Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's civil engineering department is changing its name to reflect the creation of a unique bachelor's degree program that stresses environmental issues in the field.
The newly titled department of civil and environmental engineering will combine existing programs in civil, biological and chemical engineering to create Mississippi's first degree program in environmental engineering.
"Our goal will be to provide students with an educational foundation upon which they will build a career in any area of environmental engineering, government, industry or the private sector," said civil engineering professor Dennis Truax.
He said the university has provided environmental engineering education and research for several decades within his department, the department of agricultural and biological engineering, and the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering. All programs are a part of MSU's Bagley College of Engineering.
"The civil engineering program at MSU has a history of working in environmental engineering, and I am pleased that the name of the department has been changed to more accurately reflect this broader mission," said college dean Kirk Schulz, noting recent approval of the change by the state College Board.
Truax said chemical engineering traditionally has offered classes in air pollution while ABE has provided instruction in sediment management. Civil engineering previously offered a Certificate of Environmental Engineering, he noted.
"But none of us have been providing a comprehensive program of study in this area," he added. "This change will allow us to focus and expand on those individual efforts."
Over the next year, the three engineering departments will develop a substantially new curriculum designed to meet requirements of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology, as well as environmental engineering technical and professional guidelines of the National Council for Examination of Engineers and Surveyors.
"There will be no impact on our current students," explained Truax. "However, as we establish this new curriculum for environmental engineering, we will be providing future students with an educational and career path that previously required they leave the state to attend college.
"More importantly," he added, "our program will be designed to meet the needs of the employers hiring our graduates in a way that many programs have failed. It will help MSU graduates who work in the environmental engineering field to become licensed and certified professionals."
For more information, contact Dr. Truax at 662-325-7189 or truax@civil.msstate.edu.