Environmental Engineering
Dr. Matthew Volovski
Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Jessica Wilson
Director, Graduate Program
Mission
Consistent with the Mission Statements of Manhattan College and the School of Engineering, the mission of the Environmental Engineering Graduate Program is to provide engineers and scientists with advanced training in environmental process engineering, water quality assessment modeling, geoenvironmental engineering, and environmental management. Emphasis is placed on current applications, innovative technologies/processes and the underlying theoretical basis for sound engineering practice, in keeping with the societal need for maintaining and improving environmental quality and public health.
Objectives
Upon program completion, Environmental Engineering graduates will be recognized for (1) their leadership, achievement and involvement in engineering and related professions, through service in private and public agencies and in research and academic institutions; (2) their dedication to enhance the engineering profession through continuous self-improvement; (3) their commitment to working towards engineering a sustainable environment for new York and the world; and (4) their ethical practices and professionalism.
Admission Requirements
Master of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) Degree: Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree in engineering from a program accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, Inc., or from a recognized foreign institution. A minimum grade point average of 3.0 is normally required. In addition, applicants must present adequate preparation in two courses in chemistry, one course in calculus-based physics, two courses in calculus, differential equations, and one course in computer applications, statistics, fluid mechanics, a biological science, an earth science, and principles of environmental engineering. These undergraduate courses must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 3.00 with no single course grade lower than a C.
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Degree: Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree in engineering or science. A minimum grade point average of 3.0 is normally required. In addition, applicants must present adequate preparation in two courses in chemistry, one course in physics, two courses in calculus, differential equations, one course in computer applications, statistics, fluid mechanics, a biological science or an earth science, and principles of environmental engineering. These undergraduate courses must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 with no single course grade lower than a C.
Prerequisite courses will not satisfy any requirements for the Master of Science in Environmental Engineering degree. Generally, students must complete all prerequisite courses before they may register for the designated graduate courses. Exceptions to either the 3.0 minimum undergraduate GPA requirement or the need to complete prerequisites prior to registering for graduate courses may be approved on a case-by-case basis upon the recommendation of the Environmental Engineering Graduate Program Director and the approval of the Dean of Engineering.
Degree Requirements
Master of Environmental Engineering Degree
ABET Accredited Master's of Environmental Engineering Degree requires ME designated students to complete a minimum of thirty credit hours of graduate coursework with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Below are the course requirements for completion of the ME Degree:
| Six (6) Required Courses | 18 | |
| ENVG 505 | Surface Water Quality Modeling | 3 |
| ENVG 506 | Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes | 3 |
| ENVG 508 | Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| ENVG 718 | Biological Treatment Wastewaters | 3 |
| ENVG 736 | Environmental Advanced Unit Operations | 3 |
| ENVG 739 | Experimental Analysis in Environmental Engineering | 3 |
| Minimum of two (2) additional upper-level engineering design courses from the following: | 6 | |
| ENVG 703 | Environmental Fate and Effects of Toxic Contaminants | 3 |
| ENVG 704 | Advanced Water Modeling Quality | 3 |
| ENVG 712 | Advanced Geohydrology | 3 |
| ENVG 715 | Effect of Climate Change on Water Quality | 3 |
| ENVG 721 | Environmental Sustainability: Water Reuse & Resource Recovery | 3 |
| Two (2) technical electives may be taken from the courses listed above that were not taken to fulfill other requirements and from those listed below. Other non-ENVG courses may be taken with approval of the Program Director | 6 | |
| ENVG 507 | Groundwater | 3 |
| ENVG 510 | Hazardous Waste Management | 3 |
| ENVG 530 | Water Infrastructure Systems Analytics | 3 |
| ENVG 702 | Air Quality Analysis | 3 |
| ENVG 708 | Environmental Biotechnology | 3 |
| ENVG 744 | Emerging Issues in Environmental Engineering and Public Health | 3 |
| ENVG 731 | Special Topics | 3 |
| ENVG 732 | Thesis | 6 |
| ENGG 614 | Engineering Mathematics | 3 |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Degree
Students must complete a minimum of thirty credit hours of graduate coursework with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
| Three (3) Required Courses | 9 | |
