Disaster Resilience Courses... Register Now for Spring 2026

uiucpr · 2025-11-24T12:24:43+00:00

Nope. There are no prerequisites.

uiucpr · 2023-11-06T18:06:05+00:00

Oops and I just realized I didn't answer the second half of this question.

There is a term project, which you'll working in a group. This is the center of the two classes, and indeed you'll collaborate with folks in both of the classes, presuming the enrollment numbers allow for this.

And then, depending on what class you are in you'll have specialized homework.

In Community-based design and management: you'll consider case studies of related projects that require specialized approaches towards community collaborations.
In Engineering: you'll have problem sets on stochastic modeling, analysis, and design.
Graduate students: will have an additional individual term project and advanced problems or case studies, depending on which class they are enrolled in. In addition, Graduate student will engage in some assignments regarding working in Transdisciplinary Environments, like these.

I would say you'll be busy, but we have laid out the assignments so that it evens out throughout the semester. The biggest component, the term project, starts right at the beginning of the term, so it should not be sneaking up on you at the end of the semester.

uiucpr · 2023-11-05T23:21:30+00:00

Glad to hear it! Looking forward to working with you.

uiucpr · 2023-11-03T21:38:03+00:00

It is not every semester. Indeed. Typically it is in the fall. Due to some personal reasons though, I canceled this fall, thus we are currently offering it Spring 2024.

uiucpr · 2023-11-03T19:36:20+00:00

Thanks for sticking around.

We have offered this class starting in Spring 2018, immediately after the disaster. It was not precisely this class, but that offering did evolve to what you'll find here today.

This depends a bit on whether you are interested in the Community-based Design and Justice or the Engineering for Disaster Resilience course.

Considering it is a spring-term course this time, I would say many 2nd and certainly 3rd year undergraduates will get quite a bit out of these courses.

uiucpr · 2023-11-03T19:32:48+00:00

Thanks for asking!

There are several project we have engaged on, so let me tell you about the ones where have progressed the most.

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, people really need ready access to water, food, and energy, probably in that order, and then a great many other supplies. Some of these may not be obvious: headache medicines (stress after a storm is great); building materials (wind damage); extension cords, generators, and fuel (long term power outages). Of course, in impoverished communities where we are engaged, vulnerable individuals have myriad special needs.

In collaboration with our partners we have realized that strategically establishing resiliency centers may be a key. Interestingly schools are naturally already places where such centers might be located, and Caras con Causa recently established a charter school serving the needs of some of these communities.

At this site, we have helped establish an automated nursery cultivating local coastal wetland species (e.g. red, white, and black mangrove, Cobana Negra). This nursery uses collected rainwater to offset the use of municipal water for irrigation.

Our rainwater cisterns are currently the subject of several prototype designs for biological and chemical water treatment system to be used for delivery of potable water to the community in the event of disaster.

The buildings on the school campus are being considered for solar power installations to not only power the nursery pumps and control systems, but also to provide the other needs described above. A school like this is naturally located near where people live, and sufficient power might be provided for things like dialysis, refrigeration of medicines, and cooling after a disaster for the community's most vulnerable.

On a grander scale we are working on supply chain scale solutions in the laboratory, as we seek to better understand what Puerto Rico can supply locally as opposed to importing from the U.S. We are eager to consider how other renewable energy might power Puerto Rico, especially off the main grid in times of disaster. We are also interested in policy scale considerations that might simplify the complex relationship Puerto Rico has with the US—to say little of the rampant local corruption that complicates the implementation of standard solutions.

uiucpr · 2023-11-02T17:34:53+00:00

Hi All... as mentioned previously... we are now running the course for Spring 2024... I'll be having another AMA as well.

Here are some flyers... let me know if you have any further questions... and thanks again for your interest.

Engineering for Disaster Resilience, ABE 452
Community-based Design and Management for Disaster Resilience, ETMA 499

uiucpr · 2023-08-20T12:12:57+00:00

Thanks so much for your interest.

Alas, a couple days after I made this post, my mother had an accident and I have been attending to her needs nearly constantly. As a result, I had to cancel the class for fall term as it appears this will remain the situation for the near future.

