Environmental and Water Resource Engineering M.S. & Ph.D.

Research and courses within the Environmental and Water Resources Systems (EWRS) group are concerned with the development and application of quantitative methods for the evaluation, planning and operation of water resource and environmental systems. Efforts address the integration and analysis of engineering and economic-policy issues posed by the need to manage water, land, air and human resources, as well as environmental remediation efforts. The fundamental sciences upon which such analyses are based include hydrology, hydraulics, environmental sciences, biology, and environmental engineering. For this reason, individuals in this area frequently interact with the other environmentally-orientated groups within CEE, as well as with other departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The systems sciences, including operations research, computer science, statistics and risk analysis, economics, and planning provide the integrating analytical methodologies that are used to evaluate environmental issues. By examining engineering, socio-economics, ecology and public policy issues using analytic model-oriented frameworks, we strive to communicate estimates of the impact and risks of alternative decisions to the many possible stakeholders associated with environmental management decisions. Student projects have addressed regional water resources management issues in California, New York State, New Jersey, Mexico, North Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia. Specialized software packages for water resources system simulation, support of negotiations, stochastic streamflow generation and flood frequency analysis have been used around the world. In a time of quantum leaps in computing technology, when local and national governments face tight budgets, and when society as a whole has a desire for economic efficiency and sustainability, an interest in the intelligent use of environmental resources, and a concern for risks to human health, we believe environmental systems engineering is an important and promising area for research and study. To that end we strive to advance the quality and capability of analytical methodologies for environmental management, and to facilitate the application of such techniques to the solution of real problems.

We believe that in collaboration with faculty from a number of fields across the Cornell campus, our research and our course offerings represent one of the strongest environmental systems programs in the country.

Learn more by viewing the M.S./Ph.D. in EWRS brochure (pdf). Additional information can be found in this document: EWRS pamphlet (pdf).

If you need an accessible copy of these documents contact cee_grad@cornell.edu

Faculty in the EWRS area include:

Patrick Reed

Jacob Mays