| ENVG 505 | Surface Water Quality Modeling | 3 |
| ENVG 506 | Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes | 3 |
| ENVG 508 | Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| Minimum of three (3) upper-level engineering design courses from the following: | 9 | |
| ENVG 703 | Environmental Fate and Effects of Toxic Contaminants | 3 |
| ENVG 704 | Advanced Water Modeling Quality | 3 |
| ENVG 712 | Advanced Geohydrology | 3 |
| ENVG 715 | Effect of Climate Change on Water Quality | 3 |
| ENVG 718 | Biological Treatment Wastewaters | 3 |
| ENVG 721 | Environmental Sustainability: Water Reuse & Resource Recovery | 3 |
| ENVG 736 | Environmental Advanced Unit Operations | 3 |
| ENVG 739 | Experimental Analysis in Environmental Engineering | 3 |
| Four (4) technical electives may be selected from the courses listed above that were not taken to fulfill other requirements and from those listed below. Up to 2 courses outside the ENVG offerings (ie. CEEN or COMG) may be taken with the approval of the Program Director. | 12 | |
| ENVG 507 | Groundwater | 3 |
| ENVG 510 | Hazardous Waste Management | 3 |
| ENVG 530 | Water Infrastructure Systems Analytics | 3 |
| ENVG 546 | Coastal Engineering | 3 |
| ENVG 702 | Air Quality Analysis | 3 |
| ENVG 708 | Environmental Biotechnology | 3 |
| ENVG 744 | Emerging Issues in Environmental Engineering and Public Health | 3 |
| ENVG 731 | Special Topics | 3 |
| ENVG 732 | Thesis | 6 |
| ENGG 614 | Engineering Mathematics | 3 |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
Focus Areas
Focus areas consisting of prescribed, specific courses are available through the environmental engineering graduate program. Unless otherwise noted, courses in these programs may be applied to a Master's of Engineering or a Master's of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering. For a list of focus areas, please go to the Manhattan College website.
Courses
ENVG 500. Modeling of Civil & Environmental Engineering Problems. 3 Credits.
Construction of analytical models that produce the classical formulas of structural, hydraulic, water supply and water and wastewater treatment engineering. Ordinary and partial differential equations, vectors, tensors and matrices, systems of linear equations and boundary value problems. Prerequisites: Differential Equations, Fluid Mechanics, Introductory Solid Mechanics. For seniors and/or graduate students. One three-hour lecture each week.
ENVG 505. Surface Water Quality Modeling. 3 Credits.
Principles governing the transport and fate of contaminants in rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs. Water quality standards, transport processes, water quality modeling for water-borne disease, dissolved oxygen, and nutrient enrichment. Engineering controls to meet water quality objectives and case studies are presented. Computer solutions to some problems are required. Cross-listed with ENVL 425.
ENVG 506. Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes. 3 Credits.
Study of the fundamental principles used to treat both drinking water and wastewater. Drinking water treatment principles include Strokes law for particle settling, theory of coagulation and flocculation, porous media filtration, and disinfection. Principles for wastewater treatment include reactor analyses, growth and degradation kinetics for biological oxidation processes anaerobic digestion of complex organics, and hindered and compression settling.
Prerequisite: ENGS 204.
ENVG 507. Groundwater. 3 Credits.
Basic principles of groundwater hydrology and subsurface contaminant transport. Construction and use of flow nets; pumping well and aquifer response under confirmed and unconfirmed conditions. Contaminant sources, transport, and retardation; the behavior of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLS) in the subsurface. Design of groundwater extraction systems, subsurface cutoff walls, caps, and emerging technologies for soil treatment.
Prerequisite: ENGS 204
Cross-listed with ENVL 407.
ENVG 508. Environmental Chemistry. 3 Credits.
An introduction to the chemistry of natural waters and the atmosphere. The application of the principles of physical and analytical chemistry to the solution of problems related to environmental engineering and science. Includes a unit on relevant properties of organic compounds that are relevant to the environment and public health. Cross-listed with ENVL 409.
ENVG 509. Environmental GeoChemistry. 3 Credits.
Review of fundamental geologic processes. Solution-mineral equilibria of carbonates and silicates. Surface chemistry at the solution-mineral interface. Relevant phase equilibria, weathering and soils, inorganic and organic sedimentation and diagenesis, isotope geochemistry, and metamorphism.
ENVG 510. Hazardous Waste Management. 3 Credits.
Fundamentals of hazardous waste management and treatment design. Includes review of current hazardous waste regulations, groundwater and air contaminant fate and transport concepts, and risk assessment. Primary focus on the design of treatment processes including air stripping of volatile compounds, soil vapor extraction, adsorption, bioremediation of contained aquifers and soils, and incineration. Emerging treatment technologies will also be presented.
