Affiliations
The Graduate Certificate in Hydrology is an interdisciplinary program
centered in the Environmental Science (ES) Masters Program, and affiliated
with the Departments of Civil Engineering, Geology, Geography, Biology
and Physics at Portland State University.
Certification as a Professional Hydrologist
The Graduate
Certificate in Hydrology follows education guidelines from the AIH for
certification as a professional hydrologist. A student earning a Graduate
Certificate in Hydrology achieves a significant proportion of educational
requirements and satisfies all primary hydrology coursework for qualification
as a member of the AIH.
The AIH
requires 37 credit hours in hydrology and hydrogeology related courses,
and has classified courses as Primary Courses (Category I, 15 cr required),
Allied Courses (Category II, 13 cr required), and Supplemental Courses
(Category III, 9 cr required). AIH Category I and II courses presently
available at PSU are given below. The Graduate Certificate in Hydrology
requires a student to complete all AIH Category I requirements, and
a majority of AIH Category II requirements. The curriculum requires
a student to complete at least one Category I core course in all AIH
specialty areas.
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Relationship to PSU Graduate Programs
The Graduate
Certificate in Hydrology is centered in the Environmental Science Masters
Program. Students in affiliated departments are also eligible to apply
for the Graduate Certificate in Hydrology.
In addition
to thesis/project credits, the ES Masters Program requires 9 credit
hours of core courses, 3 credit hours in quantitative analysis (either
statistics or mathematical modeling), a minimum of 15 credit hours in
a ES program specialty area, and 6-9 credit hours of electives. Students
finishing the requirements for the Graduate Certificate in Hydrology
may simultaneously complete both the specialty area and the elective
area requirements in the ES Masters Program.
The Graduate
Certificate in Hydrology requires a total of 24 cr. Four courses (16
cr) must be completed from the AIH Category I course list below; Category
I course requirements include completion of a core course selected from
each of the three AIH specialty areas. Students are also required to
take two elective courses (8 cr) from the AIH Category II course list
below.
Certificate
Requirements
Admission
requirements include 8 cr each in physics, chemistry and calculus. No
prior coursework in hydrology is necessary for admission. Course requirements
for the certificate are:
- Surface
hydrology core course (4 cr)
- Hydrogeology
core course (4 cr)
- Water
quality core course (4 cr)
- Additional
Category I hydrology course (4 cr)
- Category
II allied courses (8 cr)
Total - 24 credits
The admissible
graduate courses are listed below.
Career
Opportunities
Trained
hydrologic professionals are necessary to solve problems concerning
drinking water supplies, stream habitat and water quality requirements
for important aquatic organisms, the variability of climate and its
effect on water supplies and hazards, and the threat posed to all these
resources by industrial, agricultural and domestic contamination and
overuse.
Employment
opportunities primarily appear in the following areas:
- Federal
and State agencies (for example, Department of Environmental Quality,
U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, Corps of Engineers,
Forest Service, Bonneville Power Administration, Port of Portland,
National Weather Service).
- Commercial
and industrial corporations in the private sector.
- Private
consulting firms knowledgeable in environmental regulations, hydrogeologic
investigation, wetland mitigation, flood prediction, pollution abatement
and bioremediation, environmental site audits, and regulatory compliance.
PROGRAM OF
STUDY
