Environmental Engineering/Lab
12-351, 12-352
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Course synopsis
This course provides a scientific and
engineering basis for understanding environmental issues and problems. It introduces material and energy balances
for tracking substances in the atmosphere, surface and ground waters, and soil
systems. Pertinent environmental laws are described, simple quantitative
engineering models are developed, and qualitative descriptions of environmental
engineering control technologies are presented.
Primary Audience: Juniors in Civil and Environmental
Engineering.
Secondary Audience: Undergraduates Chemical Engineering
and Chemistry
Required Textbook: Mihelcic, J.R. Fundamentals of Environmental
Engineering, John Wiley
and Sons,
Course Objectives
- Students will develop an appreciation for the importance of
environmental engineering as a major factor in preserving and protecting
human health and the environment
- Students will organize their learning about environmental engineering
along lines of chemical, physical and biological processes. They will link
these concepts with their prior knowledge from core courses in physics,
chemistry and/or biology. Students will apply previously learned material
in mathematics to engineering problems.
- Students will learn and practice the application of flow and material
balance concepts. These concepts
are applied to tracking substances in the environment and in engineered
systems. Students will gain
confidence in drawing simple, yet rational, representations of
flow-through systems. Students will
use concepts developed in freshman-year introductory engineering and
science courses to develop the differential form of mass balance
expressions including simple reaction rate expressions.
- Problem solving skills will be developed through the development of
simple quantitative engineering models that describe the fate and
transport of chemicals in reactors. The practice of environmental
engineering is demonstrated by presenting qualitative descriptions of
environmental control systems. By working through examples of water and
air quality models, students learn how to set up simple mathematical
representations of environmental systems and the value of such models for
engineering decision making.
- Students will learn about environmental chemistry as an underlying
fundamental concept important to all aspects of environmental engineering.
Students are asked to think about and describe principal chemicals of
concern, the units of measurement, and possible reactions and
transformations. These concepts are applied to descriptions of water and
wastewater treatment systems, and air quality models. Contemporary
environmental chemistry issues in the news are presented for discussion.
- Students will learn about environmental biology as an underlying
fundamental concept important to many aspects of environmental
engineering. Students will learn about global population dynamics,
bacterial growth and nutrient cycling, and biological processes for waste
treatment. Contemporary issues in
biology are presented for discussion.
- Students will present engineering solutions in report form.
- Students will research and develop a position on current environmental
issues that are the subject of significant debate. They will think
critically about information provided from multiple sources including
journal articles, textbooks and the web. Students will generate position
pieces (op-ed letters) on these issues.
- Students will work in lab teams to apply knowledge of 1) physical
principals to conduct tests to evaluate coagulant dose for settling, 2)
chemical processes in the environment to evaluate the chemical water
quality of a local pond, 3) biological processes in the environment to
evaluate the biological water quality of a local pond.
- Students will understand the need for standards and controls in
designing and conducting experiments.
- Students will apply statistical tests to the data from all lab groups
to evaluate the distribution of data and the accuracy and precision of the
tests.
- Students will keep a laboratory notebook, and learn to record
information in ways that is suitable for intellectual property disputes.
Students will produce laboratory reports in engineering format, providing
proper tables and figures of data and proper citation of references.
Greg Lowry Home | Dept. Civil & Env.
Engr.