Degree Programs

The interdisciplinary Environmental Engineering Program within the School of Engineering offers a B.S. degree as well as a Minor in Environmental Engineering. The Environmental Engineering B.S. degree at UConn is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.

In our undergraduate program, students acquire the technical competency, communication skills, and global awareness to assume a leadership role in the environmental management arena of the future. Students experience a holistic learning environment where they integrate principles from chemical, physical, biological, and social sciences, and engineering disciplines. Field investigation, hypothesis testing by analytical and numerical experimentation, recognition of societal and economic constraints, and synthesis through mathematical modeling are integrated in the analysis of environmental problems and the creation of appropriate solutions. This knowledge base will be tested in the evaluation of real-world natural and engineered processes that impact environmental quality.

B.S. in Environmental Engineering

The 4-year curriculum for the prospective academic year 2021-22 is shown in the following table and includes 128 credits, as do all engineering degrees at UCONN. For older catalogs, see the Advising page.

All freshmen in the School of Engineering follow a common curriculum, providing them with fundamental science and computing skills, as well as introductory engineering courses. This allows students to be exposed to different areas in engineering and accordingly choose their preferred major. ENVE students may take ENVE 1000 in the spring semester, which fulfills a General Education requirement and exposes them to general concepts of Environmental Sustainability, preparing them for their major.

The sophomore year continues with basic math and science courses and begins to build fundamental engineering knowledge. Core environmental engineering courses follow in the junior year, including environmental chemistry and laboratory, fluid mechanics and wastewater and air pollution control design courses. Finally, the senior year concludes with a variety of professional electives that are weaved throughout the curriculum and most importantly, with the yearlong senior design sequence (see here for more information on senior design).

Descriptions of individual courses may be found in the Undergraduate Catalog (http://catalog.uconn.edu/directory-of-courses/).

Suggested semester-by-semester sequence (AY 2021-22 and later)

NOTES:

The sequence of ENVE courses is critical (particularly 2310 and 3120). You should take those in the years indicated. Other elective courses may be taken at any time.

ENVE 3220/4210/3210 and ENVE 3230/4320/3202 are corequisites and should be taken in the same semester.

(1) CA = Content Area in General Education (GenEd) Requirements (For current lists of GenEd courses, visit http://geoc.uconn.edu).

(2) Earth Science Requirement *(1 Course): GSCI 1051 or 3710/ENVE 3530; MARN 1002; NRE 3145, 3146 or 4135; SPSS 2120, 3420 or 4420

(3) Biological Science Requirement (1 Course): BIOL 1108; EEB 2100E; ENVE 3270; NRE 3105, 3205, 3265, or 4340

(4) Professional Electives (4 Courses/12 credits): At least one course from the area of Management and Policy; At least one course from any 3000-level or higher CE or ENVE courses; At least two courses from any 3000-level or higher courses in engineering or science (BIOL, CHEM, EEB, GEOG, GSCI, LAND, MARN, MATH, MCB, NRE, PHYS, SOIL, TURF), or CE 2500 or CHEM 2241, 2443. See suggested courses on the next page.

Three credits of ENVE 4897 Thesis may fulfill one professional elective.  Honors students must fulfill one professional elective using Thesis credits.  Thesis or research courses (ENVE 3996, 4996) are recommended as professional electives for students planning to pursue graduate studies.

The Minor Degree Program in Environmental Engineering includes 18 credits of upper level course work, of which no more than three credit hours may be research. All students completing the Minor must take ENVE 2310 (Environmental Engineering Fundamentals), ENVE 3220 (Water Quality Engineering), ENVE 3230 (Introduction to Air Pollution), and ENVE 4310 (Environmental Modeling). These courses are selected to expose students to the core environmental engineering topics and tools. ENVE 2310 provides a broad-based introduction to environmental engineering and introduces fundamental concepts. ENVE 3220 and ENVE 3230 teach students water and air quality pollution engineering, respectively. Finally, ENVE 4310 trains students in modeling approaches used for both natural and engineered systems. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of environmental engineering, six additional credit hours may be selected from a wide variety of courses that are also approved professional electives for the major (see ENVE Minor for list).

Important notes about the minor:

• Students are responsible for meeting the prerequisites to all minor courses and especially the math prerequisites. No exceptions to this rule are allowed.
• Non-engineering students that wish to take the minor may enroll in the ENVE courses by obtaining a permission number after they have met the prerequisites for each course (3000 and 4000 level engineering courses are only open to School of Engineering students).
• No substitutions are allowed for the minor, a strict program policy.

All students should submit a Minor Plan of Study through Peoplesoft, in the final semester before graduation. The Program Director reviews and approves all minor Plans of Study.