Sustainable Water Engineering Program

Sustainable Water Engineering Program

UCLA HSSEASOnline Masters Program

UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied ScienceMaster of Science in Engineering Online Program

7440 Boelter HallBox 951601Los Angeles, CA 90095-1601

For more informationCall: (310) 825-6542E-mail: admissions@seas.ucla.edu

www.msol.ucla.edu

Area DirectorJenny Jay

Plentiful high quality water is fundamental for society. However, drought, climate change, contamination and growing populations pose challenges for water sustainability. Engineers are needed worldwide to find novel solutions providing access to clean water. Key elements in this degree program are surface and groundwater processes, hydroclimatology, watershed response to disturbance, remote sensing for hydrologic applications, membrane separation in aqueous systems, aquatic chemistry, environmental microbiology, and the chemical fate, geochemical modeling, and transport of contaminants in the environment.

Core CoursesCEE250A: Surface Hydrology (Gebremichael, FALL of year 1)

This course is an in-depth study of surface water hydrology, involving discussion of the interrelationships of major topics such as rainfall and evaporation, soils and infiltration properties, runoff and snowmelt processes. We will introduce rainfall-runoff modeling, floods, and policy issues involved in water resources engineering and management.

CEE154: Chemical Fate and Transport (Jay, WINTER of year 1)

This course covers the fundamental physical, chemical, and biological principles governing the movement and fate of chemicals in the environment. Topics include physical transport in various aquatic environments, air-water exchange, acid-base equilibria, oxidation-reduction chemistry, chemical sorption, biodegradation, and bioaccumulation. We’ll also cover carbon and nutrient cycles and a brief introduction to the impacts of climate change. You will learn to solve practical, quantitative problems considering both reaction and transport of chemicals in the environment.

CEE250B Groundwater Hydrology (Kendall, SPRING of year 1)

Students will learn about the role of groundwater as part of the hydrologic cycle. Starting with Darcy’s law, the fundamental equations of groundwater flow will be developed. Topics will include unsaturated flow, saturated confined and unconfined flow, groundwater contamination, cleanup strategies, well hydraulics and design. Numerical methods will be introduced which can be solved using Matlab, or Excel.

CEE254: Aquatic Chemistry (Jay, FALL of year 2)

This course covers fundamental chemistry concepts for understanding the behavior of inorganic species, such as carbonate, nutrients, and trace metals, in both natural and engineered aquatic systems. We will focus on equilibrium concepts, including acid-base reactions, complexation, oxidation/reduction, open systems, precipitation/dissolution, and sorption. You will learn to determine the equilibrium composition of a system given its initial conditions, and you will be able to predict how perturbations will affect the chemistry of the system. We will also discuss interesting case studies.

CEE266: Environmental Biotechnology (Mahendra, WINTER Year 2)

Although the discipline of environmental biotechnology has been around for nearly a century, starting with the use of activated sludge and anaerobic digestion for waste treatment by sanitary engineers, the introduction of new technologies in molecular biology and process engineering has enabled engineers and scientists to address more contemporary environmental problems such as managing global nutrient cycles, bio- and phytoremediation, and production of biofuels. This graduate course will cover fundamental principles of biochemistry, microbiology, microbial ecology in a quantitative engineering context to describe, predict, and design environmental biological systems.

CEE250C: Hydroclimatology (Margulis, SPRING of Year 2)

Students will learn about the key aspects of the climate system, including atmospheric and surface radiation processes, clouds and precipitation, evaporation, turbulent transport, and the general circulation of the atmosphere. An emphasis will be on how the hydrologic cycle and the climate system are linked and how to model the physical processes in the system. Students will obtain hand-on experience in climate modeling using a real General Circulation Model (GCM) developed by NASA that can be run on their own computers. The climate-modeling project will involve development and testing of climate change hypotheses and how changes are expected to impact the hydrologic cycle. Other hands-on activities will also use numerical tools developed for the course.

ElectivesCEE267: Geochemical modeling (Jay, SPRING)

Geochemical modeling is an important tool for predicting the fate of environmental contaminants. Goals of this course are to 1) gain hands-on experience in modeling using a geochemical software package commonly used in research and in the environmental consulting industry, 2) gain a better understanding of the governing geochemical principles pertaining to the movement and transformation of contaminants, and 3) critically read primary literature papers. Types of modeling covered include speciation and mineral solubility, surface complexation, reaction path, inverse mass balance, reactive transport modeling, and kinetics.

CEE251C: Remote sensing with hydrological applications, Needs 250A or 250C (Gebremichael, WINTER)

This course covers and introduction to basic physical concepts of remote sensing as they relate to surface and atmospheric hydrologic processes. Applications we study include radiative transfer modeling and retrieval of hydrologically relevant parameters like topography, soil moisture, snow properties, vegetation, and precipitation.

CEE258A: Membrane Separation in Aquatic Systems (Hoek, FALL)

Students will learn about the role of membrane technology in modern water and wastewater treatment including desalination and water reuse. Starting from basic mass and energy balance equations, the fundamental processes governing the

performance of membranes, modules and systems. Topics will include micro/ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, membrane bioreactors, system hydraulic design, energy and economic considerations as well as diagnosis, prevention and mitigation of membrane scaling and fouling. Numerical methods will be introduced which can be solved using Matlab, or Excel.

CEE252: Engineering Economic Analysis of Water and Environmental Planning (Kendall, FALL)

This course presents economic cost/benefit and cost effective approaches for the evaluation of environmental and water resource project alternatives. Students will learn how to incorporate linear and integer program tools in the evaluation process. Utilizing case studies, topics of interest will include resource unit cost pricing for water reclamation, ocean desalination, water transfers and cost uncertainty. Homework computations are designed to be solved with excel spreadsheets, or matlab. Some familiarity with engineering economics and basic statistics would be helpful, but is not required.

CEE165: Environmental Nanotechnology (Mahendra, SPRING)

Students will learn fundamental principles of nanotechnology as well as its implications and applications for the environment. Lecture topics will include: synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials; unique properties of nanomaterials; nanomaterial transport, fate, environmental toxicity and risk; and nanomaterials applied to water treatment, construction materials, hazardous waste remediation, environmental sensing, and renewable energy production. This course will be taught in an active-learning fashion, and it will be based on the textbook as well as recent primary literature in environmental nanotechnology.