Environmental Engineering Major (B.S.)

Environmental engineers graduating with a B.S. EnvE degree will plan, design, and construct public and private facilities to minimize the impact of human activity on the environment through sustainable approaches that protect human health. For example, environmental engineers design and build drinking water treatment systems, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants, solid waste management facilities, air pollution control systems, contaminated ground water remediation systems, and hazardous waste remediation facilities. These facilities must meet regulatory requirements, be cost effective to build and maintain, be safe to operate, and have minimal environmental impact.

In CEE 420 Environmental Engineering Gateway, students are introduced to the full spectrum of environmental engineering projects that they will subsequently explore in design teams during their degree program. In CEE 505 Introduction to Sustainable Engineering, students learn tools to analyze life cycles and are exposed to global actions for sustainability.   In CEE 520 Environmental Pollution and Protection: A Global Context, students tour field sites, and through junior and senior year classes and student organizations (ASCE, EWRI, EWB), they interact with engineers who talk about engineering consulting, environmental policy, and design practices applied to local and global projects. As part of these projects, students:

1. analyze treatment alternatives;
2. recommend a system that meets regulatory operational needs, and is sustainable; and
3. prepare an implementation schedule and project budget.

Students choose elective courses from areas of Sustainability, Water Resources, Environmental Engineering Design, and other relevant topics. Design projects are completed in a minimum of two design electives. In the capstone design experience courses, students work on a multi-disciplinary environmental engineering project and apply skills learned in other courses while working with real-world problems and clients.

The Environmental Engineering program (B Sci in Environmental Engineering) is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the General Criteria and the Program Criteria for Environmental Engineering and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

Sample Degree Plan

This sample degree plan serves as a general guide; students collaborate with their academic advisor to develop a personalized degree plan to meet their academic goals and program requirements.

The Environmental Engineering B.S. program requires a minimum of 130 total credits for graduation.

¹

Students who passed the ALEKS placement examination as determined by the Mathematics Department may enroll in MATH 425 Calculus I. Subsequent MATH courses (MATH 426 Calculus II, MATH 527 Differential Equations with Linear Algebra Differential Equations with Linear Algebra, MATH 644 Statistics for Engineers and Scientists) will be taken one semester earlier than shown here.

²

Discovery Program requirements are fulfilled with the following courses:

• Writing Skills: ENGL 401 First-Year Writing
• Quantitative Reasoning (QR): MATH 425 Calculus I
• Physical Science (PS): PHYS 407 General Physics I
• Environmental, Technology, and Society (ETS): CEE 520 Environmental Pollution and Protection: A Global Context
• Biological Science (BS): CEE 724 Environmental Engineering Microbiology
• Capstone: CEE 797 Introduction to Project Planning and Design and CEE 798 Project Planning and Design
• Fine and Performing Arts (FPA), Historical Perspectives (HP), Humanities (HUMA), Social Science (SS), and World Cultures (WC): Courses in the EnvE curriculum designated Discovery Electives can be selected from the University's approved Discovery Program courses to fulfill these requirements. One of these electives must have an Inquiry (INQ) attribute.

³

Approved lists of sustainability, water resources, design and Environmental/Civil electives are available from the EnvE undergraduate coordinator.

⁴

MATH 418 does not count toward the minimum required credits for the degree program.

Degree Requirements

All Major, Option and Elective Requirements as indicated.
*Major GPA requirements as indicated.

Major Requirements

To qualify for graduation, an EnvE major must: have satisfied all specified course requirements, have satisfied the University's Academic Requirements, have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.00, and have a minimum grade-point average of 2.00 in engineering courses.

At the end of the sophomore year, students are required to have a minimum overall grade-point average of 2.00 and a minimum grade-point average of 2.00 in CEE 420, MATH 425, CHEM 405, PHYS 407, MATH 426, CEE 500, CEE 520 to be permitted to enroll in junior-level courses.

Several courses required in the curriculum may fulfill both major and Discovery Program requirements as described in footnotes.

For a full listing of the requirements distributed over four years of study please refer to the sample degree plan.

Electives

• Design and Environmental/Civil Engineering Electives: four 700-level courses are required, two courses must be Design Electives, with a minimum of 12 total credits.
• Additional Electives: One CEE Lab Elective, one Geospatial Elective, one Sustainability Elective, one Public Health Elective and two Water Resources Electives are required.
• Each elective course can only be used to fulfill one category.
• Course lists are subject to change, check with advisor.

¹

Discovery Program requirements are fulfilled with the following courses:

• Quantitative Reasoning (QR): MATH 425 Calculus I
• Physical Science (PS): PHYS 407 General Physics I
• Environmental, Technology, and Society (ETS): CEE 520 Environmental Pollution and Protection: A Global Context
• Biological Science (BS): CEE 724 Environmental Engineering Microbiology
• Capstone: CEE 797 Introduction to Project Planning and Design and CEE 798 Project Planning and Design

Program Learning Outcomes

By the time of graduation students have attained:

• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
• an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
• an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
• an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
• an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
• an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.
• an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.