Environmental Fate & Transport – Provides students with the knowledge and training needed to deal with transport and fate processes in engineered and natural systems. Natural systems will include the atmosphere, surface waters and subsurface waters. The incorporation of the results of transport analyses into management decisions involving monitoring and remediation often requires the quantification and analysis of various real and perceived risks, so an additional objective will be to provide the basic tools needed for risk and decision analysis. A fundamental, quantitative understanding of all these processes will be emphasized, so that students will be able to adapt readily to the ever changing conditions in the real world.

Environmental Health Physics – Addresses broad environmental issues associated with anthropogenic and natural radioactivity. The objective of the curriculum is to provide students with knowledge and training needed to protect human health and the environment from ionizing radiation. Integral to this focus area is assessing risk associated with the radiation. Research areas include low-level radiation detection, radiochemistry, analytical techniques to quantify stable elements utilizing radiation, environmental monitoring, radionuclide transport, radioactive waste management, and risk assessment.

Process Engineering - The purpose of the process engineering area is to prepare graduates to design engineered systems for removing contaminants from air, water, and soil - an activity that is central to the field of environmental engineering. Because of the continually evolving nature of the problems faced by environmental engineers, courses in this emphasis area focus on the approach to problem solving rather than on specific solutions to today's problems. This provides the students with a strong foundation in unit operations and the ability to assemble them into process trains capable of solving any pollution control problem, regardless of its complexity or nature.

Environmental Radiochemistry – Introduces the fundamental concepts associated with quantification of radioactivity in the environment as well as chemical separations important for radioactive material production. The objective of the curriculum is to provide students with knowledge and training in such areas as environmental restoration, waste management, spent nuclear fuel processing, nuclear waste management, materials deposition, and isotope production.

Sustainable Systems & Environmental Assessment – Challenges students to think about environmental systems in a broader context. The objective of the curriculum is to provide a basis for the analysis of complex interactions between human and natural systems. The core courses cover fundamental principles of systems analysis and risk assessment while the electives allow students to define a path of study that bridges scientific and social inquiry.

Any student with an engineering or science undergraduate degree who is accepted by the EE&S Department and the Graduate School may pursue the M.S. or M.Engr. degree. Only individuals holding a bachelor's degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program (or its equivalent) may pursue the M.Engr. degree, provided their academic credentials are acceptable. Of the students that are pursuing a Masters degree, most will pursue a M.S. degree with select students who are engineers desiring to specialize in process engineering enrolling in the M.Engr. degree program.

For admission to the M.S. program, an applicant should have a grade point ratio/average (GPR/GPA) of at least 3.0 out of 4.0. Scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are expected to be at least 450 on the verbal portion, 700 on the quantitative portion, and 3.5 or greater on the analytical portion. Our applicant pool is generally of high quality with an average of 555 on the verbal portion of the GRE, 776 on the quantitative portion, and 4.2 on the analytical portion for Fall 2005.

Science majors with a strong mathematics background are admitted to the department with appropriate prerequisites. The transcripts of such prospective students are reviewed on an individual basis to identify any undergraduate prerequisites or corequisites needed to prepare them for the EE&S program. A graduate of a science discipline is expected to have completed at some time during his or her academic career a year each of physics (with calculus) and general chemistry, and mathematics through multivariable calculus and ordinary differential equations. Prerequisite course work is prescribed to fill gaps in these areas. No prerequisites are required of students with accredited engineering undergraduate degrees. Some corequisite courses may be required of M.S. and M.Engr. students, depending on which of the areas of specialization the student elects to pursue.

Students with a baccalaureate or masters degree in a related science or engineering field may apply directly to the PhD program. Outstanding students will be considered for the Ph.D. degree without a master's degree, while a majority of the Ph.D. students have previously received a Masters degree. Students may also be accepted for continued study from either the MS Hydrogeology or MS/MEng EE&S program.

For admission to the Ph.D. program, an applicant should have a grade point ratio/average (GPR/GPA) of at least 3.0 out of 4.0. Scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are expected to be at least 500 on the verbal portion, 750 on the quantitative portion, and 3.5 or greater on the analytical portion. Our applicant pool is generally of high quality with an average of 555 on the verbal portion of the GRE, 776 on the quantitative portion, and 4.2 on the analytical portion for Fall 2005.