Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (GRAD)
The Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering in the Gillings School of Global Public Health focuses on the interface between people and the environment. Uniquely situated in a school of public health, the department combines the physical sciences, health sciences, engineering, and policy to develop solutions to current and emerging environmental challenges, both globally and locally. This includes climate and environmental change, emerging contaminants, infectious agents and their impacts on health and equity. This multidisciplinary approach provides unique academic and research opportunities for students.
WE WORK TO
- Understand environmental transport and transformation of chemicals and infectious agents
- Protect vulnerable populations from toxic exposures
- Mitigate the impacts of climate change on air, water, and health; and
- Create a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future.
Our faculty bring expertise in the physical and life sciences, engineering, and policy. We work both locally and globally, in occupational and environmental settings, on issues relevant to air quality, water, health, energy, and resource management.
The wide scope of departmental research is reflected in the three interdisciplinary fields of study, faculty’s areas of research, and affiliated labs and research institutes. The three interdisciplinary fields of study are: Air Quality and Atmospheric Processes, Human Exposure and Health Effects, and Sustainable Water Resources.
Air Quality and Atmospheric Processes
Atmospheric processes have a major influence on air quality, as well as on long‐term global processes such as climate change. Over the past 30 years, major research contributions of our faculty and students include the generation of an experimental database used to develop and test photochemical mechanisms that contribute to air pollution; development of methods to measure and monitor airborne contaminants; and the development and application of occupational exposure models.
Human Exposure and Health Effects
Our faculty study the range of processes that ultimately lead to environmentally related diseases, from characterizing and quantifying human exposure to understanding the cellular, molecular and biochemical underpinnings of these diseases. Major research activities include: developing methods to measure and monitor chemical or microbial contaminants; and elucidating the genetic factors that lead to differences in disease outcomes among individuals or populations.
Sustainable Water Resources
Population growth and economic development continue to place increasing stress on global water resources, stresses that stem primarily from rising consumptive demands for limited supplies and increasing contamination of natural waters. Our faculty seek solutions to these challenges using a variety of computational, experimental, and field approaches. Our research results improve engineering applications and provide substantive guidance to policymakers.
Our research strengths include:
- Characterizing exposures to contaminants in air, water, soil, and workplaces
- Developing engineering and policy solutions to environmental risks
- Using molecular approaches to understanding diseases caused by toxic substances in the environment
- Overcoming environmental health challenges in developing countries
Following the faculty member's name is a section number that students should use when registering for independent studies, reading, research, and thesis and dissertation courses with that particular professor.
Professors
John M. Bane Jr., Marine Sciences, Physical Oceanography
Gregory W. Characklis (98), Water Resources Engineering, Economics and Management; Director, Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems
Orlando Coronell (10), Physical and Chemical Processes for Water Treatment, Membrane Technology, Granular Sorbents; Associate Chair for Academics
Rebecca C. Fry (7), Toxicogenomics, Genetic Toxicology; Director, Institute for Environmental Health Solutions; Associate Chair for Strategic Initiatives
Avram Gold (43), Environmental Chemistry
Ilona Jaspers (99), Health Effects of Air Pollution in the Lung; Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology
Richard A. Luettich Jr. (68), Marine Sciences, Coastal Physics, Hurricane Storm Surge Modeling; Director, Institute of Marine Science
Christopher S. Martens (92), Marine Sciences, Biogeochemistry
Cass T. Miller (59), Porous Medium Systems, Environmental Physics, Environmental Modeling
Rachel T. Noble (110), Marine Microbial Ecology, Water Quality Microbiology, Non-Point Source (e.g., Storm water), Contamination of Receiving Waters
Leena A. Nylander-French (95), Skin and Inhalation Exposures to Toxicants, Exposure Modeling; Director, Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center
Hans W. Paerl (65), Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Marine and Freshwater Nutrient Cycling
Michael C. Piehler (33), Marine Environmental Sciences, Environmental Microbial Ecology
Aaron Salzberg (133), Water Supply Planning and Sanitation; Director, Water Institute
Jill R. Stewart (26), Water Quality Microbiology, Ecological Assessment and Prediction
Jason Surratt (30), Atmospheric Chemistry, Secondary Organic Aerosols, Heterogeneous Chemistry, Air Pollution
Barbara J. Turpin (32), Atmospheric Chemistry, Air Pollution and Human Exposure; Department Chair
William Vizuete (6), Atmospheric Modeling, Air Pollution, Environmental Engineering, Atmospheric Chemistry
Paul B. Watkins, Director, General Clinical Research Center, UNC Hospitals
J. Jason West (16), Air Pollution, Climate Change, Atmospheric Modeling, Global Health, Environmental Policy, Environmental Engineering; Director, Graduate Studies
Dale Whittington (70), Water Resources Economics, International Development
Associate Professors
Joe Brown (137), Water and Sanitation, Environmental Health Microbiology; Director, Engineering Programs
Kun Lu (37), Microbiome, Exposome, Omics Profiling (Metabolomics, Proteomics, Lipidomics), DNA Adducts, Biomarker Development, Cancer, Chronic Inflammation, Children's Health
