Curriculum Development And Training For Environmental Restoration / Waste Management

Tuskegee University (TU), in collaboration with University of Cincinnati (UC), is engaged in developing a sequence of two courses and a summer training program to educate and train students in the area of environmental restoration/waste management (ER/WM). The ER/WM activities cut across the boundaries of many scientific fields. Moreover, the site characterization and waste management must be performed in accordance with the current environmental laws and regulations. Hence, knowledge of appropriate codes developed by Department of Energy laboratories and federal agencies would be necessary. The proposed course sequence is: 1) Introduction to Radiological Engineering and Waste Management and 2) Site Analysis and Environmental Restoration. The first course was developed in Fall 2005 semester and offered at TU as a 3-credit hour elective course during Spring 2006 semester. During summer, students will spend 8 weeks at TU in intensive hands-on training and research activities in some area of ER/WM. The content of the first course is consistent with current courses in health physics. However, this course contains additional material on nuclear wastes. We believe that this course and associated summer training program would better prepare and train students for engaging in ER/WM related activities.