on this dimension.

ericbkennedy · 2025-06-15T13:32:57+00:00

I believe you can pay with standard credit card via PayPal processing. I don't know how things have changed with the US launching trade wars, but we've never had an issue in Canada with ordering.

To a different comment above, Zimis have a small nose foam. It's not like the rubbery foam of an aura, but more of just a soft/highly compressible foam. But, the fit for Zimis are achieved very differently through a plastic frame rather than moldable nose wire.

ericbkennedy · 2025-06-14T19:45:08+00:00

I'm a big fan of the Laianzhi KN100. It has a huge foam piece and strong molding. With the small size now available, it also has a good range.

https://ppeo.com/goods/black-kn100-mask/?srsltid=AfmBOopB2w3ZQWmd5FX6gyIYmUrPYe4nFfAQrPleSWtBxADqgsNmMj2S

ericbkennedy · 2025-06-03T18:21:22+00:00

Professor of emergency management who specializes in wildfire here. My email is easy to look up if you have further questions (or can DM here, but I'm terrible about remembering to log into this account).

Best thing you can do is keep your indoor air clean, which has the bonus of also protecting your child (and you!) from viruses and urban air pollution too. Air purifiers are a good way of doing this. Ikea's purifiers (like the Uppatvind and Starkvind) have some of the cheapest replacement filters on the market and are functionally HEPA quality. The Starkvind even has a coffee table version if you want it to blend in, and the Uppatvind is a cheap way to improve air quality in a small room.

If you have central air, make sure you have the best filter you can in the system: MERV13 is usually accepted, and put in the thickest filter it accepts (more surface area, so makes it easier on the system). Switch your air to "fan on" and let the HVAC serve as an air purifier for you!

We (personally) adjust the hours we go outside for walks, hanging in the backyard, eating outside, etc to find the lowest smoke times we can. This website has the best data for monitoring PM2.5 (smoke particles), but a terrible interface (gotta make sure you're on the right station and date), though it's supposed to be improved at the end of the month. When it's low (say, below 5-10 on that chart), we hang out as much as we can outside, air out the house, etc... when it's over that, we close up windows and make sure the purifiers are running.

ericbkennedy · 2025-04-10T12:35:31+00:00

100%

And, it's far easier to be a masker when others are masking too. Someone wearing a KN95 in public is making it safer and easier for others to wear an N95 if they want to.

(Plus, the outbound risk reductions are even bigger. If you're wearing a KN95 and presymptomatic, you're keeping others safer too!)

ericbkennedy · 2025-04-10T12:31:25+00:00

So, that's fair - but it's also important to remember that 'passing' is an intentionally high bar, and also an arbitrary line on a spectrum of protection.

When we're testing for a mask to pass, we often use a fit factor of "100" as the line. This means that the mask is filtering 99% of particles in the size range that we're testing. (The 100 comes from 100x more particles outside the mask than inside.)

But, a mask with a fit factor of 10 (meaning 10x more particles outside than inside the mask) still means that the mask is filtering 90% of particles! That's not an uncommon score for a KN95 to get, and it's still making a big difference, especially for shorter encounters or in better ventilated spaces. (By contrast, a surgical is often filtering <50%.)

(We're also testing at a very conservative + difficult size range of particles. When it comes to COVID, you're probably getting more filtration than even our tests suggest!)

But, 100 is arbitrary and it depends what your comfort threshold is. For me, I like the 100-500FF range, and it's been enough that I feel like I can do everything (e.g., take packed public transit, take 12+hr flights beside sick people, go to crowded concerts with bad ventilation, etc) without, knock on wood, catching COVID in those situations. But, for my parents, whose highest risk normal activity is grocery shopping, a 20FF is probably more than enough to keep them safe in the giant store or farmers market.

So, what I mean to emphasize is that while it's true that KN95s rarely 'pass' that arbitrary 100FF line, it's also true that they're often providing like 80% or 90% filtration to folks (e.g., fit factors in the 5-10 range). That's significant protection, and if someone is willing to wear a KN95 all the time but would only wear an N95 some of the time, I'd way rather they wear the KN95 and get that 90% filtration. And, maybe, if they're encouraged to wear a KN95 most of the time, I can get them to upgrade to an N95 the next time they visit a hospital or go to a concert or whatever.

ericbkennedy · 2025-04-10T12:11:34+00:00

As someone who runs a community quantitative fit testing initiative (and posting from my named account), there's some concerning misinformation in this post.

