Environmental

Overview

environmental eng field experiment

The field of environmental engineering deals with a wide range of critical issues facing our society today, from climate change and water security to resource limitations and environmental sustainability. As the population continues to grow, especially in coastal regions where cities and ecosystems are particularly vulnerable, environmental engineers will play an increasingly important role in meeting these challenges and ensuring a sustainable future for all.

Recognizing the complex and interdisciplinary nature of the challenges, our program provides students with a broad foundation in the fundamentals of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Advanced research and coursework in our graduate program are focused on the following areas:

  • Contaminant Fate and Treatment in Natural and Engineered Systems
  • Green Environmental Technologies
  • Environmental Microbiology and Chemistry
  • Sustainable Engineering of Water and Wastes
  • Environmental Process Modeling
  • Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Climate Impact Mitigation
  • Nutrient Management and Resource Recovery

The environmental engineering program is designed for those with undergraduate degrees not only in Environmental, Civil, Chemical, or other engineering disciplines, but also in non-engineering fields such as Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Biology, and many others.

Courses

Current course offerings and degree requirements are included in the current version of the Graduate Handbook.

Faculty

Daniel K. Cha – Biotransformation of environmental contaminants in natural and engineered systems; design and operation of wastewater treatment facilities; population dynamics of biological wastewater treatment processes

Yu-Ping Chin – Biogeochemistry of natural organic matter and organic pollutants in aquatic systems; photochemical transformation of contaminants; fate of synthetic and natural organic matter in sediments; biogeochemical and environmental processes in polar environments (Arctic and Antarctica).

Pei Chiu – contaminant transformation in natural environments and engineered systems

Dominic M. Di Toro – Water quality modeling, eutrophication and sediment flux models; water quality and sediment quality criteria models for organic chemicals, metals, mixtures; organic chemical and metal sorption models; statistical models

Yao Hu – Big data; environmental and water resources; sustainability; water

Chin-Pao Huang – Hazardous wastewater management; aquatic chemistry; soil and groundwater remediation; sustainable engineering; environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology

Paul T. Imhoff – Transport of fluids and contaminants in multiphase systems; mass transfer processes in soil and groundwater; sustainable landfilling; minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from engineered facilities; mathematical modeling

Julia Anne Maresca – Microbial contributions to greenhouse gas emissions; microbial secondary metabolites in mixed populations; microbial populations in contaminated environments

Jennie Saxe – engineering communication, solid waste management, air pollution control, industrial ecology

Carolyn Voter – Hydrologic modeling, water resources management, stormwater management, green infrastructure, urban ecohydrology, ecosystem services, surface-groundwater interactions, land-atmosphere interactions, sustainable and resilient communities, high throughput/performance computing

Daniel Cha

Professor

Biochemistry, Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water

Yu-Ping Chin

Professor

Environmental and Water Resources

Pei Chiu

Professor

Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water

Dominic Di Toro, the Edward C. Davis Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Edward C. Davis Professor

Coastal and Ocean, Environmental and Water Resources, Risk Assessment

Yao Hu

Assistant Professor

Big Data, Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water

Donald C. Phillips Professor

Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water

Paul Imhoff

Professor

Environmental and Water Resources

Holly Michael

Professor

Climate Change/ Adaptation, Coastal and Ocean, Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water

Jennie Saxe

Associate Professor

Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Transportation

Carolyn Voter

Assistant Professor

Climate Change/ Adaptation, Coastal and Ocean, Environmental and Water Resources, Sustainability, Water