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Environmental engineers from the °µÍø½ûÇø play a vital role in maintaining the quality of both human environmental systems and the natural environment.

As a field, environmental engineering encompasses the scientific assessment and development of engineering solutions to environmental problems impacting the biosphere, land, water and air quality.

Environmental issues affect almost all commercial and industrial sectors, and are a central concern for the public, government, and in international relations. These issues include safe drinking water, wastewater processing, solid and hazardous waste disposal, outdoor air pollution, indoor air pollution and transfer of infectious diseases, human health and ecological risk management, and prevention of pollution through product or process design. 

To address these challenges, our environmental engineers work in a multidisciplinary arena to develop solutions, incorporating contributions from engineers, scientists, lawyers, business people and the public. Our graduates work domestically and around the world to to tackle problems in the environmental engineering.

The Bachelors of Science degree program in Environmental Engineering at CU Boulder includes coursework in advanced mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics, as well as engineering. In common with other engineering fields, courses in solid mechanics, fluid dynamics and thermal sciences are central to the environmental engineering degree. Coursework that is specific to environmental engineering includes water and wastewater treatment, hazardous waste storage and treatment, and air pollution control.

In addition, environmental engineering requires hands-on water, soil and air quality laboratory experiences, up-to-date skills in the use of computers for modeling and data analysis, and experience in the design of environmental engineering systems. 

The Environmental Engineering MS, Professional MS, and PhD programs benefit from long-standing relationships of participating faculty and researchers in CU Boulder institutes and nearby federal laboratories.  Furthermore, the program benefits from the strong reputation already held by the environmental engineering groups within the participating departments. 

To cover the broad base of knowledge required of environmental engineers, the degree program at CU Boulder draws on the expertise of more than 20 faculty from three departments: Chemical and Biological Engineering; Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering; and Mechanical Engineering. The required engineering courses in the program are offered in these three departments.