Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Description of Course Goals and Curriculum

This course is an introductory survey of topics in environmental engineering. The initial topics cover the basics of mass/energy balances, and then steer towards mechanisms of pollutant transport and mobilization in the environment as well as reactions at interfacial boundaries. The first few lectures build on each other, and then start to get less methodologically connected as the semester progresses. As with other engineering courses, this course is less focused on memorizing equations and emphasizes the importance of applying learned concepts to unfamiliar situations. A basic knowledge of calculus is helpful, and perhaps some chemistry. Most necessary chemistry topics will be reviewed in sufficient depth, and you can always ask the professor or TA for clarification; they are good about making themselves available.

Learning From Classroom Instruction

Lectures are traditional PowerPoint lectures, but the slides are supplemented with blackboard notes. The slides are pretty well-designed and thorough, so there is little need to copy what is on them since they are posted online. It is helpful to copy (with pen and paper) what is written on the board, especially when Professor Bourg demonstrates example problems. The purpose of lectures is to introduce the theory of problems that you will see in homework. Readings were not formally assigned, but chapters out of the book were indicated to be good reference material if you wanted to learn more about the equations that are used, for example. However, most equations that are necessary are well-explained in lecture slides.

Learning For and From Assignments

During this semester, there were six problem sets, a midterm, and a final. There was no final project. The problem sets are designed to help you apply concepts that you learned in class. The nice thing about these is that they tended to start out with more basic problems, and developed into more complicated multi-step problems. For this reason, it is easy to learn as you go. Lecture notes and slides are good reference materials to review before beginning the problem sets, especially the examples that might have been done in class. These examples may be similar in content and format to the problems that you might find on the homework. Professor Bourg was excellent about making himself available through office hours or informal office visits, so be sure to get help from either him or the TA if you have trouble understanding the problems. The midterm and final will require you to apply the same concepts that you used in the problem sets, but in more complex situations. Thus, it is crucial that you understand the homework problems very well. I found it helpful to redo the problem sets over and over until I could easily do them all not based on memorization, but based on familiarity with the methodologies. If you become comfortable using the equations and methods with the simpler homework problems, you will be better equipped to know when and where to use them on the exams. Practice exam problems/study guides were assigned before the exams. These were not graded or collected at all, but the professor did review them in class. It is helpful to work through all the problems yourself before the review class sessions so that you can accurately assess how well you know the material that is going to be tested, and focus your studying on what you are not so comfortable with.

External Resources

Seek out help during office hours from either Professor Bourg or the TA. Wikipedia is good for explaining equations/definitions.

What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection

You will find that Professor Bourg is an extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic instructor if you go a bit out of your way to get to know him. He cares that students understand the material, and responds well to those who seek help, no matter how basic you think the topics are that you might be having trouble with. This is a great course to take if you are interested in any field related to the environment, as you will learn about how contaminants enter and are removed from the natural system. The math is not too difficult, but challenging enough to make the problem solving interesting. This course is required for environmental engineering/geoengineeing concentraters, but can serve as an interesting and not too heavy departmental elective for other STEM majors (CBE, ORF, GEO, CHM, PHY, etc), as well as a general elective for those looking to explore the surface of the engineering side of the environment.