Careers in environmental engineering.

Environmental engineers are hot. Take a look at the Sunday "help wanted" ads in any major newspaper and you will see a long list of ads for environmental engineers at consulting firms, manufacturers, and government agencies. Recruiters serving the environmental industry report a steady need for talented environmental engineers, even in today's climate of cutbacks, restructuring and general wariness. U.S. News and World Report confirmed this demand when it selected environmental engineering as one of the twenty "hot jobs" in the nation (October 22, 1993).

"Engineers with an environmental focus are at the top of our recruitment agenda," says John R. Cook, Jr., president and founder of The Environmental Careers Organization.

The field of environmental engineering is both easy and difficult to define. It includes not only those who graduate with a degree specifically called "environmental" engineering (offered by 62 undergraduate institutions), but also many graduates of civil engineering departments (over 200 institutions) and a large number of chemical, process, mechanical, transportation, and electrical engineers as well. A working definition of environmental engineers may simply be "engineers who are creating environmental solutions."

Odom Fanning, for instance, author of Opportunities in Environmental Careers (VGM, 1991) points out that the environmental engineer is responsible for "providing engineering leadership to programs of hazardous waste control, noise abatement, public safety, resource conservation, toxic substances control, regional planning and land use, and literally hundreds of others." These duties, Fanning points out, are in addition to traditional environmental engineering duties such as the construction of wastewater treatment plants and sanitary engineering tasks.

"Engineering careers in environmental protection are wonderfully diverse. That's one of the most exciting things about them," says Mariella Puerto, director of the Diversity Initiatives at the Environmental Careers Organization.

"I think the secret is out about environmental engineering," says Puerto. "There has been a steady increase in the number of people of color pursuing this direction over the last few years. We still have a long way to go, however."

The growth of the environmental engineering field is part of the overall growth in environmental careers, a field which includes not only engineers and scientists, but a wide variety of social sciences, arts, and humanities professionals, as well. According to Environmental Business International (EBI), a San Diego research and publishing firm, the environmental industry is expected to grow at nearly six percent per year during the next five years. However, other observers believe this figure to be conservative.

Over the last eight years, the environmental industry has gone on a roller coaster ride that included a spectacular 16 percent per year growth from 1986-88, a 14 percent increase in 1989, 10 percent in 1990, and slower growth in the early 1990s. Companies in environmental areas such as "environmental energy sources," air pollution control, environmental consulting, hazardous waste management, and "resource recovery" are leading the way in an industry that generated over $150 billion in revenues last year.

As rapid as the growth of the private sector "environmental industry" has been, it has been matched by a significant increase in local, state, and federal government employment. The combined impact of government and private spending has created a collection of environmental programs that employ as many as 2,000,000 Americans and will involve expenditures of over a trillion dollars by the end of the century. In both the private and public sectors, the creation of new and expanded environmental initiatives has meant an increase in the demand for environmental engineers.

The U.S. Department of Energy alone expects to spend $40 billion on environmental problems from 1993 to 1997 and has predicted serious concerns about where the thousands of environmental engineers the effort we'll need will come from.

The academic world has not kept pace with this demand. A 1991 story in The Wall Street Journal noted that current university programs were producing only one-third of the graduates needed to fill as many as 5,000 environmental engineering openings every year and that engineering degree programs weren't likely to meet demand for another six years. The need for more engineers was so great that one company went so far as distributing coloring books for grade school students to inspire environmental (environmental engineering) interest at a young age.

In 1994, the situation is somewhat improved. Many colleges have added environmental engineering majors and expanded environmental course-work throughout the engineering curriculum. The economic recession slowed hiring. Nonetheless, the ratio of environmental engineers to the demand for them is still very much in favor of the engineers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which anticipates a rise in total civil engineering employment of 1119 percent per year through the year 2000, much of it attributable to environmental expenditures. In fact, bidding wars for the 30,000 - 50,000 environmental engineers in the United States are a regular feature of the environmental landscape.

Aleta Byers is one student who hopes to ride the wave. Aleta is in her senior year in the chemical engineering program at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). One of two African-American women in the program, she became interested in environmental issues through summer engineering internships at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

"The internships went very well and helped me understand how chemical engineers could help the environment. I worked on hazardous waste remediation projects and investigated case studies such as the disaster at Love Canal," Aleta said.

Her coursework and successes with the DEC led to her selection as one of 100 student trainees at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the "Diversity Initiative Associate Program," a three-year-old project of The Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) that provides well-paid training jobs to students of color.

"At the EPA in Washington, I studied solutions to special wastes problems facing our nation. We investigated mining wastes, oil and gas wastes, and other problems with special technical solutions," she said. "I found that my chemical engineering background prepared me very well to work on environmental issues."

