The climate is changing, and how we power our planet is changing too. Environmental engineering and green energy will experience one of the highest growth rates for high-income jobs in the next few years, and current and rising college students are poised to take advantage of the opportunities this growth presents.
Studying science, engineering, business, sustainability, and, when available, green energy specifically, offers students the opportunity to be in a powerful position to shape our national and global energy future. We’ve pulled together the top green energy programs in the country that will put you in a position to lead that change.
If you’re already planning your professional trajectory, but need a top college degree to get there, send us an email. We help students chart a course to a successful future.
University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, Michigan
The University of Michigan offers a BS in Environmental Engineering that is “dedicated to producing tomorrow’s leaders – those who will help society meet the challenges of global resource limitations and human environmental impacts.” Students in the program can focus on sustainable infrastructure systems through courses such as “Greenhouse Gas Control” and “Sustainable and Fossil Energy: Options and Consequences.”
Stanford University — Stanford, California
The Precourt Institute for Energy in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability offers an Earth Systems major that is ideal for students interested in green energy. The program prepares students to use science, economics, and policy “to tackle the world’s most pressing social-environmental problems and sustainability challenges.” There are seven program tracks, including the Energy, Science, and Technology track. The program is also available as a minor.
University of California - Berkeley — Berkeley, California
Students in the BS in Energy Engineering at Berkeley have access to a very flexible major with a foundation in physics and mathematics, with multidisciplinary options that pull on the diversity of paths available at the school. The program “interweaves the fundamentals of classical and modern physics, chemistry, and mathematics with energy engineering applications.” A minor in Energy Engineering is also available, along with the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program, which connects students with faculty researchers for deep field and lab-based learning.
The University of Texas at Austin — Austin, Texas
The major in Geosystems Engineering and Hydrogeology is offered jointly between the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Jackson School of Geosciences. The major is designed for students interested in solving environmental issues, including green energy, and benefits from the proximity of the Energy Institute, a “gateway to UT’s top scholars and experts.” The average starting salary for graduates from the program is over $77,000.
Dartmouth University — Hanover, New Hampshire
The Energy Engineering Program Area at Dartmouth University “puts a particular emphasis on intellectual paths with human-centered impact.” Housed in Thayer, the college of engineering, students propose a plan of study based on their interests in pursuit of a BA, BE, or a dual degree program with energy engineering as a focus. Research at Dartmouth is currently being done into biomass energy, sustainable design, and green energy solutions.
Virginia Tech — Blacksburg, Virginia
Virginia Tech offers a major in Environmental Data Science that is aimed at training students to address challenges posed by the environment, “think climate change, water quality and availability, human health, forest management and conservation.” Students in the major can go on to shape the ideas and strategies behind the policies and programs that are going to guide our world. There are also engineering majors that allow students to focus in developing energy solutions.
University of Maryland — College Park, Maryland
Students at the University of Maryland have their pick of an impressive combination of options related to green energy, including a minor in geophysics and a sustainability minor. We especially love the Science, Technology, Ethics and Policy (STEP) minor in the School of Public Policy, which is ideal for students interested in the policy side of green energy. Students who have graduated from the program have gone on to work with The Department of Energy, the EPA, and even the United Nations.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — Cambridge, Massachusetts
If you’re interested in pursuing green energy at MIT, you’ll be approaching it from an engineering-centric perspective through the program in Science, Technology, and Society. The program offers a joint major, a second major, or a minor, and students take classes in collaboration with the Physics Department and the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. Courses offered include “Social Problems of Nuclear Energy,” and students can pair the program with a civil and environmental engineering minor like the minor in Civil and Environmental Systems and the minor in Environmental Engineering Sciences.
Penn State — State College, Pennsylvania
The Energy and Sustainability Policy, BS is in the Earth and Mineral Sciences department at Penn State, and prepares “students for careers in the evolving policy sector of the energy and sustainability fields.” Students take courses in different energy sources, technologies, and uses, including “Energy and Sustainability in Contemporary Culture” and “Global Energy Enterprise,” and the program is designed for students interested in working in the energy field.
Duke University — Durham, North Carolina
The Gendell Center for Engineering, Energy, and the Environment at Duke offers an undergraduate certificate in Energy and Environment, and is focused on alternative and green energy. Students have access to courses like “Economics of the Environment” and “Green Germany: World Leader in Environmental Policy,” and can also receive a minor in Energy Engineering. The minor was created to provide “rigorous exposure to fundamentals of energy engineering” including “energy generation, delivery, conversion, and efficiency.”
If you’re looking to get into a field that has massive growth on its near horizon and high starting salaries — and that makes a difference in the world — green energy is a strong bet.
If you’re wondering what green energy program is best for you, send us an email. We help students like you find, and get into, their perfect college.