Environmental Engineering Program

Master of Science Advising Guide

• Requirements for the Master of Science (M.S.) Degree
• Required Courses in Areas of Emphasis
• Advising
• Recommended First Semester Courses
• Undergraduate Prerequisites for the M.S. Degree
• Funding for M.S. Candidates

Master of Science Degree Requirements

The Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department offers two types of Master of Science degrees, Plan I and Plan II. Plan I includes course work and a thesis. Plan II (a and b) focuses on course work with the option of including up to two semesters of independent study.

Plan I ("thesis plan")
The Plan I degree requires 24 hours of course credits and 6 hours of thesis credits. Usually, this translates into 8 courses (most courses are worth 3 credits) and research leading to a Master of Science thesis. Plan I degrees can only be pursued under the direct supervision of a research advisor.

Plan II ("coursework plan")
The Plan II degree requires a total of 30 credits. The thirty credits may be obtained by taking ten three-credit courses.  Up to 6 credits of independent study may be included. An independent study usually includes research leading to a report (a "mini-thesis") completed under the guidance of a faculty member.

Doing laboratory research for a Master of Science thesis or independent study may not be possible for all students admitted to the program. Laboratory research requires space and equipment, both of which are sometimes in short supply. If you are interested in doing a laboratory thesis or independent study, you should do two things: (1) do well in your classes and (2) let faculty know that you want to do research. While it is rare for incoming Master's students to be offered research or teaching assistantships, most Master's students are able to associate themselves with some kind of paid research project during their time here.

Undergraduate Prerequisites

For entering graduate students who do not have a Bachelor of Science degree in civil and environmental engineering, a number of undergraduate engineering courses may have to be "made up." We require proficiency in the following undergraduate courses (with equivalent courses at CU listed):

• Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations (four semesters);
  equivalents of APPM 1350, APPM 1360, APPM 2350, and APPM 2360
• Physics (two semesters); equivalents of PHYS 1110, PHYS 1120/1140 (laboratory)
• General Chemistry (two semesters); equivalents of CHEM 1211/1221 (laboratory)
• Analytical Mechanics or "Statics" (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 2121
• Fluid Mechanics (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 3313
• Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 3414
• Engineering Geology (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 3698
• Construction Methods (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 3246 (for Engineering in Developing Communities area of emphasis)

The importance of fulfilling these prerequisites lies in proper preparation for a rigorous, quantitative engineering education and, eventually, successful completion of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, the first step toward professional certification as a Civil Engineer.

If you are missing a couple of the prerequisite courses, you can take them at  CU after admission to the graduate program. Plan on taking the necessary undergraduate courses during your first semester to avoid problems with prerequisites for graduate courses.

If you are missing more than a couple of prerequisite courses, you should taken some or most of them prior to beginning your graduate program at CU.  If you have taken or plan to take these courses elsewhere prior to beginning at CU, make sure that the credits are transferable to an accredited engineering undergraduate program.  If you decide to defer your admission to graduate school while you take these courses at another university or college, you may postpone your admission to the Environmental Engineering graduate program for up to one year without re-applying. If you decide to defer admission, contact the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department's Graduate Coordinator to inform us of your intentions.

Required Courses in Areas of Emphasis

The Environmental Engineering Program offer a wide variety of graduate courses. From this wide variety, you will select a coherent set of courses that provide an area of technical specialization as well as a breadth of knowledge.

Four areas of emphasis in Environmental Engineering are outlined below with the required courses for these areas. To obtain and M.S. degree, you must complete the required courses in one of these areas.

1. Environmental Engineering
   The core curriculum in Environmental Engineering consists of three courses and one options focusing on the physical, chemical, and biological aspects of water and wastewater treatment:
   
   1. CVEN 5834 Environmental Engineering Processes
   2. CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry
   3. CVEN 5484 Environmental Microbiology
   4. One of:
          CVEN 5524 Water Treatment
          CVEN 5534 Wastewater Treatment
          CVEN 5474 Hazardous Waste Management
   
   
2. Environmental/Water Engineering 
   The Environmental/Water curriculum is designed to integrate environmental engineering and water resources for the goal of understanding the chemistry and hydrology of contaminant transport in natural waters. The core courses in this curriculum include two fundamental Environmental courses and two fundamental Water courses emphasizing either groundwater or surface water:
   
   1. CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry
   2. CVEN 5424 Aquatic Organic Contaminants
   3. CVEN 5353 Groundwater Hydrology or CVEN 5333 Surface Hydrology
   4. CVEN 5383 Groundwater Modeling
   
   
3. Environmental Engineering for Developing Communities
   The Environmental Engineering for Developing Communities curriculum is designed to educate globally responsible students who can offer sustainable and appropriate technology solutions to the endemic environmental problems faced by developing communities at the local, national and global levels.
   
   1.  CVEN 5834 Environmental Engineering Processes
   2.  CVEN 5434 Environmental Engineering Design
   3.  Introduction to Public Health
   4.  Appropriate Treatment Technology
   5.  One of:
           CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry
           CVEN 5484 Environmental Microbiology
   6.  One of:
          CVEN 5524 Water Treatment
          CVEN 5534 Wastewater Treatment
          CVEN 5474 Hazardous Waste Management
   7.  One of the following courses related to sustainability:
          CVEN 5838 Sustainability and the Built Environment
          CVEN 5830 Sustainable Building Design
          GEOG 5762 Sustainable Development: Theory and Classic Issues
          or another course with faculty approval
   
   Students who have successfully taken undergraduate courses with topics similar to the above courses will be allowed to take electives in lieu of the required courses with faculty approval.  Students with a strong environmental engineering background who can demonstrate strength in the topics covered by the Environmental Engineering Processes course and who have taken a water and wastewater treatment course may, upon faculty approval, be allowed to take electives in lieu of (1) 5834 Environmental Engineering Processes, and (6) CVEN 5524, CVEN 5534, or CVEN 5474.
   