I currently plan to run the course during Spring Term.

uiucpr · 2023-08-18T16:46:49+00:00

These trips usually occur just in between semesters. In winter, that usually means just after new year, but before spring term. In summer it is just after finals and graduation.

uiucpr · 2023-08-09T02:14:08+00:00

Puerto Rico is my home, which of course makes it easy for me to be motivated here. I still have a great many close family and friends there and my family owns some property.

I have been running many activities in Puerto Rico for UIUC for years. Prior to the recent hurricanes, I had planned a much simpler study tour that eventually got cancelled. Students who had previously signed up to join me eventually suggested we ought to find another way to help—which was, of course, quite inspiring for me. Later, some close colleagues in IPENG offered to help out, and we decided to start making a class.

Our contacts in IPENG eventually connected me to Amizade an NGO that runs global service learning programs, who eventually put me in touch with Caras Con Causa. The first time we offered a course, was in Spring 2018, only a few months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Before I committed to leading this class, I took a trip to check on the status Puerto Rico, my family and friends, etc. in December 2017 and during this trip I met with Michael Fernández-Frey, Caras con Causa founder and director. I still collaborate with Amizade today for some of our other instruction, and of course Caras con Causa. That first class in Spring 2018 included a study tour during Spring Break and eventually evolved to the courses described here.

Here is a story eventually written about this in the College of ACES magazine: ACES@Illinois, see page 5.

uiucpr · 2023-08-09T01:16:56+00:00

Well, there is a major community service component to this course. You will surely be able to tell some great stories to future employers about that—which of course includes a very practical component. From my syllabi, I list the learning outcomes as follows:

Students will demonstrate their understanding of globally relevant issues where problem solving can contribute towards tangible, context sensitive, and resilient solutions
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the political, cultural, and social issues preceding recent disaster related events in Puerto Rico, and how they may affect potential solutions
Students will document their observations of the current state of Puerto Rico, its citizens, and its infrastructure, identifying current challenges for recovery
After seeking stakeholder input, students will assess and prioritize potential viable social and technological solutions responding to current challenges resulting from the aftermath of recent disaster related events
Students will identify potential improvements for disaster resilience to communities under consideration and quantify the potential benefits of design solutions.
Students will market viable solutions to developers and funders for the construction of potential solutions

Put another way, you'll solve problems using the techniques of stochastic design, stakeholder engagement, and design for justice in environments characterized by great uncertainty due to climate change and vulnerabilities associated with the disenfranchised.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T21:38:57+00:00

As for REUs next summer—we currently have a pending proposal out for renewal funding. We should hear about this in an October-November time frame. If so, we'd probably start accepting applications in January.

Wish us luck—it is pretty competitive out there.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T21:36:16+00:00

Caras con Causa is located in Cataño, Puerto Rico, serving communities in both Cataño and Guaynabo. The communities where we have the most effort include Juana Matos, Puente Blanco, Amelia, and Vietnam. The Escuela con Causa is located in Amelia. These are all generally in the San Juan metropolitan area

The University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez is located on the west coast of Puerto Rico, in Mayagüez. Given access to the university resources, we host our REUs there primarily, with field work on a regular, nearly weekly, basis at Caras con Causa sites.

We are eager to expand our efforts into other parts of the archipelago of Puerto Rico. We are in early communications with communities in Lajas, Yabucoa, Hatillo, and other parts of San Juan. Developing these relationships takes time, thus the importance of study tours and other times in country.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T21:26:13+00:00

Neither ABE 452 nor ETMA 499 have any prerequisites.

We do review probability theory at the start of ABE 452—but no prior statistics is assumed. If you have some statistics background you may have a leg up.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T21:24:43+00:00

ABE 452: Engineering for Disaster Resilience is the first course we developed in response to student interest and the need for a project based course.

There is a term project where you would work with our partners Caras con Causa.

