Environmental Engineering
Departmental Websites: Engineering, Environmental Engineering
07-08
Program Director: Associate Professor Amvrossios Bagtzoglou
Professors: Cetegen, Clausen, Erkey, Miller, Robbins, Torgersen, Willig, and Yang
Associate Professors: Abboud, Anagnostou, Bagtzoglou, Liu, MacKay, Noll, Schulthess, and Warner
Assistant Professors: Cui, Gebremichael, Li, Srivastava, Wang, and Zhou
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Adjunct Associate Professors: Curtis and Smets
Adjunct Assistant Professor: Dahmani
Environmental Engineering is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the scientific and technological aspects of environmentally related processes and systems. Environmental engineers play a critical role in assessing the impacts of existing contamination problems, devising strategies for managing polluted ecosystems, developing new guidelines for the treatment and disposal of wastes, and modifying manufacturing and other activities to minimize the generation of pollutants. Environmental engineers apply scientific principles to these areas in order to improve environmental quality, to protect public health, and to promote the advancement of sustainable development.
The Environmental Engineering graduate program emphasizes the mastery of fundamental scientific and socioeconomic principles. Graduate education in Environmental Engineering provides students with a sound foundation in basic engineering concepts, and the technological training and research expertise necessary to apply these concepts to the solution of a variety of problems.
Environmental Engineering degree programs are offered as an interdisciplinary Field of Study through the School of Engineering. Because of Environmental Engineering’s broad scope and association with other University departments and research institutes, it offers a wide range of academic focus areas based in the natural and engineering sciences. We offer three focus areas of study: (i) biogeochemical processes (BGC), (ii) air pollution and atmospheric processes (ATM), and (iii) hydrogeosciences engineering (HGS). Active research areas include:
• biochemical and physiochemical processes in environmental systems,
• combustion and air pollution,
• environmental geophysical techniques,
• environmental interfacial processes,
• groundwater modeling and remediation,
• vadose zone hydrology,
• surface hydrological processes and land atmosphere interactions,
• pollution prevention, and
• environmental biotechnology
The graduate program offers Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Environmental Engineering. Student plans of study are flexible, comprehensive in nature, and are designed to meet the needs of the individual student.
Admission to Degree Programs. In addition to the basic admission requirements of the Graduate School, applicants must submit Graduate Record Examination scores with their application. Sound undergraduate preparation in science and/or engineering is required for entrance to the degree programs. Admission is offered on a competitive basis to highly qualified individuals who show promise for distinguished professional and/or academic careers. Limited remedial coursework for non-engineering prospective students is required. For more details, please visit our website at <http://www.engr.uconn.edu/environ>.
The M.S. Program. There are no special requirements for admission to the master’s program beyond those of the Graduate School. Most entering students have an accredited engineering degree or have taken preparative engineering course work. Selection of the Plan A (thesis) or the Plan B (non-thesis) option is made after consultation with the advisory committee. The primary objective of the master’s program is to develop the students’ understanding of the subject matter either through an emphasis on research (Plan A) or through a comprehensive understanding of a more general character (Plan B).
The Ph.D. Program. Admission to the doctoral program is based upon a careful assessment of the student’s potential for significant, creative research in Environmental Engineering. There are no special requirements for admission to the doctoral program beyond those of the Graduate School. The student’s plan of study is arranged in consultation with an advisory committee. Doctoral students must pass a general examination by the end of the second year of study.
Facilities. Students in the Environmental Engineering program have access to numerous state-of-the-art laboratories and facilities through the School of Engineering and associated University departments and institutes. These resources include: the Biotechnology Center, the Center for Biochemical Toxicology, the Center for Environmental Health, the Combustion/Air Pollution Laboratory, the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, the Environmental Processes Laboratory, the Geographic Information Systems Institute, the Hydraulics Laboratory, the Institute of Water Resources, the Marine Sciences Institute, the Pollution Prevention Research & Development Center, and the Unit Operations Laboratory.
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) is the major center coordinating environmental engineering research at the University. CESE’s mission is to develop technology-based solutions to existing and emerging environmental concerns – particularly regarding the management of hazardous wastes and the advancement of pollution prevention technologies. In order to accomplish this mission, CESE supports a wide variety of complementary teaching and public service activities. CESE contains well equipped analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, and engineering laboratories focused on methods development and advanced analyses.
Graduate students within the School of Engineering also have access to a wide range of computing facilities. A laboratory of Unix-based SUN computers including Sun Series 3 Workstations and Sun SparcStations is available to students in the environmental field. Peripheral hardware includes line and laser printers, image scanners, slide makers and large plotters. The School of Engineering also houses a series of computing laboratories containing IBM PC and Apple Macintosh computers. Large scale computing facilities are available through the University mainframe system.
COURSES OF STUDY
Courses designated by the dagger symbol (†) are approved
for Satisfactory (S) / Unsatisfactory (U) grading.
Environmentally relevant courses are offered by a number of departments. In addition, visiting professors and adjunct faculty routinely offer graduate courses in their areas of expertise.
