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Keywords: Environmental Engineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Groundwater is one of the largest sources of drinking water, so environmental engineers need to understand groundwater flow in order to tap into this important resource. Environmental engineers also study groundwater to predict where pollution from the surface may end up. In this lesson, students will learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Covers computational and data analysis techniques for environmental engineering applications. First third of subject introduces MATLAB and numerical modeling. Second third emphasizes probabilistic concepts used in data analysis. Final third provides experience with statistical methods for analyzing field and laboratory data. Numerical techniques such as Monte Carlo simulation are used to illustrate the effects of variability and sampling. Concepts are illustrated with environmental examples and data sets. This subject is a computer-oriented introduction to probability and data analysis. It is designed to give students the knowledge and practical experience they need to interpret lab and field data. Basic probability concepts are introduced at the outset because they provide a systematic way to describe uncertainty. They form the basis for the analysis of quantitative data in science and engineering. The MATLAB® programming language is used to perform virtual experiments and to analyze real-world data sets, many downloaded from the web. Programming applications include display and assessment of data sets, investigation of hypotheses, and identification of possible casual relationships between variables. This is the first semester that two courses, Computing and Data Analysis for Environmental Applications (1.017) and Uncertainty in Engineering (1.010), are being jointly offered and taught as a single course.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Post-secondary
- Collection:
MIT OpenCourseWare
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' The Lorax as an example of how over-development can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: In this unit, students explore the various roles of environmental engineers, including: environmental cleanup, water quality, groundwater resources, surface water and groundwater flow, water contamination, waste disposal and air pollution. Specifically, students learn about the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive in their environment. Next, students learn about groundwater and how environmental engineers study groundwater to predict the distribution of surface pollution. Students also learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow. Additionally, students discover that the water they drink everyday comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. They investigate possible scenarios of drinking water contamination and how contaminants can negatively affect the organisms that come in contact with them. Students learn about the three most common methods of waste disposal and how environmental engineers continue to develop technologies to dispose of trash. Lastly, students learn what causes air pollution and how to investigate the different pollutants that exist, such as toxic gases and particulate matter. Also, they investigate the technologies developed by engineers to reduce air pollution.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: This graduate seminar is taught in a lecture and lab exercise format. The subject matter is tailored to introduce Environmental Engineering students to the use and potential of Geographic Information Systems in their discipline. Lectures will cover the general concepts of GIS use and introduce the material in the exercises, and exercises will introduce students to the practical application of GIS.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Post-secondary
- Collection:
MIT OpenCourseWare
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Core requirements for Environmental M.Eng. program. Designed to teach about environmental engineering through the use of case studies, computer software tools, and seminars from industrial experts. Case studies provide basis for group project as well as individual thesis. Past case studies have included the MMR Superfund site on Cape Cod; restoration of the Florida Everglades; dredging of Boston Harbor; local watershed trading programs; appropriate wastewater treatment technology for Brazil; point-of-use water treatment for Nepal, Brownfields Development in Providence, RI, and water resource planning for the island of Cyprus. Students must register for 1.782 for Fall term, IAP, and Spring term.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Post-secondary
- Collection:
MIT OpenCourseWare
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Explores fluid properties, hydrostatics, fluid dynamics, similitude, energy and momentum principles, closed conduit flow, open channel flow, and flow measurement. Includes laboratory exercises in flow measurement, open channel flow, pipe friction, physical modeling, and data collection.
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive. Students will look at the effects of water quality on various water-related activities and describe water as an environmental, economic and social resource. The students will also learn how engineers use water quality information to make decisions about stream modifications.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: During this activity, students will learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. Students will use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the information to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Earl Ubell is a pioneer among science and health writers in America. After a long, distinguished career at The New York Herald Tribune from 1943 to 1966, he went on to work at both CBS and NBC News. Prominent in the emerging scientific writing community in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a recipient of the Lasker Medical Journalism Award 1957. Milton Stanley Livingston was a leading physicist in the field of magnetic resonance accelerators. Working first with professor Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California, Livingston was instrumental in the development of the Berkeley cyclotron. Moving to Cornell in 1938, Livingston was part of the core group who established nuclear physics as a field of study. Choosing to stay with the Cornell cyclotron rather than follow colleagues onto the Manhattan Project, Livingston was involved in the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes. At the time of this interview, Livingston was director of the Cambridge Electron Accelerator, a joint project of Harvard University and MIT.In this program segment Louis Lyons quizzes Earl Ubell about the lack of public knowledge and the perception of the nuclear bomb, while pressing Professor Livingston to explain exactly what nuclear fallout is, and the danger it presents.
- Subject:
Humanities, Social Sciences, Science and Technology
- Collection:
WGBH Open Vault
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina: Can we save California's Delta?
Raymond B. Seed, Professor of GeoEngineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
The catastrophic flooding of New Orleans during hurricane Katrina was the single most costly failure of an engineered system in history. It was also a social and cultural tragedy of unprecedented peacetime proportions for the United States.
After the disaster, a team of leading experts from across the country examined the engineering and organizational issues that led to the failure of the levees. Their findings have direct and timely implications for California, the state currently facing the greatest risk of catastrophic flooding from levee failure.
Professor Ray Seed co-chairs the joint State-Federal Technical Advisory Committee for assessment of levee-related risk for the State of California. Professor Seed also led the post-Katrina investigation, and will present his team's analysis of what went wrong and how we in California can learn from these mistakes.
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: This hands-on experiment will provide students with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental cleanup. Students will create their own oil spill, try different methods for cleaning it up, and then discuss the merits of each method in terms of effectiveness (cleanliness) and cost. They will be asked to put themselves in the place of both an environmental engineer and an oil company owner who are responsible for the clean-up.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: In this activity, students will learn how water can be polluted by algal blooms. They will grow algae with different concentrations of fertilizer or nutrients and analyze their results as environmental engineers working to protect a local water resource.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: During this activity, students will learn how environmental engineers monitor water quality in resource use and design. They will employ environmental indicators to assess the water quality of a nearby stream. Students will make general observations of water quality as well as count the number of macroinvertabrates. They will then use the information they collected to create a scale to rate how good or bad the water quality of the stream. Finally, the class will compare their numbers and discuss and defend their results.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: History, policy, and politics of urban transportation. The role of the federal government and the "highway revolt." Public transit in the auto era. Analytic tools for transportation planning and policy analysis. The contribution of transportation to air pollution and climate change. Land use and transportation interactions. Bicycles, pedestrians, and traffic calming. Examples from the Boston area.
- Subject:
Social Sciences, Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Post-secondary
- Collection:
MIT OpenCourseWare
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: The history, policy, and politics of urban transportation are discussed in this class. Also covered are the role of the federal government, the "highway revolt" and public transit in the auto era, using analytic tools for transportation planning and policy analysis. The class then explores the contribution of transportation to air pollution and climate change, land use and transportation interactions, together with issues with bicycles, pedestrians, and traffic calming. Examples used in the class are taken mainly from the Boston metropolitan area.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Post-secondary
- Collection:
MIT OpenCourseWare
(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract: The best way for students to understand how groundwater flows is to actually see it. In this activity, students will learn the vocabulary associated with groundwater and see a demonstration of groundwater flow. Students will learn about the measurements that environmental engineers need when creating a groundwater model of a chemical plume.
- Subject:
Science and Technology
- Grade Level:
Primary, Secondary
- Collection:
TeachEngineering
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