Aleta's story is encouraging to Mariella Puerto, national director of ECO's Diversity Initiative, who says that, "African Americans and other people of color are still dramatically underrepresented in the environmental professions." Puerto is particularly cheered by the fact that Aleta was already pointing toward a career in science and technology by the time she was in middle school. According to Puerto, the need for better environmental and science education in the early years is crucial for people of color if the "green" professions are to become more diversified.

Increasing diversity among environmental engineers is one of the challenges taken up by Dr. Jim Johnson, chairman of the civil engineering department at Howard University and Dr. Kofi Bota, director of external research at Clark Atlanta University.

Howard and Clark Atlanta are two of 15 Historically Black Colleges and Universities that have joined with the federal government, private industry, and colleges from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to form the HBCU/MI Environmental Technology Consortium. With primary funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Consortium is expanding research projects, class offerings, internships and faculty training in environmental science and technology. CH2M Hill, is a major private sector sponsor of the initiative. (Other institutions in the Consortium include Alabama A&M University, Florida A&M, Florida International, Hampton, Jackson State, New Mexico Highlands, North Carolina A&T, Northern Arizona, Prairie View A&M, Southern University, Texas A&I, Texas Southern, Tuskegee, University of Texas at El Paso, and Xavier of Louisiana).

The Consortium is also responding to a growth in student interest. According to ECO's Cook, environmental engineering is among the most popular specialties for new civil engineers at the colleges above and throughout the nation. "Students see that environmental careers are a great way to combine a well-paying job, fascinating work and a social conscience," Cook said. "That's a pretty unbeatable career combination."

Just how well can environmental engineers do financially? Graduates with bachelor's degrees from respected environmental engineering programs like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York routinely receive offers around $40,000 to start. Other departments report numbers from the low to high $30,000s. Pay tends to rise rapidly with good work, and many environmental engineers are earning over $60,000 after a few years.

Entry-level engineers at government agencies are likely to begin by reviewing permit requests and providing technical support to regulatory efforts in air, water, soil, and hazardous waste programs. Because much of the government's work is performed by private consulting and engineering firms, government engineers often are employed in developing and managing contract workers. Engineers also play a key role in developing environmental regulations, policies, and clean-up plans.

Richard Barber is one such person. As the program manager for Waste-water Operations and Maintenance at the U.S. EPA's Office of Water in Washington, D.C., he works on a wide variety of water pollution issues. His BS in civil engineering from Temple and MS in environmental science from Rutgers, coupled with a wealth of life experience, has prepared him well for environmental work.

Barber encourages future environmental engineers to become involved in the field's primary professional associations. His own affiliations include membership in the Water Environmental Federation and the American Society of Civil Engineers. By working with (or starting up!) a student chapter while still in school, aspiring engineers can meet with a wide range of environmental leaders from throughout the community.

He also points out that environmental work does not stop when you leave the office. "Environmental engineers should be examples in their personal life. Don't pollute. Don't have a 'Do as I say, not as I do' philosophy. Environmental work is not just a job, it's a way of life," Barber points out.

Because environmental problems are increasingly acknowledged to be global concerns, Barber urges people to gain international understanding and experience. "Work with the Peace Corps or with the armed services can be a way to travel abroad and get a different perspective on environmental issues," he says.

In the private sector, environmental engineers who work directly for a regulated company are expected to understand and help the company comply with an unbelievably large alphabet soup of government regulations. Acronyms like RCRA, CERCLA, NEPA, FIFRA, CWA and CAA eventually become second nature. (No, I won't tell you what they stand for. Go look them up!). Environmental engineers develop complex programs for gathering samples, monitoring emissions, analyzing data, incorporating pollution control equipment, and developing creative engineering solutions for preventing pollution and reducing the use of toxic materials. Finally, they must achieve these goals in an environment that emphasizes cost-cutting and downsizing to enhance profitability.

Aaron Cobb is one manager who knows about these pressures. As a manager for the corporate environmental program at IBM Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut, Cobb is one of a relatively small number of African Americans in environmental management positions at America's largest corporations. He is responsible for pollution prevention and waste management, worldwide legislation and regulation, and hazardous and solid waste oversight.

"We are working on the cutting-edge of environmental technology at IBM," says Aaron. "How do we remain competitive in the global marketplace while still protecting the environment and staying well ahead of regulatory requirements? How can we prevent pollution instead of simply controlling emissions? These are some of the questions environmental engineers are facing today."