Marc L. Serre (100), Space/Time Statistics, Exposure Assessment, Environmental Modeling, Hydrology, Geostatistics, GIS, Environmental Epidemiology, Risk Assessment, Medical Geography
Assistant Professors
Noah Kittner (131), Energy Systems Analysis, Sustainability Science, Energy and Environmental Policy, Energy in Underserved communities
Musa Manga (5), Environmental Engineering, Water, Sanitation, Water Resource Management
Julia Rager (130), Environmental Risk Assessment, Exposure Assessment, Genetics, Toxicology
Research Professors
Richard M. Kamens, Atmospheric Gas-Particle Partitioning, Modeling
Glenn Morrison (124), Indoor Air, Surface Chemistry, Human Exposure
Mark D. Sobsey, Environmental Health Microbiology, Virology, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Howard S. Weinberg (96), Aquatic Chemistry, Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Drinking Water Treatment, Occurrence, Fate, and Transport of Chemical Pollutants
Research Associate Professor
Zhenfa Zhang, Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Research Assistant Professors
Ryan Cronk, Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), Environmental Risk Assessment
Michael Fisher (136), Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH)
Timothy Weigand, Fluid Dynamics, AI/Machine Learning, Mechanistic Modelling, Computational Science
Teaching Associate Professors
Amanda Northcross (134), Exposure Assessment, Air Pollution, Global Health; Director, Undergraduate Studies (B.S.P.H. and Assured Enrollment Programs)
John Staley, Occupational Health and Safety; NC OSHERC; NIOSH Center for Excellence: the Carolina Center for Healthy Work Design and Worker Well-being
Clinical Associate Professor
Courtney Woods (51), Health Equity, Systems Modeling, Environmental Epidemiology, Risk Assessment, Global Health; Director, E.H.S. M.P.H. Program
Adjunct Professors
Sarav Arunachalam, Air Quality Modeling, Analyses, and Health Risk; Environmental Policy
Linda S. Birnbaum (86), Xenobiotic Metabolism, Biochemical Toxicology
Clarissa Brocklehurst, Water Supply and Sanitation
Daniel L. Costa (97), Pulmonary Toxicology
Pat Curran, Occupational Safety, Industrial Hygiene
Felix Dodds, Sustainable Development, Finance, Climate, Environmental Security
Shabbir H. Gheewala, Life Cycle Assessment
Jackie MacDonald Gibson, Water Quality, Environmental Justice, Risk Assessment
M. Ian Gilmour, Immunotoxicology
David H. Leith (56), Air Pollution Control Engineering, Aerosol Technology
Michael Madden (101), Toxicology
Valeria Ochoa, Biological and Physico-Chemical Wastewater Treatment, Bioremediation, Biotechnology, Sustainability
David Peden, Immunotoxicology, Cardiopulmonary Toxicology, Translational and Clinical Research in Environmental Lung Disease
Joseph Pinto (82), Atmospheric Modeling
Joachim Pleil (106), Exposure Assessment
Havala Pye, Air Quality Modeling
Ana Rappold, Environmental Exposure Assessment, Climate Change, Wildfires and Air Quality
Eva A. Rehfuess, Evidence-Based Public Health Methods, Complex Intervention Evaluations, Child Health in Developing Countries
James M. Samet (67), Mechanistic Toxicology, Cardiopulmonary Toxicology, Ambient Air Pollutants
Bill Suk, Hazardous Substances Remediation, Environmental Toxicology, Children's Environmental Health
Miroslav Styblo (79), Nutritional Biochemistry and Biochemical Toxicology
John Tomaro, Research Collaborator for the Water Institute
Adjunct Associate Professors
Jared Bowden, Air Quality and Climate Modeling
Jada Brooks, Health Equity, Community Engaged Research, Environmental Justice
Janice Lee, Human Health Risk Assessment, Susceptibility, Mode of Action, Systematic Review
Roger Sit, Radiation Physics
Thomas B. Starr, Risk Assessment
John Wambaugh, Computational Toxicology and Exposure
Adjunct Assistant Professors
Karsten Baumann, Aerosol Chemistry
Rich Cravener, Healthy, Safety and Industrial Hygiene; NC OSHERC; NIOSH
Radhika Dhingra (132), Air Pollution, Epidemiology, Epigenetics, Health Effects
Lauren Eaves, Environmental Exposure, Prenatal Health Effects, and Epigenetics
Kim Haley, Industrial Hygiene
Crystal Lee Pow Jackson, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology
Jordan Kern, Environmental modeling, Systems Analysis, Financial Risk Management
Hannah Liberatore, Analytical Method Development for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) sampling and Combustion Ion Chromatography
Liz Naess, Ambient Air Quality Data Analysis, Science and Policy, Health Equity
Jacky Rosati (29), Exposure Assessment
Antonia Sebastian, Environmental Hazards, Flood Risk Reduction
David Singleton, Environmental Microbiology
Frank J. Stillo, III, Risk Assessment, Risk Communication of Environmental Exposures in Drinking Water
James "Ben" Tidwell, Behavioral Science, Environmental Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
W. Jon Wallace, Occupational Safety and Health Education
Professors Emeriti
Richard N.L. Andrews
Jamie Bartram
Russell F. Christman
Douglas Crawford-Brown
Francis A. DiGiano
Michael Flynn
Donald L. Fox
Harvey E. Jeffries
Pete Kolsky
Donald T. Lauria
David H. Moreau
Mark S. Shuman
James Swenberg
Stephen C. Whalen
Donald Willhoit
Clinical Professor Emeritus
Donald E. Francisco
ENVR
Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate-level Courses
Presents results of ongoing research projects in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Topics and presenters are selected from among departmental graduate students and faculty. Student presenters learn how to present their research to a lay audience while students taking the class for credit learn how to critique a presentation as well as forge professional collaborations across disciplines. Undergraduates may not enroll without first discussing their participation, and obtaining approval from the instructor.
Required preparation, a background in chemistry and mathematics, including ordinary differential equations. Chemical processes occurring in natural and engineered systems: chemical cycles; transport and transformation processes of chemicals in air, water, and multimedia environments; chemical dynamics; thermodynamics; structure/activity relationships.
