Environmental

Overview

environmental eng field experiment

The field of environmental engineering deals with environmental issues from the nanoscale to the global scale. Contamination caused by the activities and waste products of our modern society affect the water, air, soil, and ecosystems around us in complex ways that must be clearly understood if we are to successfully address these problems. In recognition of the interdisciplinary nature of these issues, our program provides students with a broad foundation in the fundamentals of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Advanced coursework and research in our graduate program is focused on the following areas:

Contaminant Fate and Treatment in Soil and Groundwater
Environmental Biotechnology and Chemistry
Water Quality Modeling Green and Sustainable Environmental Technologies
Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Management
Stormwater Treatment and Wastewater Engineering

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

Degrees Offered

Courses

Thesis track Master of Civil Engineering and Master of Applied Sciences in the field of Environmental Engineering degrees require three core courses, five electives taken from a variety of fields, six thesis credits and the completion of a thesis. Students enrolled in the thesis track are also required to enroll in the CIEG865: Seminar (Environ.) each semester.

The non-thesis track Master of Civil Engineering requires a total of 30-credits of course work, which typically translates to seven electives beyond the three core courses. Electives should be selected based on approval from your advisor.

Core Courses

9 credits from the following core courses:

CIEG 632 – Chemical Aspects of Environmental Engineering
CIEG 634 – Physical Aspects of Environmental Engineering
CIEG 636 – Biological Processes in Environmental Systems
CIEG 644 – Microbiology of Engineered Systems
CIEG 640 – Organic Chemical Partitioning in Environmental Media

Suggested Electives

CIEG 615 – Air Pollution Meteorology
CIEG 630 – Water Quality Modeling
CIEG 633 – Hazardous Waste Management
CIEG 645 – Industrial Ecology – The Science of Environmental Sustainability
CIEG 668 – Principles of Water Quality Criteria
CIEG 678 – Transport and Mixing Processes
CIEG 679 – Sediment Transport Mechanics
CIEG 698 – Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport
CIEG 833 – Fate of Organic Pollutants in the Environment

In addition, classes from other departments can be selected in consultation with the advisor. These include graduate-level courses offered by, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Marine Studies, Geography, Urban Affairs and Public Policy, or Plant and Soil Sciences.

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