Security and resilience studies is an emerging field of inquiry that focuses on how global, national, and subnational actors manage a range of chronic transnational challenges—such as terrorism, organized crime, weapons proliferation, cyberattacks, bioterrorism, climate change and catastrophic disasters, migration, and radicalization—that can be destabilizing to societies. It explores how strategic doctrines, organization processes, bureaucratic behaviors, and security tools and tactics are adapting to these challenges by placing greater emphasis on resilience. Resilience is a concept rooted in multiple disciplines that is gaining widespread currency at the community, societal, and global levels given the prevalence of human-made and naturally occurring threats that do not lend themselves to preventive and protective measures. Strategies for dealing with these threats emphasize measures that mitigate, respond to, recover from, and adapt to risk in order to safeguard essential functions and societal values. Many of these measures involve the role of technologies, system design, and engineering as well as policy, regulatory, and governance issues. Students at Northeastern who enroll in the Master of Science in Security and Resilience Studies have an opportunity to become prepared to inform and support domestic and international efforts to deal with the major sources of turbulence in the 21st century.
The master’s program offers an optional cooperative education experience (co-op) to eligible students. Cooperative education is central to both the Northeastern experience and to the College of Social Sciences and Humanities experiential liberal arts framework. Northeastern’s signature co-op ecosystem provides qualified master's students with six-month work experiences in businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies in Boston and across the United States. Graduate students take their work from campus learning spaces, apply their knowledge outside of the classroom, and then bring knowledge and skills gained in community learning spaces back to our campus learning spaces during the cocurricular experiential integration course.
To earn the Master of Science in Security and Resilience Studies degree at Northeastern, you must successfully complete 32 semester hours (34 semester hours with co-op). Full-time students can expect to complete the degree within one calendar year. This program can be completed either at Northeastern University’s Boston campus or online. Cost per semester hour may vary based on the college that offers the course. See Tuition and Fees for more information.
Academic Standing/Progress
Satisfactory progress in the MS program includes maintaining a minimum grade-point average of 3.000.
Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated.
Core Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| POLS 7341 | Security and Resilience Policy 1 | 4 |
| Research Method | ||
| INSH 6300 | Research Methods in the Social Sciences | 4 |
| or INSH 6500 | Statistical Analysis | |
| or PPUA 5263 | Geographic Information Systems for Urban and Regional Policy | |
| Core Elective Courses | ||
| Complete 8 semester hours from the following: | 8 | |
| Criminology 1 | ||
| Foundations of Information Assurance 1 | ||
| Counterterrorism | ||
| Resilient Cities | ||
or PPUA 7346 | Resilient Cities | |
| International Security | ||
or POLS 5408 | International Security | |
| Cyberconflict | ||
| Special Topics in Public Policy and Urban Affairs 1 | ||
Capstone
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Choose one of the following options in consultation with faculty advisor and program director: | 4 | |
| Capstone Project 1 | ||
or PPUA 7673 | Capstone in Public Policy and Urban Affairs | |
Electives
Electives are organized by themes to allow students to think thematically.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 12 semester hours from any combination of the following elective themes: | 12 | |
- Administration, Management, and Policy
- Counterterrorism and Conflict Studies
- Criminal Justice
- Cybersecurity Policy
- Resilient Cities
Administration, Management, and Policy
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| The Criminal Justice Process | ||
| Global Governance | ||
| Critical Infrastructure Resilience 1 | ||
| Economic Analysis for Policy and Planning | ||
| Managing People in Public and Nonprofit Sectors 1 | ||
| Public Budgeting and Financial Management 1 | ||
| Techniques of Policy Analysis 1 | ||
| Institutional Leadership and the Public Manager 1 |
Counterterrorism and Conflict Studies
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Global Criminology | ||
| Counterterrorism | ||
| Hard Power, Soft Power, and Smart Power | ||
| Genocide in a Comparative Perspective | ||
| International Security | ||
or POLS 5408 | International Security | |
Criminal Justice
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Global Criminology | ||
| Criminology 1 | ||
| The Criminal Justice Process | ||
| Evidence-Based Crime Policy |
Cybersecurity Policy
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Cyberspace Technology and Applications | ||
| Foundations of Information Assurance | ||
| Security Risk Management and Assessment | ||
| Information System Forensics | ||
| Cyberlaw: Privacy, Ethics, and Digital Rights | ||
| Decision Making for Critical Infrastructure | ||
| Information Ethics | ||
| AI Ethics | ||
| Cyberconflict 1 |
Resilient Cities
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Criminology | ||
| Evidence-Based Crime Policy | ||
| Crime and Community Context | ||
| Cities, Sustainability, and Climate Change | ||
| Resilient Cities | ||
or PPUA 7346 | Resilient Cities | |
| Critical Infrastructure Resilience 1 | ||
| Dynamic Modeling for Environmental Decision Making | ||
| Big Data for Cities 1 | ||
| Geographic Information Systems for Urban and Regional Policy | ||
| Urban Theory and Science | ||
| The 21st-Century City: Urban Opportunities and Challenges in a Global Context | ||
| Advanced Spatial Analysis of Urban Systems | ||
Optional Co-op Experience
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Four-month co-ops require registration at 1 SH for one term. Longer co-ops require registration at 1 SH per term for two consecutive terms. | 1-2 | |
| Co-op Work Experience and Experiential Integration | ||
Program Credit/GPA Requirements
32 total semester hours (33-34 with optional co-op) required
Minimum 3.000 GPA required
- 1
Occasional online offering