The rise of the American homeland security endeavor has created demands for knowledgeable professionals to address issues of critical infrastructure assurance. James Madison University has recently developed a survey course on infrastructure performance using a complex systems approach. Course development was facilitated by the enthusiastic support and participation of a multi-disciplinary faculty team. The course is designed for a broad student audience including physical science, public administration, health, business, economics and sociology majors. The course has been successful in terms of graduate and undergraduate student enrollment and has generated positive student feedback.

Drawing on recent work from the physical, engineering, and social sciences, we take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding complex system operation and failure. We begin by considering historical examples of major system failures. We then explore the components, operation, and complex interdependencies of the infrastructures most critical to society. We divide critical infrastructures into three classes – commodity, service, and information – and focus on the electric power, health services and telecommunication sectors as representative examples.

Students are exposed to literatures that inform their understanding of large, complex, and risky technical systems. Course material illustrates how complex systems engender unexpected interactions of failures to occur that can result in a cascade of increasingly serious disturbances often culminating in disaster. A major component of the course is devoted to defining and measuring risk. The final instruction block is devoted to risk management strategies involving both technology and public policy. The course concludes with the presentation of student projects that may address a historical complex system failure case study, an assessment of an existing infrastructure system, or survey a specific topic on complex system operation and failure.