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Undergraduate programs - Civil and Environmental Engineering

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 elective courses in geo-environmental, surface water hydrology and remote sensing, surface and groundwater water quality, groundwater hydrology, and air quality. Many of the required courses in the program are interdisciplinary drawing from the Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Physics, Geology and Biology.

The BSENVE curriculum at Portland State University is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 415 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 – telephone: 410-347-7700. This national organization sets standards for curricular content, quality of faculty, and adequacy of facilities

BSENVE Program Educational Objectives

Educational objectives describe the “career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve” (ABET, 2010) within a few years of their graduation.

The program educational objectives of the Environmental Engineering program at Portland State University are as follows:

Graduates are expected 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:

(A) An ability to apply principles of mathematics, science, and engineering to the analysis and design of environmental engineering projects.

(B) An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.

(C) An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability.

(D) An ability to participate in projects that cross disciplines and to function on multi-disciplinary teams.

(E) An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.

(F) An understanding of the professional and ethical responsibility of engineers in a broad societal context.

(G) An ability to communicate effectively.

(H) The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context.

(I) A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in continuing professional development and life-long learning.

(J) Knowledge of relevant contemporary issues.

(K) An ability to use the modern techniques, skills, and engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

(L) An awareness of the need for professional registration in career development.

Requirements

BSENVE majors must complete the following University and department degree requirements for their engineering coursework.

  1. Freshmen and sophomore math, science, and engineering courses must be completed with a minimum grade of C;
  2. Junior and senior engineering and science courses, and EC 314U must be completed with a minimum grade of C-;
  3. 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;
  4. The student’s cumulative PSU GPA must be 2.33 or higher to graduate from the BSENVE program;
  5. 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 111Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering

3
CE 112Civil and Environmental Engineering Computations

3
CE 115Civil Engineering Drawing and Spatial Analysis

3
Ch 221General Chemistry I

4
Ch 222General Chemistry II

4
Ch 227General Chemistry Laboratory

1
Ch 228General Chemistry Laboratory

1
Mth 251Calculus I

4
Mth 252Calculus II

4
Bi 234Elementary Microbiology

4
Bi 235Microbiology Laboratory

2
Freshman Inquiry

15
Total Credit Hours:48

Sophomore Year

EAS 211Statics

4
EAS 212Strength of Materials

4
EAS 215Dynamics

4
Mth 261Introduction to Linear Algebra

4
Mth 254Calculus IV

4
Mth 256Applied Ordinary Differential Equations

4
Ph 221General Physics (with Calculus) I

3
Ph 222General Physics (with Calculus) II

3
Ph 223General Physics (with Calculus) III

3
Ph 214Lab for Ph 201 or Ph 211 or Ph 221

1
Ph 215Lab for Ph 202 or Ph 212 or Ph 222

1
Ph 216Lab for Ph 203 or Ph 213 or Ph 223

1
Sophomore Inquiry

12
Total Credit Hours:48

Junior Year

ME 321Engineering Thermodynamics I

4
CE 315The Civil and Environmental Engineering Profession

1
CE 345Environmental Soil Mechanics

2
CE 361Fluid Mechanics

4
CE 362Engineering Hydraulics

4
CE 364Water Resources Engineering

4
CE 371Environmental Engineering

4
CE 412Sustainability in Civil & Environmental Engineering Seminar

1
EnvE 365Physical Environmental Processes

2
EnvE 366Analytical Methods in Environmental Engineering

2
EnvE 368Physical Environmental Process Lab

2
EnvE 369Analytical Methods in Environmental Engineering Lab

2
EnvE 370Sampling, Analysis and Risk Assessment for Environmental Engineering Lab

2
G 301Geology for Engineers

3
Stat 451Applied Statistics for Engineers and Scientists I

4
Total Credit Hours:45

Senior Year

CE 474Unit Operations of Environmental Engineering

4
CE 480Chemistry of Environmental Toxins

4
CE 484Civil & Environmental Engineering Project Management and Design I
CE 494Civil & Environmental Engineering Project Management and Design II

3
Ec 314UPrivate and Public Investment Analysis

4
Upper-division cluster

8
Approved Environmental Engineering Electives

24
Total Credit Hours:46

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 445Geo-environmental Engineering with Geosynthetics

2
CE 479/ESM 479Fate and Transport of Toxics in the Environment

4
CE 480Chemistry of Environmental Toxins

4
CE 481The Columbia River as a System

2
CE 482Introduction to Sediment Transport

4
CE 483Estuarine Circulation

4
CE 469Subsurface Hydrology

4
CE 485Environmental Cleanup and Restoration

4
CE 486/Ch 486Environmental Chemistry

4
CE 487/Ch 487Aquatic Chemistry

4
CE 488/ESM 460Air Quality

4
CE 489Introduction to Advanced Environmental Fluid Mechanics

4
CE 490Soil and Groundwater Restoration

4
CE 565Watershed Hydrology

4
CE 566/ESM 566Environmental Data Analysis

4
CE 568Advanced Methods in Hydrologic System Analysis

4
CE 571/CE 671Subsurface Contaminant Transport

4
CE 572Environmental Fluid Mechanical Transport

4
CE 573Numerical Methods in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering

4
CE 576Environmental Fluid Mechanics

4
CE 578Water Quality Modeling

4
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: 187