Why do earthquakes occur and how do they cause damage? What is a seismogram and what can it tell us about earthquakes and the Earth’s structure? Earthquakes tend to strike suddenly and without warning. Because of their destructive power, tremendous efforts and monetary resources are dedicated to advancing earthquake science and designing effective hazard mitigation controls. This course will provide an overview of the physics of earthquakes and seismic wave propagation, and current seismic hazard mitigation plans and policies. Concepts covered in this course include stress and strain relations, elastic wave equation, body and surface waves, seismic instrumentation and data, global earth structure, seismic source theory, earthquake mechanics, ground motion, earthquake recurrence models, seismic hazard analysis, and human-induced earthquakes. Students will learn to apply basic math and physics concepts to solve seismological problems. They will also gain hands-on experience in analyzing and interpreting seismic data using computational tools.