Teaching Activities of Jeffrey R. S. Brownson

Environmental Technology:

When considering the intense demand for resources that drive our economies and support life on the planet, we can define five distinct global reservoirs that all societies require: air, water, soil, sediment (minerals and geo-fuels), and energy. Each of these reservoirs has limited extent, requires recharging and maintenance, and shows interconnectedness at multiple levels. Correspondingly, each of these reserves is being depleted at an unsustainable rate. The increased demand for reservoir access (particularly for water and energy reserves) has placed enormous pressures on government and industries to develop technological advancements that answer the call for sustainable technologies to maintain each of these reservoirs. It is our goal in environmental technology to assess those reservoirs, determining the advanced tools required to maintain each both on a personal and industrial scale.

Over the next twenty years and beyond, science education faces challenges from a competitive international workforce, as well as intensive demands on global environmental resources. As countries transition toward renewable energy and clean air-/water-based economies, the playing field for environmental technologies and the science that underscores them changes. Students require a new perspective in energy and materials development to emerge as superior engineers and thinkers: a global awareness in environmental technologies, including materials development for renewable energy systems and maintenance of environmental reserves. Education developed around the core theme of environmental technology is the frontier that will provide our students with job opportunities and a competitive edge in research.

Work with Students:

In my mentoring and coursework, I emphasize the overlap between materials science and environmental science and engineering. Science and engineering at EME is learned within the larger context (and limitations) of the natural environment of Earth. There is a possibility for important interdisciplinary feedback between energy and materials research and environmental technology. I welcome and strongly encourage undergraduate independent studies in my laboratory, and also support strong writing skills for recording field and laboratory research notes and for communicating final reports of the caliber expected in industry. My hope is to encourage a love of learning while introducing the opportunity for engineers to develop profitable technological advances that are sustainable and adaptable to rapidly changing engineering demands.

Courses:

EGEE 101 (GS) (MATSC) ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT ( 3) - Energy utilization and technological development, energy resources, conversion and consequences on the local and global environment, and future energy alternatives.

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