Earth and Environmental Engineering

Engage in research that drives real change and addresses global environmental challenges. You’ll have the chance to assist faculty with their research projects and gain firsthand insight into the vital role of earth and environmental engineering.

Join a department full of active scholars who are pioneering research in areas like energy-efficient desalination, resource recovery from waste materials, and AI-empowered climate modeling.

Don’t interrupt your career. We offer full-time and part-time options so you can fit your MS studies around your professional and personal commitments.

Focus your studies in one of three elective specializations including Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Mining and Materials, and Water Resources and Climate Risks. You also have the option to design your own elective specialization to reflect your personal interests and career goals.

Our dedicated Assistant Director of Graduate Career Placement can provide you with expert advice both during your studies and after graduation. You’ll receive personalized career guidance, application support, tailored workshops, and access to exclusive job opportunities within the earth and environmental engineering sector and beyond.

If you hold an appropriate bachelor’s degree in Engineering and already know you want to undertake a PhD, you can apply to our MS/PhD Track. You will be considered a doctoral student and will be eligible to receive equivalent funding. If you are not successful, you could still be offered a place on our MS program.

Explore, design and test energy technologies and infrastructure to address environmental and resource challenges.

Structure:

• Core courses:
  • A Better Planet by Design
  • Energy Sources and Conversion
  • Energy System Economics and Optimization
  • Introduction to Carbon Management
• Three-credit research course or six-credit thesis
• Specialized electives

Learn how to develop innovative engineering solutions to ensure the sustainable use and transformation of the Earth’s resources.

Structure:

• Core courses:
  • A Better Planet by Design
  • Industrial Ecology of Manufacturing
  • Introduction to Surface and Colloid Chemistry
  • Introduction to Sustainable Production of Earth Mineral and Metal Resources
• Three-credit research course or six-credit thesis
• Specialized electives 

Tackle the urgent challenges of water quality management on this climate-focused elective specialization.

Structure:

• Core courses:
  • A Better Planet by Design
  • Environmental Data Analysis and Modeling
  • Hydrosystems
  • Machine Learning for Environmental Engineering and Science
  • Management of Water Systems
  • Sustainable Water Treatment and Reuse
• Specialized electives

You also have the option to design your own elective specialization in consultation with your supervisor. This enables you to focus your studies to reflect your individual research and career interests. 

Mandatory requirements:

• Online application form
• A bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field from an accredited institution
• Transcripts from every post-secondary institution attended
• Three letters of recommendation
• Résumé or CV
• Personal statement
• $85 non-refundable application fee
• International applicants, or applicants whose undergraduate degree was received in a country in which English is not the official spoken language, must submit:
  • Results of an English language test. Accepted tests include the Test of English as a Foreign Language iBT (TOEFL) — including TOEFL iBT Home Edition, International English Language Testing System Academic (IELTS), Pearson Test of English (PTE Academic), or Duolingo English Test (DET). The ETS School Code for the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is 2111.
  • Translation of the official transcript(s) and degree/diploma certificate(s) if the institution(s) attended does not issue transcripts in English. The translation must be conducted by a reputable service provider. 

Optional requirements:

• Any publications that you have written
• Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test Scores (School Code: 2111)
• You may be invited to an interview

To graduate from our MS in Earth and Environmental Engineering program, you must complete:

• 30 credits of graduate coursework
• Some undergraduate level science courses depending on your academic background
• The combination of credits can either be:
  • 24 credits of lecture courses and 6 credits of research culminating in a Master’s Thesis.
  • 27 credits of lecture courses, 3 credits of research which involves assisting a faculty member with ongoing analytical or experimental research, and a term paper describing your part in that research.
  • 30 credits of lecture courses approved by the Advisor. However, a thesis is strongly recommended.

Your academic plan of studies must be approved by the faculty by the second month of your first semester at Columbia.

Join a department full of active scholars publishing pioneering research in areas like energy-efficient desalination, resource recovery from waste materials, and AI-empowered climate modeling.

Our curriculum offers the perfect balance of theory and practice.

From the Art of Engineering course in your first semester to your year-long senior design project, you'll learn how to apply engineering principles to solve real-world problems.

Opportunities to support faculty with external research projects will complement your studies and expand your theoretical understanding of this diverse and far-reaching field.

Studying in NYC will exposure you to diverse urban and natural environments, offering a perfect living laboratory to engage with issues like urban pollution and coastal management. A hub for research and industry, the city is an ideal place to find internships and make connections for your future.

Engage in problem solving at the intersection of natural and engineered systems by applying technical skills to critical water, energy, minerals, and decarbonization challenges.

The BS in Earth and Environmental Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Environmental Engineering and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

ABET is a nonprofit organization that draws on industry experts to develop standards for education programs in science, computing, and engineering. Accreditation indicates that our program has met its rigorous standards for equipping engineering professionals for the field.

Our dedicated Assistant Director of Graduate Career Placement can provide you with expert advice both during your studies and after graduation. You’ll receive personalized career guidance, application support, tailored workshops, and access to exclusive job opportunities within the earth and environmental engineering sector and beyond. 

With strong industry connections, we also facilitate networking events and internships that give you the experience and confidence to stand out in the competitive job market.

If you are interested in our department but want to major in another field, you can still minor in Earth and Environmental Engineering. Due to our broad and multidisciplinary scope, a number of our courses are already required across other engineering departments. As well as developing interdisciplinary knowledge, this structure will ensure your workload is manageable.

What we look for:

• Transcripts and school reports. We accept all secondary school qualifications (AP, International Baccalaureate, Cambridge A Levels, National School curricula, etc.). We do not have standardized requirements or “cut-off” test scores for first-year admission but we do expect to see coursework in physics and calculus.
• Teacher recommendations. We would like to learn more about your contributions in the classroom and at school, as well as what you might offer to your Columbia classmates.
• Responses to our Columbia-specific application questions. Your answers will provide us with insight into your intellectual interests and the way in which your curiosity and sense of community might translate to Columbia’s campus.
• A personal statement. We review applications in context, taking into account the multiple, intersecting ways that you have been shaped by your family circumstances. Understanding who you are, what your home responsibilities are, whether you have experienced any systemic and situational barriers and advantages will ensure we can review your application fairly and accurately.
• English language proficiency. If your home language is not English or if your secondary school studies were predominantly in another language, you will need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency. Visit our English Proficiency Requirements for accepted exams and minimum score requirements.

How to Apply

BS in Earth and Environmental Engineering

To graduate from our BS program you must complete:

• 18 credits (approximately six courses) of technical Earth and Environmental Engineering electives during your final two years.
• The Columbia liberal arts core. This is typically satisfied during the first two years, although you can undertake non-technical electives during your final two years.

Minor in Earth and Environmental Engineering

To earn a minor in Earth and Environmental Engineering, you must complete:

• Six courses selected from a specified list approved by your undergraduate advisor.

• Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2016 – to date
• Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2011 - 2015
• Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2005 – 2010
• Senior Engineer and Technical Specialist, Metcalf and Eddy, AECOM, 2001 - 2005

• Water Environment Federation
• International Water Association
• AAAS

• MacArthur Foundation Fellow, 2015
• WEF Camp Applied Research Award, 2016
• Visiting Professor, Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014)
• WE&RF Paul Busch Award, 2010
• NSF CAREER Award, 2009

• PhD, Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut
• BE, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee