Students in Dr. Jejal Bathi’s ENCE 2010 Introduction to Environmental Engineering course collect water samples from the Tennessee River as part of a field exercise examining how location and surrounding conditions can affect water quality. Photo courtesy of Dr. Jejal Bathi.
Standing along the Tennessee River, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in Introduction to Environmental Engineering recently collected water samples with an overarching question in mind: What is happening upstream, downstream and in the places where people live, work and build?
The field exercise was part of a larger lesson. Students sampled near Chickamauga Reservoir, Coolidge Park and points in between, learning how to select locations, collect data and examine conditions in a waterway central to the Chattanooga region.
For Dr. Jejal Bathi, coordinator of UTC’s environmental engineering program, that work gets to the point of the discipline.
“Environmental engineering fundamentally protects people by protecting the environment they depend on,” said Bathi, Guerry Professor and UC Foundation Associate Professor of Civil Engineering in the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Bathi said environmental engineering brings engineering principles to challenges involving water, air, soil, waste and public health.
At UTC, students “study water resources, water chemistry, surface water pollution, water and wastewater treatment, air pollution and solid waste management,” he said. They also learn to analyze environmental conditions and develop solutions.
Dr. Jejal Bathi
Bathi, who joined the UTC faculty in 2017, said the program uses hands-on learning to help students understand both the science behind an environmental problem and the engineering response.
Bathi was trained as a chemical engineer but chose to work in environmental engineering after seeing the everyday need for clean drinking water, flood management and responses to emerging contaminants. He also brought experience as a private consultant on projects for municipalities and regional agencies into the classroom, including work involving flooding, wastewater collection systems and green infrastructure.
In the Tennessee River exercise, students considered where to sample and how those locations could reveal changes in water quality.
The students examined areas around Chickamauga Creek and South Chickamauga Creek, including parts of East Brainerd experiencing substantial development. Bathi said the goal was not simply to identify a potential concern but to begin thinking about what may be affecting water quality and how an engineer could address it.
That progression, he explained, continues in upper-level coursework. In a senior course focused on urban stormwater management, students investigate conditions in the field, identify a problem, develop proposed solutions and use computer simulation models to demonstrate how their designs could improve an area while still supporting needs such as housing, streets and development.
“It’s a project-based, hands-on process,” Bathi said.
The program is designed to meet growing demand, he said. Communities and industries face flooding, water scarcity, emerging contaminants, waste management and other environmental concerns. Environmental engineers apply science, technology and innovation to develop practical solutions to those problems.
Those solutions can include providing safe drinking water, treating wastewater, managing pollution, improving air quality and planning sustainable infrastructure. Bathi said the program emphasizes that environmental engineering is distinct from environmental science because it moves beyond identifying an issue to designing ways to solve it.
Dr. Bradley Harris, head of the Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering, said enrollment in the environmental engineering concentration has increased 12.5% since fall 2022.
“This reflects students’ awareness of the importance of environmental stewardship and the role engineers play,” Harris said. “I am encouraged by Dr. Bathi’s efforts to revitalize this program and I think it could not come at a better time.”
UTC’s program offers options for students without an undergraduate engineering degree who want to pursue environmental engineering at the graduate level. Depending on a student’s background, faculty members can identify prerequisite courses and a path into the field.
That flexibility matters, Bathi said, because environmental engineering draws on a range of academic backgrounds while leading to careers with a common purpose: helping communities respond to environmental challenges.
Graduates of the environmental engineering concentration can work in private consulting; drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities; manufacturing; municipalities; government agencies; and research. Bathi also pointed to opportunities in low-impact development, bio-based engineering, green infrastructure and sustainability investments.
Workforce demand is significant, he said, as public and private organizations invest in environmental infrastructure and seek engineers who can help build a more sustainable future.
Professional connections add another part of the student experience. Bathi said environmental engineering students engage with organizations such as the Water Environment Federation and the American Water Works Association. UTC’s student chapters and professional groups also connect students with the American Society of Civil Engineers.
For the students who stood beside the Tennessee River and collected samples, Bathi said the work offered an early view of what an environmental engineer does: observe closely, ask informed questions and use evidence to develop solutions.
“Environmental engineering is addressing grand challenges,” Bathi said. “Basically, environmental engineers turn environmental challenges into opportunities, innovation and sustainable growth.”
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Photos courtesy of Dr. Jejal Bathi
