Environmental Engineering (PhD)

Program Overview

The PhD in Environmental Engineering at UCF emphasizes pollution control and environmental problem-solving. Graduates are prepared for careers in environmental engineering, research, and higher education. The program requires a minimum of 72 credit hours, including 18 credit hours of dissertation research. Students can earn an MS degree "along-the-way" with an approved program of study.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The Environmental Engineering (PhD) program at UCF focuses on pollution control, prevention, and the correction of pollution effects on natural and man-made environments. The program aims to prepare students for careers in environmental engineering with consulting firms, industry, federal, state, and local governments, and higher education. The program offers an intensive, individually tailored research program suitable for the development of an academic or research-oriented career. Graduates will have technical knowledge in critical areas of environmental engineering, critical thinking skills, formed and maintained partnerships with industry, government agencies, and professional organizations, and have developed an awareness of the changing environmental needs of society and the global environment.

Careers:

The program prepares students for careers in environmental engineering with:

• Consulting firms
• Industry
• Federal, state, and local governments
• Higher education

Other:

The program requires a minimum of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree. 30 of the 72 credit hours can be met with either a nonthesis or thesis MS in Environmental Engineering. This leaves 42 credit hours of which 18 credit hours must be Dissertation and a minimum of 15 credit hours must be formal course work. A maximum of 9 credit hours of Doctoral Research can be used in the doctoral program, which could be replaced by additional formal coursework. For students not having an MS degree who directly enter the PhD program (BS to PhD), there will be a minimum of 45 credit hours formal coursework (i.e., 30 credit hours identical to the coursework for a nonthesis MS in Environmental Engineering plus a minimum of 15 credit hours course work past the MS). However, unlike MS students, BS to PhD students will be required to take only 4 of the 5 required courses from the nonthesis MS in Environmental Engineering requirements. In addition, these students can enroll for Doctoral Research credit hours during or after their first semester in the program. The 27 credit hours required in addition to the 45 credit hours coursework will be 18 credit hours in Dissertation Research, and a maximum of 9 credit hours in Doctoral Research. Up to 9 credit hours of Doctoral Research can be replaced by additional formal coursework subject to the approval of the PhD adviser and the advisory committee. The MS degree can be thesis or non-thesis, and can be for any of the Environmental MS programs (i.e. MS Environmental Engineering, or the MS Environmental, MS Environmental Sciences Track). For this to take place the student must take all the required courses (core courses) in the MS Track that is chosen. Electives can be substituted (e.g. electives inside or outside of the department or outside engineering) with the approval of the academic advisor. For thesis degrees 6 hours of thesis research are required. The student must then successfully pass both a written and oral thesis defense, as other thesis students do. For a non-thesis degree completion of 10 courses is required, at least one of which provides an independent learning experience, and a portfolio/exam. The course independent learning requirement is fulfilled in the MS required course ENV 6016 and can be fulfilled by the elective course ENV 6126 Design of Air Pollution Controls (3 credit hours) and the elective course ENV 6106 Theory and Practice of Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling (3 credit hours). The Independent Learning Requirement for the PhD is met by successful completion of the student's candidacy and dissertation defense examinations.