Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability Program

The program in Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability (EWES) is a cross-cutting program focused on providing and supporting sustainable solutions for the exploration, production, delivery and use of energy, and their intersection with water and the natural and built environment.

Degrees Offered

B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering (primary or secondary) (Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability)
M.S. Degree in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering (Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability)
College of Engineering EaSE Certificate
Ph.D. Degree in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering (Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability)

Learn about:

EWES Undergraduate Specialization
EWES MS/PhD Program (includes information on course requirements)

Learn More About the EWES Program

The cross-cutting nature of the EWES program serves as bridge to other programs addressing energy, water and sustainability issues within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, across The Grainger College of Engineering, and to other academic units on campus. A flexible graduate degree curriculum leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees has been designed to accommodate students with backgrounds in various sub-disciplines within civil and environmental engineering as well as other engineering disciplines. The graduate program has also been designed so that students meeting the degree requirements of the EWES program will have also completed the requirements of Grainger College's graduate option program certificate in Energy and Sustainability Engineering (EaSE).

Some areas that the EWES program addresses include:

Sustainable energy production: renewable electricity sources (geothermal, hydropower, wind), bioenergy, environmental hydrodynamics
Faculty: Baser, Cusick, Garcia, Guest, Lombardo, Makhnenko, Parker, Stillwell
Sustainable energy exploration: subsurface fracturing and mechanics, carbon dioxide sequestration
Faculty: Baser, Elbanna, Espinosa-Marzal, Garg, Makhnenko, Valocchi
Sustainable buildings: building information modeling, end uses of water and energy
Faculty: El-Gohary, Stillwell
Sustainable transportation systems: electrified mobility, public transit, interdependencies between transportation and energy systems
Faculty: Kontou, Ouyang
Sustainable waste management: value-added reuse of water-to-energy byproducts, landfill design, waste diversion and recycling
Faculty: Garg, Makhnenko, Stark
Water-energy-food/agriculture systems analysis: water footprinting, virtual water, water impacts of energy systems, water impacts of food/agriculture systems, embedded resources accounting
Faculty: Cai, Guest, Konar, Kumar, Matthews, Stillwell
Resource recovery systems: water, energy, and nutrient recovery from wastewater
Faculty: Cusick, Guest
Earth systems modeling and change: global climate change, land-water-atmosphere-climate interactions
Faculty: Horowitz, Kumar, Zhao
Emissions impacts: emissions sources and human health effects, atmospheric chemistry interactions with climate
Faculty: Horowitz, Tessum, Verma