2008-2009 Bulletin – PDF - SEAS Bulletin - Columbia University

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The EEE program welcomes
Combined Plan students. An EEE minor
is offered to all Columbia engineering
students who want to enrich their academic
record by concentrating some of
their technical electives on Earth/environment
subjects. There is close collaboration
between EEE and the Departments
of Civil Engineering and Earth
and Environmental Sciences, including
several joint appointments.
EEE and the Earth Engineering
Center are the contributions of The Fu
Foundation School of Engineering and
Applied Science to the Earth Institute of
Columbia University, a major education
and research initiative of the University.
Earth and Environmental Engineering
combines the longstanding and proud
tradition of Columbia’s School of Mines
with forward-thinking courses and programs,
innovative research, and a deep
concern for the environment.
RESEARCH CENTERS
ASSOCIATED WITH EARTH
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING
Columbia Water Center. The Columbia
Water Center, in collaboration with other
Earth Institute units and external partners,
is leading intellectual inquiry into an
assessment, prediction, and solution of
the potentially global crisis of freshwater
scarcity. Goals are to:
• develop multiscale predictive capabilities
(e.g., new data sets and modeling
tools) for local, regional, and global
water resource assessment, recognizing
changing climate, demographic,
and usage dynamics
• target analyses toward public and
private investment in future water
resource development, local and
regional ecosystem services provided
by water and the essential life-support
water needs of societies
• identify and test appropriate technologies
for the storage, treatment, and
conveyance of water to improve
reliable, cost-efficient access
• identify and compare locally appropriate
policy instruments that facilitate the
implementation of selected incentives
for higher-value, higher-efficiency water
use, while promoting equity of use and
life support functions
• test and demonstrate the applicability
of the policy and technology developments
in real-world settings, working
with local institutions and private-sector
developers or users in an open and
public process
• develop and disseminate the knowledge
base that results from our activities
to support global water resource
development and decision making,
including the development of a forum,
the Global Roundtable on Water
(GROW), to facilitate international policy
and technical action to improve our
collective water future.
For more information: www.water.columbia.
edu
Earth Engineering Center. The mission
of the Earth Engineering Center is to
develop and promote engineering methodologies
that provide essential material to
humanity in ways that maintain the overall
balance between the constantly
increasing demand for materials, the finite
resources of the Earth, and the need for
clean water, soil, and air. The Center is
dedicated to the advancement of industrial
ecology, i.e., the reconfiguring of
industrial activities and products with full
knowledge of the environmental consequences.
Research is being conducted
on a variety of geoenvironmental issues
with the intent to quantify, assess, and
ultimately manage adverse human effects
on the environment. Research areas include
management of water and energy resources,
hydrology and hydrogeology, numerical
modeling of estuarine flow and transport
processes, and integrated waste management.
For more information: refer to its
Web site: www.columbia.edu/cu/earth/.
Environmental Tracer Group. The
Environmental Tracer Group uses natural
and anthropogenic (frequently transient)
tracers, as well as deliberately released
tracers, to investigate the physics and
chemistry of transport in environmental
systems. The tracers include natural or
anthropogenically produced isotopes
(e.g., tritium or radioactive hydrogen,
helium and oxygen isotopes, or radiocarbon),
as well as noble gases and chemical
compounds (e.g., CFCs and SF6).
The ETG analytical facilities include four
mass spectrometric systems that can be
used in the analysis of tritium and noble
gases in water, sediments, and rocks.
In addition to the mass spectrometric
systems, there are several gas chromatographic
systems equipped with electron
capture detectors that are used for
measurements of SF6 in continental
waters and CFCs and SF6 in the atmos-
SEAS 2008–2009