Air-Quality Studies Option (30 credits)

Air-quality meteorologists are employed in both the public and private sectors. Public-sector positions include those with local, state, and federal agencies charged with regulatory, enforcement, and research activities. Within the private sector, air-quality meteorologists are employed by consulting firms whose clients are concerned with meeting environmental regulations on emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere or with determining the effects of such emissions. 

This option enables the student to gain in-depth knowledge of important areas within the air-quality field. Topics offered in the option include the physical and chemical nature of air pollutants; their sources in industrial processes and human activity; their control at the source; their transport and dispersion through the atmosphere; their interaction with other atmospheric constituents; their removal through cloud processes, fallout, and wet deposition; their effects on ecosystems, materials, and humans; and their economic and societal impacts. 

Required (15 Credits)

M E 433 Fundamentals of Air Pollution (3)
METEO 437 Atmospheric Physics II (3)^$
METEO 454 Micrometeorology (3)^$
METEO 455 Atmospheric Dispersion (3)
METEO 473 Application of Computers to Meteorology (3)^# or

METEO 474 Computer Methods of Meteorological Analysis and Forecasting (3)^#

Select 15 credits from the following list. In some cases there are prerequisites, so careful planning is needed in scheduling these:

C E 497B Environmental Law and Regulation (3)
CHEM 112 GN Chemical Principles (3)
ENNEC 484 Political Economy of Energy and the Environment (3)
E R M 430 Air Pollution Impacts to Terrestrial Ecosystems (3)
F SC 401 Introduction to Fuel Technology (3)
F SC 422 Combustion Engineering (3)
F SC 430 Air Pollutants from Combustion Sources(3)
GEOG 363 (formerly GEOG 357) Geographic Information Systems (3)
GEOG 430 (formerly GEOG 406) Human Use of the Environment (3)
M E 405 Air Pollution Control Systems (3)
METEO 422 Dynamic Meteorology II (3)
METEO 436 Atmospheric Physics I (3)
STAT 462 Applied Regression Analysis (3)
METEO 497A Air Quality Forecasting (3)

Employers in the Air Quality Field:

Sonoma Technology, Inc. in Petaluma, CA
http://www.sonomatech.com

Trinity Consultants, Inc.
http://www.trinityconsultants.com/

All4 Inc.
http://www.all4inc.biz