Program Website: http://www.ces.clemson.edu/ees/
Introduction
Clemson University’s environmental engineering and science department is among the top 20 environmental graduate programs in the nation, along with programs at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-Berkeley according to the 2006 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s guidebook of graduate programs. The program offers courses of study leading to the M.S., the M.Engr. and the Ph.D.
The aim of the program is to prepare professionals capable of leading and participating in interdisciplinary teams that develop informed, practical, and technically sound solutions to challenging environmental protection and restoration problems in air, water, and soil environments.
Programs of Study
M.S. and M. Engr. Course work for the Master of Science (M.S.) or the Master of Engineering (M.Engr.) degree program in environmental engineering and science (EES) can be completed in three semesters (about sixteen months). An oral defense is required for the thesis (M.S.); a special project is required for the M.Engr. A non-thesis M.S. option can be completed in one calendar year by taking courses during both regular semesters and in the summer. Three courses required of all master’s students cover fundamental physical, chemical, and biological principles of natural and engineered environmental systems. Students pursuing the M.Engr. degree are also required to take three treatment-process courses and select one additional course from a list of eight. Remaining course work to meet career-specialization goals is not restricted to EES courses. Students may pursue a specialty in process engineering, air pollution control, contaminant fate and transport, environmental chemistry, and hazardous and radioactive waste management (including risk assessment, environmental health physics, or radiochemistry).
Ph.D. The Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and Science (EES) program at Clemson University can be completed in three to five years and is flexible, with each student’s specific program uniquely tailored by the student and the committee. All doctoral candidates are required to take a written qualifying examination in the first year. Comprehensive examinations, written and oral, occur after completion of course work and after formulation of the dissertation research proposal, respectively. A dissertation defense is required prior to approval and acceptance of the completed work.
Financial Aid
Financial aid is available on a competitive basis to both national and international students in the form of teaching and research assistantships, which require up to 20 hours of work per week. Full stipends range from about $17,700 to $19,200 annually, depending on degree program. Graduate assistants pay reduced tuition; an allowance for tuition and fees is included in the annual stipend. Faculty members are currently looking to fill assistantship positions for a variety of projects.
Research Facilities
The 42,000-square-foot Rich Environmental Research Laboratory is located in the Clemson Research Park along with the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, 8 miles from the main campus. The University provides a shuttle between the Research Park and the main campus. Classrooms, auditorium, computer facilities, canteen, student and faculty offices, and research and teaching laboratories are located in Rich Laboratory.
The facility houses 21 laboratories that are routinely used to study the environment. These include a number of specialized laboratories and laboratories assigned to each faculty member.
• The physicochemical treatment lab contains equipment for simulating the major unit operations required for water and wastewater treatment.
• The biotechnology lab includes state-of-the-art equipment for applying molecular biological techniques to characterize microbial communities.
• The biological treatment lab consists of bench-scale continuous flow bioreactors of various sizes, batch respirometric equipment for biodegradation kinetics, and anaerobic gloveboxes.
• The organic separations lab houses the glassware, fume hoods, and extraction apparatus including a supercritical fluid extractor necessary for sample preparation for instrumental analysis.
• The environmental health physics lab contains an array of standard gas and solid-state detectors and pulse processing instrumentation for both routine and specialized radiation detection and measurement.
• The radiochemistry lab is equipped for wet and instrumental analysis of radionuclides.
• The analytical instrumentation lab contains several computer-controlled Agilent gas chromatographs with detectors that include a mass spectrometer, flame ionization detectors, a nitrogen-phosphorus detector, and electron capture detectors. Other instrumentation includes HPLCs, UV-visible spectrophotometer, ion chromatograph, atomic absorption spectrometers with graphite furnace, elemental analyzer, and TOC analyzers as well as other equipment.
The Rich Lab also houses other research support areas including a darkroom, an autoclave and media preparations room, constant-temperature room, and machine shop for manufacturing specialized research equipment. A two-story-high bay is available for large-scale experimentation including artificial wells and pilot-scale reactors. EE&S solely occupies the facility with room for 80 graduate students. Each student is assigned to a carrel with an Internet connection and also has access to a University computer lab. The office wing houses 13 faculty, 5 research associates, and 7 support staff.
