Energy/Environment/Economics (E3)
Faculty Directors
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering
Carrie Hall
John T. Rettaliata Engineering Center, Room 252-D
10 W. 32nd St.
Chicago, IL 60616
312.567.3195
chall9@iit.edu
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Alexander J. Flueck
Siegel Hall, Room 319
3301 S. Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60616
312.567.3625
flueck@iit.edu
The ongoing evolution of the energy system and related global, environmental, and economic issues make necessary a new interdisciplinary approach to the education of energy-industry engineers and management professionals, as well as to the planning and performance of energy research and development. The petroleum, coal, natural gas, nuclear, renewable, and electric utility industries and associated resource and raw material extraction, equipment design and manufacturing, and construction industries, are facing not only technological change and environmental constraints, but also drastic changes in the economic, institutional, and trade environments in which they operate.
The university's Energy/Environment/Economics (E3) program was developed to respond to the rapidly changing needs of the energy industry by providing the interdisciplinary research and training required to produce a new breed of engineer—one who specializes in energy technologies and who understands the associated environmental issues and economic forces that drive technology choice.
The E3 specialization requires an interdisciplinary thesis in an E3 area of research for M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, and an interdisciplinary graduate project for professional master’s degrees. Graduate students in E3 should also be enrolled in fundamental courses related to the topics of energy, environment, and economics. E3 is designed primarily for students majoring in chemical and environmental, mechanical and aerospace, or electrical engineering who are planning careers in energy-related fields. This interdisciplinary training prepares students to be not only creative and expert in a specialized area of energy extraction, conversion, or utilization, but also to possess a broad knowledge base of different energy sources, environmental issues related to energy extraction, conversion and utilization, and of the impact of industrial ecology principles on the design and operation of energy systems. Furthermore, students will gain sufficient knowledge of economic and regulatory issues to enable them to make more viable technology choices.
Research Centers, Facilities, and Areas
Students should consult descriptions in the respective departments:
General Degree Requirements
Students pursuing a master’s degree are required to take 30-32 credit hours beyond the requirements of a B.S. degree program. The Ph.D. program requires 84 credit hours beyond the bachelor of science. The curriculum consists of two components: department core courses that provide a strong background in basic principles of the chosen engineering field and E3 specialization courses. The following section details the E3 course requirements for the professional master's, M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and electrical engineering. Selected E3 undergraduate courses may be substituted for graduate courses with the approval of the designated adviser, if the total undergraduate credit hours for the professional master’s or M.S. degree do not exceed departmental constraints.
Students are also required to attend interdisciplinary seminars during their first and/or second semesters, which are offered as part of the regular graduate seminars by the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. A student completing a M.S. or Ph.D. thesis or professional master’s project will be a member of an interdisciplinary research team consisting of professors and students from environmental, electrical, and mechanical engineering backgrounds, working in a cross-disciplinary group project. Each interdisciplinary team must include professors from different departments.
Policies and procedures regarding admission, advising, financial aid, and comprehensive examinations are established by the individual departments offering this program.
E3 Courses
See descriptions under the respective department’s course listings.
Group A
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CHE 536 | Computational Techniques in Engineering | 3 |
| CHE 541 | Renewable Energy Technologies | 3 |
| CHE 542 | Fluidization and Gas-Solids Flow Systems | 3 |
| CHE 565 | Fundamentals of Electrochemistry | 3 |
| ECE 550 | Power Electronic Dynamics and Control | 3 |
| ECE 551 | Advanced Power Electronics | 3 |
| ECE 552 | Adjustable Speed Drives | 3 |
| ECE 553 | Power System Planning | 3 |
| ECE 554 | Power System Relaying | 3 |
| ECE 555 | Power Market Operations | 3 |
| ECE 557 | Fault-Tolerant Power Systems | 3 |
| ECE 558 | Power System Reliability | 3 |
| ECE 559 | High Voltage Power Transmission | 3 |
| ECE 560 | Power Systems Dynamics and Stability | 3 |
| ECE 561 | Deregulated Power Systems | 3 |
| ECE 562 | Power System Transaction Management | 3 |
| ECE 563 | Artificial Intelligence in Smart Grid | 3 |
| ECE 564 | Control and Operation of Electric Power Systems | 3 |
| MMAE 517 | Computational Fluid Dynamics | 3 |
| MMAE 520 | Advanced Thermodynamics | 3 |
| MMAE 522 | Nuclear, Fossil-Fuel, and Sustainable Energy Systems | 3 |
| MMAE 523 | Fundamentals of Power Generation | 3 |
| MMAE 524 | Fundamentals of Combustion | 3 |
| MMAE 525 | Fundamentals of Heat Transfer | 3 |
| MMAE 526 | Conduction and Diffusion | 3 |
| MMAE 527 | Heat Transfer: Convection and Radiation | 3 |
Group B
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CHE 541 | Renewable Energy Technologies | 3 |
| CHE 560 | Statistical Quality and Process Control | 3 |
| ENVE 501 | Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| ENVE 506 | Chemodynamics | 3 |
| ENVE 542 | Physicochemical Processes in Environmental Engineering | 3 |
| ENVE 551 | Industrial Waste Treatment | 3 |
| ENVE 561 | Design of Environmental Engineering Processes | 3 |
| ENVE 570 | Air Pollution Meteorology | 3 |
| ENVE 577 | Design of Air Pollution Control Devices | 3 |
| ENVE 578 | Physical and Chemical Processes for Industrial Gas Cleaning | 3 |
| ENVE 580 | Hazardous Waste Engineering | 3 |