ENVE 300. Environmental Engineering Chemistry - I
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 390.
Quantitative variables governing chemical behavior in environmental systems. Thermodynamics and kinetics of acid/base coordination, precipitation/dissolution, and redox reactions.
ENVE 301. Environmental Engineering Chemistry - II
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE490.
Environmental organic chemistry: ideal and regular solution thermodynamics; linear free energy relations; estimation of vapor pressure, solubility, and partitioning behavior, abiotic organic compound transformations; chemical fate modeling.
ENVE 302. Advanced Environmental Engineering Laboratory
3 credits. Lecture/Laboratory. Also offered as CE 391.
Analysis of water and waste water. Experimental laboratory and plant investigation of water, wastewater and industrial waste treatment processes.
ENVE 303. Advanced Soil Chemistry
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as PLSC 378.
Physical chemical characteristics of soil minerals and soil organic matter, and their reactivity with compounds present in the aqueous and vapor phase. Topics include: modern spectroscopic surface analyses, soil organic matter and its interactions with metals, redox reactions, solubility, derivation of ion-exchange equations, and kinetics of soil reactions.
ENVE 304. Probabilistic Methods in Engineering Systems
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 304.
Common probabilistic models used in engineering and physical science design, prediction, and operation problems; derived distributions, multivariate stochastic models, and estimation of model parameters; analysis of data, model building and hypothesis testing; uncertainty analysis.
ENVE 305. Transportation and Air Quality
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 305.
Mobile source emissions models in theory and practice. Regulatory framework. Emissions control technology. Field and laboratory measurement techniques. Roadway dispersion modeling. Current topics in mobile source emissions.
ENVE 306. Biodegradation and Bioremediation
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 394.
Biochemical basis of the transformation of key organic and inorganic pollutants; quantitative description of kinetics and thermodynamics of pollutant transformation; impact of physiochemical and ecological factors on biotransformation.
ENVE 310. Environmental Transport Phenomena
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 389.
Movement and fate of chemicals: interfacial processes and exchange rates in environmental matrices.
ENVE 311. Environmental Systems Modeling
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as ce 405.
Modeling pollutants in natural surface waters. Advective, dispersive, and advective-dispersive systems. Modeling water quality, toxic organic and heavy metals pollution.
ENVE 313. Hydroclimatology
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 313.
This course focuses on the physical principles underlying the spatial and temporal variability of hydrological processes. Topics include atmospheric physics and dynamics controlling the water/energy budgets; global water cycle, its dynamics, and causes of variability/changes; occurrence of drought and flood; climate teleconnections and their hydrological application; hydrological impact of global changes; quantitative methods in hydroclimatic analysis.
ENVE 314. Enviromental Monitoring
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 314.
Introduction to complexities and challenges associated with acquisition of information on environmental processes and characteristics of natural systems. Hands-on experience with selection of measurement strategy and sensing technology; sampling network and protocol design; and deployment, acquisition and interpretation of measurements in natural systems.
ENVE 315. Unsaturated Flow and Transport
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 315.
Modern approaches to water flow and solute transport in partially-saturated porous media including media characterization (review); unsaturated flow in porous media (governing equations, hydraulic functions, numerical and analytical solution methods); solute transport in unsaturated media (convection dispersion, transfer functions, solutions); modeling and observational scales; coupled water flow and solute transport (model applications); special topics (preferential flow, effects of spatial variability, stochastic aspects of flow and transport, gas exchange and transport measurement methods).
ENVE 316. Vadose Zone Hydrology
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 316.
Theoretical and experimental elements of primary physical and hydrological properties of porous media and processes occurring in partially-saturated soils. Practical experience in measurement and interpretation of hydrological information and methods of analysis for vadose-zone related environmental problems.
ENVE 320. Ground Water Assessment and Remediation
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 410.
Quantitative evaluation of field data in assessing nature and extent of groundwater contamination. Subsurface control and remediation. Case studies.
ENVE 321. Environmental Physicochemical Processes
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 387.
Reactor dynamics, applications of interfacial phenomena and surface chemistry, processes for separation and destruction of dissolved and particulate contaminants. Scholarly reviews.
ENVE 322. Environmental Biochemical Processes
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 388.
Major biochemical reactions; stoichiometric and kinetic description; suspended and attached growth modeling; engineered biotreatment systems for contaminant removal from aqueous, gaseous, and solid streams; process design.
ENVE 323. Contaminant Source Remediation
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 411.
Regulatory framework. Soil clean-up criteria. Treatment technologies: soil vapor extraction, solidification - stabilization, soil washing - chemical extraction, hydrolosis - dehalogenation, thermal processes, bioremediation. Risk analysis.
ENVE 324. Industrial Waste Management and Regulation
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 392.
Origin and characteristics of industrial wastes. Engineering methods for solving industrial waste problems.
ENVE 325. Wastewater Engineering for Unsewered Areas
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 403.
