Air Quality, Clean Technology, Energy & Environment MS Focus Areas

Air Quality

Research and coursework in the Air Quality track encompass a broad range of topics from air quality monitoring, climate change, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and health impacts, to air pollution engineering, control and policy. Research addresses monitoring and impact assessment on scales spanning from local (building-scale) to regional and global; from fundamental science to applied social science and community-driven research; and from computational studies to field-based experiments in remote locations. The University of Colorado Boulder is uniquely situated amongst one of the world’s greatest ecosystems of academic institutions and national labs engaged in atmospheric research. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are located within 30 minutes of CU Boulder.

Clean Technology

Using the existing strengths at CU to train professional engineers that will be at the forefront of the interface between technology and the environment. Our students receive preparation to become the energy leaders of the future by studying in a world-leading venue for energy education. You will be developing novel environmental sensors and models, software, and data analytics that will be used for everything from reducing traffic to enhancing crop growth, from improving infrastructure safety to greenhouse gas emissions assessment.

CU Boulder is a world leader in environmental science and engineering as evidenced by being #1 in EPA-funded science and engineering research. The Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering is a big driver of technology development and assessment and leads the way in renewable energy research, such as energy storage for sustainability, wind energy and solar cell materials. Close partnerships with national research laboratories in the Boulder area further strengthen our research programs. 

Energy & Environment 

Energy and environment research in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering is focused on a wide range of both fundamental and applied problems related to energy conversion, heat and mass transfer, combustion, and fluid mechanics. Experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches are used to study thermalfluids phenomena covering an enormous range of scales, from heat transport at micro and nano scales to the properties of the atmosphere and ocean over many kilometers.

Recommended Coursework

Strongly Recommended 

  • MCEN 5021 Fluid Dynamics
  • MCEN 5131 Air Pollution Control Engineering
  • MCEN 5141 Indoor Air Pollution
  • MCEN 5161 Aerosols 
  • CHEM 5151 Atmospheric Chemistry
  • CHEM 5152 Atmospheric Chemistry 2 

Specialized 

  • MCEN 5022 Classical Thermodynamics
  • MCEN 5032 Sustainable Energy
  • MCEN 5042 Heat Transfer
  • MCEN 5135 Wind Energy and Wind Turbine Design
  • MCEN 5151 Flow Visualization
  • MCEN 7221 Turbulence 
  • ATOC 5050 Atmospheric Dynamics
  • ATOC 5600 Physics and Chemistry of Clouds and Aerosols 
  • CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry 
  • CVEN 5424 Environmental Organic Chemistry 

Strongly Recommended 

  • MCEN 5057 Environmental Modeling
  • MCEN 5228 Environmental Measurements
  • CVEN 5454 or ASEN 5047 Statistics or APPM 5520 Intro to Mathematical Statistics or APPM 6520 Mathematical Statistics

Specialized 

  • MCEN 5131 Air Pollution Control Engineering
  • MCEN 5154 Energy Conversion and Storage
  • MCEN 5032 Sustainable Energy
  • MCEN 5131 Wind Energy and Wind Turbine Design
  • CHEM 5151 Atmospheric Chemistry
  • CVEN 5404 Water Chemistry
  • CVEN 5424 Environmental Organic Chemistry
  • CVEN 5534 Wastewater Treatment
  • CVEN 5524 Drinking Water Treatment

Strongly Recommended

  • MCEN 5021 Introduction to Fluid Dynamics
  • MCEN 5022 Classical Thermodynamics
  • MCEN 5042 Heat Transfer

Specialized 

  • MCEN 5012 Renewable Fuels, Fuel Cells, and Internal Combustion Engines 
  • MCEN 5023 Solid Mechanics
  • MCEN 5032 Sustainable Energy
  • MCEN 5044 Mechanical Behavior of Materials
  • MCEN 5121 Compressible Flow
  • MCEN 5131 Air Pollution Control Engineering
  • MCEN 5135 Wind Energy and Wind Turbine Design
  • MCEN 5141 Indoor Air Pollution
  • MCEN 5151 Flow Visualization
  • MCEN 5152 Introduction to Combustion
  • MCEN 5161 Aerosols
  • MCEN 5173 Finite Element Analysis
  • MCEN 5299 Household Energy Systems
  • MCEN 6001 Reacting Flows
  • MCEN 7221 Turbulence
  • ASEN 5007 Introduction to Finite Elements
  • ASEN 5053 Space Propulsion
  • ASEN 5417 Num. Methods for Diff. Equations
  • ASEN 5519 Ener Sys for Earth and Aero Application
  • ATOC 5050 Intro. to Atmospheric Dynamics
  • CHEN 5370 Intermed. Chemical Eng. Thermodynamics
  • CHEM 5151 Atmospheric Chemistry
  • CVEN 5488 Comp Modeling in Geotechnical Engineering
  • CVEN 5830 Energy Technology and Policy
  • CVEN 7511 Comp Finite Inelasticity and Multiphase Mechanics 
  • ECEN 5407 Renewable Energy and the Future Power Grid