<p>Hi please help me, whats the difference between geological engineering and environmental engineering ?
Can I do a masters in either of the above with a mechanical engineering undergrad ?
Could I do either of the two courses with a chemical engineering degree ?</p>
<p>I want to do either mechanical or chemical engineering at undergrad and not environmental engineering or civil engineering so that I have a wider variety of options. Is this advisable ?</p>
<p>I want an engineering job where I can travel a lot, be outdoors often and do a lot of fieldwork but the field of engineering should be in demand and the pay is decent. </p>
<p>I am really confused as to exactly what to do and I uni application dates end in a few weeks. please help,
thanks in advance</p>
I think you mean geotechnical engineering? (Please forgive me if you are not) Geotechnical is about application of knowledge on soils to infrastructure development, like building foundations, tunnel boring, or even oil and gas extraction. On the other hand, environmental is more on protecting the natural environment from harmful effects of human activities, e.g. oil spills, factory waste, drainage. Every civil engineering project always needs some environmental engineers to provide an environmental impact assessment before construction can go forward.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, I believe you could do so. Especially for environmental engineering, where students can come from a variety of backgrounds, such as biology, and the fluid mechanics you learn in mechanical/chemical engineering would prove quite useful. However, for geotechnical/geological, I’m not sure if it would be easy to pick up on stuff, and you might have to take a few extra modules/courses before progressing to masters to gain the necessary background on soils. As a civil engineering student, I would say that life would be much easier progressing from a civil/environmental background to a geological/environmental masters, but what you have in mind can definitely be done. A note of caution, problems may arise in your acquisition of an engineering license if you do a different engineering degree (just a thought).</p>
<p>I’d say chemical engineer could probably transition well into an environmental engineering job. There is a geotechnical aspect to environmental engineering, but if you wanted to pick it up in grad school, I don’t think it would be that difficult.</p>
<p>
This is also very true. An FE (and a PE if you want advancement in civil engineering) is pretty much required for Civil Engineering (or environmental). It has aspects from other areas in civil engineering such as structures, transportation, etc. on it. That makes it that much harder if not a Civil major.</p>