This class is one of the core requirements for the Environmental Masters of Engineering program. It is designed to teach about environmental engineering through the use of case studies, computer software tools, and seminars from industrial experts. Case studies provide the basis for group projects as well as individual theses. Past case studies have included the MMR Superfund site on Cape Cod; restoration of the Florida Everglades; dredging of Boston Harbor; local watershed trading programs; appropriate wastewater treatment technology for Brazil; point-of-use water treatment for Nepal, Brownfields Development in Providence, RI, and water resource planning for the island of Cyprus. This class spans the entire academic year: students must register for the Fall term, IAP, and the Spring term.

This class is one of the core requirements for the Environmental Masters of Engineering program, in conjunction with 1.133 Masters of Engineering Concepts of Engineering Practice. It is designed to teach about environmental engineering through the use of case studies, computer software tools, and seminars from industrial experts. Case studies provide the basis for group projects as well as individual theses. Recent 1.782 projects include the MMR Superfund site on Cape Cod, appropriate wastewater treatment technology for Brazil and Honduras, point-of-use water treatment and safe storage procedures for Nepal and Ghana, Brownfields Development in Providence, RI, and water resource planning for the island of Cyprus and refugee settlements in Thailand. This class spans the entire academic year; students must register for the Fall and Spring terms.

Students are introduced to the fundamentals of environmental engineering as well as the global air, land and water quality concerns facing today's environmental engineers. After a lesson and activity to introduce environmental engineering, students learn more about water chemistry aspects of environmental engineering. Specifically, they focus on groundwater contamination and remediation, including sources of contamination, adverse health effects of contaminated drinking water, and current and new remediation techniques. Several lab activities provide hands-on experiences with topics relevant to environmental engineering concerns and technologies, including removal efficiencies of activated carbon in water filtration, measuring pH, chromatography as a physical separation method, density and miscibility.

This is a inquiry-driven class research project on a local environmental geochemistry question that is accomplished during three-hour laboratory sessions each week. Students are divided into groups that will share the responsibilities of collecting samples and data. Once the data is collected, it is shared among the entire class so that all students have the same data set. The class works on data presentation, preliminary analysis, and statistics together Then each student writes his/her own report separately.

Outcomes:

Laboratory skills -- Students have basic laboratory skills necessary to carry out a supervised geochemical study (e.g. can perform Gram titration of waters in field, can collect water samples using clean methods).

Quantitative methods -- Students can manipulate, sort, and transfer data in Excel and can create simple x-y plots and histograms to bring out trends in data.

Critical thinking -- Students can develop multiple hypotheses to explain trends in data and can design tests of these hypotheses.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This is an independent case study project completed in pairs. The students should investigate an example of natural geochemistry and then use a poster format to share their findings with the class.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Course combines the fields of ecology and conservation with planning for the efficient use and preservation of land, water, wildlife, and forests. Within this course may be topics covering environmental factors affecting water, water pollution, water and land use management, alternative energy resources, metals and minerals.
** References to Common Core Standards are included as the first slide in each lesson's PowerPoint**

Students make measurements of dam dimensions and water levels above and below a small, accessible earthen dam. They assess the soil texture in the field. They follow up by developing a simple flow net and estimating seepage rate as part of a problem set. They discuss their assumptions and the likely sources and magnitude of error.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This assignment is best presented in two lab periods to represent the "before" and "after" scenarios of land use and their impact on hydrology. It requires documentation in map and/or airphoto form of land use in a specific watershed at two times: historical and modern. Historical USGS topographic maps from the 19th century were used in this case, along with digital orthophotos for the modern-day scenario. Some means of quantifying subareas within the watershed is also needed, either using software (ArcGIS) or transparent overlays and boxcounting from a translucent grid would work.
For each of the sets of documentation: historical and modern, the students follow the USDA-NRCS TR55 empirical procedure to estimate event runoff depths and peak estimated discharge from the watershed. An area-weighted curve number (CN) is calculated based on tabulated categories of land use. Some judgment is involved in adapting the tabulated land use categories to the specific watershed used, and selecting an appropriate statistical average rainfall event to use. The sum of Darcy's Law calculations of discharge along streamtubes to a surface stream or estuary provides a groundwater discharge value over time for comparison. Each of these parts of the activity provides opportunities for the instructor to discuss uncertainties and sources of error.
Note that although software allowing TR-55 analysis exists, it is simpler and more instructive to have students use the paper method and forms in the manual.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this activity students use published data from the Massachusetts Military Reservation to observe and predict mass transport parameters.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Between 70 and 75% of the Earth's surface is covered with water and there exists still more water in the atmosphere and underground in aquifers. In this lesson, students learn about water bodies on the planet Earth and their various uses and qualities. They will learn about several ways that engineers are working to maintain and conserve water sources. They will also think about their role in water conservation.

