Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Graduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Graduate Catalog [Not Current Academic Year. Consult with Your Academic Advisor for Your Catalog Year]

Environmental Engineering, MS


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Cullen College of Engineering  > Environmental Engineering, MS

The Environmental Engineering Program of the University of Houston is an interdisciplinary graduate engineering program within the Cullen College of Engineering, administratively housed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Program and its faculty are internationally known for their research and teaching in water, wastewater, microbiology, bioremediation, soil and hazardous waste treatment and modeling, and airborne particulates.

The Environmental Engineering program offers the degrees of Master of Science (M.S.), with thesis and non-thesis options.

Courses are scheduled to accommodate both part-time and full-time students; 24-30 hours of required course work can usually be completed in one calendar year of full-time or three years of part-time study. Full time thesis students generally can complete the masters of science degree in 2 years of consecutive study.

Admission Requirements


Admission requirements are the same for both the thesis and non-thesis options:

  • A B.S. degree in engineering or in a science related to engineering from an accredited college or university or the foreign equivalent of an accredited American B.S. or M.S. degree in engineering. Non-engineers with degrees in related fields may be considered for admission after certain prerequisite courses are completed. A list of pre-requisites and leveling courses can be found on the Information for Non-engineers page. Applicants with non-science bachelor’s degrees in fields such as technology, management, business, and the arts must obtain an accredited engineering degree before applying.
  • A minimum grade point average (GPA) of “B”, i.e., 3.0 on a 4.0 scale on the last 60 hours of course work attempted.
  • Satisfactory scores on the General Aptitude test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The Quantitative + Verbal scores combined should be at least 1100 using the prior GRE scale (Verbal minimum is 450 and Quantitative minimum is 650) or 301 using the current GRE scale (Verbal minimum is 150 and Quantitative minimum is 151); however, these scores do not guarantee admission.
  • Satisfactory TOEFL scores for international students. Requirements can be found on the Graduate School/International students web page.

Degree Requirements


Credit hours required for this degree: 32.0

Master of Science - Thesis


A minimum of 30 semester hours, with two (2) additional seminar hours of CIVE 6111 (for a total of 32 hours) are required for the degree of Master of Science. This is a research-oriented degree that is open only to full-time students under the guidance of a faculty advisor. All students selecting the thesis option must satisfactorily defend the thesis in the presence of the thesis committee prior to its acceptance.

Master of Science - Non-Thesis


A non-thesis option in the Master of Science degree is also offered in Environmental Engineering. Similar to the thesis option, the degree requires a minimum of 30 hours with 2 additional seminar hours. Non-thesis option students may attend part-time.

Academic Policies


Graduate Academic Policies: Cullen College of Engineering  

University of Houston Academic Policies  

Full-time students may substitute CIVE 6X98 (X Credit Hours of Research) for academic course work in any term.  Enrollment in CIVE 6X98 requires a faculty research advisor who will assign a grade - “S” for Satisfactory or “U” for Unsatisfactory.

Completion of a Masters of Science with thesis requires that each student perform original research advised by one of the core faculty of the Environmental Engineering program, this faculty member will be the Chair of the thesis defense committee. A thesis Master’s degree typically requires two years (or more) of full-time effort to complete the course work, plan and perform the research, and write and defend the thesis.

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