ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING at Purdue University

Environmental and Ecological engineers apply technical understanding of environmental systems, systems engineering, biology, and chemistry to develop strategies to protect human and environmental health, and design sustainable systems and technologies.  They can address issues at the local or global level, such as unsafe drinking water, air quality, and industrial sustainability.  Projects may focus on improvement of materials cycling, resource recovery, public health, and water and air pollution control.

Environmental and Ecological Engineering (EEE) at Purdue is unique and cutting edge in that it educates students in a systems perspective that includes sustainability as it applies to natural and industrial processes. Rather than only considering conventional waste emission treatment, we train our students to approach problems from an integrated perspective that considers both environmental issues and ecological aspects. Our name highlights this modern approach of EEE relative to similar programs at peer institutions.

We seek a broad systems perspective for addressing environmental issues, with a focus on ecological interactions and resilient designs that take into account complexity and connectivity between systems. In the undergraduate curriculum, this philosophy drives the early focus on systems thinking and systems understanding and leads to the inclusion of significant course requirements in ecology, sustainability and environmental engineering. The Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Ecological Engineering is the only degree option in this discipline at Purdue, and the degree program is accredited in Environmental Engineering by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

Careers in Environmental and Ecological Engineering

Most businesses, industries, all levels of government and many international organizations hire environmental and ecological engineers. Graduates are prepared to enter a wide-range of employment sectors in environmental and ecological engineering fields including the industrial and construction, government, consulting, municipal and public service, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and education sectors.