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CE Home > Graduate Studies > Research Areas > Environmental Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Prof. Mike Semmens conducts experiments with students
in the IT 1101: Environmental Issues class.
The environmental engineering research program seeks innovative and
sustainable solutions to soil-, air-, and water-related problems in
natural and engineered systems. Focus areas include the following:
environmental chemistry, water and wastewater treatment, soil and
groundwater remediation, environmental microbiology, pollution
prevention, energy and environment, air pollution, and pollutant fate
and transport.
Environmental engineering is a broad and interdisciplinary subject. The diverse backgrounds of our faculty and students and wide range of our current research projects reflect this breadth. Graduate students in our program have undergraduate degrees from civil or environmental engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, biology and environmental science. Graduate enrollment includes about 30 full-time and 10 part-time students. Approximately half of the full-time students are in the Ph.D. program.
The program has six full-time faculty members, and draws on faculty in other areas of the department with closely related research interests. The faculty members who teach and conduct research in environmental engineering are listed below.
Funding
Full-time students in environmental engineering are typically supported through one of three sources: fellowship funds, teaching assistant (TA) positions and research assistant (RA) positions. Most students in the program are supported through RA positions and include the project research in their theses. Specific sources of research grants include: the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Department of Defense, AWWA Research Foundation, private companies (such as 3M), state agencies and local water utilities. Typically a student who submits a standard graduate application to our program will be considered for all available funding opportunities. Two exceptions are the IGERT program and the Engineering the Future program.
IGERT
An NSF-funded Interdisciplinary Graduate Education, Research, and Training (IGERT) program grant was awarded jointly to faculty members in the departments of Civil Engineering; Ecology, Evolution and Behavior; and Geology. Our IGERT grant supports interdisciplinary study of complex environmental and ecological problems. Research emphasizes non-equilibrium processes in the environment. The program will admit a new cohort of 6 or 7 graduate students per year. The students must apply to one of the participating programs and submit a separate application to the IGERT program.
Engineering the Future
Beginning in 2006, the University of Minnesota will be an approved institution for the Engineering the Future program. The program provides up to $20,000 in funding for master's students in environmental engineering who then agree to work for three years at the program's sponsoring agencies following graduation. Master's students are also eligible for teaching and research assistantships. Students must apply directly to the program. The deadline is Dec. 15.
Environmental Faculty
Associated faculty:
- See also Water Resources Engineering
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