Purdue engineering creates environment, ecology division
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"Engineers have vast opportunities to promote positive effects on our environment through the work they do," said Leah Jamieson, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Ransburg Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "Not only have Purdue students expressed a strong interest in pursuing courses in environmental engineering, but also we felt it was important to Purdue to incorporate environmental studies across the engineering curriculum."
Nationally, interest in the environmental and ecological field is increasing. According to a 2002 study by the National Science Board, it is projected that there will be a 27 percent increase in the number of environmental engineering positions in the current decade.
Inez Hua, associate professor of civil engineering, will serve as founding interim head of Purdue engineering's new Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering.
"Inez Hua is internationally respected for her research, especially in the areas of water pollution control and environmental chemistry," Jamieson said. "She has begun work in the area of industrial ecology and sustainability engineering, which are key areas for engineering, industry and the environment. She also has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."
Within the Purdue College of Engineering, many of the schools offer courses related to the environment. For example, the School of Mechanical Engineering offers courses about noise control and combustion; the School of Nuclear Engineering offers courses on radioactive waste treatment, and the School of Industrial Engineering offers a course about integrating environmental considerations into facilities planning.
In addition, the School of Civil Engineering and the School of Agricultural and Biological Engineering offer a substantial number of environmental engineering courses. Those courses include remediation of contaminated soils and sediments, industrial and solid waste treatment, water and wastewater treatment, air pollution measurement and control, urban and agricultural air and water quality management, understanding the environment fate of pollutants and sustainable engineering.
"In fact, more than 50 graduate and undergraduate courses that incorporate environmental considerations in the course topics are currently listed with the College of Engineering," Hua said. "One objective of the new division is to coordinate those many course offerings into a coherent program which will highlight the existing strengths of our faculty."
Goals of the new environmental and ecological division include developing an environmental engineering community within the Purdue faculty and promoting student recruitment to the field.
The new division also will:
• Develop an environmental and ecological seminar series that complements existing series offered through Purdue's other colleges and schools, as well as Discovery Park's Center for the Environment.
• Develop an environmental and ecological minor for all engineering majors.
• Investigate certificate and graduate degree programs in environmental and ecological engineering.
The new division will be administratively housed in the Purdue College of Engineering and will partner with other colleges and schools at Purdue.
Hua earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and master's and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as by industry associations, state agencies and private foundations.
She has co-advised two national championship environmental engineering design teams and also has served as an instructor in the Engineering Professional Education program. She was a member of the Environment in Engineering Committee, the Global Sustainable Industrial Systems Search Committee and the Environment in Engineering Implementation Committee. She also is currently serving on the Center for the Environment's Internal Executive Committee and the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Indiana Water Resources Research Center.
The new academic division was established after a two-year study by the Environment in Engineering Committee, chaired by Loring Nies, associate professor in the School of Civil Engineering; and the Environment in Engineering Implementation Committee, chaired by Robert Bernhard, professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu
Sources: Leah Jamieson, (765) 494-5346, lhj@purdue.edu
Inez Hua, (765) 494-2409, hua@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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