ENVG 530. Water Infrastructure Systems Analytics. 3 Credits.
The course will cover various analytics techniques for optimal planning and operation of water resources systems. Applied techniques include advanced regression, machine learning, nonlinear programming and meta heuristic algorithms, and multi-criteria approach for water resources management.
Cross-listed with CIVG 530, CEEN 430.
ENVG 546. Coastal Engineering. 3 Credits.
This is an introductory course in coastal engineering. It blends environmental and civil engineering topics and has a strong focus on design. Topics covered include: Tides, Waves, Storm Surge, Shore Protection, Breakwaters, Harbors, Beach Protection, Sediment Transport, Beach Restoration, Floodwalls, Levees. Equivalent to CEEN 446 and CIVG 546.
ENVG 702. Air Quality Analysis. 3 Credits.
Basic air pollution concepts; the Clean Air Act; basic meteorology; basic analytical methods and concepts for air quality analysis; the Gaussian Plume Model;Plume Rise; Traffic Impact Analysis; Environmental Impact Analysis and air quality; Airshed Models; Smog and Ozone Models; Indoor Air Quality analysis.
ENVG 703. Environmental Fate and Effects of Toxic Contaminants. 3 Credits.
Principles governing the transport, fate and effect of toxic organic contaminants in surface water systems. Topics include: physical-chemical characterization of toxic organic contaminants; phase behavior and chemical transformation kinetics; sediment contamination and transport; bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs; human and ecological risk assessment; sediment remediation technologies and environmental site remediation. Mathematical solutions and computer models are used throughout the course.
ENVG 704. Advanced Water Modeling Quality. 3 Credits.
Advanced water quality modeling for metals in surface waters and sediments. Topics include: metal speciation; metal binding to natural organic matter; metal binding in sediment; aquatic toxicity; human health effects; chemical speciation-transport modeling; critical loads; metal-sulfide oxidation kinetics; cycling of redox sensitive metals (e.g., As, Cr, Se); Hg cycling and bioaccumulation; acidification of surface waters. Computer modeling based on the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) and the Tableau Input Coupled Kinetic Equilibrium Transport (TICKET) model will be used throughout the course.
ENVG 706. Water Chemistry. 3 Credits.
Principles of chemical equilibrium are applied to quantitatively describe the chemical composition of natural waters and engineered aquatic systems. These tolls are applied to solve environmental engineering problems related to surface and groundwater quality and water and wastewater treatment. Topics include chemical thermodynamics, acid/base equilibrium, the carbonate system, metal complexation, precipitation/dissolution of minerals and oxidation/reduction reactions.
ENVG 708. Environmental Biotechnology. 3 Credits.
Fundamentals of biotechnology and its applications to environmental engineering. Principles of microbial genetics, microbial ecology and biochemistry and how they relate to biological treatment of water, air, wastewater and hazardous wastes. Biofilm process fundamentals and applications. Molecular methods and their use in the study and analysis of ideal and non-ideal biological systems. Specific applications to public health, bioremediation, biosolids reuse and industrial treatment. Review and evaluation of Advanced water, wastewater and remediation processes that utilize biotechnology.
Prerequisite: ENVL 506.
ENVG 710. Environmental Organic Chemistry. 3 Credits.
The structure and nomenclature of relevant organic compounds. Kinetics, fate and transport of xenophobic chemicals in the environment. Important hydrolytic, photolytic, oxidative and reductive reactions. Use of quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) in predicting toxicity and related properties of various classes of environmentally active organic compounds.
ENVG 712. Advanced Geohydrology. 3 Credits.
Review of basic principles. Introduction to numerical groundwater modeling; application of Visual MODFLOW to flow and transport modeling. Pumping well and aquifer response under confined, unconfined, and semi-confined conditions. Hydraulic conductivity testing; borehole and surface geophysical methods for site characterization.
Prerequisite: ENVL 507.
ENVG 715. Effect of Climate Change on Water Quality. 3 Credits.
Effects of climate change on water quality in surface waters. Topics include: an introduction to climate change and climate projections; impacts of climate change on NYC drinking water reservoirs (e.g., increases in turbidity, nutrient loads, eutrophication); increased demand and sources of Technology Critical Elements (TCEs) to meet the green energy transition; expected increase in metals to the environment (e.g., increased mining activity, societal use and end-of-life disposal); effect of increased temperature and changes in precipitation patterns on metal exposure and toxicity.
