Course Descriptions

Click on a course name to see course content and learning objectives

EGCE 570: FATE AND TRANSPORT OF CHEMICALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

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This course covers chemical and physical processes of contaminants in the environment, including principles of thermodynamics, kinetics and equilibrium chemistry, and chemical partitioning. Students will learn:

  • Concepts such as mass balance and control volumes that help them understand and describe chemicals in the environment
  • Environmental engineering chemistry such as redox reactions, pH and alkalinity, chemical sorption, and precipitation
  • Thermodynamics as it relates to the transfer of chemicals among phases (solid, liquid, gas, and non-aqueous liquid phase)
  • Transport of chemicals (advection-dispersion)
  • Physics of surface water, groundwater, and atmospheric systems

EGCE 571: HYDRAULICS AND HYDROLOGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERS

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This course explores subjects in engineering hydrology with an emphasis on surface water system. Students will learn:

  • Review of fluid mechanics relevant hydrology
  • Hydrologic principles: precipitation, evaporation, and infiltration
  • Understanding the hydrologic response of systems through the use of hydrographs
  • Flood routing
  • Frequency analysis
  • Urban hydrology
  • Watershed and flow river modeling

 

EGCE 515: SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, SYSTEM DESIGN, AND SUSTAINABILITY

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This course covers industrial waste treatment and disposal, waste minimization, process selection, control, green technologies, and resource recovery. Design of liners, gas and leachate collection and removal systems in landfills. Students will learn:

  • Solid waste characterization and relevant regulations
  • Solid waste management (resources recovery, waste minimization, sustainability)
  • Design of clay liners
  • Design of flexible membrane liners
  • Design of gas collection and removal systems
  • Design of landfill final cover
  • Issues related to landfill operation and management

EGCE 573: ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING PRACTICES AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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This course combines topics of environmental regulation and assessment with elements of engineering project management. Students will experience an overview to environmental regulation including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund (CERCLA), and others. The engineering requirements of mane of these regulations are environmental assessments including Environmental Impact Statements, Superfund RI/FS’s, and RCRA RFA/RFIs. The course then presents more general principles and techniques of engineering project management. Students will learn:

  • Familiarity with federal and state laws and regulations governing environmental discharges to air, water, and land as well as handling of solid and hazardous waste
  • Understanding of the management of engineering projects including planning, project initiation, cost estimation, budgeting, scheduling, project coordination, and project termination
  • Familiarity with the components and creation of Environmental Impact Statements and other environmental assessments

 

EGCE 581: REMEDIATION OF CONTAMINATED SOIL AND GROUNDWATER

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This course covers site assessment, green technologies, design for soil remediation system, and design for groundwater remediation systems. Students will learn:

  • Practical design calculations for remedial investigation activities
  • Common practices in soil and groundwater monitoring and sampling
  • Migration of contaminants in soil and groundwater
  • Design of common soil remediation systems
  • Design of common groundwater remediation systems
  • Development of remedial alternatives and analysis

EGCE 582: WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND WATER RECLAMATION

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This course covers principles of anoxic, aerobic, and anaerobic biological processes and treatment. Stepwise development and process design equipment selection, economic evaluation, green technologies, and operating guidelines for wastewater treatment. Students will learn:

  • Wastewater characterizations
  • Analysis and selection of wastewater flow rates and mass loading
  • Physical and chemical unit operations and design
  • Biological unit operations and design including nitrogen removal and membrane biological reactors
  • Advanced wastewater treatment and water reclamation technologies
  • Sludge treatment and management
  • Evolution of wastewater management including energy uses, carbon footprint and sustainability

 

EGCE 572: WATER SUPPLY, TREATMENT, AND SYSTEM DESIGN

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This course covers the theory, development, design, and operation of municipal water treatment systems. Students will learn:

  • Water requirements for different uses
  • Design process for water transmission mains and distribution systems
  • Water quality standards and analysis
  • Reactor theory, process kinetics, and models
  • Principles and design aspects of drinking water treatment
  • Introduction to Southern California water supply and management

EGCE 597: GRADUATE PROJECT

The Graduate Project is a capstone experience where students must write a locate, read, and cite 20-50 articles; write a 5,000-word technical report in the format of our field; and condense that research into a cohesive 15-minute oral defense presented on the final day of class. Students may choose the topic of their project, granted it falls within the realm of environmental engineering. The typical semester breakdown is 7 lectures and 5 assignments designed to assist with your project, covering:

  • Identifying and avoiding plagiarism
  • The parts of a paper
  • Research proposals
  • Critiquing research articles (identifying bad science)
  • Conducting a literature review
  • Creating a research plan and conducting research
  • Data analysis and presentation

An alternative to the graduate project is to conduct individual research with a program faculty member. To go about this, students can contact a faculty member currently doing research and request to work with them instead of researching the 20-50 articles. Note: The written report is still required and research may span multiple semesters. For more information on how to substitute the graduate project with individual faculty research, please contact the Program Coordinator, Dr. Garrett Struckhoff, at   gstruckhoff@fullerton.edu.


 

EGCE 546: SURFACE WATER POLLUTION AND CONTROL

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This course covers sources, quality and quantity of stormwater runoff, best management practices (BMPs), system design of structural BMPs, green technologies, design for wastewater discharge into rivers, lakes and oceans. Students will learn:

  • Impact of urban development on stormwater runoff
  • Best management practices (BMPs) for stormwater management
  • Design of BMPs
  • Disposal of wastewater into lakes, rivers, and oceans
  • Remediation of contaminated sediments

EGCE 583: AIR POLLUTION CONTROL ENGINEERING

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This course covers sources and impacts of air pollutants, methods of sampling and analysis, air dispersion modeling, control techniques and system design for common air pollutants, climate changes, green technologies, and greenhouse emission control. Students will learn:

  • Air pollution measurements and emission estimates
  • Air pollution concentration models
  • Nature of particulate pollutants and control
  • Control of VOCs
  • Control of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide
  • Indoor air pollution
  • Climate change, greenhouse gas emission reduction and control technologies

 

Courses are listed in typical completion order. Please refer to the Program Information page for a complete timeline.