Ecological Engineering Area of Study for M.S., M.P.S. or Ph.D. in Environmental Resources Engineering

Ecological Engineering is the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and the environment. Ideal design considers humans to be part of nature rather than apart from nature.

At ESF we believe that ecological engineering education and research should meet local to global needs. We teach and research sustainable solutions and approach ecological engineering broadly, working in many areas of the world and in most major areas of ecological engineering.

Program Requirements

Program prerequisite or co-requisite courses include at least one semester of study in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, or statics; probability and statistics; ecology; and hydrology.

Program mastery courses beyond the departmental requirement include at least one course (3+ credit hours) in each of these areas of competence: 1) Ecosystem Restoration; 2) Pollutant Treatment; 3) Modeling; and 4) Ecosystem Sciences.

Looking Forward

Graduates from the ecological engineering option commonly find employment or continue their advanced graduate education in any of the following areas of practice:

1. Ecosystem restoration, including watershed, river, forest and wetland restoration
2. Design of sustainable systems for wastewater treatment and stormwater management
3. Environmental remediation
4. Urban ecosystem design and development
5. Industrial ecology, life cycle analysis and sustainability analysis

Participating Faculty

• Douglas J. Daley; djdaley@esf.edu
  water resources, solid and hazardous waste management, ecological engineering, environmental restoration, phytoremediation, bioremediation, soil and water pollution, solid and hazardous waste management, environmental engineering
• Nosa O. Egiebor; noegiebo@esf.edu
  industrial water and wastewater treatment; water quality; water and wastewater chemistry; trace metal analysis in natural and biological systems; adsorption processes by carbonaceous materials and zeolites; production and characterizations of biomass derived fuels and carbonaceous materials (biochar); CO2 capture and sequestration by functionalized carbonaceous materials; sulfide mineral oxidation and acid mine drainage (AMD); nuclear waste solidification; and degradation of materials under extreme environments
• Theodore A. Endreny; te@esf.edu
  water resources engineering, ecological engineering, stream restoration, urban watersheds, lesser-developed countries
• Charles N. Kroll; cnkroll@esf.edu
  stochastic and deterministic hydrology, environmental modeling, water resource systems engineering, ecological engineering, urban forestry, drought assessment, environmental systems engineering, stochastic and deterministic modeling, risk assessment, coupled human and natural systems
• Timothy H. Morin; thmorin@esf.edu
  ecosystem nutrient cycling, wetlands, biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, ecosystem greenhouse gas transport, eddy covariance/micrometeorology
• Wendong Tao; wtao@esf.edu
  Ecological engineering and sustainable wastewater treatment (Constructed wetland, gravel biofilter, anammox-based nitrogen removal processes); Resource recovery from bioresidues (anaerobic digestion, solid-liquid separation, struvite recovery, ammonia recovery)
• Yaqi You; yyou@esf.edu
  environmental microbiology and biotechnology, sustainable food-energy-water nexus, emerging contaminants, biogeochemistry, environmental health and pathogen exposure

Abigail Beckman

Liam Hanley

Sarah King

Cecelia McAuliffe

Scott Wolcott