Environmental Engineering B.S.(BSENVE)
The BSENVE program provides training for engineers to preserve the natural environment – an especially important part of our culture in Portland and in the state of Oregon. Oregon prides itself on its environmental commitments and efforts toward living sustainably. This degree focuses on the fundamentals of environmental and water resources engineering with recommended tracks in geo-environmental, surface water hydrology and remote sensing, surface and groundwater water quality, groundwater hydrology, or air quality. Many of the required courses in the program are interdisciplinary drawing from the Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Environmental Science and Management, Physics, Geology and Biology.
The BSENVE curriculum at Portland State University is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 415 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 – telephone: 410-347-7700. This national organization sets standards for curricular content, quality of faculty, and adequacy of facilities
BSENVE Program Educational Objectives
Educational objectives describe the “career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve” (ABET, 2010) within a few years of their graduation.
The educational objectives of the Environmental Engineering program at Portland State University are as follows:
Graduates are expected to practice environmental engineering responsibly and ethically by (1) working effectively in the professional engineering community and (2) continuing to learn and enhance their abilities in environmental engineering.
BSENVE Program Outcomes
Program outcomes are goals that describe our expectations as BSENVE students graduate. Graduates of the Environmental Engineering program will have the skills and abilities to prepare them to begin professional practice or to succeed in graduate studies.
Graduates will have:
(A) An ability to apply principles of mathematics, science, and engineering to the analysis and design of environmental engineering projects.
(B) An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
(C) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability.
(D) An ability to participate in projects that cross disciplines and to function on multi-disciplinary teams.
(E) An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
(F) An understanding of the professional and ethical responsibility of engineers in a broad societal context.
(G) An ability to communicate effectively.
(H) The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context.
(I) A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in continuing professional development and life-long learning.
(J) Knowledge of relevant contemporary issues.
(K) An ability to use the modern techniques, skills, and engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
(L) An awareness of the need for professional registration in career development.
Requirements
BSENVE majors must complete the following University and department degree requirements for their engineering coursework.
- Freshmen and sophomore math, science, and engineering courses must be completed with a minimum grade of C ;
- Junior and senior engineering and science courses, and EC 314U must be completed with a minimum grade of C- ;
- Prerequisite courses must be passed with the minimum grade ("C" for 100 and 200 level courses, "C-" for 300 and 400 level courses) or better in order to move ahead in the sequence;
- The student’s cumulative PSU GPA must be 2.33 or higher to graduate from the BSENVE program;
- Any deviation from the required courses including engineering and mathematics substitutions must be approved in writing by the Department Chair.
Transfer students should follow the information found on the MCECS Transfer Site: https://www.pdx.edu/cecs/transferring-credits
Freshman Year
| CE 111 | Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering | 3 |
| CE 112 | Civil and Environmental Engineering Computations | 3 |
| CE 115 | Civil Engineering Drawing and Spatial Analysis | 3 |
| Ch 221 | General Chemistry I | 4 |
| Ch 222 | General Chemistry II | 4 |
| Ch 227 | General Chemistry Laboratory | 1 |
| Ch 228 | General Chemistry Laboratory | 1 |
| Mth 251 | Calculus I | 4 |
| Mth 252 | Calculus II | 4 |
| Mth 261 | Introduction to Linear Algebra | 4 |
| Bi 234 | Elementary Microbiology | 4 |
| Bi 235 | Microbiology Laboratory | 2 |
| | Freshman Inquiry | 15 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 52 |
Sophomore Year
| EAS 211 | Statics | 4 |
| EAS 212 | Strength of Materials | 4 |
| EAS 215 | Dynamics | 4 |
| Mth 254 | Calculus IV | 4 |
| Mth 256 | Applied Differential Equations I | 4 |
| Ph 221 | General Physics (with Calculus) | 3 |
| Ph 222 | General Physics (with Calculus) | 3 |
| Ph 223 | General Physics (with Calculus) | 3 |
| Ph 214 | Lab for Ph 201 or Ph 211 or Ph 221 | 1 |
| Ph 215 | Lab for Ph 202 or Ph 212 or Ph 222 | 1 |
| Ph 216 | Lab for Ph 203 or Ph 213 or Ph 223 | 1 |
| | Sophomore Inquiry | 12 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 44 |
Junior Year
| ESM 320 | Environmental Systems I | 4 |
| ESM 321 | Environmental Systems II | 4 |
| ESM 322 | Environmental Risk Assessment | 4 |
| ESM 323 | Environmental Systems Laboratory I | 2 |
| ESM 324 | Environmental Systems Laboratory II | 2 |
| ESM 325 | Environmental Risk Assessment Lab | 2 |
| ME 321 | Engineering Thermodynamics I | 4 |
| CE 315 | The Civil and Environmental Engineering Profession | 1 |
| CE 345 | Environmental Soil Mechanics | 2 |
| CE 361 | Fluid Mechanics | 4 |
| CE 362 | Engineering Hydraulics | 4 |
| CE 364 | Water Resources Engineering | 4 |
| CE 371 | Environmental Engineering | 4 |
| G 301 | Geology for Engineers | 3 |
| Stat 451 | Applied Statistics for Engineers and Scientists I | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 48 |
Senior Year
| CE 474 | Unit Operations of Environmental Engineering | 4 |
| CE 480 | Chemistry of Environmental Toxins | 4 |
| CE 484 | Civil Engineering Project Management and Design I | 3 |
| CE 494 | Civil Engineering Project Management and Design II | 3 |
| Ec 314U | Private and Public Investment Analysis | 4 |
| | Upper-division cluster | 8 |
| | Approved Environmental Engineering Electives | 18 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 44 |
Ec 314U is a required course that can be taken as a part of some upper-division clusters.
Electives: see below.
Approved Environmental Engineering Electives:
There are approved tracks in geo-environmental engineering, surface water quality, surface hydrology and hydraulics, subsurface hydrology and contaminant transport, or air quality (students are not restricted to these tracks and may select electives in any combination). BSENVE Students are also allowed to take one of the following courses for elective credit: G 424, Geog 488, or Geog 492. Additional elective classes outside of the CE subject area require prior approval from the CEE Department; requests should be sent to ceedept@pdx.edu prior to the start of the term.
1. Geoenvironmental:
| CE 445 | Geo-environmental Engineering with Geosynthetics | 2 |
2. Subsurface hydrology and contaminant transport:
3. Surface water hydrology:
4. Surface water hydrodynamics and water quality:
| CE 479/ESM 479 | Fate and Transport of Toxics in the Environment | 4 |
| CE 481 | The Columbia River as a System | 2 |
| CE 482 | Introduction to Sediment Transport | 4 |
| CE 483 | Estuarine Circulation | 4 |
| CE 572 | Environmental Fluid Mechanical Transport | 4 |
| CE 576 | Environmental Fluid Mechanics | 4 |
| CE 578 | Water Quality Modeling | 4 |
5. Air quality:
Total Credit Hours: 188