Management, planning and design criteria. Recycling, water consumption reduction, soil clogging and treatment methods. Pollutional loads and treatability of each pollutant.
ENVE 326. Solid Waste Engineering
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 404.
Methods of collection, transport and disposal, design of solid waste treatment, disposal and recycle systems, management, pollution effects, literature research.
ENVE 340. Combustion and Air Pollution Engineering
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as ME 346.
Review of thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium. Introduction to chemical kinetics. Studies of combustion processes, including diffusion and premixed flames. Combustion of gases, liquid, and solid phases, with emphasis on pollution minimization from stationary and mobile systems. Air pollution measurement and instrumentation.
ENVE 341. Advanced Combustion
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as ME 351.
Review of thermodynamic properties, transport properties, conservation equations of multicomponent reacting gas. Introduction to chemical kinetics. Classification of combustion waves. Deflagrations, detonations and diffusion flames. Ignition phenomena, droplet and spray combustion and some aspects of turbulent combustion.
ENVE 342. Seminar in Combustion Generated Pollution
3 credits. Seminar. Prerequisite: ME 351 or ENVE 341. Also offered as ME 352.
A study of the mechanism of production of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, soot and unburned hydrocarbons from power plants such as stationary gas turbines, internal combustion engines, and jet engines. Emphasis will be placed on current research problems and recent advances in combustor designs.
ENVE 343. Transport and Transformation of Air Pollutants
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 408.
Transport and deposition of gaseous and aerosol pollutants; chemical formation and reactions of oxidants and acidic compounds.
ENVE 382. Advanced Fluid Mechanics I
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 332.
Dimensional analysis; vector analysis, circulation and vorticity; irrotational motion and velocity potential; two-dimensional flow and stream function; complex variable theory; conformal mapping; airfoils; sources and sinks; free streamline flow; water waves; three-dimensional flow.
ENVE 383. Advanced Fluid Mechanics II
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 334.
Turbulent boundary layer . Dimensional analysis. Free shear flows. Flows in pipes and channels. Boundary layers on smooth and rough surfaces.
ENVE 384. Open Channel Hydraulics
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 338.
Unsteady, nonuniform flow; energy and momentum concepts; flow control; de St. Venant equations; unsteady flow modeling of channels and natural rivers.
ENVE 385. Hydrometeorology
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 383.
Global dynamics of aquatic distribution and circulation. Hydrologic cycle, atmospheric circulation, precipitation, interception, storage, infiltration, overland flow, distributed hydrologic modeling, and stream routing.
ENVE 386. Hydraulic Machinery and Transients
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 384.
Pumps and turbines. Surging, water hammer, cavitation, hydraulic machinery for hydroelectric plants, water supply, irrigation, and river navigation.
ENVE 387. Hydraulic Structures
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 385.
River regulation and development. Hydroelectric plants, storage and turbines, canals, locks, and penstocks, dams, regulation of power, flood control, navigation and irrigation.
ENVE 388. Groundwater Flow Modeling
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 406.
Basics of modeling with Finite Difference and Finite Element Methods. Modeling flow in saturated and unsaturated zones. Model calibration and validation. Parameter estimation. Treatment of heterogeneity. Basic geostatistics. Modeling surface-groundwater interactions. Application to field sites.
ENVE 389. Ocean Engineering I
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 401.
Dynamics of the ocean, including waves, tides and currents; shore processes and protection works; chemical and physical characteristics of seawater; estuarine flushing, mixing and diffusion; sedimentation; engineering applications.
†GRAD 395. Master’s Thesis Research
1 - 9 credits.
†GRAD 396. Full-Time Master’s Research
3 credits.
†GRAD 397. Full-Time Directed Studies (Master’s Level)
3 credits.
GRAD 398. Special Readings (Master’s)
Non-credit.
GRAD 399. Thesis Preparation
Non-credit.
ENVE 400. Seminar in Environmental Sciences and Engineering
0 credits. Seminar. Also offered as CE 400.
Extended discussions on presentations contributed by staff, students and outside speakers. A certificate of completion will be issued from the Environmental Engineering Program.
ENVE 432. Environmental Quantitative Methods
3 credits. Lecture. Also offered as CE 432. This course and NRME 432 may not both be taken for credit.
Topics on natural resources and environmental data analysis: random variables and probability distributions, parameter estimation and Monte Carlo simulation, hypothesis testing, simple regression and curve fitting, wavelet analysis, factor analysis; formulation and classification of optimization problems with/without constraints, linear programming; models for time series; solution of ordinary differential equations with Laplace transforms and Euler integration; solution of partial differential equations with finite differences; basics of modeling.
†GRAD 495. Doctoral Dissertation Research
1 - 9 credits.
†GRAD 496. Full-Time Doctoral Research
3 credits.
†GRAD 497. Full-Time Directed Studies (Doctoral Level)
3 credits.
GRAD 498. Special Readings (Doctoral)
Non-credit.
GRAD 499. Dissertation Preparation
Non-credit.