As an environmental engineer, you will gain a solid background in environmental issues that are at the forefront of important discussions of how the environment and the economy are integrated with future development decisions.
This program prepares you for a wide range of employment opportunities where the technical expertise and problem-solving skills of engineers are required in conjunction with a strong awareness and understanding of environmental issues.
Program Details:
This program features all aspects of environmental engineering with a focus on sustainable development, wastewater management, and remediation and reclamation of contaminated sites.
During the first two years at UNBC, you will gain foundational knowledge in mathematics, biology, chemistry, and environmental science. You will take courses in engineering design, technical writing, chemistry, physics, computer science and calculus.
In your third and fourth years, you will transition to UBC where you will gain an in-depth, hands-on understanding of engineering principles, analysis, and design. Course topics include soil mechanics, fluid mechanics and engineering hydrology.
You will return to UNBC for a final semester and take courses on professional practice and environmental law as well as complete a capstone design project.
The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board accredits this program.
Example projects that an environmental engineering graduate can work on include the following:
- Designing and building processes to bring clean drinking water to northern communities
- Designing and building processes to treat municipal or industrial wastewater
- Designing and building processes to recover energy from municipal and industrial waste
- Developing methods to clean contaminated soil
- Developing flood control plans
- Mapping groundwater flow and contaminant transport in subsurface environments
Career Paths:
- Environmental engineer
- Pollution control engineer
- Municipal engineer
- Water resources engineer
- Reclamation engineer
As a Professional Engineer, you can work in the private sector in industry or for an engineering consulting company. You can also work for a government agency or start your own engineering consultancy.
Some engineering graduates continue their academic studies at the master’s or doctoral level or pursue further education in business, project management or other fields.