Accreditation and Assessment

Objectives

The primary program objective of the Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences program is to bring students to an understanding of the basic processes involved in weather and to understand the major components of the earth-biosphere-atmosphere system and their interactions. These include:

• Solar and terrestrial radiation
• Laws of fluid motion and thermodynamics as applied to the atmosphere, physical, chemical, and radiative processes in clouds
• Global ecological and bio-Geo-chemical cycles
• Atmosphere- land- surface interactions

A sub-objective is to educate students in the acquisition and interpretation of data, including:

• Conventional weather data, satellite data, and radar data
• Observations collected by specially- instrumented platforms such as aircraft, towers located above various terrestrial ecosystems, and tethered balloon systems
• To train students how to evaluate and analyze and visualize such data using various types of data- processing and display equipment

Graduate students are expected to carry out original research in the atmospheric and environmental sciences and participate in disseminating their results at conferences and though the scientific publication process. These program outcomes are:

• The educational experience of our students is broadened with 24 or more hours of graduate- level coursework in diverse areas of the atmospheric and earth system sciences as well as related fields.
• Students contribute to the expansion of knowledge through basic research and scholarship as they serve as graduate research assistants to faculty on research projects funded by various local, state, and federal agencies. All students prepare these describing the results of their efforts. Almost all these lead to conference presentations by the students themselves or by their faculty supervisor. Roughly half of these serve as the basis for formal publications in the refereed literature.
• Students completing the program are prepared for employment in research and operational activities in private industry, government, and academic settings.
• Faculty expertise is applied to regional and global needs in atmospheric research with support from external research grants. Faculty perform state- of- the- art research in satellite remote sensing, meteorological radar analysis, numerical modeling of cloud and mesoscale processes, analysis of field data from diverse combinations of platforms, and complex interactions between components of the earth system.

Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Graduate Program Objectives

Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Graduate Program Outcomes

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Program Objectives

The goal of the Civil Engineering program is to produce graduates with capabilities to:

1. Engage in the professional practice of civil engineering and environmental engineering,
   
2. Actively participate in professional and/or civic organizations,
3. Pursue opportunities to assume leadership roles in their professional and/or service activities, and
4. Seek to continue their educations through advanced studies in civil or environmental engineering or a related professional discipline, continuing education and/or professional development activities.

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Program Outcomes

Program outcomes as stated here define what students are expected to know or be able to do by graduation.  The civil engineering program has adopted the program outcomes established by ABET, through its Criterion 3.  Achieving these outcomes establishes the foundation for achieving program objectives.  Students completing the Civil Engineering program will be able to demonstrate:

1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics,
2. An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors,
3. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences,
4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts,
5. An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives,
6. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions,
7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Civil Engineering Graduate Program Objectives

The objective of the Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate program is to develop a student’s knowledge and expertise in support of their becoming a leader in their area of specialization.

Civil Engineering Graduate Program Outcomes

The American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Body of Knowledge (BOK2) document released in 2009 [1] outlines 24 different student learning outcomes to be achieved at varying levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (i.e. L1-knowledge, L2-Comprehension, L3-Application, L4-Analysis, L5-Synthesis, and L6-Evaluation) for civil engineers of the future. Although all of the outcomes are achieved at some level through the BS degree, three of the outcomes are expected to be attained at a higher achievement level through additional coursework (i.e. MS or PhD degrees). These outcomes include analysis level achievement in problem recognition and solving, synthesis level achievement in the student’s area of technical specialization, and synthesis level achievement in selection of experiments and interpreting experimental results. Using the BOK outcomes as the standard, students graduating from the CENE graduate program are expected to achieve the following outcomes.

1. An ability to select and apply appropriate techniques and tools to recognize and solve engineering problems within the student’s area of technical specialization.
2. An ability to analyze and design complex systems or processes within the student’s area of technical specialization.
3. An ability to identify appropriate experiments and analyze and interpret results to arrive at reasonable conclusions.
4. An ability to effectively communicate technical information (orally and written).