A systems approach to dealing with environmental pollution problems is highlighted and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is introduced as an assessment tool. Topics include basic environmental interactions; biogeochemical cycles and environmental impacts (global, regional, and local); and application of LCA to waste management and energy conversion systems; are addressed.
Students learn laboratory, field, and analytical skills. Provides a solid introduction to experimental research in environmental sciences and engineering. Students are provided with applications in limnology, aquatic chemistry, and industrial hygiene.
Required preparation, one course in general microbiology. A description of microbial populations and communities, the environmental processes they influence, and how they can be controlled to the benefit of humankind.
Required preparation, introductory biology, chemistry, and physics. Basic aspects of freshwater ecosystem function. Emphasis on trophic-level interactions and integration of physical, chemical, and biological principles for a holistic view of lake ecosystem dynamics.
Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. Physical and chemical principles underlying behavior of particles suspended in air. Topics include rectilinear and curvilinear motion of the particles in a force field, diffusion, evaporation, and condensation, electrical and optical properties, and particle coagulation. Three lecture hours a week and two laboratory sessions.
Required preparation, major in a natural science or two courses in natural sciences. Studies origin of ocean basins, seawater chemistry and dynamics, biological communities, sedimentary record, and oceanographic history. Term paper. Students lacking science background should see EMES 103. Students may not receive credit for both EMES 103 and EMES 401. Course previously offered as GEOL 403/MASC 401.
Principles and applications of chemical equilibria to natural waters. Acid-base, solubility, complex formation, and redox reactions are discussed. This course uses a problem-solving approach to illustrate chemical speciation and environmental implications. Three lecture hours per week.
Required preparation: introductory course in microbiology or permission of the instructor. This course covers microbes of public health importance in water, wastewater, and other environmental matrices, including detection, quantification, transport, and survival in environmental media; control measures to reduce exposures; quantitative microbial risk assessment; and the epidemiology of infectious diseases transmitted via the environment.
Toxicological assessment of and a case presentation of related exposure is given. A conceptual approach is utilized to design appropriate programs to prevent worker ill health due to toxicant exposure.
This course concentrates on fundamentals of radiation and protection, including types of radiation, radioactive decay, interaction with matter, biological effects, detection and measurement, protection methods/techniques, external and internal dose, etc. Lectures include hazards in categories of environmental radiation, nuclear energy, medical applications, industrial uses, etc.
Required preparation, basic biology, chemistry through organic, calculus. Permission of the instructor for students lacking this preparation. Interactions of environmental agents (chemicals, infectious organisms, radiation) with biological systems including humans, with attention to routes of entry, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and mechanisms of adverse effects. Three lecture hours per week.
Required preparation, basic biology, chemistry through organic, math through calculus; permission of the instructor for students lacking this preparation. A practical introduction to the measurement of biological end-points, emphasizing adverse effects of environmental agents, using laboratory and field techniques. Two laboratory hours per week.
Fundamentals of occupational safety and ergonomics with emphasis on legislation and organization of industrial safety and ergonomic programs, including hazard recognition, analysis, control, and motivational factors pertaining to industrial accident and cumulative trauma disorder prevention.
An introduction to occupational hygiene and the health hazards associated with industrial operations. Fundamental scientific principles are used to provide the foundation for assessing and controlling the exposures found in the work environment. Topics with broad application include: noise, heat stress, and ventilation. Specific industrial operations examined include: welding, electroplating, and spray painting, among others. The concept of Total Worker Health is explored with a focus on the role of labor unions. No prerequisites.
Required preparation, one course in biochemistry. Biochemical actions of toxicants and assessment of cellular damage by biochemical measurements. Three lecture hours per week.
Focuses on how to model environmental transport and chemistry of pollutants. Covers mole balances, rate laws, chemical kinetics, and reactor design. Principles are applied to any environmental system where chemical transformations must be described. Three lecture hours per week.
The physical properties of fluids, kinematics, governing equations, viscous incompressible flow, vorticity dynamics, boundary layers, irrotational incompressible flow. Course previously offered as GEOL 560/MASC 560.
Required preparation, math through differential equations and some familiarity with fluid mechanics. Conservation principles for mass, momentum, and energy developed and applied to groundwater systems. Scope includes the movement of water, gas, and organic liquid phases, the transport and reaction of contaminants. Three lecture hours per week.
Reviews geographical information systems (GIS). Covers geostatistics theory for the interpolation of environmental and health monitoring data across space and time. Uses publicly available water and air quality monitoring data to create maps used for environmental assessment, regulatory compliance analysis, exposure science, and risk analysis.
Required preparation, one course in probability and statistics. Use of mathematical models and computer simulation tools to estimate the human health impacts of exposure to environmental pollutants. Three lecture hours per week.
Recommended preparation, microbiology, epidemiology, and infectious diseases. Survey of alternative approaches, frameworks, and decision-making tools for quantitative risk assessment of microbial pathogens that infect humans and cause disease by the exposure routes of water, food, air, and other vehicles.
Environmental chemical and biological transport and transformation, exposure to environmental contaminants, and environmental risk assessment.
Graduate students only; undergraduates must have permission of the instructor. Overview of chemical processes in the ocean. Topics include physical chemistry of seawater, major element cycles, hydrothermal vents, geochemical tracers, air-sea gas exchange, particle transport, sedimentary processes, and marine organic geochemistry. Three lecture and two recitation hours per week. Course previously offered as GEOL 505/MASC 505.
