Multidisciplinary Subsurface Remediation Courses: Fundamentals, Experiments, and Design Projects

Subsurface pollution is an important issue from both economic and environmental perspectives, and the education of professionals with technical backgrounds for addressing this issue is an area of national need. In situ remediation of subsurface pollution is a challenging scientific and engineering problem that is well suited to multidisciplinary problem-solving approaches. Quantitative design guidance, appropriate textbook instruction, and hands-on experimental activities are not currently available at most academic institutions. We developed and implemented a set of two courses, one stressing fundamentals in conjunction with design issues, and the other focussing on engineering design aspects of several innovative subsurface remediation technologies. Course materials were derived from our combined multidisciplinary research experiences, coupling physical, chemical, geological, and biological approaches to remediate subsurface pollution. We equipped a laboratory to conduct remediation experiments on a range of scales. These experiments demonstrate fundamental soil and groundwater transport processes, provide design parameters, and yield data for comparing remediation technologies and testing mathematical models. In addition to course evaluations, the project was reviewed and improved by an external curriculum advisory committee.