Virginia Tech
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The B.S. in Environmental Policy and Planning (EPP) provides students the opportunity to study environmental problems and their solutions from an interdisciplinary perspective involving humanities, natural and social science, planning, and public policy. While rooted in scientific and technological fields, environmental problems and their solutions increasingly deal with public values, economics, law, policy, and planning. The EPP curriculum, while providing a broad liberal arts and natural and social science base, has a pre-professional slant involving analytical and communication skills and policy and planning methods to prepare students for employment and graduate study.

The Charles Edward Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers an undergraduate program that facilitates development of critical analytical abilities and the necessary core of knowledge and skills for entry into the civil engineering profession or graduate studies. This body of knowledge includes the scientific procedures for formulating and testing theories and the procedures for applying theory to enhance welfare through engineering analysis, synthesis, and design. The civil engineer plays a key role in the design, construction, maintenance, and management of society's physical infrastructure, including transportation and communication systems, structural facilities for housing human activities, water resource management systems, natural resource development systems, and facilities and programs for environmental protection. The Bachelor of Science program in Civil Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org. Emphasis in civil engineering education is on fundamental principles of science and mathematics and their application to solving human problems. Civil engineering activities interact in many ways with the natural and social environments within which they take place. Accordingly, the civil engineering program strives to create an awareness of the ecological, social, economic, and political context of engineering and attempts to prepare the civil engineer for the necessary interactions with other professions and the public. An effort to instill an understanding of the role of the civil engineer in satisfying total societal needs is an integral part of the civil engineering program. Consistent with the general program goal of facilitating development of student competence necessary for entry into engineering practice or graduate school, the Department has developed the following program objectives: Within a few years of program completion, graduates of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department should be able to combine skills gained through academic preparation and post-graduation experience so that they can: Exhibit technical competence through application of engineering knowledge, problem-solving skills, and modern tools from multiple areas of civil engineering practice in the analysis, evaluation, design, and construction of civil engineering systems and system components. Apply skills of effective communication, teamwork, leadership, and professional and ethical behavior as complements to technical competence. Incorporate economic, environmental, social, and sustainability considerations into the practice of civil engineering. Continue their technical and professional development, which may include professional licensure, graduate level education, continuing education courses, self-directed study, and participation in conference and committee activities. The curriculum provides a common freshman and sophomore year, with selection of upper division courses made during course request for the second semester of the sophomore year. The civil engineering curriculum provides breadth across the civil engineering profession and the opportunity for depth within a student's selected specialty areas of interest. Specialty areas offered within the department include: construction engineering & management, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, land development, civil engineering materials, structural engineering, transportation engineering, and water resources engineering. Students are progressively exposed to civil engineering design, culminating in a focused design course experience. The projects assigned in design courses are open-ended, incorporate appropriate engineering standards, and require the application of knowledge from earlier courses in the curriculum. Projects apply technical knowledge to design appropriate physical facilities, but also include consideration of non-technical constraints that confront real-world projects. These additional considerations include such interdisciplinary issues as economics, environmental impact, and sustainability. Accordingly, teamwork and good professional communications skills are a significant part of each design project course experience. Classroom instruction in the civil engineering program is reinforced by instructional laboratories in the major areas of civil engineering practice. The department seeks to employ the latest educational technology and innovative teaching methods. The department participates in the Cooperative Education Program in which qualified students may alternate semesters of study with semesters of professional employment. The department encourages all students to participate in professional work experience prior to graduation. Contact person for undergraduate Civil and Environmental Engineering programs is Kara Lattimer, CEE Academic and Career Advisor at (540) 231-7148 or e-mail: karalatt@vt.edu. Full programs of graduate study are available, leading to the M.Eng., M.S., and Ph.D. in civil engineering. Graduate degree programs concentrate in one of five major areas: construction engineering and management, environmental and water resources engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering and materials, and transportation and infrastructure systems engineering. For details, see the Graduate Catalog.

The Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences (CSES) offers two undergraduate majors: Environmental Science and Crop and Soil Sciences. Both programs integrate the biological and physical sciences to give our students a detailed knowledge of food production systems and human impacts on our environment. Environmental Science The Environmental Science program emphasises ecosystem function and protection, land-use planning, waste management, water quality, recycling, decontamination, revegetation of disturbed sites, and agriculture's impacts on the environment. Crop and Soil Sciences The Crop and Soil Sciences program is focused on sustainable means of crop production, utilization of soils, and stewardship of the environment. It is concerned with feeding the world, protecting the environment, and producing quality turfgrass. Graduates can prepare themselves for careers ranging from integrated pest management to international development, from environmental legislation to biotechnology, from crop production to city planning. As a student in the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, you can count on quality academic programs relevant for today and tomorrow, opportunities for involvement and experience, and individual and personal attention.

Bachelor of Science in Water: Resources, Policy, and Management: Water is the source of mounting pressures throughout the world. The prospect of water disputes increases as supplies become scarcer and more stressed. Some stressors, such as climate change, call for scientific understanding of the water cycle. In addition, sustainable urban expansion requires an understanding of culture and society. Increasingly, solutions to sharing water require skills involving water science, policy, law, economics, management, and social science. Virginia Tech is taking an interdisciplinary approach to meet the complex challenges of managing water by proposing a new bachelor of science degree that draws upon the resources of five of its colleges. The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved the new water degree at its June 1-2 meeting; the proposal now goes to the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia for consideration. Virginia Tech expects to initiate the program in spring 2015 pending final approval. http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2014/06/060514-cnre-waterdegree.html Bachelor of Landscape Architecture: Landscape Architecture, a dynamic and complex field, is one of the most consequential design arts today. Landscape architecture has become one of today’s premier occupations, ranking among the best professions to enter. Working collaboratively with ecologists, scientists, architects, engineers, and planners, Landscape Architects are leading the work to meet the most important challenges of our time: climate change; healthy living and empathetic design; urbanization and shrinking cities; imaginative new development strategies; re-imagining water, food, energy, transportation, and green infrastructures; remediating spoiled lands and disturbed sites; and preserving critical natural resources. Landscape architects are doing this right now. Providing the opportunity to contribute to the protection of the environment and natural resources while performing an essential service, the field is both challenging and fulfilling. The profession requires individuals with skills in creativity, science, problem solving, collaboration and an aptitude for technology. The Landscape Architecture Program at Virginia Tech guides students as they develop these skills and take their place as designers and planners of the built environment. http://archdesign.vt.edu/landscape-architecture/ There are many additional sustainability-focused and sustainability-related undergraduate degree programs.

Located in the College of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of Geography See URL for requirements and course listing.

Located in the College of Engineering See URL for requirements and course listing.

Located in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences See URL for requirements and course listing.

Urban Forestry (URBF) Minor Watershed Management (WSM) Minor Wetland Science (WESC) Minor Wood Science and Forest Products (WOOD) Minor ...and more! https://www.registrar.vt.edu/graduation-multi-brief/checksheets/minors/index.html.html

All majors (course catalog) list: http://www.undergradcatalog.registrar.vt.edu/ All minors list: https://www.registrar.vt.edu/graduation-multi-brief/checksheets/minors/index.html.html