This course is intended to develop a student's ability to operate the primary instruments for measuring these important pollutants, collect and process samples where necessary, record data, and process instrument data into final air concentration data.
For graduate students; undergraduates need permission of the instructor. Marine ecosystem processes pertaining to the structure, function, and ecological interactions of biological communities; management of biological resources; taxonomy and natural history of pelagic and benthic marine organisms. Three lecture and one recitation hours per week. Two mandatory weekend fieldtrips. Course previously offered as MASC 504.
The course will provide students with a multidisciplinary perspective of environmental changes to encompass both human health and ecological health.
Builds on an understanding of infectious and toxic hazards, disease causation, and environmental transmission. Deals with hazard and disease classification; safety, risk, and vulnerability; interventions and their health impact; approaches in different settings; distal factors (e.g., water scarcity, climate change); and approaches to studying unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Previously offered as ENVR 682.
This course will provide an introduction to urgent topics related to energy, sustainability, and the environment. The course material will focus on new technologies, policies, and plans in cities and different governing bodies in the energy system with a focus on developing tools to analyze energy for its sustainability, impact on people, the environment, and the economy.
Required preparation, one course in probability and statistics. Use of quantitative tools for balancing conflicting priorities (such as costs versus human health protection) and evaluating uncertainties when making environmental decisions.
This class addresses the importance of climate change in its entirety. The first half of the course addresses climate science, followed by climate change impacts, energy and mitigation technologies, economics, and international politics. Improving communication and quantitative skills is emphasized through homework, in-class presentations, and a research paper.
Students will be introduced to the types of policy instruments that can be used to solve environmental health problems. The course provides a framework for understanding the tasks involved, the main institutions responsible, and an in-depth description of the policy instruments used to tackle environmental health problems.
Over a million children die yearly from diarrhea, in part because 2.0 billion humans do not have access to a basic toilet. This course presents the problems and context of inadequate sanitation in the developing world, and, more importantly, the types of solutions and approaches available to reduce these problems.
A practical experience in a setting relevant to environmental health.
This course examines the relationship between environmental quality, human health and welfare, with particular attention to contamination in human environment; physical, biological, and social factors; trade-offs regarding prevention and remediation measures. Three lecture hours per week.
An introduction to relevant epidemiologic concepts that inform environmental science research. Learning objectives include discussing basic epidemiologic concepts and measures of disease occurrence in populations, explaining epidemiological study designs for studying associations between risk factors or exposures in populations, evaluating epidemiologic evidence, and comprehending basic ethical principles.
Students will learn about how social, economic, and political factors impact environmental health outcomes and will be introduced to theories and methods for incorporating social determinants frameworks into environmental health research, as well as the role of environmental justice movements.
Required preparation, one year of biology. Environmental systems biology examines how environmental stressors influence the components of a biological system, and how the interactions between these components result in changes in the function and behavior of that system.
Recommended preparation, MATH 231. This course will equip students with an overview of contemporary issues in energy modeling and energy systems analysis, with a focus on environmental and public health impacts of energy systems. Students will gain exposure to a variety of research methodologies, analytical tools, and applications of energy modeling applied to environmental and public health related problems such as climate change, air pollution, and water footprints of energy systems.
Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. The course material introduces the general concepts of assessing environmental exposures to chemicals in human populations. This includes the design of ecologic and personal monitoring studies, the techniques and equipment used for sampling and analysis, and interpretation of data.
Required preparation, organic chemistry. Bioactivation of carcinogens, interaction of activated metabolites with DNA, and their effects on DNA structure, replication, repair, and the control of these processes during development of chemically induced carcinogenesis. Two lecture hours per week.
Requires some programming experience and basic numerical analysis. Error in computation, solutions of nonlinear equations, interpolation, approximation of functions, Fourier methods, numerical integration and differentiation, introduction to numerical solution of ODEs, Gaussian elimination.
Theory and practical issues arising in linear algebra problems derived from physical applications, e.g., discretization of ODEs and PDEs. Linear systems, linear least squares, eigenvalue problems, singular value decomposition.
Numerical methods for solving problems arising in sciences and engineering. Solution of linear equations using direct and iterative approaches, solution of nonlinear systems of algebraic equations, solution of ordinary differential equations including single and multistep methods, and methods for stiff systems of ODEs and collocation methods for linear and nonlinear PDEs.
Requires an undergraduate course in differential equations. Contour integration, asymptotic expansions, steepest descent/stationary phase methods, special functions arising in physical applications, elliptic and theta functions, elementary bifurcation theory.
Perturbation methods for ODEs and PDEs, WKBJ method, averaging and modulation theory for linear and nonlinear wave equations, long-time asymptotics of Fourier integral representations of PDEs, Green's functions, dynamical systems tools.
A first graduate-level course in physical principles relevant to environmental systems. Topics include dimensional analysis, tensor calculus, conservation of mass and momentum. Applications are considered from natural and engineered systems and across all relevant media. Focus is on the development of mechanistic representation of environmental systems.
Second part of a graduate-level sequence in physical principles relevant to environmental systems. Topics include turbulence, conservation of energy, multiscale methods, and thermodynamics. Applications are considered from natural and engineered systems and across all relevant media. Focus is on development of mechanistic representation of environmental systems.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. This course teaches practical basics of how to solve environmental engineering problems in the hydraulics of pipes, pumps, networks, and open channels. The course is a mix of classroom lectures, problem-solving sessions, and laboratory sessions.
