The department maintains close interaction with government research agencies, national laboratories, and private industry, and its program is monitored by an advisery committee made up of executives from many fields. The department's strength lies in scholarly pursuits and in programs designed for practical solutions to significant engineering and technical problems. The department consists of three distinct programs. In addition to the Department of Environmental and Energy Engineering, there are faculty members with teaching and research interests in environmental problem-solving in the Departments of Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering, as well as in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Mathematical Sciences in the School of Science. Our focus is on the methods, devices, and systems required for the peaceful use of nuclear technology with particular emphasis on nuclear power generation.
Nuclear energy is a relatively new but very important energy source.
Within the past three decades a highly developed industry has grown up to make this source available to meet the electrical energy needs of mankind. The nuclear industry is a very high-technology industry characterized by a wide diversity of technical disciplines. The nuclear engineer must be both a specialist in his or her area of concentration and a generalist in interaction with others. The field now emphasizes the operation, maintenance, reliability, and safety of current generation nuclear power plants and the development of next generation nuclear systems. An interdisciplinary program at Rensselaer that is concerned with the applications of fundamental concepts in applied physics to engineering problems, with particular relevance to developments at the cutting edge of new technologies.