Master of Science in Environmental Engineering or Environmental Engineering Science

Programs are planned by the students in consultation with their advisors. At least half of the coursework must be at or above the 600 level. Students who have taken the lower level of a double-numbered course (e.g., a course offered at the 400 and 600 levels) may not take the higher level of the same course for credit.

M.S. candidates may transfer a maximum of six credits from other institutions and are expected to complete their entire program within five calendar years of admission.

Thesis and non-thesis options are available.  Students anticipating further graduate study at the doctoral level should pursue the thesis option.

The M.S. in Environmental Engineering is intended for students with undergraduate engineering degrees. Students without an undergraduate degree appropriate to their chosen M.S. program will be required to complete undergraduate courses to prepare themselves for M.S. coursework. These courses will be specified in the student’s letter of admission and may not carry credit toward the M.S. degree.

The M.S. in Environmental Engineering Science is intended for students with science-based undergraduate degrees in fields other than engineering. Students with undergraduate degrees in other professional and liberal arts disciplines may be required to complete undergraduate courses to prepare themselves for M.S. coursework. These courses will be specified in the student’s letter of admission and may not carry credit toward the M.S. degree.

We encourage you to become familiar with the research areas in the Department, to reach out to our faculty for support, and to become actively engaged in the Department community. One way we encourage our students to become involved is by attending the seminar series we hold throughout the academic year. This is an opportunity to learn about advances in the academic community and to network with faculty and students from across campus.

Academic Integrity

Syracuse University aspires to the highest standards of integrity and honesty in all endeavors. The Academic Integrity Policy is designed to make integrity and honesty central to the Syracuse University experience by:

• setting forth clear ethical expectations for students in their academic endeavors;
• promoting consistency of standards and practices across colleges, schools and programs;
• encouraging reporting of suspected violations; and
• facilitating the resolution of cases as promptly as possible while providing thorough and fair consideration for students and instructors.

Education is a central goal of the policy, including affording students an opportunity to discuss and learn from academic integrity violations.

Students must fully inform themselves of their responsibilities in the conduct of their academic work and should familiarize themselves with Syracuse University’s policy on Academic Integrity.

Environmental Engineering MS - Program of Study

Group 1 – Core Courses

Three courses in Group 1 are required for a total of 9 or 10 Credit Hours. Select three from the group. Only one course can come from the Hydrology Group, and only one course can come from the Statistics Group. Courses include:

• CEE 642 Treatment Processes in Environmental Engineering
• CEE 671 Environmental Chemistry and Analysis
• CEE 672 Applied Environmental Microbiology

Statistics Courses (only one can count as a core course)

• APM 595 Probability and Statistics for Engineers
• CEE 687 Environmental Geostatistics

Hydrology Courses (only one can count as a core course)

• CEE 659 Advanced Hydrology
• EAR 601 Hydrogeology
• ERE 645 Hydrologic Modeling

Group 2 – Electives

• Any CEE graduate course, no more than 15 credits of 500-level coursework. Other graduate courses can be used as Group 2 electives if approved by the student's advisor.
• Advisor approval is required before a student can take courses from this group.
• For the MS with Thesis – In addition to the three courses taken in Group 1, five additional elective courses, upon advisor's approval, one of which can be CEE 690 - Independent study should be taken for a total of 15 credit hours. Students will also enroll in CEE 997 - Master's Thesis for 6 credit hours.
• For the MS without Thesis - In addition to the three courses taken in Group 1, seven additional elective courses, upon advisor's approval, one of which can be CEE 690 - Independent Study should be taken for a total of 21 credit hours. Students will also enroll in CEE 995 - Master's Exit Paper (0 credit hour). The exit paper must address a topic relevant to environmental engineering. The paper can be an original work or it can be a critical review of a published journal article. The paper has a minimum length requirement of 2000 words and requires approval of the student's advisor.
• All Full-Time MS candidates must enroll and participate in CEE 660-CEE Seminar.

Environmental Engineering Science MS – Program of Study

Group 1 – Core Courses

Both courses in Group 1 are required for a total of 6 Credit Hours. Required Courses include:

• CEE 671 Environmental Chemistry and Analysis
• CEE 672 Applied Environmental Microbiology

Group 2 – Advanced Fundamentals

At least two courses from Group 2 (6 credit hours) must be selected.

Group 3 – Advanced Tools

At least one course from Group 3 (3 credit hours) must be selected. Courses in probability and statistics and/or regression analysis may be accepted with advisor approval.

Previously a selected topics course:  CEE 600 Data Science for Environmental Systems Research. Students cannot take CEE 609 if they have already taken the selected topics version.

