Environmental Engineering
program overview
The graduate program in Environmental Engineering allows students to
focus their studies in one of three specialty areas: Pollution Control
and Waste Management, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, and Geo-environmental
Engineering. There are significant interactions with other groups within
Civil Engineering, most notably the Hydrotechnical Engineering group.
Although individuals may concentrate their studies in one of the specialties,
students are encouraged to consider courses from other areas of Environmental
Engineering or courses offered by other departments, to construct an
individually-tailored program of study that meets the interests of the
student and the requirements of the thesis research project to be undertaken.
Applicants interested in graduate studies in Environmental Engineering
should apply directly to the specialty program of most interest at the
time of application. Although the general prerequisite for entrance to
the program would be the undergraduate option in environmental engineering
offered by the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British
Columbia (or equivalent), applications from students with other engineering
or science degrees will be considered. Each applicant's background will
be considered individually by faculty members in the appropriate specialty.
Students without an adequate course or experience background will be
asked to upgrade their qualifications through prerequisite or corequisite
studies.
MASc and PhD programs are available.
Programs
Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Advanced research on the transport and behaviour of contaminants in water
bodies requires the integration of knowledge in Environmental Fluid Mechanics,
Aquatic Chemistry and Biology. Environmental Fluid Mechanics is a relatively
new and evolving field of study which seeks to examine the fundamental
role of fluid motions in determining environmental quality. When an understanding
of fluid mechanics can be coupled to knowledge of the transformations and
fate of contaminants and nutrients, water management alternatives for natural
systems can be adequately developed and evaluated. The scope of Environmental
Fluid Mechanics is perhaps best defined by considering some of the problems
that it addresses. Topics of current interest include the rehabilitation
of lakes (reaeration, artificial recirculation, hypolimnetic withdrawal),
the wind-wave induced suspension of mine tailings, the feasibility of the
subaqueous disposal of mine tailings, the dispersion of nutrients and pollutants
in lakes and coastal waters, the fluid mechanics of nutrient uptake in
seaweed, the generation and dynamics of internal waves in lakes and reservoirs,
hydrodynamic stability, turbulence and mixing in stratified flows, the
development of biomonitors for aqueous contaminants, biotransformation
of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments, distribution, concentrations
and movement of toxic materials in aquatic environments.
Program Requirements - Environmental Fluid Mechanics
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Geo-Environmental Engineering
Geo-environmental Engineering is an evolving field of study, dealing
with contamination of soil as a result of human development. It involves
knowledge from such diverse fields as geotechnical, environmental and chemical
engineering, geology, hydrogeology, chemistry, microbiology and soil sciences.
Geo-environmental Engineering/ Environmental Engineering research at UBC
covers a broad range of problems, from fundamental studies and project-based
applications to commercial exploitation and development. Research expertise
of members of the group covers a wide spectrum and includes, for example,
contaminated land and landfill engineering, soil remediation, applied clay
mineralogy and geochemistry, reactive pollution migration in soils, attenuation
characteristics of natural soil materials and their uses as landfill liners,
and reactive/barrier walls. Some of the current research topics include
volatile organic compound migration in sub-surface soil and intrusion into
buildings, development of remediation technologies, liner studies, contaminant
transport, and specific site studies.
Program
Requirements - Geo-Environmental Engineering
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Pollution Control and Waste
Management
The research interests of the faculty members cover most aspects of liquid
and solid waste production, treatment and disposal. Ongoing research is
conducted at laboratory scale, pilot scale and full scale. Currently, research
is being carried out on topics such as agricultural waste management, membrane
filtration, leaching from sanitary landfills and leachate treatment, the
removal and recovery of trace contaminants and nutrients from wastewaters,
sludge and solid waste/toxic waste management, forest products waste management,
pulp and paper mill pollution prevention, water treatment technology and
disinfection by product control. For more information, please visit the PCWM
Group website.
Note: Admission to the PCWM graduate program is usually restricted
to the academic term beginning in September.
Program
Requirements - Pollution Control and Waste Management
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Facilities
Research in Pollution Control and Waste Management is supported by well-equipped
research laboratories and modern analytical instrumentation, including
atomic absorption and gas chromatography. Also available for pilot scale
research on wastewater treatment and sludge management are two fully instrumented
16 meter trailers. Membrane reactor systems and ozone and UV technology
are also available for drinking water research topics. Specialized facilities
for studies in Environmental Fluid Mechanics include recirculating sediment
flumes, fresh water flumes, stratified flow facilities, laser doppler anemometer,
acoustic doppler velocimeter, 5 watt laser for flow visualization, wave
flume and wave basin, current meters, conductivity probes and thermistor
arrays.
