courses

Courses

Graduate-Level Courses

The CORE Lab offers a series of in-house, graduate-level course for NPS students in support of their thesis research. 

  • DA3610 – Visual Analytics
  • DA4600 – Dark Networks
  • DA4610 – Dynamic Network Analysis
  • DA3721 – Networks and Religion
  • DA4106 – Trust, Influence, and Networks
  • DA3201/SE3202 – Systemic Strategic Thinking and Planning
  • System Dynamics for Planning and Design
  • DA3900 - PRC's Strategic Social Networks

Outreach and Education Program

Because our courses address many practical needs, we offer a series of outreach and education courses for those who do not attend NPS.  Our courses range from three to five days, and cover a host of substantive topics related to our expertise. Though we can provide single courses and certification to interested units and agencies, we collaborate with selected organizations on a longer-term basis as well, which enables the Lab and its partners to develop tailored courses through directed research. 

Our efforts have helped partners produce real world, network-based analytic products, utilize low-cost yet high-impact tools, develop their critical thinking skills, and become practitioners who are more effective as they track, monitor, and enable or disrupt networks. The Lab has developed the following short courses for virtual and in-person delivery:

  • Introduction to Social Network Analysis
  • Social Media Network Analysis
  • Trust, Influence, and Networks
  • System Strategic Thinking and Planning
  • Strategic and Operational System Dynamics Modeling
  • Visual Analytics
  • Data Science for Practitioners

Participants receive certification at the end of each course. For more information, contact Mr. Seth Gray.

sna-cert

Certificate in Social Network Analysis, Research, and Practice

Overview

The Academic Certificate in Social Network Analysis, Research, and Practice provides students with social network analysis’s methodological, theoretical, and analytical tools that can be employed in a various contexts, such as tracking and disrupting dark networks (e.g., terrorist networks, drug cartels), examining key regional and global networks at the forefront of great power competition, enhancing light networks, influencing resistance (social) movements, and uncovering “narratives” from social media. It also helps students integrate emerging technologies with the latest developments in data science to better understand the operating environment. Upon successful completion of the course work, students will be awarded a certificate of accomplishment in keeping with standard practices of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).

Requirements

Social network analysis builds on mathematical models and graph theory, and draws extensively on social science theories in order to emphasize the social context in which networks are embedded. As such, students need a grounding in both methods and theory. To meet this requirement, students must take at least two of the following three courses, which focus on methodological foundations but also introduce the theoretical assumptions of these methods:

  • Visual Analytics - DA3610
  • Disrupting Dark Networks - DA4600
  • Dynamic Network Analysis ("R for SNA") - DA4610

In addition, students must  take at least one of the following two courses, which are more theoretical in nature:

  • Networks and Religion - DA3721
  • Trust Influence and Networks - DA4106

Entry Date

Students can begin the certificate program at any point during their time at NPS although since the courses are not offered every quarter, it is wise to begin early in one's degree program. For more information, contact Sean Everton (sfeverto@nps.edu). Please fill out the Academic Certificate Enrollment Request Form (Curriculum Number: 239) online to apply for the program.