Accreditation and Assessment
The Environmental Engineering BS program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Environmental Engineering and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.
The Department follows a formal procedure to develop curriculum and assess its program to ensure students are prepared to become leaders and have successful careers. We collect feedback from constituents (alumni and industry professionals) in order to identify career objectives appropriate for an environmental engineer within a few years of graduation. We also survey and assess students at various points in the BS program to ensure they are acquiring the skills and knowledge associated with the defined career objectives. The program is based on what our students know and can do, not on what is covered in class. The Department is devoted to continuous improvement.
Assessment Process
The Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering has developed formal procedures for self-evaluation and continuous improvement designed to sustain a environmental engineering education of increasing high quality and meet the accreditation requirements of ABET. Key components of this program include:
- Definition of the constituents served by the environmental engineering program
- Establishment of program educational objectives with our constituents
- Establishment of student outcomes, in conjunction with ABET
- An ongoing program of assessment that measures the degree to which the student outcomes are being met
- An ongoing program of evaluation to improve the environmental engineering program in response to feedback from the assessment process
The constituencies of the environmental engineering program include:
- Students
- Program alumni
- Employers of environmental engineering interns and graduates
- CSEE Department faculty
Program educational objectives (PEOs) are broad statements that describe the expected accomplishments of graduates within a few years after graduation. The overall objective of the environmental engineering program is that graduates will apply broad technical skills to develop solutions that protect the health, safety, and quality of life of the public. Specific PEOs are that graduates will:
- Serve Ethically with recognition of the diverse needs of society and the profession
- Become leaders in their profession
- Understand and advance the mission of their employer
- Continue their professional development, including professional lisencure, continuing education, and/or graduate study
Student outcomes descrinbe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. They relate to the knowledge, skills and behaviors students acquire as they progress through the program.
Formal assessment activities were initiated in 2001 with the first exit survey of environmental engineering seniors. End-of-semester surveys and the senior exit survey were a component of the department's self-assessment. Since 2002, assessment efforts have been expanded to include examination of student work to determine if student outcomes are being achieved. The effort also includes a comprehensive examination of student experiences in co-ops and performance data from the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. In 2012, a new process was adopted for assessment of student work using performance indicators and grading rubrics.
Program educational objectives, which are developed with the assistance of a target group of employers and other constituents, are assessed through surveying of our alumni and their employers.
In response to the feedback received from the assessment program, the department is engaged in an ongoing program of self-improvement.