The Environmental Engineering Laboratory (EEL) provides academic services to train and develop skilled students in the environmental and water resources areas of civil engineering. The EEL is used for formal and informal courses, research activities, and community services. Activities in the EEL advance fundamental and practical knowledge and research in natural and engineering environmental processes, and foster technology development for environmental protection and sustainability. These activities provide skills and prepare our undergraduate students to deal with present and future environmental challenges.
The Environmental Engineering Laboratory is used for undergraduate research and to teach/give support to the following courses at the undergraduate level: INCI 4008 – Introduction to Environmental Engineering; INCI 5007 – Solid Wastes Management; INCI 5012 – Applied Environmental Engineering Chemistry; INCI 4998 – Undergraduate Research in Environmental Engineering; INCI 5995 – Special Topics in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering; and INCI 5996 – Special Problems in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. The Environmental Engineering Laboratory serves as a unique model to train and educate our undergraduate students in a multidisciplinary environment, hosting undergraduate students from several engineering disciplines. The undergraduate research program has become very popular for undergraduate students to gain hands on experience education, apply engineering and scientific concepts, and learn about and address environmental issues of great social importance and value.
The EEL facilities include 3,655 ft2 of indoor laboratory space and 572 ft2 of field space. It is equipped adequately to teach, conduct undergraduate research, and as a demonstration and experimental resource facility for Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Courses. The indoor laboratory (Room 018) houses an instrumentation room, a chemical storage room, and the laboratory-working space equipped with 2 chemical fume hoods. The field site, which is located next to the Civil Engineering building, contains unsaturated and saturated wells, and a climatologic station. The facilities also house the EnviroBeds, which consist of several subsurface and engineered-environmental-systems physical models, and computational facilities. The EEL is staffed with a full-time laboratory manager, who oversees operational and educational activities.
The facilities are well equipped with instrumentation for water, air, waste, and soil analysis. The instrumentation permits students to get acquainted with and to use the most advanced technology for water resources management and pollution control. Major equipment and instrumentation in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory are included in Appendix C. The EEL is undergoing renovation on different areas. The instrumentation room space is in the process of being enlarged to house more instruments to provide support for graduate and undergraduate research. New counter areas and wet chemistry equipment are being evaluated to improve the laboratory-working space to provide a modern experience in the laboratory area for all students.