Masters of Environmental Management: Projects in Environmental Security

Projects are available for Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) students who would be interested in working on problems of environmental security as manifested in the built-environment. One area of interest involves a quantification of factors associated with changes over time in elements of the built-environment, and the evolution of particular instabilities or vulnerabilities that may characterize elements of that environment. For example, the number of people that can be housed in a single building has increased over time as larger and larger buildings have been constructed. The evolution of such structures correlates with an increasingly large number of people that could suffer loss should a failure of the structure occur. An index of the social impact, or magnitude, of the failure of part of the built-environment, such as the collapse of a building or the crash of the Internet, is a function of the product of number of people affected times the impact per person associated with failure (impact index). Time-line studies that trace the history of the evolution of human-built structures and technologies, and that can quantify the corresponding impact indices, are important for creating a picture of emerging instabilities and risks. Instabilities of systems in the built-environment are a function of size, materials, design and construction practices, the emergence of new technologies that may interact to destabilize the system, and other variables. Collection of time-series data from historical and other records can provide information that will help to clarify characteristics of systems within the built-environment that correlate with instability and can help identify thresholds for such instabilities. The emphasis in these projects is primarily on understanding the physical characteristics of systems comprising the built-environment, how they change over time, their relation to technology and technological rates of change, the tracking of the growth of potential instabilities, quantification of impact indices, and possible interactions with new evolving technologies. Potentially unstable subsystems in modern society can be expected to develop, or are already well-known, in connection with global transportation technology, global communication networks, food distribution networks, the Internet, the human genome project, genetically modified foods, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and nuclear power systems. Many other examples can be imagined. Basic data is lacking in many of these areas that can help us assess the trajectory in time toward potential societal risks. This is the area of environmental security as manifested in a built-environment. Because potential instabilities are likely to exist in any sufficiently complex system, large systems that comprise the built-environment are likely always to pose risks to society that can be exploited by human beings. Projects of the type described here represent an effort to further our understanding of this particular type of vulnerability, one that is characteristic of all modern societies.

For more information, contact Professor Peter Haff Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences 919-684-5902 haff@duke.edu

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