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Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering Graduate Degree Programs

Thomas Hess, Director (419 Engineering Physics 83844-0904; phone 208/885-6182; fax 208/885-7908; enve@uidaho.edu; www.web1.uidaho.edu/enve). Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty: Jan Boll, Barbara C. Williams, Brian He, Thomas F. Hess, Russell J. Qualls, Robert Smith. Chemical Engineering Faculty: Wudneh Admassu, D. Eric Aston, David C. Drown, Roger A. Korus, Vivek Utgikar, Margrit von Braun. Civil Engineering Faculty: Erik Coats, Fritz R. Fiedler, Jim Liou, Howard S. Peavy, P. Steven Porter, Sunil Sharma.

Environmental engineering is a specialty of engineering focused on identifying and designing solutions for environmental problems. Major areas include air pollution control, water and wastewater treatment, hazardous waste management, and pollution prevention. Environmental engineers have the technical and scientific knowledge to identify, monitor, design, build, and operate systems that protect the environment from damage and correct existing problems. Environmental engineers typically work in consulting firms, industries, state and federal agencies, universities, or waste treatment companies.

Graduate environmental engineering education builds on traditional engineering components, typically found in departments of biological and agricultural, civil, and chemical engineering. The breadth and multidisciplinary nature of environmental problems requires that environmental engineers possess skills beyond those normally associated with a single engineering field. Knowledge in geology, hydrology, soil and Land Resources, computers, microbiology and water, atmospheric chemistry, and other disciplines provides breadth to enhance technical skills. Good communication skills are also essential.

The College of Engineering offers M.S. (thesis) and M.Engr. (non-thesis) environmental engineering (EnvE) degrees at the Moscow and Idaho Falls campuses. The interdisciplinary program combines the resources of three departments (Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Civil Engineering) to provide a solid design-based environmental engineering curriculum. Environmental engineering research is actively supported both externally and by several interdisciplinary centers on campus including the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, the Center for Hazardous Waste Remediation Research, the Environmental Research Institute, and the National Center for Advanced Transportation Technology. The College of Engineering collaborates with environmental engineering faculty from Washington State University, located just eight miles west of Moscow, in research, cooperative courses, and seminars. The Idaho Falls program is coordinated with Idaho State University's master's program in environmental engineering.

Admission to the program is based on: ability to complete graduate-level work evidenced by undergraduate transcripts; the applicant's statement of research and career objectives; the compatibility of the student's objectives with faculty expertise and program objectives; and availability of graduate faculty to act as major advisor for the applicant. The GRE, applicant's statement of objectives, and three letters of recommendation are required. Students without backgrounds in engineering may be admitted after certain undergraduate deficiencies are completed.

Financial assistance, in the form of research and teaching assignments with out-of-state tuition waivers, is available. The normal matriculation period is 18 to 21 months. A broad range of opportunities for research includes water quality engineering, hazardous waste management, water and wastewater treatment, bioremediation, ground and surface water resources, air pollution control, and energy conservation.

Courses

See the course description section for courses in Environmental Engineering (EnvE).