The topic of natural disasters is an ideal fit for non-major college students because it takes the most exciting and interesting topics from the fields of geology, atmospheric science, and space science and puts them together into one fascinating and informative class. Every habitable area on the planet has the potential to experience at least one type of natural hazard, thus it is beneficial for students to know more about the hazards they face, and how best they can help mitigate those hazards. The social sciences are also discussed in this book since economics, politics, and sociology often determine whether a natural event will turn into an overwhelming disaster. Since many of the students taking a non-majors course will be majoring in one of the social sciences, this may be the part of the course that makes it relevant for these students.
This book will lend itself to frequent updates, since every year there are new natural events that professors will be eager to include in their classes. I am interested in writing this book for the AGU/Wiley series because much of the high caliber research in geologic, water resource, and space science comes from AGU member scientists, thus their work will be cited extensively. I believe with AGU endorsement, this textbook will become a popular choice with the tens of thousands of AGU scientists who teach introductory courses.
The book will feature an Earth System approach, and will be written in a style that relies heavily on narratives of specific events in history as a means to teach important concepts. For example, rather than simply describing the features and hazards of shield volcanoes, the specific case of Kilauea Volcano will be used to illustrate these features and hazards. I believe that in the earth sciences, much of the science can be taught with well captioned high quality photos and illustrations, thus they will be an important component of the book. These images will enhance and reinforce the narrative. The interest of the reader is enhanced by the frequent use of real-world examples of disastrous events throughout history.
Faculty members are expected to assess student learning in their classes. At the beginning of each chapter, distinct student learning outcomes will be identified. To facilitate assessment by instructors, I plan to create a database of test bank questions for the online homework system that are coded to the learning objectives stated at the beginning of each chapter. Using this system, faculty will have a ready-made assessment strategy in place.
The proposed textbook is an introductory textbook for first-year non-major undergraduate students. It will use non-technical language and explain the fundamentals of natural disasters to the novice. The book may be used by university and community college classes, and advanced high school classes. It is most likely to be used in departments of Geology, Geography, Earth Science, Physical Science and Environmental Science. It may also prove useful to federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as to state Emergency Management organizations, and to first responders training to respond to specific events in their communities.
