Minor in Engineering for Environmental Change, Climate and Health
About
Climate-related challenges include droughts, floods, heatwaves and extreme weather events. These impact air pollution, water availability and quality, toxic releases, food and nutrition, infectious and non-communicable diseases, and will increase migration and conflict pressure and exacerbate health inequities. Our department has internationally recognized faculty in air pollution, environmental health sciences, climate change and health, global water policy, infectious disease and microbiology, environmental chemistry, transport and engineering. As environmental scientists and engineers located within the top public school of public health, we are ideally positioned to provide holistic, intersectoral responses to mitigate and prepare for these upcoming and pressing environmental challenges.
Join the minor to learn about climate change, health/risk assessment, environmental processes, and engineering tools to provide quantitative answers to complex environmental questions. Through our courses you’ll learn about our sustainable solutions-orientated approaches to:
- Develop sophisticated tools to quantify environmental exposures and health risks
- Elucidate source to exposure linkages that enable effective solutions
- Examine how climate and environmental change impacts ecosystems and health
- Design technological and policy solutions
- Develop economically, environmentally, socially, and technically sustainable management of water, sanitation, and hygiene for equitable health and human development
Careers
Regardless of your specific career path after Carolina, employers and graduate schools are searching for many of the same capabilities: communication, collaboration and adaptability. These translatable skills are highly desired across all sectors.
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists climate change as the No. 1 threat to global health in 2019 and public health protection is central to all five pressing challenges identified in the National Academies (NRC) report on Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century. Through this minor you’ll discover these problems require solutions that are interdisciplinary to mitigate these upcoming and pressing environmental challenges.
Requirements
You can find a full overview and list of requirements for the Engineering for Environmental Change, Climate and Health in the UNC Catalog.
Declare for the Minor
Students may apply for the minor any semester after completing MATH 233. Admitted students must have an average GPA of 3.0 or higher in the minor’s prerequisite courses. No application required.
If you are majoring inside the Gillings School, please schedule an appointment with our academic coordinator.
If you are majoring outside the Gillings School, please contact your academic advisor/academic coordinator in your home college or school to declare a minor. College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) advisors can add this minor once a student meets the eligibility. S
Your advisor/academic coordinator will help you determine if it’s feasible for you to complete your chosen major/minor within the eight-semester limit.
Contact Us
Contact the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering or minor director, Amanda Northcross, for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the policy on the overlap between a student’s major and the minor?
From the University Catalog: More than half (not merely half) of the credit hours and courses (including cross-listed courses) taken to satisfy the minor requirements must be counted exclusively in the minor and not double-counted in other majors or minors.
When does this minor go into effect?
The minor takes effect in Fall 2021. Courses and pre-requisites that you have taken prior to Fall 2021 will satisfy the requirements.