This class is designed for graduate students planning for research in air pollution, emphasizing chemical kinetics and engineering approaches to problem solving in addition to atmospheric structure, meteorology, and modeling. We address problems of stratospheric and tropospheric ozone, particulate matter, and acid rain. We emphasize quantitative problem solving in homework.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates and nonmajors. Introduces students to methods for research conception, design, planning, and implementation in fields related to water and its impacts on health. Students study approaches and tools that may be applied in water-related research and are coached in developing their own research design.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates and nonmajors. Familiarizes students with the principles of scientific communication with an emphasis on scientific writing and oral presentations. Using their own water and health research, students learn how to communicate effectively in informal settings and how to prepare for interviews with the media.
Permission of the instructor. Seminar on policy and planning approaches for providing improved community water and sanitation services in developed countries. Topics include the choice of appropriate technology and level of service, pricing, metering, and connection charges; cost recovery and targeting subsidies to the poor; water venting; community participation in the management and operation of water systems; and rent-seeking behavior in the provision of water supplies.
This course familiarizes students with scientific paper writing and coaches students towards journal manuscript submission. Students should have a data set of results. Sessions begin with student presentations and discussion, followed by a brief preparatory lecture on the next assignment. Substantive preparation is required between sessions.
Permission of the instructor. Directed readings or laboratory study of a selected topic. A written report is required in the form of an honors thesis (ENVR 692H).
Students complete honors research projects.
Directed readings or laboratory study. Written reports are required. May be taken more than once for credit. Three to nine hours per week.
This capstone course covers a range of issues in public health ethics, particularly focused on environmental health. Students will work on a team-based project over the course of the semester. The projects will be focused on topics that have ethical relevance and will integrate students' knowledge in environmental health.
Graduate-level Courses
Adaptations of aquatic plants and microorganisms of land-water interface regions of lakes and rivers, their nutrition, growth, population dynamics, competition, herbivory, productivity, physiological control measures. Wetlands functions, values to humans. Three lecture hours per week.
This course is intended for PhD students to become familiar with the methods for writing a research proposal, grant application or response to a request for proposal/application (RFP/RFA). The course will provide orientation in conception, planning and implementation of writing a grant.
This 1 credit course is intended for PhD students. Students will learn how to conduct formal peer reviews for environmental health, science and engineering journals. In so doing, they will develop skills needed to critically evaluate environmental research.
This course explores the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health and facilitates the understanding of health as an inexorably linked system requiring multidisciplinary collaborative efforts. The One Health concept demonstrates the importance of a holistic approach to disease prevention and the maintenance of human, animal, and environmental health.
Cellular and physiological basis of toxicity of environmental chemicals, with emphasis on inhalation toxicology, developmental toxicology, immunotoxicology, radiation toxicology, renal toxicology, and neurotoxicology. Three lecture hours per week.
Required preparation, a previous or concurrent course in microbiology. Theory and practice of biological processes used to remove contaminants from environmental media, including water, wastewater, soil, and air.
Presentations by outside invited speakers, local faculty, advanced graduate students, and postdoctoral trainees. Topics will cover all areas of research in toxicology. One hour per week.
Students will select, critically review, and discuss current research papers for content, relevance, innovation, and clarity. Papers can be from any aspect of the environmental sciences. Two lecture hours per week, every other week.
The physical chemistry of the partitioning, exchange, and chemical transformation of organic contaminants in the water, air, and soil environments.
Required preparation, basic or general chemistry. Emphasis on acquiring laboratory skills and hands-on experience with instrumentation including chromatography and mass spectrometry; sample handling and preparation; quality assurance and control. Three lecture hours or one lecture hour and four laboratory hours per week.
This course provides an introduction to the field of computational toxicology and exposure science. Students will be equipped to understand databases and tools that can more efficiently evaluate chemical-biological and chemical-disease relationships. Students will be expected to use excel and R/Rstudio, and run script that is provided by the instructor as a gentle 'welcome' to the coding environment. The course is designed for students in public health, toxicology, exposure science, epidemiology, and related disciplines.
Required preparation, knowledge of basic human physiology and biochemistry helpful. Assessing health effects of air pollutants on normal and diseased human populations, including children. Physiology, cellular and molecular biology, immunology, genetics, dosimetry will be integrated. Three lecture hours per week.
ENVR/TOXC 707 and ENVR 470 are highly recommended. This course will provide students who already have good knowledge of the basic principles of toxicology and environmental health with real-life examples of how the information is integrated for the purpose of judging what chemical exposures may pose risk to human health.
A one-credit course designed to give new graduate students the tools to apply the Python programming language to their own research and work. The course covers introductory material including the variable types and data structures and progresses to more advanced capabilities, such as regression analysis and optimization. The course is heavily focused on bi-/weekly assignments meant to reinforce the lectures and highlights basic applications in environmental science. Companion course to ENVR 755.
Engineering control of air pollution control systems and discussion of air pollution regulation and standards. Spring. (Odd-numbered years.)
Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. Use of mathematical models to design and evaluate regional water supply and treatment systems. Engineering and economic methods are incorporated into quantitative analyses of regional scenarios. Social and political aspects also discussed. Three lecture hours per week.
Principles of disinfection, oxidation, coagulation, precipitation, sedimentation, filtration, adsorption, ion exchange, and membrane processes; applications to water and wastewater treatment. Three lecture hours per week.
The application of the theory of water and wastewater treatment to the design of municipal facilities. The course includes the principles of design and modern design practices. Design and analysis of design of specific works for water and wastewater treatment.
Permission of the instructor. Ad hoc project designed for a student team in addressing a current problem in environmental engineering. Projects may include laboratory or pilot-scale studies, collection and analysis of data from full-scale systems, or comprehensive analysis of relevant problems in environmental engineering practice. Three lecture hours per week.