   For the EDC area, the Master of Science degree plans described above have these additional criteria:
   
      Plan I (thesis): This plan requires a thesis based on research on environmental engineering for developing communities topic.
      Plan IIa (course work only) This plan can be completed only if students have significant past field experience in environmental engineering for developing communities.
      Plan IIb (course work and independent study): This plan can include a two-semester service project that can be one semester planning and second semester in-field service. The project will be developed and defined through discussions with your advisor.
   
    
4. Air Quality Engineering
   In cooperation with Profs. Jana Milford, Shelly Miller, and Michael Hannigan, faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department, we offer a specialization in Air Quality engineering.  A curriculum in the Air Quality area of emphasis is arranged for each student through discussions with Profs. Milford and Miller and an Environmental Engineering faculty advisor in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department.

Advising

If you are accepted into our M.S. degree program, you will be assigned a temporary academic advisor, one of the Environmental Engineering faculty that matches the interests you express in your application. After looking over the recommendations for your first semester in the next section, feel free to contact your temporary advisor for details on course information and other academic questions.

Once you arrive here, you may select a different Environmental Engineering faculty member as your regular academic advisor. You should choose an academic advisor that you feel will best serve your educational and career interests. Early in your first semester, you and your advisor will design a course plan for the completion of your degree. During the first week of classes in September, a gathering of new graduate students and faculty in both the Environmental and Water Resources programs will be held. At this meeting, the faculty will present their teaching and research interests. You will then have the opportunity to meet with the faculty for finalization of your fall semester course plan. During your time here, you may change your advisors if your interests change. You may also change your course plan with your advisor's approval. Course plans and changes will be checked by the Graduate Committee representatives for the Environmental and Water Resources areas.

If you decide to switch areas of emphasis after you are admitted or after you have begun your program here (e.g., from Environmental to Water Resources Engineering or Geotechnical Engineering), you must prepare a formal request describing your intentions to the program to which you want to switch. The request must be approved by the faculty in the new area. You must select a new advisor in the new area and prepare a new course plan.

Recommended Fall (first semester) Courses

You should plan on taking take three courses during your first semester at CU. This course load may seem light compared to the number of courses you have taken during your undergraduate career; however, you will quickly realize that much more work will be expected of you in graduate courses. The Fall semester is the preferred starting point for the M.S. program -- many of the courses typically offered during the Spring semester have prerequisite courses offered during the Fall semester. If you have already taken courses in these core subjects as an undergraduate, you may seek your advisor's and instructors' permission to bypass the required courses.

If you are planning to follow the Environmental Engineering core curriculum, you should take CVEN 5834 Environmental Engineering Processes and CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry. These courses are prerequisites for most of the other courses in the program. Taking them in the first semester will allow you to complete most of your required courses and to progress to some of the more challenging courses in later semesters.

For the Environmental/Water Engineering option, you should plan to take CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry and either CVEN 5333 or 5353, one of the two hydrology courses, during the Fall semester. If you are lacking proficiency in numerical methods, you should consult with your advisor to seek out the appropriate course in this area. Numerical methods may be a prerequisite for later modeling courses (CVEN 5833).

For the Air Quality Engineering area, you should consult with your faculty advisor. If you express a clear interest in the Air Quality area on your application, you will be assigned either Prof. Jana Milford, Shelly Miller, or Michael Hannigan of Mechanical Engineering and a faculty member in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department as co-advisors.

Financial Aid and Funding

An important concern that is no doubt on your mind is the availability of financial aid and funding support for M.S. candidates.  The official answer appears in the following paragraph, following by a more accurate and candid assessment of funding availability. 

The Environmental Engineering program offers funding to quality students in the form of teaching assistantships (TAs) and research assistantships (RAs).  Both assistantships provide students with about $1,520 monthly, full tuition, and partial health insurance coverage.  TAs are administered by the department.  RAs are arranged through individual faculty members.  The University of Colorado at Boulder is committed to diversity and equality in education and employment.  Funding is also available through various fellowships offered by the University of Colorado, scientific and engineering societies, and national science and engineering agencies.

Now, the real answer: As an incoming M.S. candidate interested in doing research and completing a thesis (a Plan I degree), your chances of getting a research assistantship at the time of admission are slim.  RA funding comes from research grants obtained by the faculty, and the funding of research grants is usually a very uncertain endeavor.  It is extremely rare that a faculty member knows about a specific research opening that can be promised to an incoming M.S. candidate. Recently, however, typical research funding levels have allowed RA support to be offered to virtually all M.S. Plan I candidates by the end of their first year in the program.

Teaching assistantships are a more likely source of funding for incoming M.S. candidates. Teaching assistantships are offered only to our highest-ranking applicants and constrained by the following priorities: Ph.D. candidates are preferred over M.S. candidates and potential TAs must be able to assist in most undergraduate courses offered throughout the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department.

Given the limited financial support under our control, we strongly encourage prospective M.S. students to take advantage of all potential funding opportunities outside our program.