The Role of Knowledge about Material Science and Engineering in Cultivating Students Majoring in Environmental Engineering

Environmental professional education is the most important segment in China's environmental work. For the undergraduate students majoring in the Environmental Engineering Specialty (EES), strengthening their capabilities through a suitable curriculum arrangement is necessary. Environmental Engineering and Material Science and Engineering, similar representatives of modern science and technology, have a large overlapped area. Interdisciplinary teaching for the undergraduate students majoring in them is easy and facile to be carried out. In this paper, we report how to foster the undergraduate students majoring in EES using knowledge about material science and engineering, particularly the advanced technology and advanced functional materials such as electrospinning and electrospun nanofibers. Electrospun zein nanofibers are useful materials for removing Pb ion from wastewater, and molecular sieve-loaded polyacrylonitrile nanofibers are highly efficacious in cleaning the volatile organic compound acetone from the atmosphere. These examples about material design, processing and applications can be vivid interdisciplinary teaching materials for promoting the students into professional talents in the fields of environmental engineering. Keywords—environmental engineering; material Science and engineering; undergraduate students; interdisciplinary teaching