Program Mission

The mission of the Environmental Engineering Program is to prepare and motivate students from diverse backgrounds to achieve excellence through intellectual, humanistic, scientific, and technological advancements on their way to becoming practicing professional environmental engineers with a sense of social responsibility.

Program Educational Objectives

Within a few years of graduation, the PUPR Environmental Engineering Program graduates are expected to attain the following:

1. Establish themselves as practicing professionals in the industry and government of their communities in accordance with the standards and ethics of the profession.
2. Demonstrate professional competence by holding positions of increasing responsibility in an environmental engineering field.
3. Contribute to their organizations by serving as liaisons in a bilingual (Spanish-English) environment, performing as effective leaders and as active members of a professional team.
4. Enhance their professional knowledge through a lifetime of continuing education and through the active participation in professional societies.

Student Outcomes

The graduates of the Environmental Engineering Program will have:

1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics. 

2. 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. 

3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences. 

4. 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. 

5. an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives. 

6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions. 

7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Career Opportunities

Modern engineering is one of the great pillars of economic and social development. But development must not occur at the expense of environmental degradation. Therefore, the engineering design of urban, agricultural, and industrial facilities must have environmental protection mechanisms or systems built in. The environmental engineer is the professional who is academically prepared to design these environmental protection mechanisms and systems, and to collaborate with other professionals in the creation of environmentally sound engineering works. The graduates from this program will have their place in government agencies with regulatory, construction, or maintenance responsibilities; in design and consulting engineering firms; and in the industrial sector, especially in the type of industry that, because of its industrial operations, results in significant environmental impact. On the other hand, environmental engineering alumni will be much better prepared to pursue successfully graduate degrees in this field if they so desire.

Degree Offered

The Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Land Surveying Department offers undergraduate instruction leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering (BSEnvE).

To obtain the degree, the student must complete the following minimum requirements:

Minimum Graduation Requirements 

15      Credit-hours in Mathematics

26     Credit-hours in Basic Sciences

21     Credit-hours in Socio-Humanistic Studies and Languages

13      Credit-hours in General Engineering

17      Credit-hours in Civil and Environmental Engineering

49      Credit-hours in Environmental Engineering

  6      Credit-hours in Technical Elective

147    Total Credit-hours

Developmental Studies

All students that are admitted to the Environmental Engineering Program must show evidence that they have acquired the academic abilities and skills necessary to progress through this major. Those not demonstrating the complete acquisition of these abilities and skills (as reflected by the results of their College Entrance Examination Board tests, results in PUPR’s placement test, previous university experience, and other tests or criteria) will be required to take developmental courses. These courses are designed to help students overcome deficiencies in languages, mathematics, and science. These developmental courses are in addition to the 147 credit-hours of the Environmental Engineering Program. Developmental courses are the following:

Developmental Studies Component
(Maximum of 34 Credit-Hours)

(*) To be taken by students who have not taken a Biology course in High School.

Laboratories

The Environmental Engineering Curriculum requires the following laboratory courses: two General Chemistry and one Organic Chemistry Laboratories, two Physics Laboratories, Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Algorithms, Programming, and Numerical Analysis Laboratory, and two Environmental Engineering Laboratories. Two additional courses (Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Environmental Engineering Senior Design Project I) also have laboratory experiences.

Student Organizations

There are three active student chapters at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Land Surveying which are especially attractive to environmental engineering students:

• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• American Concrete Institute (ACI)
• Associated General Contractors of America (ACG)

Students may participate in any of the student chapters. These chapters provide opportunities to get involved and participate in conferences, seminars, field trips, and other social and academic activities. These types of activities allow the development of leadership and teamwork skills and get the student more involved in academic life and extracurricular activities. The Environmental Engineering Program encourages its students to participate actively in these chapters. In addition, there are other student chapters at the University, such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, in which environmental engineering students are enrolled.

Environmental Engineering Curriculum

(147 Credit-Hours)

Mathematics Component
(15 Credit-Hours)

Basic Sciences Component
(26 Credit-Hours)

Socio-Humanistic Studies and Languages Component
(21 Credit-Hours)

General Engineering Component
(13 Credit-Hours)

Civil and Environmental Engineering Component
(17 Credit-Hours)

Environmental Engineering Component
(49 Credit-Hours)

Technical Elective Component
(6 Credit-Hours)

(*) Technical Elective Course: any Environmental Engineering (ENVE) elective course; or any Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) elective course; or a Civil Engineering (CE) course approved by the Department Head; or a Land Surveying (SURV) course approved by the Department Head; or a Geomatic Science (GEOM) course approved by the Department Head; or any of the following General Engineering courses: ENGI 2120-Mechanics of Materials, ENGI 2320-Principles of Electrical Engineering, or ENGI 3510-Engineering Materials; or a technical course approved by the Department Head. Those students enrolled in the Combined Bachelor’s-Master’s Degree Program may take a graduate level course as a Technical Elective Course with the approval of the Department Head and the Coordinator of the Graduate Program.

Environmental Engineering Elective Courses

Civil and Environmental Engineering Elective Courses

Environmental Engineering Curriculum Sequence

First Year
First Quarter

1^st Year – Second Quarter

1^st Year – Third Quarter

Second Year
First Quarter

2^nd Year – Second Quarter

2^nd Year – Third Quarter

Third Year
First Quarter

3^rd Year – Second Quarter

3^rd Year – Third Quarter

Fourth Year
First Quarter

4^th Year – Second Quarter

4^th Year – Third Quarter