Student Group
Of the 56 students in the program, 50 percent are men, 89 percent are full-time, and 45 percent are international students. EES seeks applicants who are highly motivated and possess strong quantitative skills.
Student Outcomes
Graduates from the EES program find employment in environmental and engineering consulting firms, state and federal government agencies, and academia.
Faculty Listing
• Elizabeth R. Carraway, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (physical/analytical chemistry), Virginia, 1989. Zero-valent metals, nanotechnology, photochemistry of environmental contaminants, environmental toxicology.
• Christos S. Christofororou, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. (mechanical engineering) CalTech, 1995. Air-pollution characterization, particulates, environmental health issues, computer modeling.
• John T. Coates, Associate Professor and Research Associate; Ph.D. (environmental systems engineering), Clemson, 1984. Colloidal transport of radionuclides, environmental analysis of PCBs, gas chromatography.
• Timothy A. DeVol, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (nuclear engineering), Michigan, 1993. Environmental health physics, detection and measurement of ionizing radiation in the environment.
• Alan W. Elzerman, Professor and Chair of Environmental Engineering & Science, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, Director of the School of the Environment, and Program Coordinator of Environmental Science and Policy Program; Ph.D. (water chemistry), Wisconsin-Madison, 1976. Environmental chemistry.
• Ronald W. Falta, Professor of Geology and Environmental Engineering & Science; Ph.D. (mineral engineering), Berkeley, 1990. Hydrogeology, environmental remediation, mathematical modeling.
• Robert A. Fjeld, Dempsey Professor of Waste Management; Ph.D. (nuclear engineering), Penn State, 1976. Environmental aspects of nuclear technologies, radioactive and hazardous waste management, risk assessment.
• David L. Freedman, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (environmental engineering), Cornell, 1990. Bioremediation of recalcitrant organic compounds, hazardous waste management, isolation of microbes of environmental significance.
• Tanju Karanfil, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (environmental engineering), Michigan, 1995. Drinking water treatment, activated carbon characterization and application, physicochemical treatment methods, disinfection by-products.
• Cindy M. Lee, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (geochemistry), Colorado School of Mines, 1990. Environmental chemistry of contaminants in natural and engineered systems, PCBs, pesticides, petroleum products, chiral chemistry of contaminants.
• Fred J. Molz III, SCUREF Distinguished Scientist; Ph.D. (hydrology), Stanford, 1970. Hydrology hydraulics and transport processes in the groundwater-soil-plant-atmosphere system.
• Lawrence C. Murdoch, Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Engineering & Science; Ph.D. (geology), Cincinnati, 1991. Hydrogeology, environmental remediation, hydraulic fracturing, ground water-surface water interactions.
• James D. Navratil, Professor; Ph.D. (analytical chemistry), Colorado, 1975. Environmental radiochemistry, actinide chemistry, chemical separations, radioactive waste management, analytical chemistry.
• Thomas J. Overcamp, Professor; Ph.D. (mechanical engineering), MIT, 1973. Hazardous waste treatment, air pollution control, solid waste management.
• Mark A. Schlautman, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (aquatic chemistry), CalTech, 1992. Aquatic chemistry, surface chemistry, environmental toxicology, fate and transport of organic and inorganic species; bioavailability.
• Yanru Yang, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. (environmental engineering), Tsinghua (Beijing, China), 1996. Environmental biotechnology, bioremediation and biological treatment systems, molecular biological techniques applied to environmental engineering.
Applying
Applicants may apply on the Web at http://www.grad.clemson.edu/Admission.php. Applications, along with a $55 nonrefundable fee, should be received no later than five weeks prior to registration. Every required item in support of the application must be on file by that date. Prospective students are encouraged to complete and submit their applications for admission and financial assistance as early as possible to be considered during the first round of assistantship awards, which are made beginning in February or March. Applicants whose credential files are not completed until after this first round of assistantship awards will be considered for awards in subsequent rounds after April 15.
For More Information
Jan K. Young
Environmental Engineering and Science
Clemson University Research Park
342 Computer Court
Anderson, South Carolina 29625,
United States
Telephone: 864-656-3278
Fax: 864-656-0672
E-mail: ej@clemson.edu