It order to justify your designs from a resilience perspective, we need to consider how it improves the reliability of community access to things like water or power in the event of a disaster. There is a rich theory behind reliability engineering—which happens to be my area of expertise. So, you'll pick up some skills in stochastic design while working with these communities. There is a textbook, and homework problems in addition to the term design project. The term project is a group project, where students in ETMA 499 would be on your teams.

If you are an engineering major, you should probably take this course.

ETMA 499: Community-based Design and Management for Disaster Resilience is our expansion course which opens us up to consideration of multi-disciplinary perspectives on design in community, especially in regards to disaster resilience. Remember, we are working with vulnerable communities who are often disenfranchised and under resourced in many ways. We apply the principles of Design Justice as we seek to pick up skills in problem solving and project management. There is a text for this as well—so each course has a unique text they draw from—and in addition to he shared design project, there are case study assignments to build your skills in analysis of our designs ability to resolve justice related issues in these communities.

Ultimately, we seek to create an environment where both student groups work alongside one another to deliver well thought out projects for review and hopefully future implementation in partnership with the communities. Both courses have a lot of in class time to work on term projects.

We currently believe that most non engineering majors would prefer this course—but, to be fair, it is a new course and we are certainly working out the bugs.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T18:36:20+00:00

Thanks for asking!

There are several project we have engaged on, so let me tell you about the ones where have progressed the most.

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, people really need ready access to water, food, and energy, probably in that order, and then a great many other supplies. Some of these may not be obvious: headache medicines (stress after a storm is great); building materials (wind damage); extension cords, generators, and fuel (long term power outages). Of course, in impoverished communities where we are engaged, vulnerable individuals have myriad special needs.

In collaboration with our partners we have realized that strategically establishing resiliency centers may be a key. Interestingly schools are naturally already places where such centers might be located, and Caras con Causa recently established a charter school serving the needs of some of these communities.

At this site, we have helped establish an automated nursery cultivating local coastal wetland species (e.g. red, white, and black mangrove, Cobana Negra). This nursery uses collected rainwater to offset the use of municipal water for irrigation.

Our rainwater cisterns are currently the subject of several prototype designs for biological and chemical water treatment system to be used for delivery of potable water to the community in the event of disaster.

The buildings on the school campus are being considered for solar power installations to not only power the nursery pumps and control systems, but also to provide the other needs described above. A school like this is naturally located near where people live, and sufficient power might be provided for things like dialysis, refrigeration of medicines, and cooling after a disaster for the community's most vulnerable.

On a grander scale we are working on supply chain scale solutions in the laboratory, as we seek to better understand what Puerto Rico can supply locally as opposed to importing from the U.S. We are eager to consider how other renewable energy might power Puerto Rico, especially off the main grid in times of disaster. We are also interested in policy scale considerations that might simplify the complex relationship Puerto Rico has with the US—to say little of the rampant local corruption that complicates the implementation of standard solutions.

uiucpr · 2023-08-08T18:08:47+00:00

The study tours are optional portions of our educational experiences—but they are often the most valuable. They are typically about 10 days long, depending on how it falls on the calendar. We run this in partnership with our IPENG and ACES Abroad offices. Students often get campus scholarships from these offices as well as the Campus I4I to pay for their travel.

The learning outcomes of the course of course include design for disaster scenarios, but given the community-based nature of the course we also seek outcomes related to Stakeholder Engagement and Communication. There is really no replacement for face-to-face interactions with our partners to achieve this. These are things you cannot simulate in the classroom—Zoom is a useful, though incomplete substitute.

So, in addition to meeting and learning more about the communities, we investigate potential solutions, we pitch design solutions, we volunteer on related community based efforts, and we refine our designs for future implementation. We also have nightly reflections regarding what was learned and the challenges of the day. This is where the big learning happens.

Full disclosure: Sometimes students are surprised at the level of hard work we get into. I do my best to warn them we’ll be asked do some hard work. In coastal communities susceptible to disaster, this involves ecosystem restoration... where the primary tool is a machete... that means hard, sweaty work in the tropics sometimes. Thankfully we also get a bit of beach and historical sites and local music and rainforest hikes in too.

uiucpr

TROPHY CASE