Environmental Chemistry
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Campus
Description of the option:
This option is designed to provide a background in environmental chemistry that has sufficient breadth and depth to prepare a person to work as an environmental chemist in the public or private sector and/or to pursue an advanced degree in the field. Students who complete this option will be certified in environmental chemistry by the American Chemical Society (ACS).
The Environmental Chemistry Option is based on the UIUC Chemistry Department's Specialized Curriculum in Chemistry. Therefore, to be certified in this option, the student must satisfy all of the requirements for the Specialized Curriculum in Chemistry. To complete the Environmental Option, one course (descriptions follow) must be selected from each of four of the following categories (A-E):
A. General environmental chemistry, NRES 251 or CEE 241
B. Atmospheric chemistry, CEE 348
C. Water and interfacial chemistry, CEE 343 or NRES 351
D. Soil chemistry or geochemistry, Geol 360 or NRES 387
E. Undergraduate research, Chem 292 (Environmental topic, minimum of 3 hours credit)
Because each of the course on the above list qualifies as a Technical Elective for the Specialized Curriculum in Chemistry, completion of the Environmental Option should not require additional hours for graduation beyond those needed for the Specialized Curriculum. Although only students who receive degrees in the Specialized Curriculum in Chemistry are eligible for ACS certification, students in the Science and Letters Chemistry major can complete the Environmental Option as well.
Undergraduate courses for the option:
A. Environmental Chemistry, General --
CEE 241: Environmental Quality Engineering. Sources, characteristics, transport, and effects of air & water contaminants. Chemical, physical, biological processes in water. Atmospheric structure and composition. Unit operations for air and water quality control. Solid waste management. Enviromental quality standards.
NRES 251: Environmental Chemistry (also known as EnvSt 298ec.) Environmental compartments: transport and reaction: biogeochemical cycles. Solar emission spectrum, absorption and re-radiation of quanta. Stratospheric processes, photochemistry. Global cycling of C, trace metals. Water, natural waters (aquatic geochemistry): equilibria. Water treatment. Soil and surface chemistry.
B. Atmospheric Chemistry --
CEE 348: Atmospheric Chemistry (also known as EnvSt 348). Evolution of the atmosphere. Atmospheric chemistry of C, N, and S. Aerosol and heterogeneous reactions. Material transport. Stratospheric ozone and its depletion. Airborne radioactivity and atmospheric ion chemistry.
C. Aquatic and Interfacial Chemistry --
CEE 343: Chemical Principles of Environmental Engineering Processes. Application of principles of chemical equilibrium and chemical kinetics to air and water quality. Thermodynamics, kinetics, acid-base chemistry, complexation, precipitation, oxidation-reduction.
NRES 351: Environmental Organic Chemistry. Movement and reactions of natural and human-made organic compounds in the environment. Volatilization, adsorption, redox reactions, hydrolysis, disinfection, and photolysis.
D. Soil Chemistry and Geochemistry --
Geol 360: Geochemistry. Chemical and physical concepts applied to geological processes. Origin, distribution, and geochemical behavior of elements: chemical evolution of the earth: geochemistry of natural waters and sedimentary rocks: isotope geochemistry, trace element geochemistry, organic geochemistry.
NRES 387: Soil Chemistry: Inorganic reactions involved in soil development and plant nutrition in soils. Colloid systems, properties of water, ion exchange equilibria, plant nutrient forms, methods of analysis.
E. Undergraduate Research --
Chemistry 292: At an appropriate time such as during the second semester of the junior year, the candidate for research credit should propose, preferably in conjunction with his/her adviser, a suggested program of scholarly activity related to environmental chemistry. This could take the form of laboratory research, a review paper, or a summer industrial internship.
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Other opportunities for UIUC undergraduates interested in environmental chemistry:
Brief Description of the Option -- This curriculum leads to a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. It prepares students for careers in management and protection of natural resources; the study of environmental sciences; teaching, research, orother related professional activity; business or government agencies providing services related to environmental and natural resource management; and as preparation for graduate studies or for advanced professional training. Students with an interest in soil conservation, soil and water interactions with plants and other organisms, water quality, land use assessment, soil nutrient analysis and related areas would choose the environmental soil and water science option.
Course Requirements include these for the first two years (common to all NRES majors) and these additional requirements and electives for the remainder of the Soil and Water Sciences degree program.
Civil and Environmental Engineering -- Environmental Chemistry specialization in the Environmental Engineering and Science program.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences -- Several graduate specialization areas in this department allow the student to concentrate on research problems in environmental chemistry.
Related Course Areas and Programs (selected) --
Toxicology, Environmental Toxicology Program
Integrative Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Chen, Chu-Yung - Petrology, trace element and isotope geochemistry.
Hassett, John J. - Soils, soil chemistry.
Hudson, Robert J. M. - Modeling biogeochemical process dynamics, including fate and transport of metals in the environment, trace metal-phytoplankton interactions, and global cycles of carbon and mercury.
Larson, Richard A. - Kinetics, mechanisms, and products of organic oxidation-reduction reactions of environmental importance.
Li, Zhuangjie - Atmospheric trace species that may play a role in the atmospheric chemistry accounting for the prominent ozone loss in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere, and for the formation of atmospheric sulfate aerosol.
Minear, Roger A. - Nature, origin, and transformation of organic and inorganic compounds in natural and waste waters, chemistry of aqueous solutions and chemical processes of water and wastewater treatment, and trace and environmental analysis.
Snoeyink, Vernon L. - Chemical and physical processes for the treatment of water and wastewater.
Stucki, Joseph W. - Physical chemistry of clays and soils with emphasis on the effects of variable oxidation states of Fe in clay minerals on their physical and chemical properties.
Wander, Michelle - Management impacts on soil organic matter characteristics, soil quality, productivity and environmental integrity
Wuebbles, Donald J. - Development and use of mathematical models of the atmosphere to study the chemical and physical processes that determine atmospheric structure.
