Can I get an environmental engineering job with a civil eng. degree?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>At my school (univeristy of maryland), civil and environmental engineering are in the same department but have two different tracks. The Infrastructure track (im in this one) is for people who want to do structures and/or geotech. The environmental/water resources track is obviously for environmental engineers. If I graduate on the infrastructure track but want to do environmental engineering, can i do it? The reason I do not want to switch is because the infrastructure track seems the most versatile where i can work on structures/geotech and possibly do environmental/transportation whereas the environmental track seems solely focused on the environment and water resources. I have to take an environmental eng. class for my tech elective anyway and could probably fit a couple more environmental classes as tech electives. Will that suffice or should I move straight to the environmental track?</p>

<p>Additionally, do you think a civil engineering degree is a good degree to get involved in environmental and energy policy on the federal level? It seems like not enough engineers get involved in public policy and the government could use some.</p>

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<p>The answer to your original question is yes. I’m currently interning at an environmental engineering firm and some of the employees here have their BS degrees in civil engineering. However, since it’s a consulting firm, they need a higher degree. So the civil engineers went on to get their masters in Environmental Engineering (as did the ChemEs and EEs). But at different career fairs that I’ve gone to, various recruiters of environmental engineering firms look for civil engineers, so you definitely have a shot. </p>

<p>Also, I’ve been looking into the environmental/energy policy at the federal level, but you’d have to do your own research into that. I know that the EPA hires engineers (civil, environmental, chemical, etc) and so does the dept. of energy; however, if you’d want to work for the DoE as an engineer, you’d be mostly working in a lab for research. I kind of want to create the policies, so I’m currently working on my BS in Environmental Engineering and then thinking of going to law school. Weird, I know.</p>