• On-Campus Component
    No
  • Cost
    $1,665 (resident); $2,601 (nonresident)
  • Total Credits
    12
  • Credential
    Graduate Certificate
  • Admission GPA
    3.0
  • Application Deadlines
    Spring: December 1; Fall: August 1
  • Campus
    Twin Cities
  • College
    College of Science and Engineering
  • Department
    Civil, Environmental, & Geo-Engineering

This graduate certificate will provide interdisciplinary training to prepare you to address global issues related to water, energy, and material use and reuse. This program will combine training in policy, science, and engineering, with different perspectives (community, government, entrepreneur, business) to create policies, products, and processes that ensure the circular and sustainable use of energy, material resources (metals, minerals), and water while meeting humanity’s needs. 

Two required courses (6 credits total) plus a series of electives will equip you with the appropriate background and fundamental skills needed to work in industry, nonprofits, and government (e.g., green engineering, life cycle assessment, economic and policy tools, qualitative interviewing, and the co-creation of solutions with attention to different cultural viewpoints).

Courses

Required

  • CEGE 5524 – A Circularity Revolution: Working to Close the Loop on Global Issues (3 credits) (formerly listed as GCC 5044 under the same title or CEGE 5180 – Introduction to Circularity Systems)
  • ME8243 – Research and Methods for Sustainability Impact (3 cr)

Electives

One elective from this list of Food/Water/Energy Technology courses to earn 3 credits total:

  • BBE 4733 – Renewable Energy Technologies (3 cr) OR CEGE 5513 - Energy Conversion from Wind, Hydro, and Solar Resources (3 cr)
  • CHEM 4601 – Green Chemistry (3 cr)
  • ESCI 5402 – Science and Politics of Global Warming (3 cr)
  • ESPM 5251 – Natural Resources in Sustainable International Development (3 cr)
  • ESPM 5603 – Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (3 cr)
  • GCC 5008 – Policy and Science of Global Environmental Change (3 cr)
  • ME 5312 – Solar Thermal Technologies (4 cr)
  • SSM 5407 – Sustainable Manufacturing Principles and Practice (3 cr)

 

And one elective from this list of Policy and Systems courses to earn 3 credits total:

  • ESCI 5105 – Environmental Justice in the 21st Century (3 cr)
  • ESPM 5202 – Environmental Conflict Management, Leadership, and Planning (3 cr)
  • MGMT 6402 – Integrative Leadership: Leading Across Sectors to Address Grand Challenges (3 cr)
  • PA 5243 – Environmental Justice in Urban Planning and Public Policy (3 cr)
  • PA 5711 – Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (3 cr)
  • PA 5723 – Water Policy (3 cr.
  • PA 5761 – Environmental Systems Analysis at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus (3 cr)
  • PA 5771 – Change Leadership for Environmental, Social, and Governance Action (3 cr)
  • STEP 5715 – Various Topics: Deliberating Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (1.5 cr). Note that this course can be taken twice to earn 3 credits total
  • PA 5751 – Addressing Climate and Energy Challenges at the Local Scale (3 cr)

Career Outlook

As the world’s population pushes towards an expected 9.7 billion people by 2050, we are pushing up against our planet’s resource limits in multiple domains—soil, water, raw materials, and energy resources, among others. In order to care for and support our planet, wise stewardship of these resources will be essential. This program equips an interdisciplinary range of students with the skills needed to accomplish this task.

Employment data shows that sustainability jobs are booming in the US and globally as corporate ESG efforts accelerate. Locally, Waste Wise, a nonprofit that aims to reduce waste, has grown from three employees working on material stewardship in 2012 to over ten employees in 2024. Large corporations in the area have strong sustainability programs, such as Target, Andersen Windows, Pentair, Medtronic, Ecolab, and 3M, which will require a trained workforce. The US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded nearly $3 million to universities to train students in circularity education using interdisciplinary approaches.

Student Testimonials

"Thank you for continually pushing me to think critically through these moments of cognitive dissonance and giving the space to voice our opinions freely. This has been an excellent experience, and I sincerely appreciate the feedback I’ve been given and the chance to learn from such a wide variety of experts." – CEGE 5524 Student

“This class was the first time I have been able to find harmony [between two conflicting ideologies: creative iteration and objective science]. The concept of 'People, Planet, Profit' as design criteria has been transformative. It has illustrated how qualitative and quantitative methods can coexist to help uncover meaningful problems while setting a framework for efficient engineering criteria.” – ME 8243 Student