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 required and elective courses in geo-environmental, surface water hydrology, surface and groundwater water quality, groundwater hydrology, and air quality. The program includes foundational and fundamental courses in chemistry, mathematics and statistics, physics, geology and biology. The program culminates with a final capstone design course that allows students to apply many of the principles and concepts on a community-serving project.
The BSENVE program at Portland State University is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 415 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, a national organization sets standards for curricular content, quality of faculty, and adequacy of facilities of engineering programs.
BSENVE Program Educational Objectives
The environmental engineering program prepares graduates 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 Student Outcomes
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:
• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
• an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
• an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
• an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
• an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
• an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
• an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.
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 |
| Bi 234 | Elementary Microbiology | 4 |
| Bi 235 | Microbiology Laboratory | 2 |
| | Freshman Inquiry | 15 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 48 |
Sophomore Year
| EAS 211 | Statics | 4 |
| EAS 212 | Strength of Materials | 4 |
| EAS 215 | Dynamics | 4 |
| Mth 261 | Introduction to Linear Algebra | 4 |
| Mth 254 | Calculus IV | 4 |
| Mth 256 | Applied Ordinary Differential Equations | 4 |
| Ph 221 | General Physics (with Calculus) I | 3 |
| Ph 222 | General Physics (with Calculus) II | 3 |
| Ph 223 | General Physics (with Calculus) III | 3 |
| Ph 214 | Lab for Ph 201 or Ph 211 or Ph 221 or Ph 231 | 1 |
| Ph 215 | Lab for Ph 202 or Ph 212 or Ph 222 or Ph 232 | 1 |
| Ph 216 | Lab for Ph 203 or Ph 213 or Ph 223 or Ph 233 | 1 |
| | Sophomore Inquiry | 8 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 44 |
Junior Year
| CE 315 | The Civil and Environmental Engineering Profession | 1 |
| CE 316 | Applied Probability and Statistics for Civil & Environmental Engineering | 4 |
| 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 |
| CE 412 | Sustainability in Civil & Environmental Engineering Seminar | 1 |
| EnvE 365 | Physical Environmental Processes | 2 |
| EnvE 366 | Analytical Methods in Environmental Engineering | 2 |
| EnvE 368 | Physical Environmental Process Lab | 2 |
| EnvE 369 | Analytical Methods in Environmental Engineering Lab | 2 |
| EnvE 370 | Sampling, Analysis and Risk Assessment for Environmental Engineering Lab | 2 |
| G 301 | Geology for Engineers | 3 |
| ME 321 | Engineering Thermodynamics I | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 41 |
Senior Year
| CE 474 | Unit Operations of Environmental Engineering | 4 |
| CE 480 | Chemistry of Environmental Toxins | 4 |
| CE 484 | Civil & Environmental Engineering Project Management and Design I | 3 |
| CE 494 | Civil & Environmental Engineering Project Management and Design II | 3 |
| Ec 314U | Private and Public Investment Analysis | 4 |
| | Upper-division cluster | 8 |
| | Approved Environmental Engineering Electives | 24 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 50 |
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 electives in geo-environmental engineering, surface water quality, surface hydrology and hydraulics, subsurface hydrology and contaminant transport, and air quality. 24 credits of technical electives are required to complete the BSENVE degree; a variety of the classes listed below are available each academic year.
| CE 401 | Research | 1-6 |
| CE 403 | Honors Thesis | 1-4 |
| CE 404 | Cooperative Education/Internship | 1-12 |
| CE 405 | Reading and Conference | 1-6 |
| CE 406 | Special Projects | 1-6 |
| CE 407 | Seminar | 1-6 |
| CE 410 | Selected Topics | 0-6 |
| CE 445 | Geo-environmental Engineering with Geosynthetics | 2 |
| CE 479/ESM 479 | Fate and Transport of Toxics in the Environment | 4 |
| CE 480 | Chemistry of Environmental Toxins | 4 |
| CE 481 | The Columbia River as a System | 2 |
| CE 482 | Introduction to Sediment Transport | 4 |
| CE 483 | Estuarine Circulation | 4 |
| CE 469 | Subsurface Hydrology | 4 |
| CE 485 | Environmental Cleanup and Restoration | 4 |
| CE 486/Ch 486 | Environmental Chemistry | 4 |
| CE 487/Ch 487 | Aquatic Chemistry | 4 |
| CE 488/ESM 460 | Air Quality | 4 |
| CE 489 | Introduction to Advanced Environmental Fluid Mechanics | 4 |
| CE 490 | Soil and Groundwater Restoration | 4 |
| CE 565/ESM 525 | Watershed Hydrology | 4 |
| CE 566/ESM 566 | Environmental Data Analysis | 4 |
| CE 568 | Advanced Methods in Hydrologic System Analysis | 4 |
| CE 571/CE 671 | Subsurface Contaminant Transport | 4 |
| CE 572 | Environmental Fluid Mechanical Transport | 4 |
| CE 573 | Numerical Methods in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering | 4 |
| CE 576 | Environmental Fluid Mechanics | 4 |
| CE 578 | Water Quality Modeling | 4 |
CE 401 – CE 406: 4 credits recommended maximum across all numbers, 2 maximum for CE 404 Internship; additional credits require Department Chair approval.
CE 407 in ENVE discipline area: 3 credits recommended maximum; additional credits require Department Chair approval.
CE 410 in ENVE discipline area only.
BSENVE Students are also allowed to take one of the following courses for elective credit:
Ph 375U,
Ph 471,
Ph 477,
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.
Total Credit Hours: 183