The Department of Environmental Science and Engineering was established in 1983, co-located with the Environmental Monitoring Station of the former Coal Department, and trained the first batch of professional talents in coal environmental protection in the country. In 1985, two majors, Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering, were introduced. In 1993, the department was granted a Master's program in Environmental Engineering. In 2000, the Beijing campus started enrolling undergraduate students in Environmental Engineering. In 2003, the department was approved for doctoral programs in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science. In 2006, the department was granted a doctoral program and a post-doctoral mobile station in Environmental Science and Engineering. In 2019, the Environmental Engineering major was selected for the " Double Ten Thousand" national key discipline construction plan, and in 2021, it passed the national engineering education professional certification.
Our department of Environmental Science and Engineering is a key discipline in Beijing, and an important subject of the "Double First-Class" national program. Over the past nearly twenty years, significant achievements have been made in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services, and cultural heritage. In the fifth round of discipline assessment, the result was rated as B (in collaboration with the Xuzhou campus), ranking 18th in the 2023 Alumni Association Chinese University Rankings. This subject focuses on the major strategic needs of national ecological civilization construction, emphasizing tasks such as green and efficient development, clean and efficient utilization of coal, and the "dual carbon" strategy. It deeply integrates with the disciplines of Mineral Processing Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Carbon Storage Science and Engineering within our college. Research activities include pollution prevention and efficient utilization throughout the entire process of coal mining, processing, and utilization. The program has developed four key research directions: mining area environmental protection and ecological restoration, water pollution control and wastewater resource recovery, pollution of soil and groundwater remediation, and solid waste disposal and resource utilization.
Our department currently has 31 full-time faculty members, including 16 professors, 8 associate professors, 4 lecturers, and 3 experimentalists. Among them, there are 3 recipients of the Ministry of Education's "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program," 3 winners of the Sun Yat-sen Youth Science and Technology Award, 1 participant in the Beijing Science and Technology Star Program, 4 individuals supported by the Beijing Excellent Talent Training Assistance Program, 1 participant in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Tianchi Hundred Talents Program, and 2 participants in the Postdoctoral Innovation Talents Program.
Our department adheres to the principle of cultivating talents with high moral values. We have nurtured a large number of environmental professionals who possess a strong sense of patriotism and are dedicated to serving the country. We have trained nearly a thousand senior engineering and technical talents with comprehensive professional knowledge and solid skills for the coal industry and national ecological protection enterprises. In terms of talent cultivation and academic exchange cooperation, our department has established good cooperative relationships with internationally renowned universities and companies such as the University of New South Wales in Australia, the University of Alberta in Canada, Ghent University in Belgium, the Universidad Rovira i Virgili in Spain, and Vielca Ingenieros in Spain.
Since 2020, our department has undertaken 7 National Natural Science Foundation general projects and 5 youth projects, as well as 9 National Key Research and Development Program projects and 6 sub-projects. The research funding per full-time teacher exceeds 2 million yuan, with an average of over 10 high-level academic papers published per person. We have received one second prize in National Technical Invention (2020, ranked 4th), one second prize in Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement in Higher Education (2022, ranked 1st), one second prize in Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award (2023, ranked 1st), and one second prize in Environmental Science and Technology Award from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (2023, ranked 1st). Additionally, we have been awarded four first prizes and fifteen second prizes for other social awards registered by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Our department focuses closely on the strategic needs of national economic development and social sustainability, targeting industries and regions, leveraging the unique advantages of mining environment. We have made significant achievements in coal pollution control and resource utilization, as well as precision poverty alleviation through technology. We have made outstanding contributions to the healthy development of China's coal industry and the transformation of resource-based cities. This includes: formulating multiple technical standards to lead the construction of green mines; breaking through key technological bottlenecks to achieve efficient treatment of special waste water; innovating high-value utilization of coal-based solid waste to promote green development in coal mining areas; conducting ecological risk assessments of pollutants to enhance the level of soil pollution prevention and control; highlighting the sense of responsibility to support the national science and technology poverty alleviation strategy; and based on the national sustainable development strategy, assisting in the construction of ecological civilization.