Every year the Senior Class of Ecological Engineering designs a project that simulates the experience of being a hired as a contractor by a specific client or group of clients. Students are tasked with a unique design project that provides hands-on experience in solving the kind of complex open-ended design problems they are likely to encounter in ecological engineering practice, including satisfying physical, legal, economic, social and environmental constraints. It also provides the students with experience in the real-world application of mathematics, science, engineering economics, ethics and other disciplines related to engineering analysis and design, and a clearer perspective on the value of research in addressing contemporary problems in engineering design. Attainment of oral and written communication to achieve a level commensurate with professional engineering practice will be a fundamental objective.
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Design a pre-aeration treatment system for wineries to address the technical issue of provision of oxygen to the pretreatment system that is designed to reduce the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) of the incoming process waste water by >50% so that it can be effectively handled by conventional waste water systems, while balancing cost, environmental sustainability, robustness, and feasibility.
To address the technical issue of provision of oxygen to a system raising tilapia for human consumption in an unlined open pond with algae and detritus by designing an oxygen delivery system to be demonstrated in a 1-3 m^3 tank that will contain 5-10 tilapia throughout their life cycle, while considering cost (initial and operations), environmental sustainability, robustness, and feasibility.
To address the technical issue of provision of oxygen to a system raising tilapia for human consumption by designing an oxygen delivery system to be demonstrated in a 2 m^3 tank that will contain 3-5 tilapia throughout their life cycle, while considering cost (initial and operations), environmental sustainability, robustness, and feasibility.
Design, develop and evaluate different treatment, distribution and irrigation systems to meet the proposed FDA regulations while minimizing the economic costs and environmental impacts, and must strive to minimize the impact on existing agricultural practices.
Design, develop and evaluate different options to meet the existing TMDL regulations while providing additional ecosystem services such as turtle habitat, wetlands at a minimum economic cost.
Propose a building design where the objective is to minimize the ecological footprint of the building by incorporating innovative solutions such to increase water and energy use efficiency, while staying within space, functionality and cost constraints.
Design, develop and evaluate some elements of the integrated micro algae cultivation and processing system utilizing carbon dioxide as carbon source to produce renewable fuel and fertilizer.
Design an onsite waste water treatment system that will manage the waste water from a community of around 600 homes over an area of 57 acres with 20 acres of additional farmland.