Areas of Concentration
The Environmental Engineering Program offers four types of graduate degrees:
- Graduate Certificate in Contaminated Site Remediation
- Master of Science (M.S.) in Environmental Engineering
- Master of Engineering (MENG) in Environmental Engineering
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Environmental Engineering
Detailed information on all programs is available in the Environmental Engineering Graduate Handbook.
The Graduate Certificate and MENG degrees are offered as distance learning courses through the School of Engineering Center for Advanced Engineering Education.
The M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are offered in one of three areas of concentration, as described below. It should be noted that the list of courses is indicative; depending on the research focus of a particular student, it is possible that courses from several areas or other programs are used towards the degree. Students should consult with their graduate advisor on course selection. However, it should be demonstrated in the Plan of Study that the selected courses are relevant to the Environmental Engineering discipline. Descriptions for all graduate courses are available in the Graduate Catalog (https://gradcatalog.uconn.edu/academic-programs/environmental-engineering/).
Atmospheric processes
Students completing this track will gain knowledge in meteorology and atmospheric science, will be able to quantify how species move in the atmosphere, understand climate and its forcings; be able to make atmospheric measurements (meteorological and sampling for gaseous and aerosol pollutants); and obtain knowledge of atmospheric chemical processes. Entering students should have basic quantitative skills (math and statistics) and completed courses in introductory hydrology (large-scale fluid motion) and chemistry. Students that lack sufficient science background may take one of the following undergraduate courses:
- NRE 3145 Meteorology
- NRE 4535 Remote Sensing Image Processing
- GEOG 3400 Climate and Weather
- MARN 3000 Atmosphere and Climate Change
Graduate-level courses in this track include
- ENVE 5090 Remote Sensing (offered as Advanced Topics in ENVE)
- ENVE 5810 Hydrometeorology
- ENVE 5811 Hydroclimatology
- ENVE 5221 Transport and Transformation of Air Pollutants
- NRE 5175 Climate and Environmental Systems modeling
- GEOG 5390 Advanced Physical Geography
Hydrogeosciences & Water Resources Management
Students completing this track will gain knowledge and skills in measurement and modeling of primary hydrologic processes taking place at the atmosphere-surface interface (precipitation, energy balance), related to overland flows and sediment transport, and to vadose zone and groundwater flow and contaminant transport. Students will acquire experience in hydrologic site characterization and monitoring methods. Entering students should have basic quantitative skills (physics, math and statistics) and completed courses in introductory hydrology and geology.
Graduate-level courses in this track include
- ENVE 5810 Hydrometeorology
- ENVE 5811 Hydroclimatology
- ENVE 5812 Ecohydrology
- ENVE 5821 Vadose Zone Hydrology
- ENVE 5830 Groundwater Flow Modeling
- ENVE 5850 Sustainable and Resilient Water Governance and Management
- ENVE 5330 Probabilistic Methods in Engineering Systems
- ENVE 5331 Predictive Analytics for Scientists and Engineers
- ENVE 6810 Advanced Fluid Mechanics
- NRE 5165/GSCI 5710 – Advanced Ground Water Hydrology
- NRE 5135 – Water Transport in Soils
- NRE 5115 – Field Methods in Hydrogeology
- GEOG 5505 – Remote Sensing of Marine Geography
- MARN 5030 – Chemical Oceanography
- MARN 5032 – Coastal Pollution and Bioremediation
- MARN 5066 – River Influences on the Marine Environment
Contaminant Fate and Resource Recovery
The focus of this track is on the characterization and measurement of chemical, biological, physical and climatological processes that control the fate of contaminants in natural and engineered systems. Such processes also form the basis of technologies for the treatment and remediation of contaminants in aquatic systems and prevent contaminants from harming human health. In addition, such processes may constitute the basis for technologies that minimize human impact on the environment, including resource recovery and energy production. Students completing this track will gain knowledge and skills that will allow them to identify, quantify, and ultimately control, the biological, geological and chemical reactive processes in the environment in order to restore/maintain soil and water quality, protect human health and minimize resource utilization. Graduate level courses in this track include
- ENVE 5210 Environmental Engineering Chemistry
- ENVE 5211 Environmental Organic Chemistry
- ENVE 5311 Environmental Biochemical Processes
- ENVE 5251 Environmental Physicochemical Processes
- ENVE 5240 Biodegradation and Bioremediation
- ENVE 5252 Environmental Remediation
- ENVE 5530 Geoenvironmental Engineering
- NRE 5155 – Principles of Nonpoint Source Pollution
- NRE 5461 – Landscape Ecology
- NRE 5335 – Advanced Stream Ecology
- CHEM 5336 Electroanalytical Chemistry
- CHEM 5370 – Environmental Chemistry I
- CHEM 5371 – Environmental Chemistry II
- CHEG 5363 Electrochemical Engineering
- CHEG 5395 – Fuel Processing & Fuel Cell (special topics)
- MARN 5030 – Chemical Oceanography
- MARN 5032 – Coastal Pollution and Bioremediation
- PLSC 5410 – Soil Chemistry Components
- PLSC 5420 – Soil Chemistry Reactions and Equilibrium
Course Registration
Detailed information is available on the Graduate School website https://registrar.uconn.edu/registration/. Students should consult with their major advisor prior to the beginning of the semester with respect to course selection. Registration then is facilitated online through the Student Administration System (Peoplesoft). The NetID and associated password are necessary to log into the system. Registration is possible through the tenth day of the Fall and Spring semesters; however, students are advised to enroll in courses before the first day of classes.
Students on graduate assistantships MUST enroll in a minimum of 6 credits; for international students, 9 credits are necessary to maintain full-time status. If students are enrolled in 3 or 6 credits of coursework, they may use GRAD 5950 (Master’s Thesis Research for plan A students) or GRAD 6950 (Doctoral Dissertation Research for Ph.D. students) to reach the necessary 9 credits. For students that have completed all coursework, they may use GRAD 5960 Full-time Master’s research or GRAD 6960 Full time Doctoral Research to maintain full time status until they complete their thesis/dissertation.