Air Quality PhD Curriculum

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.

Course Guidance

In addition to PhD requirements, no specific course is required for this research area. The courses below are intended to provide guidance on typical course options for students interested in Air Quality.  

Strongly Recommended

  • MCEN 5021 Fluid Dynamics
  • MCEN 5131 Air Pollution Control Engineering
  • CHEM 5151 Atmospheric Chemistry

Recommended

  • MCEN 5228 Air QualityMeasurements
  • MCEN 5161 Aerosols
  • MCEN 5141 Indoor Air Pollution
  • CHEM 5152 Atmospheric Chemistry 2

Specialized Courses/Electives

  • MCEN 5022 Classical Thermodynamics
  • MCEN 5035 Sustainable Energy
  • MCEN 5040 Methods of Engineering Analysis II
  • MCEN 5042 Heat Transfer
  • MCEN 5057 EnvironmentalModeling
  • MCEN 5151 Flow Visualization
  • MCEN 5228 Chemical Kinetics for the Thermal Sciences
  • MCEN 5228 Cookstove Assessment
  • MCEN 5228 Environmental Law
  • MCEN 5228 Environmental Toxins
  • MCEN 5228 InverseMethods
  • MCEN 5228 Micro-Scale Heat Transfer
  • MCEN 5228 Nanotechnology for Environmental Sustainability
  • MCEN 5228 NumericalMethods
  • MCEN 7221 Turbulence
  • ATOC 5050 Atmospheric Dynamics
  • ATOC 5600 Clouds and Aerosols
  • CHEM 3311 Organic Chemistry 1
  • CHEM 4181 Instrumental Analysis
  • CHEM 4531 Physical Chemistry 2
  • CHEM 5161 Analytical Spectroscopy
  • CHEM 5181 Mass Spectrometry & Chromatography
  • CVEN 6833 Advanced Data Analysis
  • CVEN 5404 Environmental Engineering Chemistry
  • CVEN 5424 Environmental Organic Chemistry
  • CVEN 5454 OR ASEN 5047 Statistics