Continuum mechanical approach to formulating mass, momentum, energy, and entropy equations to describe multiphase transport phenomena. Three lecture hours per week.
Quantitative assessment of how uncertainty in mechanistic models (subsurface, ocean, atmosphere, global climate), parameters, and auxiliary conditions of a model is manifest in uncertainty in model predictions. Topics include: model formulations, statistical tools, Monte Carlo methods, moment methods, estimation methods, statistical simulation methods, reduced order models, and data assimilation approaches.
Single, multistep methods for ODEs: stability regions, the root condition; stiff systems, backward difference formulas; two-point BVPs; stability theory; finite difference methods for linear advection diffusion equations.
Elliptic equation methods (finite differences, elements, integral equations); hyperbolic conservation law methods (Lax-Fiedrich, characteristics, entropy condition, shock tracking/capturing); spectral, pseudo-spectral methods; particle methods, fast summation, fast multipole/vortex methods.
Nondimensionalization and identification of leading order physical effects with respect to relevant scales and phenomena; derivation of classical models of fluid mechanics (lubrication, slender filament, thin films, Stokes flow); derivation of weakly nonlinear envelope equations. Fall.
Current models in science and technology: topics ranging from material science applications (e.g., flow of polymers and LCPs); geophysical applications (e.g., ocean circulation, quasi-geostrophic models, atmospheric vortices).
Theory and MATLAB numerical implementation of linear geostatistics (simple/ordinary/universal kriging) and modern geostatistics (Bayesian Maximum Entropy) to map environmental and health processes varying across space and time. Applications in exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, medical geography, and risk assessment.
Required preparation, statistics. A holistic/stochastic perspective, spatiotemporal random field modeling of environmental exposure and biological variabilities. Uncertainty in environmental exposure. Biomarkers and population damage indicators for epidemiological analysis. Cell-based stochastic differential equations. Three lecture hours per week.
Mathematical methods for development of advanced models in environmental risk assessment, including exposure assessment and exposure-response assessment, are developed and applied. Three lecture hours per week.
Required preparation, fluid mechanics. Permission of the instructor. Applications of finite element and vortex methods for modeling air flows of significance in industrial hygiene applications. Three lecture hours per week.
SAS regression and statistics, two ENVR courses (e.g. 430, 470, 707, 740, 770, 890), or permission of the instructor. Mathematical approaches for assessing environmental and/or occupational exposures to chemicals in human populations using stochastic (group) statistics, regression analysis and modeling, and pharmacokinetic modeling; focus on human biomarker data.
This course provides both practical and theoretical information on biological monitoring of chemical exposures and how to evaluate and interpret exposure data. Three lecture hours per week and a term paper (three credit hours).
This course is intended for students interested in research involving exposure to environmental contaminants. The course focuses on the integration of engineering principles, with statistical tools to enhance inference. Statistical models based on the Johnson system of distributions are explored for the analysis data including exposure-biomarker relationships.
Air pollution is formed through thousands of chemical reactions. Computer models are used to simulate this complex chemistry and used to make policy. Current computational restraints force a simplified representation of atmospheric chemistry in these models, and the focus of this course is the implications of this on predictions.
This class addresses the complexity and importance of global climate change from several disciplines. A top expert will lecture each week, addressing these themes: the science of human influences on climate; impacts and adaptation; global energy and technology; communication; and economics and international solutions.
This course gives students practice organizing a scientific presentation and speaking in front of an audience and promoting interdisciplinary interaction. Students will research topics and organize presentations for faculty and other students. The topics may be any aspect of air quality and atmospheric sciences.
This course helps students learn and apply principles of water supply sewerage and drainage planning and design, work collaboratively on real-world problems with insufficient data, and present technical findings in a clear and convincing way.
Water resources planning and management. Federal and state water resources policies. Analytical skills to identify environmental problems associated with urban water resources development.
Continuation of ENVR 791. Role components of occupational health nursing with emphasis on designing, implementing, and evaluating occupational health programs. Emphasis on analysis of factors influencing the delivery of health care at the worksite.
This course is intended to develop a student's ability to estimate the relative merits of research and policy actions in several broad environmental areas, with attention to the associated uncertainty. Criteria to be included are both quantitative and qualitative, with an emphasis on public health, environmental, and economic metrics.
In this course, students will learn from community residents who challenge public health scientists to conduct research on environmental and occupational hazards that impact their health.
Basic theory, process, and techniques of public investment planning and decision making, involving synthesis of economic, political, and technologic aspects. Theory underlying benefit-cost analysis, adaptation to a descriptive and normative model for planning public projects and programs.
Planning and analysis of regional environmental system with a focus on management of mass flows that affect the quality of the regional environment.
How can governments, communities, organizations, and businesses fund environmental services? This applied course reviews the diverse tools and strategies that environmental service providers use to pay for programs. The course will focus on environmental services related to: drinking Water, wastewater, storm-water, watershed protection, energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainability, and wetlands.
As society's exposure to environmental risks grows, it has become increasingly important to find innovative tools for mitigating these risks. This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of financial risk management within an environmental context, with an emphasis on developing coupled environmental-financial systems models.
Course offers theoretical foundations in cultural sensitivity, personal security, communication, organization and research along with guided practical exercises in conducting international field research. The result is the development of cross-cultural and applied research skills that prepare the student to conduct successful field research.
Occupational Health Nursing I: Occupational Health Assessment.