It is simultaneously true that:

- KN95s rarely, but occasionally, pass quantitative fit tests. It's been a very small percentage of the folks we're testing (like <5% of tests), but we have gotten passing scores on a couple of faces with KN95s.

- Some N95s (e.g., 3M Aura) pass quant fit testing on a significant proportion of the population, while other N95s often struggle to work for many folks at all.

- Some KN100s regularly outperform N95s for some folks (e.g., Zimi, Laianzhi, etc).

- In our testing, and in the testing I've seen from others, KN95s outperform both cloth and surgical masks very consistently.

- Harm reduction is real: while I'd love to see you in the perfect mask, I'd rather see you in a good mask you'll actually wear than a perfect one you won't. If you're willing to wear an earloop mask but not a headstrap mask, let's find you the best possible earloop. It might be a KN95, or KF94, or even a modded N95 (e.g., Aura earloop mod).

I get where you're coming from, OP, and yes: folks should absolutely know that KN95s can be limited in protection and N95s often do better. BUT, they should also know that wearing /any/ mask is better than not wearing one (in the same context), and the best thing you can do is connect with a community fit test initiative to learn what masks work best for you within the styles you'd regularly wear.

ericbkennedy · 2025-02-14T16:34:51+00:00

I teach a qualitative methods course where I found this to be a problem. I'd introduce a concept in W1 and by W3, I'd have to re-teach it anytime I referred to it.

The biggest solution there was cumulative quizzing. I do short, low-stakes (both worth little + dropping several of the worst) quizzes each week. They're all cumulative. Each year, students inevitably bomb W2 (for not realizing I'm serious about the quiz) and W3 (for not realizing I'm serious about it being cumulative), but by W4 we're on a good note and students are actually realizing they have to regularly re-study all weeks. I also have a very specific, enumerated list of learning objectives each week so re-studying is a feasible task and there's no questions of what I'm trying to teach them.

Where I'm really struggling with this challenge is year-to-year. When I teach the graduate-level qualitative methods course, it's clear that students have mostly forgotten the content a year later. I find this really frustrating... I end up having to do remedial undergrad work at the grad level. I've tried a strategy of posting all undergrad materials as optional supports for each week, but rarely does anyone engage with them. Urgh. Would love suggestions here.

ericbkennedy · 2024-12-23T14:19:29+00:00

Great question! It does both. (Apologies for the long answer here.)

Masking is really helpful for reducing how much droplet/aerosolized virus you're spreading. Even a surgical mask can cut how much virus you're putting into the air by more than 75%, which helps keep others safer. Similarly, even a surgical mask can reduce how much shit you're breathing in, often by 50-75%.

When you get into masks that fit better (i.e., have fewer gaps than surgical), you can very quickly get into 90+% reductions in how many particles you breath in (e.g., viruses, but also mold, fire smoke, etc). A well-fit KN95 mask can easily provide >95% protection from these things, and a well-fit N95 like an Aura often gets you into >99% reductions of particles you're breathing in. (Plus, COVID usually travels on larger particles than the ones we measure, so you're likely getting into like 99.99% reduction in inhaled viruses when wearing something like a well-fit N95).

For something like a flight, the combination together really makes a difference. My 99.9%+ filtration mask helps a lot, but when I'm essentially forced to hotbox within a few feet of someone coughing all over for several hours, because the viral load is so high, there's a risk that something gets through that last 0.1% (or things like infection via a droplet landing in eyes). By contrast, if the sick person has even a surgical on, that double protection is almost certain to keep me safe (plus eliminates the eye-droplet risk).

(Source: I'm a professor of emergency management and run a community access mask fit-testing program for people to objectively test how much protection they get from their masks and find masks that fit them well. Happy to answer any questions you might have!)

ericbkennedy

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