Go green! Worldwide industry is responding with green products and processes, while more and more governments and leaders have instituted more stringent environmental policies. As a result, there is an increasing demand for environmental engineers, who will design the technologies to usher in a cleaner environment. And for those who'd like to do work in the environmental field, NJIT has engineered a program for you: the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Sustainability.
Who is this program recommended for?
Those already working in environmental jobs may want to take it on a part-time basis. These students, who work full time, can take evening classes. Students with an undergraduate degree in some other environmental field, such as biology or chemistry, may have a desire, or a career-based need, to earn this certificate. The program is designed for them as well. It provides an opportunity for them to learn environmental engineering approaches and applications without having to take basic engineering classes.
What will I learn?
Microbiology for environmental engineers discusses biological and microbiological principles applied to environmental and sanitary engineering. This would involve bacteriological examinations in the laboratory of water and wastewater.
Water chemistry develops the ability to analyze and solve a wide range of chemical equilibrium problems.
An introduction to the social and political dimensions of sustainability at local, national, and international scales. Attention is focused on the formulation of strategies to enhance the performance of contemporary systems of production and consumption, building design processes, and urban and regional planning. From the perspective of ecological modernization, the course considers developments in such areas as industrial symbiosis, product-service systems, and corporate environmental and social responsibility, as well as ongoing debates over the balance between efficiency and sufficiency in the pursuit of sustainability.
Environmental Impact Analysis deals with physical aspects of the environment. Overview of environmental problems, federal and state standards, methodology for developing impact statements, case studies based on recent experience, basis for assessment and decision making.
An introduction to contemporary environmental politics and policy at both national and international scales. A policy discourse approach is used to examine public responses to various ecological and human-health problems, including air pollution, hazardous waste management, ozone depletion, and climate change. The course highlights the ongoing transition taking place from the pursuit of improvements in customary environmental indicators to a more integrated sustainability outlook. A consistent theme in the course is the role of political institutions in managing competing objectives between human well-being and the pursuit of economic growth.
Why study for a Environmental Sustainability graduate certificate through CPE?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has identified the 30 fastest growing jobs (CNN, 2006, www.cnn.com/2006/US/Careers/01/26/cb.top.jobs.pay/index.html); topping the list at No. 5 was environmental engineer and No. 10 was hydrologist. And it’s not just that the careers are expanding. More importantly, those lucky enough to work in these careers will be the ones to usher in the new technology that will give us a cleaner environment. What job could be more satisfying than that?
Prerequisites
Completion of a Bachelor’s degree with a overall cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.8 or higher on a 4.0 scale. It is important that students have some context of environmental policy and the history of the environment both here and abroad.