Science in undergraduate environmental engineering curricula

Abstract

Increasingly, engineers work on projects involving the protection of human health, the protection of natural ecosystems, the control of pollution, and the management of water, air, and solid wastes. It is convenient and increasingly common to term these engineers environmental engineers. Universities have responded to the increased demand for environmental engineers by developing more post-graduate opportunities and developing new undergraduate degree programmes. The tradeoff between developing post-graduate or undergraduate degrees is well described in Baillod and Mihelcic (1993). As might be expected in a highly dynamic situation, a number of universities have created undergraduate environmental engineering curricula without co-ordination between them. As a result, a post-facto comparison of environmental engineering curricula can now be a valuable method for identifying the desirable features of an environmental engineering curriculum.