This project is used instead of a final exam in an upper level undergraduate course in Applied GIS. A student may propose their own project, or choose one from a list from the instructor. A brief proposal must be approved by the instructor before the project can begin. Students will construct a working, query-able database, use appropriate imagery, and use it to analyze a problem, understand cause and effect, and show changes with time. A final report must be submitted with all supporting documentation in digital form. Students also give a PP presentation in one of the last class meetings.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students work with data bases and GIS to develop saturated thickness maps. Each data base consists of observations made by drillers where they have encountered the High Plains aquifer base and the annual water-level measurements taken in wells screened in the High Plains aquifer by field technicians.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Geysers and grizzlies and glaciers, oh my. The national parks may be America's best idea, saving the finest parts of the nation for everyone to enjoy forever. What better way to learn about the natural world than to tour the parks with us? We'll explore how the mountains and valleys formed and why they often come with volcanoes and earthquakes. You'll see what really killed the dinosaurs and how we can help save their modern relatives in the parks. With film clips, slide shows, and our geological interpretations of classic rock songs, isn't it time for a road trip?

In groups, students are given a scenario of a leaking underground storage tank. They must decide where to sample on the map while staying within budget. Students progressively collect more data and use them to make an interpretation of the direction of groundwater flow and extent of the contamination. The activity requires that students use their limited resources to solve a real-world problem.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Student teams locate a contaminant spill in a hypothetical site by measuring the pH of soil samples. Then they predict the direction of groundwater flow using mathematical modeling. They also use the engineering design process to come up with alternative treatments for the contaminated water.

This activity allows students to understand the groundwater flow. Using a groundwater map, they will draw flow lines and determine the discharge and rate of flow.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students use analog models to explore the behavior of groundwater. Students calculate porosity of analog materials (cups of marbles and beads), and then observe groundwater flow using food coloring as a dye tracer. They explore the effects of pumping wells and contaminating groundwater through a leaky landfill. One portion of the model allows students to observe the behavior of an artesian aquifer.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This is a version of the Groundwater Lab (https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/intro/activities/23416.html) previously shared as part of the Teaching Introductory Geology collection. It uses an online (https://pvw.kitware.com/sandtank/) version of an "ant farm" groundwater model to demonstrate groundwater flow and the behavior of wells. The lab is organized so that students have to predict the behavior of the model before observing it.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. They use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the data to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.

The simulation has several conditions in which students are able to collect and analyze data. The first of these scenarios models the water table in an area where there has been no human development. Students observe the annual, cyclical pattern of the water table over a five-year time period, and then use this as the control for comparison to other scenarios. Students then investigate scenarios in which a city, or a city plus a farm, are added. Students can choose to add wells to the city and the farm and select well pumping rates to meet human consumption needs in the city. Wells that are added in the farm scenario have predetermined pumping rates and are active during the growing season only.

As students add wells and gather data, they observe the effects on the wetlands, outflow of the river, and changes to the water table. When a single cell on the map is selected, a graph is generated showing water table data over a five year period for that cell. Using the graphs, students can quantitatively make observations and use data in order to create computational models. They can analyze and interpret the results of pumping over time and the effect on the water table and river outflow. Students can calculate the area of the wetland using the graphs generated by the simulation for each scenario. Examining cross-sections of the map also encourages students to make qualitative observations.

Students can further investigate the relationship between surface and groundwater by adding a drought option to each scenario. Students will collect and analyze data as before, and draw conclusions across the investigated scenarios to understand the effects of drought. After examining current data and news articles from California, students are asked to construct explanations based on evidence collected in the simulation for how the availability of fresh water, in addition to natural hazards such as drought, and climate change, influence human activity.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)