<p>I’d like to learn stuff like urban and wildfire prevention and management, natural disaster planning, how disease spreads through a population, and civil defense planning. Basically, how to handle the disaster preparations for a city or county, whether that disaster is a massive fire, an earthquake or tsunami, an infectious disease outbreak, or a terrorist attack. I understand that, if this exists, it is going to be a graduate program, not an undergraduate program, but I have to figure out who has such a program and what knowledge is required before I can consider whether it may be a good career path.</p>
<p>Some colleges have Emergency and Disaster Management or Homeland Security degrees, but I think your best bet would be some kind of Public Health degree. At Johns Hopkins, for example, you could get an undergraduate degree in Public Health. As part of the degree, you can take courses at the graduate school for Public Health, specializing in one of their areas. How disease spreads through a population would be Epidemiology. The others would probably fall under International Health; in the grad school, you could get a certificate in Humanitarian Assistance or Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP). JHU also has a Center for Refugee and Disaster Response that you could work with: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-refugee-and-disaster-response/[/url]”>http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-refugee-and-disaster-response/</a></p>
<p>Not trying to plug JHU in particular; that’s just what I know about. If you can’t find a more specific degree that fits what you are looking for, I think a Public Health degree would be great for you!</p>
<p>Public Health is a great suggestion. As is epidemiology. </p>
<p>In general, each of those areas e.g. wildfires, earthquakes etc, feed into disaster management planning from specialists from each area. So there are grad degrees in things like fire science, international terrorism etc</p>
<p>But you could do an undergrad in fire science- FEMA has a map here:
[FESHE-Recognized</a> Fire Science Degree Programs | Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfa/higher_ed/resources/schools/]FESHE-Recognized”>http://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfa/higher_ed/resources/schools/)</p>
<p>Do a geology degree with a specialisation in earthquakes or volcanology</p>
<p>Oceanography for tsunamis</p>
<p>Grad school is probably needed to specialise. Then try to get employment with the major research groups or federal agencies. </p>
<p>In the mean time, if you’d like to make a start, how about joining the Red Cross and get involved with their first aid or disaster management work? Or your local equivalent.</p>
<p>Check out Geography and Urban/Environmental Planning. A large university will have a wide range of courses at the undergrad level.</p>