Group 4 – Electives (15 credit hours)

• Advisor approval is required before a student can take courses from this group.
• Some suggested elective courses can be selected from Law and Public Policy, Management, Computer Programming, and other CEE graduate courses not listed above.
• For the MS with Thesis - Three additional courses from Groups II through IV, upon advisor's approval, or CEE 690 - Independent study should be taken for a total of 9 credit hours. Students will also enroll in CEE 997 - Master's Thesis for 6 credit hours. 
• For the MS without Thesis - Four additional courses from Groups II through IV upon advisor's approval, should be taken for a total of 12 credit hours. One of these can be CEE 690 - Independent study for 3 credit hours. Students will also either enroll in (a) CEE 600 Environmental Assessment (3 Credit hours); or (b) CEE 995 - Master's Exit Paper (0 credit hours) and one additional course from Groups II through IV (3 credit hours). The exit paper must address a topic relevant to environmental engineering. The paper can be an original work or it can be a critical review of published journal articles. The paper has a minimum length requirement of 2000 words and requires approval of the student's advisor.
• All Full-Time MS candidates must enroll and participate in CEE 660-CEE Seminar.

Electives

Graduate students at Syracuse University are able to take courses at both SUNY ESF and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Students may register for SUNY Upstate Medical University coursework using the Inter-Institutional Graduate Course Registration Form, which is available from the department’s administrative assistant. All coursework taken at SUNY Upstate Medical University must be approved by petition.

Students may register for SUNY ESF coursework normally using MySlice.

Please contact the department if you are interested in an elective that is not included on one of the approved lists below.

Additional coursework at Syracuse University or SUNY ESF may be approved by petition. CEE Master’s Degree Programs require at least 15 Credits of Coursework be CEE Prefixed.

·        Approved by Prefix and Level

Unless otherwise noted, all courses offered by either Syracuse University or SUNY ESF that are numbered 600:996 with one of the following prefixes are approved as electives for all MS & PhD programs of study.

·        Approved by Course, Syracuse University

Additionally, the following specific courses offered by Syracuse University are approved as electives for all graduate-level programs of study.

*Note that CEE 520 - Building Information Modeling and ARC 555 - Introduction to Building Information Modeling can only be counted once towards a program of study. If a student has taken either CEE 520 or ARC 555 and used it towards any program of study, they cannot take the other course for program credit.

·        Approved by Course, SUNY ESF

Additionally, the following specific courses offered by SUNY ESF are approved as electives for all graduate-level programs of study.

Exit Requirements

• No fewer than 30 total credits of graduate-level coursework;
• completion of all coursework group requirements in a selected concentration;
• minimum 3.000 GPA for all coursework used toward the completion of degree;
• minimum 2.800 GPA cumulative for all coursework taken at SU;
• no more than 15 credits of 500-level coursework;
• at least 15 credits must be CEE prefixed graduate level courses; and
• satisfactory completion of either a thesis or an exit paper.

·        Thesis

The Oral Thesis Defense and submission of the thesis document to the Syracuse University Graduate School are the final requirements for students in a thesis plan.

Defense paperwork must comply with the Graduate School’s guidelines, including formatting.

The candidate must complete 24 credit hours of coursework, which include a set of core courses in the student's chosen area of specialization and a cohesive program of elective coursework approved by the student's advisor, as outlined in the attached programs of study. All Full-Time M.S. candidates are expected to participate in faculty/student seminar series (CEE 660) each year. In addition, the student must register for six credits of CEE 997-Master's Thesis, culminating in the defense of the thesis administered by the student's thesis committee.

Deadlines

The official Request for Examination form must be signed and submitted to the Graduate School at least three full weeks prior to the oral defense date.

A copy of the thesis document must be delivered to all members of the defense committee at least two full weeks prior to the oral defense date.

Defense Committee

The thesis defense committee will consist of four members, including

• the thesis advisor;
• two faculty members from the department or other specialists in the subject area; and
• the Chair of the Oral Examination Committee

The Chair of the Oral Examination Committee must be a Syracuse University tenured or tenure-track faculty member.

Two of the four-committee members must be CEE faculty members.

A committee member from outside Syracuse University may be allowed by petition.

·        Exit Paper

Students not completing a Master’s Thesis must instead complete a Master’s Exit Paper. To complete the degree requirement, a student must also take CEE 995-Master's Exit Paper for zero credit. The exit paper must be an original work that address issues related to their specialty approved by the advisor and have a minimum length of 2,000 words. The academic advisor determines the formatting and requirements for the exit paper.