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What colleges and college classes would you recommend for becoming an environmental engineer?
I am in high school and I don’t know what requirements I might need to fulfill in the future in order to be an environmental engineer. #environmental-engineering
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Daija’s Answer
Hey Bindy!
You should take Chemistry, Physics and Advanced Mathematics (Trigonometry, Calculus, ect.) while you are in high school to help prepare you for environmental engineering classes in college.
Some great university programs you should look into:
- UC Berkely
- University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
- UC Davis
- University of Flordia
- University of Wisconsin- Madison
- UC Irvine
- USC
- California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
- University of Texas- Austin
Great scholarships for Women studying STEM:
- Women at Microsoft Scholarship ($5k)
- Davidson Fellows Scholarship ($10k - $50k)
- Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation (up to $20k)
- Dell Scholars Program ($20 k+)
- Buick Achievers ($2k)
You should take Chemistry, Physics and Advanced Mathematics (Trigonometry, Calculus, ect.) while you are in high school to help prepare you for environmental engineering classes in college.
Some great university programs you should look into:
- UC Berkely
- University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
- UC Davis
- University of Flordia
- University of Wisconsin- Madison
- UC Irvine
- USC
- California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
- University of Texas- Austin
Great scholarships for Women studying STEM:
- Women at Microsoft Scholarship ($5k)
- Davidson Fellows Scholarship ($10k - $50k)
- Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation (up to $20k)
- Dell Scholars Program ($20 k+)
- Buick Achievers ($2k)
Updated
Aaron’s Answer
Lots of schools actually offer environmental engineering degrees. However, before you just pick the top schools in the USA just cause they're "the top for something" it's actually better to understand what type of environmental work you're interested.
Environmental is now an incredibly broad topic in the USA. I worked as an environmental engineer because I studied geology and I had hydrology experience. I got sucked into water permitting for mining operations and water monitoring systems to ensure the water wasn't being contaminated in areas surrounding the mine sites. I also responded to local issues for farmers wells going dry which sometimes resulted in people blaming each other (neighbor sucking more water than they were permitted and consequentially sucked everyone else dry, etc) and we had to investigate what really happened and report to the city or state so they could know if legal action was required and re-permitting, etc. Main categories of environmental work though are: Water, Waste, and Air. Some companies will break out a subgroup of "Sustainability" which is geared towards "How can we be environmentally compliant but still optimize our profits in production without exceeding our profits and also minimize our expenditures in environmental monitoring by creating 'sustainable' monitoring and easy to use systems for environmental" Stuff like that.
Also, environmental can be industry specific. Oil and Gas and chemical companies prefer to hire chemical engineers who have some environmental training because it's hard to keep track of all the chemicals and provide sustainable solutions if you don't understand all the chemistry going on around you. So it helps to be a chemical engineer but not required....but it helps if that's an industry you're gunning for. A chemical plant company also doesn't have much use for hydrologists as much as they do people who understand environmental waste programs because they're constantly discarding waste chemicals. They might have a couple water environmentalists for their potable water, etc but mostly air and waste. A mine site will have lots of hydrologists and maybe one waste person and a good handful of air quality people for the dust from a mine pit and mine roads and baghouses.
SO....
I would consider when choosing your school....
1) Where do you want to live long term? (if you don't care than awesome! Even easier)
2) What industries are you interested in? (chemical company....maybe you look into being a chemical engineer then doing an environmental class as an elective for example. If you want to do water conservation, then you could do environmental engineering or study hydrology instead)
3) Which universities have good partnerships with the above?
Environmental is now an incredibly broad topic in the USA. I worked as an environmental engineer because I studied geology and I had hydrology experience. I got sucked into water permitting for mining operations and water monitoring systems to ensure the water wasn't being contaminated in areas surrounding the mine sites. I also responded to local issues for farmers wells going dry which sometimes resulted in people blaming each other (neighbor sucking more water than they were permitted and consequentially sucked everyone else dry, etc) and we had to investigate what really happened and report to the city or state so they could know if legal action was required and re-permitting, etc. Main categories of environmental work though are: Water, Waste, and Air. Some companies will break out a subgroup of "Sustainability" which is geared towards "How can we be environmentally compliant but still optimize our profits in production without exceeding our profits and also minimize our expenditures in environmental monitoring by creating 'sustainable' monitoring and easy to use systems for environmental" Stuff like that.
Also, environmental can be industry specific. Oil and Gas and chemical companies prefer to hire chemical engineers who have some environmental training because it's hard to keep track of all the chemicals and provide sustainable solutions if you don't understand all the chemistry going on around you. So it helps to be a chemical engineer but not required....but it helps if that's an industry you're gunning for. A chemical plant company also doesn't have much use for hydrologists as much as they do people who understand environmental waste programs because they're constantly discarding waste chemicals. They might have a couple water environmentalists for their potable water, etc but mostly air and waste. A mine site will have lots of hydrologists and maybe one waste person and a good handful of air quality people for the dust from a mine pit and mine roads and baghouses.
SO....
I would consider when choosing your school....
1) Where do you want to live long term? (if you don't care than awesome! Even easier)
2) What industries are you interested in? (chemical company....maybe you look into being a chemical engineer then doing an environmental class as an elective for example. If you want to do water conservation, then you could do environmental engineering or study hydrology instead)
3) Which universities have good partnerships with the above?