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Ecological vsenvironmental engineering vs environmental sceince master

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Queda

Civil/Environmental
Jul 27, 2011
2
I have a question for any Engineers out there if they have an opinion on a new degree that I am looking at called Ecological Engineering. For a little background info I am returning to school, I already have a degree in history and I want to get out (for the second time) in four years. That being said I am looking at either getting a Environmental Science degree and then Masters, which could be done in four years, an Ecological Engineering degree, which would take four years, or a traditional environmental engineering degree but both of these without a masters, so I am trying to get a feel if they would have the same worth as the ES master degree or not.

I am also concerned about the name Ecological Engineering, it is different and I do not know if that will be to my benefit or not, but the head of the department tells me it is not unlike other Environmental Engineering programs at other schools it is just at this school their Env Eng focuses on waste water treatment facilities where the Eco engineering has more biology and sustainable design, working with plants and the such.
Some of the coursework is as follows;

Year of Chem, Year of Bio, Year of physics, strength of materials, Ecological Engineering I and II, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and transfer processes, hydrology, hydraulic engineering, fate and transport of chemicals, geotechnical engineering, soil engineering, bioremediation, environmental engineering design,

and then there are various tracks in either a general, an ecosystem restoration engineering, or water resources engineering.

Does this sound like a solid skill set? Would I need to attend graduate school or would this be somewhat equivalent to the types of jobs I could get with a masters in ES or environmental engineer?

The Environmental engineer would be at a different school, Portland State, so I wouldn't have to move and seems to have a typical curriculum for enviro eng. Furthermore, I might be able to graduate in three years with this degree, but I am much more drawn to the classes in the ecological engineering program.

Any opinions about these classes and experience within the field is greatly appreciated, thank you.
 
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Is the Ecological Engineering degree ABET accredited? If so, it should be fine. If not, you may have trouble getting a PE license later. My degree is in Environmental Engineering, but my license is in Civil, and once out of school, I don't think anyone very much cares about the specific title of the degree so much as what you can do with it. And the license is key to being able to do something with your degree.
 
Thanks for the response.
It is not accredited yet, but it should be by next year. Because it is so new they have had to have a few graduates before it receives accreditation.

Have you felt the need to obtain a masters or do you think a bachelors in engineering will be enough to suffice throughout your career?
 
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