Cobb believes that environmental work at corporations is a good way to match values and livelihood needs. "This is exciting work that a person can feel good about," he says. "In a small way, we really are changing the world for the better." (IBM is one of several corporate sponsors of ECO's Diversity Initiative Associate Program).

Although government agencies and manufacturing firms are large employers of environmental engineers, positions at consulting firms offering services to both the public and private sectors offer opportunities to work on many of the most creative and cutting-edge projects. Starting salaries at major firms tend to be higher, as well.

Where is the environmental engineering world headed? Whether you work in government service (local, state, and federal), at a consulting firm or for a manufacturing company, you will find your environmental engineering career guided by some dominant themes that are changing the face of environmental work.

Chief among these is the trend toward pollution prevention as the best way to solve environmental problems. Common sense, government policy, cost considerations, and legal issues are all coming together to forge a consensus among environmentalists that it is far more effective to prevent pollution in the first place than it is to "control" it at the end of a water pipe or smokestack.

Engineers, especially process and chemical engineers, are at the cutting edge of this work. At companies like Xerox, Dow, DuPont, IBM, Ford, and others, innovative are finding ways to change basic methods of production or eliminate the use of toxic materials that were previously thought to be essential. Computer and copier manufacturers are developing machines pre-designed to be taken apart after their useful life so that the parts can be easily reused or recycled.

ECO President Cook notes that pollution prevention is just beginning to influence environmental engineering education and hiring, but predicts that those who can design prevention strategies and technical solutions will have the inside track for future jobs. "Why spend tens of millions to treat and dispose of waste products when you can actually make money by preventing pollution and improve our economy's competitiveness in the bargain?" he asks. "We are reaching the end of the old generation of environmental answers and starting something completely new. These will be exciting times to be an environmental engineer."

Role Model Profiles

Roy Wade

U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES) Vicksburg, Mississippi

Roy Wade is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Currently, he is pursuing an advanced degree in environmental engineering.

During his employment at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Wade's goals have been focused on research to develop treatment processes for contaminated groundwater, surface water, sediment, and soil on active military sites. He has served as a technical advisor for site characterization studies, providing expert knowledge to government agency and private sector managers.

In 1987, Wade was honored as the first recipient of the nationally acclaimed Black Engineer of the Year Award, in the category "the Most Promising Engineer."

Wade participates in educational outreach programs to local schools and advises students that "opportunity is usually overlooked because it is disguised as work."

He also cautions: "Our achievements are failures once we take our eyes off our goals."

Carl M. McGinnis

Senior Environmental Engineer Bechtel Corporation Norwalk, California

As senior environmental engineer and group supervisor, Carl McGinnis is responsible for providing support to a variety of projects currently being executed at Bechtel Corporation. Specifically he is conducting subsurface environmental evaluations, Remedial Investigations/Feasibility Studies for various projects. He also provides support to the manager of environmental services in evaluating and developing new business opportunities.

McGinnis received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Fresno State University in Fresno, California, in 1980. After graduation he worked for Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1982 he went to work for a major aerospace corporation, where he eventually became a senior project engineer. Carl was hired to work for Bechtel Corporation in their Los Angeles Regional Office in 1990, as a senior environmental engineer.

Advice to students on how to succeed:

1) Always have a plan as to what you want to do and where you want to go relative to career goals and objectives.

2) Develop verbal and written communication skills to the highest level.

3) Develop a reputation as a person who is flexible and can get the job done.

Karla Alvarez

Civil Engineer/Construction Coordinator Camp Dresser & McKee New York, New York

Karla Alvarez is working as designer and resident engineer during the design and construction phases of an expansion to an existing vapor extraction treatment facility in Setauket, New York. This work is part of the ongoing remediation of gasoline contamination in that area.

Alvarez obtained her BSCE and MSCE degrees in 1987 and 1989, respectively, at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Arts in New York City, New York. Currently, she is pursuing a diploma in Building Construction Management at New York University in New York City, New York.

Alvarez has spent the past five years with CDM developing work plans for remedial activities at hazardous waste sites; reviewing submittals and calculations for prefabricated metal, reinforced concrete and miscellaneous metal structures; developing contract documents and administrating contracts for various projects; designing pipeline extensions and supports; providing field inspection services on solid waste, water treatment and water supply projects; and coordinating remedial activities on several federal projects.

Advice to students on how to succeed:

1. After determining what you want out of your career and how far you want to go, keep focused on that goal when selecting which firms to interview with, which projects to work on, what continuing education courses to take, and which professional societies to join.

2. Always try to improve on your skills, keep up to date with the latest technological advancements within your field and pay attention to what other firms are doing.

Kevin Doyle is the National Director of Program Development for The Environmental Careers Organization (ECO).