Overview
The Environmental Systems Engineering undergraduate program provides education in the prevention of pollution, and in the monitoring, control, and remediation of pollution sources on the Earth. These include aspects of land reclamation, of groundwater protection and remediation, and of the control of atmospheric pollutants. The standard of living we currently experience, and the quality of life we enjoy, owe much to our skillful attention to environmental protection.
EnvSE addresses critical environmental problems of the basic industries, especially those involved in the extraction, conversion and utilization of mineral resources and fuels.
The program is complementary to the more general environmental science programs that emphasize the identification and evaluation of environmental problems, and to the classical environmental engineering programs offered by civil engineers, whose traditional emphasis is on public-sector concerns of water supply, municipal waste water (sewage) treatment, and solid waste (trash) management and disposal.
While different industries have their own particular priorities and educational requirements, there is a clear consensus regarding the need for environmentally trained engineers. Furthermore, there is a general recognition that the kinds of skills needed are not adequately covered in any one of the traditional engineering disciplines.
Industrial systems are generally designed and operated by engineers whose education and training (materials, chemical, etc.) reflect the specific objectives of that particular industry. In general, these individuals have a limited background in issues of the environment: atmospheric sciences, geological sciences, hydrology. Atmospheric scientists and geologists, on the other hand, typically have only limited knowledge of the needs of industry, and often have minimal exposure to the engineering sciences and design.
The EnvSE program is focused to address these broad pedagogic needs: educating engineers with a clear appreciation of industrial needs, with solid grounding in the physical and chemical sciences, and with an appreciation of key uncertainties and natural variability of processes operating in the natural world.
Recognition of the strong influence of a wide variety of physical, chemical, and indeed biological, processes that control geo-environmental processes underscores the importance of interdisciplinary education in this area. Coupling between these processes operates at a variety of strengths, lengthscales and timescales, requiring a broad education and a capacity for the synthesis of concepts. Feedbacks operate with varied strengths and effects, and are made more complex by the severe spatial and temporal uncertainties intrinsic within the geo-environment.
The EnvSE program provides a flexible environment for the study of geo-environmental engineering processes, with core courses to provide structured instruction in core competencies, in physical and chemical behavior, in quantification, and in the integration of these skills into the design process.
This integrated approach to environmental issues in the non-renewable resource and energy sectors emphasizes the contribution that may be made by interdisciplinary approaches to the environmentally benign production and utilization of resources, and the subsequent safe disposal or reuse of the resulting waste products.
The program in EnvSE provides integrated but flexible instruction in the engineering, geological and atmospheric sciences, addressing the ever-broadening needs in environmental engineering. These desires honor the main themes of the COSEPUP(1) report in recognizing the pre-eminent strength of graduate education in the US, while charting a future that recognizes new realities: the changing employment arena, both in industry and academe, the need for emphasized breadth of study, the recognition of problem solving and innovation as important skills, and the cultivation of group interactions through integrative learning experiences. These issues are accommodated in this program by the broadening of the academic curriculum while maintaining core competencies in the engineering sciences, the retention of an in-depth thesis experience, and exposure to integrative and group learning experiences in developing problem-solving skills. These key elements are central to this program.
Program faculty have academic appointments in the Departments of Energy and Mineral Engineering, Geosciences and Meteorology. Research interests are detailed on faculty and departmental home pages.
(1) Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers, Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP), National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering/Institute of Medicine. National Academy Press, 1995.
ABET Accreditation
The Environmental Systems Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012, telephone: (410) 347-7700.