What is Environmental Engineering?

• What is Environmental Engineering?
• Environmental Engineering at Melbourne
• Environmental Engineering Program
• Career Opportunities
• What does an Environmental Engineer do?
• More details

What is Environmental Engineering?

Environmental Engineering is a rapidly growing, multi-disciplinary branch of engineering, concerned with devising, implementing and managing solutions to protect and restore the environment, within an overall framework of sustainable development.

Environmental Engineering is a challenging and rewarding profession. Environmental problems exist in many countries and industries. Environmental Engineers often work as part of a larger multi-disciplinary team to find solutions to a wide range of environmental problems.

Environmental Engineering at Melbourne

The Environmental Engineering course at the University of Melbourne focuses on land and water management and environmental assessment.

Students will learn various technical and generic skills through the course. Technical skills include:

• fundamental understanding of the atmosphere-land-water processes;
• computer modelling of atmosphere-land-water processes;
• ability to critically analyse and model the interactions between natural systems and the built environment;
• ability to synthesise and design new methods to achieve environmentally friendly solutions to old problems; and
• ability to apply field and laboratory techniques to assess and monitor the environmental system.

Generic skills include:

• ability to work in a team to find solutions to environmental problems;
• ability to converse with other professionals (other engineers, biologists, ecologists, environmental scientists, resource managements, lawyers, politicians) to make decisions on environmentally sustainable development;
• ability to manage and lead teams (of engineers and other professionals).

We believe that our graduates are more capable, more aware, more experienced, leave more motivated, with a curiosity of the world, with ideas that help define the future, attitudes that mark them as leaders – and more importantly, make a difference in the world.

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Environmental Engineering Program

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Career Opportunities

All our graduates seeking employment find a job before or shortly after graduation. About half our graduates work overseas at some stage of their career.

The starting salary for an Environmental Engineer is $40,000 to $50,000. The salary of a matured Environmental Engineer can be in excess of $200,000.

Graduates usually work with:

• local and international engineering consulting firms;
• urban and rural water agencies;
• conservation and natural resources departments;
• environmental protection agencies;
• catchment management authorities;
• local, state and federal government agencies;
• mining companies and industries;
• management consulting firms; and
• research and academic organisations.

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What does an Environmental Engineer do?

Examples of environmental engineering projects that our graduates are involved in include:

• surface water and groundwater resources management;
• irrigation system design and management;
• drought and flood management;
• water quality monitoring and assessment;
• environmental flow assessment for habitat maintenance;
• waterway management and river rehabilitation;
• land management (salinity and land degradation);
• waste and contaminant management;
• environmental impact assessment;
• urban water management (water supply, stormwater, waste treatment, reuse).

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More Details

For details of the Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) see the Faculty of Engineering: Guide to Courses and specifically the sections dealing with the Bachelor of Engineering which includes the Civil Engineering stream.

For more detailed information regarding the Bachelor of Engineering (Civil or Environmental) courses, please download our brochure [pdf].

For information on postgraduate degrees available in this field see here.