ENVG 718. Biological Treatment Wastewaters. 3 Credits.
Application of biological processes to all types of water and waste streams including: municipal and industrial wastewater, drinking water, and hazardous waste streams. Treatment processes and models, aerobic, facultative and anaerobic processes, cell synthesis and respiration, oxygen and nutrient requirements. Biological nitrogen removal, enhanced biological phosphorus removal, attached growth systems, bioremediation and process designs. Anaerobic treatment with biogas recovery. Course will also cover process trouble-shooting, and operation and maintenance issues associated with many treatment technologies.
ENVG 721. Environmental Sustainability: Water Reuse & Resource Recovery. 3 Credits.
Fundamentals of wastewater reuse including: State and Federal water reclamation and reuse regulation; municipal, industrial and storm water reuse; public health aspects of reuse; and economics of reuse. Design and operation of specific reuse technologies including membrane systems, advanced oxidation systems, etc. Regulations and technologies addressing beneficial reuse of biosolids and drinking water residuals, including land application and soil conditioning, will also be covered. Finally, the role of water and residuals reuse in industrial, local and global sustainability will be addressed.
Prerequisite: ENVL 506.
ENVG 722. Subsurface Bioremediation. 3 Credits.
Fundamentals of sub-surface processes, abiotic and biotic, which contribute to the bioremediation of common subsurface contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, nitroaromatics, heavy metals and redionuclides. Areas of study will include multi-phase flow, convective transport, sortion/desorption, phase partitioning, as well as microbal ecology, biodegradation kinetics, biomass growth and degradative metabolisms. Specific examples of intrinsic and engineered bioremediation of aromatics and chlorinated solvents will be included. The course will utilize a text book, web-based tutorial material and three interactive bioremediation spread-sheet based models. The course will meet only three times during the semester; all other correspondence will be carried out via email.
Prerequisite: ENVG 506, ENVG 507.
ENVG 730. Seminar. 1 Credit.
ENVG 731. Special Topics. 3 Credits.
Guided study of approved advanced topics related to environmental engineering or science.
ENVG 732. Thesis. 1-6 Credit.
A technical paper under faculty supervision based upon original study or research, an original design, or a thorough analysis of an existing or proposed system of either a scientific or engineering nature.
ENVG 736. Environmental Advanced Unit Operations. 3 Credits.
Advanced study of the processes used for water treatment and purification with an emphasis on design principles and process modeling. Processes covered include carbon adsorption, ion exchange, chemical oxidation of inorganic and organic chemicals, disinfection using chlorine, ozone and ultraviolet light, strategies for control of disinfection byproducts, and chemical precipitation. Spring: Prerequisite ENVG 506.
ENVG 739. Experimental Analysis in Environmental Engineering. 3 Credits.
This course is an advanced laboratory covering principles of modern experimental and analytical techniques and their applications to problems in environmental engineering. Topics include the measurement of water quality parameters, determination of contaminant partition coefficients and kinetics of transformation reactions in the environment.
Prerequisite: ENVG 705.
ENVG 740. Advanced Hydraulic Design. 3 Credits.
Introduction to advanced concepts in hydraulic design. Use of computer software to analyze and design stormwater, sanitary sewer and water distribution systems. Hydraulic analysis of a river using HECRAS. A project-oriented design course.
This course utilizes EPA SWIMM and EPANET software, and Corps of Engineers HECRAS software.
ENVG 741. Special Topics. 3 Credits.
ENVG 744. Emerging Issues in Environmental Engineering and Public Health. 3 Credits.
Review of innovative and emerging technologies/tools in environmental engineering and public health. Subjects will
include the study of emerging contaminants in the environment. Fundamentals of cutting-edge water, wastewater,
and resource recovery technologies. Power conservation and generation from water/wastewater treatment
systems. Additionally, issues associated with in-premise air and water quality will be covered, including: treatment
of building air to remove volatile organic compounds, bacteria and viruses; and treatment of in-premise plumbing
to manage microbial and chemical concerns. Finally, tools and concepts related to Life cycle assessment and its
application in decisions making associate with the selection of new technologies based on socio-economic and
environmental factors. Prerequisites: ENVG 506, ENVG 508.