Curriculum for the Concentration in Sustainability and Energy

This Concentration is only available to students majoring in Chemical Engineering at UMass Amherst. The concentration is set up to fit within the requirements of the major. Typically, students pursuing the Concentration in Sustainability & Energy in Chemical Engineering from the beginning of their studies do not need to take additional credits beyond those required for the Chemical Engineering BS degree. Completing the concentration requires a specific subset of elective courses that will also fulfill the advanced Chemistry and Engineering elective requirements for the Chemical Engineering BS degree. 

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Anna Marie LaChance, the faculty advisor for the Concentration (alachance [at] umass [dot] edu (alachance[at]umass[dot]edu)), or the Undergraduate Advising Office in Chemical Engineering.

Curriculum:

Students must take a total of 15 credits as outlined below to fulfill the Concentration. 
 

ChE 518: Green Chemical Engineering (3 credits) is required. The course is currently offered in the Fall 
semester and it is recommended to take during your Junior year to prepare you for the proceeding courses. 
An additional 12 credits of advanced sustainability-related coursework are required. Pre-approved 
electives are below. A minimum of 6 credits must be from Engineering courses with a course number of
200 or higher to satisfy the Chemical Engineering B.S. requirement for Tech Electives. Additional courses 
may be used to meet this requirement with approval from the Concentration advisor.


Pre-Approved Engineering Tech Electives (minimum 6 credits must be from this list) 

  • ChE 551: Carbon Capture & Utilization (3 credits)
  • ChE 583: Polymer Processing & Sustainability (3 credits)
  • ChE 590STC: Atomistic Simulations for Heterogeneous Catalysis (3 credits)
  • ChE 562: Electrochemical and Electronic Materials and Devices (3 credits)
  • ChE 555: Concepts in Energy Conversion
  • MIE 386H: Climate and Energy Justice: Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (3 credits)
  • MIE 570: Solar & Direct Energy Conversion1 (3 credits)
  • MIE 573: Engineering Windpower Systems1 (3 credits)
  • CEE 370: Introduction to Environmental and Water Resources Engineering * (3 credits)
  • CEE 462: Water Resources Engineering and Sustainability * (3 credits)
  • CEE 469: Water Supply and Wastewater Collection  *  (3 credits)
  • (UMass Lowell through ICX) ENGY.4310: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering **
     

Other Pre-Approved Electives *

  • CHEM 780: Electrochemistry (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 315: Principles of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry *** **** (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 319: Environmental Geochemistry *** (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 333: Environmental Poisons (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 364: Environmental Soil Science (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 515: Microbiology of Soil  *** ****  (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 575: Environmental Soil Chemistry *** (3 credits)
  • ENVIRSCI 587: Phyto/Bioremediation (3 credits)
  • GEO-SCI 519: Aqueous Environmental Geochemistry *** (4 credits)
  • GEO-SCI 587: Hydrogeology (3 credits)
  • GEOGRAPH 354: Climate Dynamics **** (3 credits)
  • NRC 309: Natural Resource Policy & Administration (3 credits)
  • NRC 561: Analytical Methods for Energy & Climate Policy (3 credits)
  • NRC 562: Clean Energy and Climate Policy in Massachusetts (3 credits) 
  • PSE 501: Intro to Polymer Science & Engineering *** **** (3 credits) 
  • ICONS 389: Team-Oriented Lab Discovery in Renewable Energy ******, ******* (4 credits)

Independent Study or Thesis

With approval ******* up to 3 credits may be fulfilled with an independent study or thesis in a relevant 
research area. Approval of the research topic by the Concentration faculty advisor is required.

  • ChE 296, 396, 496: Independent Study in Sustainability Topics
  • ChE 296ISH, 396ISH, 496ISH: Honors Independent Study in Sustainability Topics
  • ChE 499Y, 499T: Honors Senior Thesis in Sustainability Topics 

Notes:

 *. Note that these courses have other prerequisites and may require instructor approval to enroll. MIE 570 requires MIE 354 (Heat Transfer), MIE 573 requires MIE 340 (Fluid Mechanics I), and CEE 462 & ChE 469 require CEE 357 (Fluid Mechanics). They will accept Chemical Engineering’s Fluid Mechanics and Heat  Transfer courses, ChE 330 & ChE 333, respectively, but course enrollment will need to be approved on a student-by-student basis. Additionally, there are many CEE courses not on this list that will be approved for use in the Concentration by the Concentration faculty advisor on a case-by-case basis and will require instructor approval to enroll. Courses in ENVIRSCI, GEO-SCI, GEOGRAPHY, and NRC require approval from the course instructor to enroll. 

** Students may pursue the Nuclear Engineering Concentration separately from the Sustainability & Energy Concentration; however, this is the only course that can count towards both Concentrations. 

*** Course will be accepted towards the Advanced Chemistry Elective for the Chemical Engineering B.S. degree requirement. 

**** Organic Chemistry is a prerequisite for this course.

***** GEOGRAPH 110 (Intro to Climate Science) is a prerequisite for this course.

****** Other iCons courses may be accepted with Concentration faculty advisor approval. For more information about iCons program requirements, visit the iCons website. 

******* Students may only use one independent study or one iCons course towards the Concentration.