2009-2010 Bulletin – PDF - SEAS Bulletin - Columbia University

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The EEE program welcomes
Combined Plan students. An EEE minor
is offered to all Columbia engineering
students who want to enrich their academic
record by concentrating some of
their technical electives on Earth/environment
subjects. There is close collaboration
between EEE and the Departments
of Civil Engineering and Earth
and Environmental Sciences, including
several joint appointments.
EEE and the Earth Engineering
Center are the contributions of The Fu
Foundation School of Engineering and
Applied Science to The Earth Institute of
Columbia University, a major education
and research initiative of the University.
The Department of Earth and
Environmental Engineering combines
the longstanding and proud tradition of
Columbia’s School of Mines with forward-thinking
courses and programs,
innovative research, and a deep concern
for the environment.
RESEARCH CENTERS
ASSOCIATED WITH EARTH
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING
Columbia Water Center. The Columbia
Water Center, in collaboration with other
Earth Institute units and external partners,
is leading intellectual inquiry into an
assessment, prediction, and solution of
the potentially global crisis of freshwater
scarcity. Goals are to:
• develop multiscale predictive capabilities
(e.g., new data sets and modeling
tools) for local, regional, and global
water resource assessment, recognizing
changing climate, demographic,
and usage dynamics
• target analyses toward public and
private investment in future water
resource development, local and
regional ecosystem services provided
by water and the essential life-support
water needs of societies
• identify and test appropriate technologies
for the storage, treatment, and
conveyance of water to improve
reliable, cost-efficient access
• identify and compare locally appropriate
policy instruments that facilitate the
implementation of selected incentives
for higher-value, higher-efficiency water
use, while promoting equity of use and
life support functions
• test and demonstrate the applicability
of the policy and technology developments
in real-world settings, working
with local institutions and private-sector
developers or users in an open and
public process
• develop and disseminate the knowledge
base that results from our activities
to support global water resource
development and decision making,
including the development of a forum,
the Global Roundtable on Water
(GROW), to facilitate international policy
and technical action to improve our
collective water future.
For more information: www.water.columbia.
edu
Center for Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).
The Center for Life Cycle Analysis of
Columbia University was formed in the
spring of 2006 with the objective of conducting
comprehensive life cycle analyses
of energy systems. LCA provides a
framework for quantifying the potential
environmental impacts of material and
energy inputs and outputs of a process
or product from “cradle to grave.” The
mission of the Center is to guide technology
and energy policy decisions with databased,
well-balanced, and transparent
descriptions of the environmental profiles
of energy systems. For more information:
www.seas.columbia.edu/clca
Center for Sustainable Use of
Resources (SUR). The Center for
Sustainable Use of Resources builds
on the strengths of past research at
Columbia and North Carolina State on
recycling, composting, waste-to-energy,
and landfill engineering. Also, the Center
will clearly define the impacts of all solid
waste technologies and practices with
regard to greenhouse gas emissions and
will, on a case-by-case basis, establish
and validate protocols that account for
greenhouse gas emissions and savings
that may be easily replicated and readily
accepted. SUR will also identify technologies
that can replace some virgin feedstock
with appropriate local waste
streams. Through its publications, meetings,
and Web page, SUR will disseminate
information on the best waste management
technologies and methods that,
on a life-cycle basis, will result in reducing
the impacts of waste management on
global climate change. An equally important
objective of the Center is to provide
graduate-level training, at the participating
universities, in the ways and means
of sustainable resource utilization to engineers
and scientists from the U.S. and
SEAS 2009–2010