Those trained in the traditional manner have transformed our civilization with
advances for drinking water, for air pollution, for sewage treatment, and for disposal
of solid wastes. We understand the interactions whereby burning residues of wastes
creates air pollution, how particles collected from polluted air can be hazardous
waste, and how treatment that was once routine and acceptable can be damned
because of new knowledge or for vulnerability to disasters such as floods. Those
environmental engineers who address public health challenges have improved many
more lives than have other engineering disciplines.
Tinkering with waste treatment for decades has optimized performance of ordinary processes to the point where major new gains are unlikely. Along the way, a
few significant advances have become standard practice, for example, collection of
solid wastes with lifting and tilting of containers at street curbs. Unfortunately, the
challenges become more daunting, while potential improvements are stagnant.
2 Implementation
While a convincing case can be made for major changes in environmental engineering education, the hurdles of obtaining approval and financial recourses from the
university administration are formidable and may take years to implement. Immediate improvements can come with little or no cost by simply changing the required
courses. Here are some examples:
Freshman chemistry. There are often special sections for students majoring in
chemistry or chemical engineering. Some extra rigor and competition with brighter
students than those in the other sections of general chemistry would benefit environmental engineers.
Mass and Energy Balances: This tends to be an absolute jewel of a course for
sophomores majoring in chemical engineering everywhere. The instructors tend to
be excellent, and the problems all have a practical bent. Some problems have
environmental context, especially those concerned with humidity and combustion.
Students learn to think as an engineer. While difficult, a student is rewarded with
new skills and pride in solving interesting problems. In its present state, it would be
excellent for environmental engineering students and could be almost perfect when
more of the assigned problems were for environmental situations.
Chemical Process Control: This can be taken in the junior or senior year. An
obvious way to improve waste treatment is with better process control. For a few
years, this author managed to get a course in chemical process control required for
our undergraduate environmental engineering students. Chemical process control is
a premier course at RPI and is taught in studio format with mini lectures interspersed
with teams of students solving problems with computers. With few exceptions, the
environmental students loved the course and began to appreciate the importance of
environmental dynamics better as contrasted with the traditional emphasis on environmental processing at steady state. They learned how improved control can make a
process more stable and why improper control can be worse than no control. Now
9 Environmental Engineering Education in the Modern Era
379
advances for drinking water, for air pollution, for sewage treatment, and for disposal
of solid wastes. We understand the interactions whereby burning residues of wastes
creates air pollution, how particles collected from polluted air can be hazardous
waste, and how treatment that was once routine and acceptable can be damned
because of new knowledge or for vulnerability to disasters such as floods. Those
environmental engineers who address public health challenges have improved many
more lives than have other engineering disciplines.
Tinkering with waste treatment for decades has optimized performance of ordinary processes to the point where major new gains are unlikely. Along the way, a
few significant advances have become standard practice, for example, collection of
solid wastes with lifting and tilting of containers at street curbs. Unfortunately, the
challenges become more daunting, while potential improvements are stagnant.
2 Implementation
While a convincing case can be made for major changes in environmental engineering education, the hurdles of obtaining approval and financial recourses from the
university administration are formidable and may take years to implement. Immediate improvements can come with little or no cost by simply changing the required
courses. Here are some examples:
Freshman chemistry. There are often special sections for students majoring in
chemistry or chemical engineering. Some extra rigor and competition with brighter
students than those in the other sections of general chemistry would benefit environmental engineers.
Mass and Energy Balances: This tends to be an absolute jewel of a course for
sophomores majoring in chemical engineering everywhere. The instructors tend to
be excellent, and the problems all have a practical bent. Some problems have
environmental context, especially those concerned with humidity and combustion.
Students learn to think as an engineer. While difficult, a student is rewarded with
new skills and pride in solving interesting problems. In its present state, it would be
excellent for environmental engineering students and could be almost perfect when
more of the assigned problems were for environmental situations.
Chemical Process Control: This can be taken in the junior or senior year. An
obvious way to improve waste treatment is with better process control. For a few
years, this author managed to get a course in chemical process control required for
our undergraduate environmental engineering students. Chemical process control is
a premier course at RPI and is taught in studio format with mini lectures interspersed
with teams of students solving problems with computers. With few exceptions, the
environmental students loved the course and began to appreciate the importance of
environmental dynamics better as contrasted with the traditional emphasis on environmental processing at steady state. They learned how improved control can make a
process more stable and why improper control can be worse than no control. Now
9 Environmental Engineering Education in the Modern Era
379