Engineering 4A: Introduction to Environmental Protection

Course Objectives and Typical Syllabus

Course Objectives

This course examines solutions to environmental problems created by the exploitation of natural resources and the generation of pollution by industrial society. There exist many different and divergent perspectives on environmental protection, so there is a great potential for controversy in the search for solutions. This course focuses mainly on traditional or mainstream approaches which emerged with the environmental movement of the 1960s. These approaches are enshrined in federal laws and regulations such as theClean Air Act, and overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). However, newly emerging perspectives such as free market environmentalism and radical environmentalism are also gaining support and will be touched upon in this course.

 

The function of technology in environmental protection is one of the more controversial issues in the debate among proponents of the various perspectives. All sides in the debate ascribe importance to the role of human technology. Some place the blame for environmental problems on technology, whether driven by market or national security interests, and insist that reducing technology is the most effective method of reversing environmental damage. Forothers, however, technological advances along with new environmental perspectives among engineers provide the greatest hope for solutions.  Thus, the study of environmental protection requires instruction in technology and an understanding of the approach to environmental protection used by engineers who are the practitioners of technology. The course is therefore a fundamentally technical one,and will survey topics in water pollution, solid waste disposal, air pollution, and energy supply. Quantitative concepts are introduced and reinforced with homework exercises.

Class meetings will consist mostly of lectures in the early part of the semester, with student presentations of broader topics duringevery Thursday class in March and April. There are no prerequisites.  The course can serve as an introduction to environmental studies forstudents who plan a concentration in Environmental Studies, or whoplan to take additional courses such as Biology 39 (Ecology) orEngineering 66 (Environmental Systems). The course can be usedas a distribution course in the Division of Natural Sciences andEngineering. However the course is not a PDC, and alsocannot be counted for the major in Engineering.

Course Requirements

Students are expected to devote substantial effort towards preparation for each class session by performing assigned readings orproblems.

Readings: The required textbook is EnvironmentalEngineering, 1st Edition, by P. Aarne Vesilind, (PWS Publishing,1997). Additional readings will be assigned from time to time frombooks on reserve in Cornell library.

Field Trips: Four field trips are planned for the semester.They will take place on Tuesdays during class time, but since theyinvolve travel to distant sites, we may return as late as noontime.Attendance at field trips is not required, but notification ofyour intention to attend will facilitate transportation arrangements.

Exercises: Over the semester, there will be five sets ofquantitative problems assigned for you to solve as homework exercisesand turn in for grading. Collaboration among class members isencouraged, but you must acknowledge by name those with whom you havecollaborated. Optional problem sessions will be offered from time totime by Prof. Everbach to help review problem-solving techniquesdescribed in lecture. Students are encouraged to make use of theEngineering Clinic, schedule to be announced in class. Assignmentsare due at the beginning of class and late homework will not beaccepted.

Laboratories: There is no regular laboratory meeting,although one team laboratory project must be completed and a reportturned in by the last day of classes. You will choose from oneof five investigations to conduct with two or three lab partners. Thelab report must be in the traditional IMRAD format, as if you werecommunicating your results to interested but unknowledgeable readersvia a scientific journal.

Research Presentation: Each student will conduct libraryresearch on a topic related to environmental perspectives and presentthat topic to the class in a (graded) 15 minute talk. Two weeks priorto your scheduled talk, you must turn in an outline of thepresentation with bibliography that will count as 1/3 of the gradefor the talk. Topics will be assigned based upon student preferencesin a lottery described on the attached sheet.

Exams: There will be one midterm exam during class onOctober 23, 1997, and one comprehensive final exam to be scheduled bythe Registrar during the normal final examination period. The examquestions will be a mix of essay questions and quantitative problemssimilar to the homework exercises, with some choice of questionspossible in each category.

Grading: The final grade for the course will be determinedby:

E36 Research Presentation Topics and Lottery

Please rank the following presentation topics in order with "1"being your most-desired topic and "25" being your least favorite.This form must be returned by class on Thursday, September 11, 1997.A lottery based upon a computer algorithm that maximizes the numberof first choices will be run. Though it is likely that you will getyour first choice, if the topic you have chosen is popular andrandomly assigned to someone else, it is more likely that your third,forth, or fifth choices will be assigned to you than that your secondchoice will be.

Choice number Topic

Name ____________________

 

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