Starting in this fall, WSU Global Campus and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will be providing more opportunities for professionals to expand their engineering and management skills with two new online programs.
The programs, which are aimed at providing training opportunities for professional working engineers who hold a bachelor’s degree, include a graduate certificate in pavement durability and sustainability and a master’s degree with a specialization in environmental engineering.
“These programs provide education and workforce development opportunities for practicing engineers and some on-campus graduate students by specifically addressing a prioritized need identified by our industry stakeholders,” said Xianming Shi, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “They’re designed to contribute to a skilled, diverse, informed and practice-ready workforce by offering courses that aim to bridge the gap between our existing curriculum and emerging industry needs.”
To meet the needs and schedules of working professionals, the programs do not require entrance exams or a thesis and will mostly be offered asynchronously.
The graduate certificate in pavement durability and sustainability will let students become familiar with design and structural analysis of asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavements; decision-making for sustainable and resilient civil infrastructure; and life cycle assessment of transportation infrastructure. The program requires that students take four online courses, including three required and one elective course, for a total of 12 credit hours.
“Students earning this certificate will be able to keep up with advances in pavement engineering, especially the emerging topics relevant to durability, sustainability, and climate resilience,” Shi said.
Meanwhile, a new master of engineering in civil engineering degree with a specialization in environmental engineering will also be offered. The 30-credit degree program will emphasize course work in physicochemical water and wastewater treatment, biochemical wastewater treatment, aquatic chemistry, hazardous contaminant pathway analysis and treatment, water quality, environmental flow and transport process and related modelling as well as in project management and leading people and organizations, said Akram Hossain, professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at WSU Tri-Cities.
“The program will provide students with expertise in multiple areas of environmental concerns to successfully engage in solving increasingly complex environmental problems we are confronted with,” said Hossain.
For information and to register as a non-degree seeking student, go to https://online.wsu.edu/online-degrees/.
