Environmental Engineering

(Climate and Environmental Systems)

Climate systems and environmental processes necessitate that environmental engineering today transcend the classical approach of pollution control and local environmental monitoring, transforming into a holistic engineering field that considers both natural and human-induced systems. Climate change, water and food security, ecosystem degradation, extreme weather events, and increasing disaster risks require the modeling, analysis, and engineering-based management of environmental processes not only at the local level but also at regional and global levels. In this context, environmental engineering is evolving into a systems-based engineering discipline encompassing the interaction between physical, chemical, and biological processes, as well as climate systems, human activities, and infrastructure.

In the US, climate and environmental systems research programs supported by NOAA and NSF, and in Europe, the Copernicus Climate Service, Horizon Europe missions, and environmental monitoring, modeling, and decision support infrastructures developed within the framework of the Green Deal, clearly demonstrate the restructuring of environmental engineering along the axis of climate and environmental systems. In line with this global transformation, the Environmental Engineering program aims to provide engineering competencies that will enable the measurement, modeling, prediction, and integrated management of environmental processes within an interdisciplinary and systems-oriented framework.

Within the scope of the program, climate systems, water and energy cycles, ecosystem dynamics, and environmental risks are addressed not only at a descriptive level but also in conjunction with numerical modeling, data analysis, simulation, and decision support systems. Environmental systems are considered from an engineering perspective as complex, multi-component, and uncertain systems, and solution approaches are developed to increase the resilience and functionality of these systems. In the program, the concept of sustainability is addressed not as a normative or purely policy-based framework, but within the context of engineering principles integrated into the design, planning, operation, and improvement processes of environmental systems.