A two-credit, fall course open to graduate students with a complete data set with results to communicate to other scientists as a scientific paper or manuscript submission to peer-reviewed journals on an aspect of water and health. Undergraduate honors students admissible at discretion of the instructor.
This course prepares students to contribute as members of an interdisciplinary team to protect and promote workers' health. Students will learn that work is a social determinant of health and explore the context in which worker health protection/promotion practitioners work. Students will be able to summarize key regulations and policies that impact work and worker health.
Provides broad understanding of industrial hygiene. Major emphasis is recognition of hazards in the workplace, evaluation of measurement of those hazards, and application of control strategies. The course will focus on introductory level industrial hygiene concepts associated with the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation of control of occupational health hazards.
Required preparation, calculus. Applications of systems analysis techniques to the management of environmental quality.
For students who wish to undertake individual or special topics study of a specific problem in environmental sciences and engineering. The subject and requirements of the project are arranged with the faculty in each individual instance. One or more hours per week. Permission of the department.
A practical experience in public health/environmental health sciences.
This course will focus on practical solutions to public health related disasters where students extend, critique, and apply knowledge gained in the classroom. This experience-based course will have flexibility to allow for substantive contributions from students of all backgrounds enrolled in the Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Students in ENVR 990 will work in concert with their advisor to identify and define an engineering problem, describe a solution to the problem, and develop a plan for implementation. These briefs serve as a foundation for the student's master's technical report.
Consultation with the faculty and approval of subject and proposed program required. Permission of the instructor. May be repeated. Hours and credits to be arranged.
The technical report requirement for M.S.P.H., M.P.H., and M.S.E.E. candidates is satisfied by the extensive study of a problem in environmental sciences and engineering.
ESE Course Competencies Mapped
Each degree in our department is mapped to five degree-specific competencies that are taught and assessed in specific courses or other learning opportunities. Learn more
Resources for Current ESE Students
Current Environmental Sciences and Engineering (ESE) students can find department resources here.
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering is a terminal degree intended for students with a strong background in the sciences or engineering who are interested in careers in basic and applied research, education, advanced practice, and management in the field of environmental sciences and engineering.
Master of Science (M.S.)
The Master of Science (M.S.) in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering prepares students who are interested in advanced education or careers in research, practice or management in the field of environmental sciences and engineering. Students perform research leading to a thesis and published work.
Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (M.S.E.E.)
The Master of Science in environmental engineering (M.S.E.E.) in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering is a one- or two-year program that gives students the vital skills and training needed to solve 21st-century environmental engineering and public health challenges.
Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.)
The Master of Science in public health (M.S.P.H.) in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering prepares students for careers in practice, advanced education, research or management in public health, with an emphasis in environmental health, sciences, and engineering.
Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) Environment, Climate, and Health Concentration
The environments in which we live, work, and play invariably affect public health. In fact, environmental exposures — most of which can be prevented — account for nearly one quarter of all diseases worldwide. The Environment, Climate and Health concentration is designed to equip future public health professionals with the skills and know-how to predict and identify environmental problems and mitigate their impacts on human health.
UNC undergrads apply to the M.P.H.– Environment, Climate, and Health concentration using a separate process:
- Current UNC seniors wishing to apply for an M.P.H. with an Environment, Climate and Health Concentration should submit a formal application to the program using this Graduate School link.
- Current UNC juniors should use this pre-admission application link.
- Details about ESE’s Accelerated bachelor's-to-master's programs can be found on the department's website.
Degree Requirements
Requirements for the M.P.H. degree in the Environment, Climate and Health concentration.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
M.P.H. Integrated Core | ||
SPHG 711 | Data Analysis for Public Health Fall 1 | 2 |
SPHG 712 | Methods and Measures for Public Health Practice Fall 1 | 2 |
SPHG 713 | Systems Approaches to Understanding Public Health Issues Fall 1 | 2 |
SPHG 701 | Leading from the Inside-Out Spring 1 | 2 |
SPHG 721 | Public Health Solutions: Systems, Policy and Advocacy Spring 1 | 2 |
SPHG 722 | Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Public Health Solutions (MPH Comprehensive Exam administered in class) Spring 1 | 4 |
M.P.H. Practicum | ||
SPHG 703 | MPH Pre-Practicum Assignments Spring 1 | 0.5 |
SPHG 705 | MPH Practicum (200 minimum hours) Summer 1 | 0 |
SPHG 707 | MPH Post-Practicum Assignments Fall 2 | 0.5 |
M.P.H. Concentration | ||
ENVR 430 | Health Effects of Environmental Agents Fall 1 | 3 |
ENVR 500 | Environmental Processes, Exposure, and Risk Assessment Fall 1 | 3 |
ENVR 580 | Policy Design for Environment, Climate, and Health Spring 1 | 3 |
ENVR 775 | Global Climate Change: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Spring 2 | 1 |
Graduate-level ENVR "Selective" course in air, soil, water, etc. | 3 | |
Graduate-level ENVR "Selective" course in air, soil, water, etc. | 3 | |
M.P.H. Electives | ||
Elective (Graduate-level courses, 400+ level at Gillings, 500+ level at UNC) | 3 | |
Elective (Graduate-level courses, 400+ level at Gillings, 500+ level at UNC) | 3 | |
Elective (Graduate-level courses, 400+ level at Gillings, 500+ level at UNC) | 3 | |
M.P.H. Culminating Experience | ||
ENVR 992 | Master's Technical Report Spring 2 | 3 |
Total Hours | 43 |
Competencies
Students will develop the following Environment, Climate and Health competencies, building on the foundational public health knowledge they attain in the Gillings M.P.H. Integrated Core courses.