To support graduate research in Geo-environmental Engineering, available
facilities include our well-equipped Environmental Research Laboratories
and updated analytical instrumentation. In addition, students have access
to the well-equipped traditional geotechnical laboratory, as well as other
facilities, such as vertical and horizontal leaching columns.
The department has excellent computing facilities, including numerous
networked PC's and UNIX computers, and access to other University computing
resources.
Visit our Environmental
Engineering Laboratories website here.
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Faculty
Faculty in Environmental Engineering
| James
W. Atwater |
Solid wastes, toxic and hazardous waste management, water quality,
groundwater pollution, landfill and leachate management. |
| Pierre R. Bérubé |
Removal of trace organic contaminants (disinfection-by-product precursors,
endocrine disruptors, pharmaceutical residuals) from raw drinking water
sources, membrane technologies advanced oxidation processes (ozone-UV). |
| Sietan Chieng |
Agricultural waste management, irrigation waste management, water
reuse in agriculture, agricultural hydrology. |
| Eric R. Hall |
Biological wastewater treatment, pulp and paper wastewater
treatment, toxic contaminants, treatment process simulation,
sludge treatment, membrane treatment technology, nutrient removal. |
| Gregory Lawrence |
Environmental fluid mechanics, hydraulics, hydrodynamic stability
and mixing, physical limnology, coastal engineering, water quality
management. |
| Loretta Li |
Soil-contaminant interaction, contaminant migration, site remediation,
clay liners and clay materials study in geo-environmental practice,
mine tailings waste. |
| Victor Lo |
Agricultural waste management, animal waste treatment,
sludge management, nutrient removal and recovery. |
| Donald S. Mavinic |
Biotreatment processes, water quality improvement, unit
operations, cold-temperature waste treatment, leachate treatment, nutrient
removal and recovery, water treatment. |
Faculty in Related Areas
| R. Jonathan
Fannin |
Soil mechanics, geosynthetics, design of barriers for waste containment. |
| John A. Howie |
Soil mechanics, site characterization, ground modifications. |
| Bernard Laval |
Environmental fluid mechanics, physical limnology, coastal oceanography,
transport processes, hydrodynamic stability and mixing. |
| Barbara J. Lence |
Modelling and optimization of water quality and water
resource systems, environmental policy analysis, decision-making and
probability analyses. |
| Robert G. Millar |
River engineering, hydraulics, hydrology, stream restoration. |
Active Emeritus Faculty
| Richard
Campanella |
In-situ testing of soil and pore water, contaminated site characterization. |
| Kenneth J. F. Hall |
Toxic materials in aquatic environments, cycling of
organics, water chemistry, trace organic analysis, eutrophication. |
| William K. Oldham |
Nutrient removal technology and advanced wastewater
treatment. |
Adjunct Faculty
| Ken
Ashley |
Stream and lake improvement, river water quality, stream restoration,
fisheries habitat improvement and aeration technology. |
| Dave Forgie |
Wastewater treatment, plant design, waste residuals
management. |
| Harlan G. Kelly |
Wastewater treatment plant design, waste residuals management. |
| Barry Rabinowitz |
Wastewater treatment, biological nutrient removal processes. |
| Robert Simm |
Wastewater treatment, biological nutrient removal processes. |
| Troy Vassos |
Wastewater treatment, small-scale liquid waste management, modelling
and optimization. |
| Peter R. B. Ward |
Pollutant dispersal, lake circulation, hydrology, hydraulics. |
| Reidar Zapf-Gilje |
Risk assessment, contaminated sites management. |
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Bridge Program
The Bridge Program is a multidisciplinary graduate fellowship program
whose goal is to develop creative evidence-based strategies to solve public,
environmental and occupational health problems using preventive approaches
that link the public health, engineering and policy realms.
The Program provides funding to graduate students, post-doctoral fellows,
visiting scholars and professionals, and brings them together with faculty
mentors in an interactive environment that promotes the application of
their combined knowledge and methodologies to the identification and prevention
of disease and injury.
It has academic requirements, but it is NOT a degree-granting
program. Students who want to join the program must apply to both the Bridge
Program and existing masters and doctoral programs associated with one
of the 9 participating units in UBC's Faculties of Medicine, Graduate Studies,
and Applied Science.
For more information, please visit the Bridge
Program website.
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