EHS01. | Weigh the scientific basis of hazard identification, exposure and health risk assessment to support management of environment, climate and health |
EHS02. | Evaluate the causal relationships linking sources of environmental contaminants through processes that affect movement, transformations, exposure pathways, effects and vulnerabilities and use these relationships to inform actions for public health and health equity. |
EHS03. | Describe and critically evaluate the rational for and approaches used to measure and model properties of environmental/human systems. |
EHS04. | Evaluate effective actions or interventions that improve environment and climate-related outcomes and be able to compare the design of policy options to achieve those outcomes. |
EHS05. | Examine and critique the ethical and legal dimensions of environment, climate and health-related actions on individuals and communities |
Admissions
Please visit Applying to the Gillings School first for details and information. Application to the residential M.P.H. is a two-step process. Please apply separately to (1) SOPHAS and (2) UNC–Chapel Hill (via the Graduate School application). Visit https://gradschool.sites.unc.edu/master-of-public-health/ for more details. If you are interested in the online M.P.H., please visit the MPH@UNC website and fill out an inquiry form.
Milestones
The following list of milestones (non-course degree requirements) must be completed; view this list of standard milestone definitions for more information.
Practicum
Prior to beginning a practicum, students must: 1) have final grades in SPHG 711, SPHG 712, SPHG 713, SPHG 701, SPHG 721, SPHG 722 and SPHG 703 and 2) receive approval from the practicum team to begin their practicum hours.
To satisfy degree requirements, a Gillings M.P.H. practicum must:
- Be an applied public health practice experience that addresses a health issue from a community or population (not individual) perspective.
- Take place in a professional public health setting such as a health department, nonprofit organization, hospital or for-profit firm. To be appropriate for a practicum, University-affiliated settings must be primarily focused on community engagement, typically with external partners. University health promotion or wellness centers may also be appropriate. Faculty-supervised lab settings are not appropriate for the practicum.
- Allow for the application of graduate-level public health skills.
- Yield at least two student-generated, practical, non-academic work products (e.g., project plans, grant proposals, training manuals or lesson plans, surveys, memos, videos, podcasts, presentations, spreadsheets, websites, photos with accompanying explanatory text, or other digital artifacts of learning), produced for the practicum site’s use and benefit, that demonstrate attainment of five CEPH M.P.H. Foundational Competencies.
- Be mentored by a supervisor (preceptor) with public health expertise and experience to guide the practicum work. (See “Preceptor Requirements” below.)
- Take place in a location approved for student travel (UNC Travel Policy), and the student must complete UNC Gillings International Pre-Departure Travel Requirements prior to travel if applicable.
- Comprise a minimum of 200 hours (equivalent to five weeks of full-time work).
Comprehensive Exam (Master's Written Exam)
A milestone degree requirement for all graduate students at UNC–Chapel Hill, including M.P.H. students at the Gillings School of Public Health, is the comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam will cover the public health foundational knowledge and competencies covered in the M.P.H. Core courses: SPHG 711, 712, 713, 721, 722. Students will have an opportunity to demonstrate synthesis and higher order learning of the 22 core competencies achieved in the M.P.H. Core courses during the exam. The written exam will be administered in SPHG 722 and graded by Gillings faculty. Clear instructions on how to prepare for and complete the comprehensive exam will be provided. Should students not successfully pass the comprehensive exam a remediation plan will be developed. Students cannot retake the comprehensive exam for 90 days after the initial exam and must be registered in at least one credit while taking the comprehensive exam.
Culminating Experience (Thesis Substitute)
M.P.H. students must have permanent grades in all M.P.H. Core or concentration courses before taking the culminating experience (992) course. An Incomplete in any M.P.H. Core or concentration course will prevent a student from beginning the culminating experience (992) course. Each student completes a 3-credit culminating experience and produces a high-quality written product that is completed in the last term of the program of study. The high-quality written product demonstrates a synthesis of two foundational and two concentration-specific competencies appropriate to the student’s educational and professional goals. This culminating experience ideally is delivered in a manner that is useful to external stakeholders, such as nonprofit or governmental organizations, and could take the form of a course-based capstone project or master’s paper but will be tailored to the concentration a student chooses.
Academic Advising and Faculty Mentoring
We are committed to providing quality academic advising and mentoring for all students. We ensure that M.P.H. students get the guidance they need with several components: 1) an orientation program that provides an overview of the types and sources of M.P.H. advising; 2) cohort advising sessions in year 1 to disseminate information that is relevant to course planning and registration (one-on-one advising is available to students at any point). One-on-one advising in year two as students prepare for graduation; 3) faculty mentoring that provides students with tailored support for their academic, professional, personal development, and practicum support.
M.P.H. students will complete a 14-credit-hour Integrated Core taught by an interdisciplinary team of instructors. The 6-credit first semester focuses on understanding public health issues, and the second semester, 8-credit focuses on creating solutions to those issues.
All M.P.H. students complete COMPASS (Core Online Modules to Promote and Accelerate Student Success). These self-paced online modules are open for students prior to their first academic year. Students can complete any and all parts of COMPASS up to and including the first week of class.
Electives
Students in the M.P.H. program are required to take 9 credits of elective coursework. Students are expected to use their electives in a thoughtful way to strengthen their public health knowledge/skills and are encouraged to consult with their academic coordinator early prior to the registration period for this purpose. In addition to those courses offered in the Gillings School there are many appropriate electives elsewhere in the University.
For information on policies and procedures, please visit the Gillings School Student Handbook website.
Residency Requirements
Exit Survey
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Chair
Barbara J. Turpin