The Department of Environmental Science

Profile

Department of Environmental Science, which belongs to School of Environment and Planning of Henan University, came into being because of the establishment of Environmental Science. They are both young and dynamic. The environmental science major was established in 2002 and began to recruit undergraduates and graduates at the same time. This major is based on the theory and applied research of environmental disciplines, and based on the environmental protection needs of the country and the Huanghuai River Basin, closely following the international frontier of the discipline. We have many research platforms, such as "Key Laboratory of digital geographic technology in middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River" that leaded by Ministry of education, “Soil’s Heavy metal contamination and remediation Engineering Research Center” in Henan province, and "Environmental and Health Engineering Research Center" in universities of Henan Province. The main research direction is environmental evaluation and planning, environmental change and management, theory and technology of pollution process and restoration of water and soil. It also has a teaching team with reasonable age, academic background and reasonable structure. It is based on the following teaching platforms, such as the national level "Experimental teaching demonstration center of environment and planning ", "environmental change and soil and water pollution prevention and control laboratory" in the open laboratory of key disciplines of Henan Province. Taking environmental science and engineering theory and technology teaching as the core, and paying attention to the expansion of students’ knowledge and the improvement of their practical abilities at the same time, we are committed to cultivating innovative talents of Environmental Science with high quality and practical ability. Since its establishment and enrollment in 2002, this major has gone through 14 years of teaching and research. Great progress has been made in faculty, personnel training, software and hardware construction of teaching and research, etc.

Faculty

After years of hard work, the environmental science major has formed a teaching team with a reasonable age, professional title and knowledge structure, and with a spirit of cooperation and innovation. The team has 25 full-time teachers, including 4 professors (1 special professor), 20 associate professors (11 of whom are appointed by school), 4 Doctoral Supervisors, and 17 Master Supervisors. Members under 45 years old account for more than 80% and all have a Ph.D degree. Among them, 8 had the experience of visiting overseas for study and academic exchanges, 1 teacher won the provincial teaching teacher award, 2 teachers were the academic leaders of the Education Department of Henan Province, and 2 teachers won the title of "Young College Key Teachers in Henan Province".

Student cultivating

In Henan Province, its average score of enrollment is higher than other professions of our school in Henan province. The average rate of admission is 88%.The average enrollment of undergraduates each year is about 45, and the number of graduates is 4-5.At present, the environmental science major has trained more than 600 undergraduates, more than 40 graduates. These graduates are distributed in various fields related to environmental protection and contribute their own efforts to environmental governance and improvement. The Department of Environmental Sciences also attaches great importance to the cultivation of students’ innovative ability and comprehensive quality. It supports and encourages students to actively participate in college students' innovation and entrepreneurship activities, "Challenge Cup", "Creation Youth" entrepreneurial competition, "World Earth Day" and other practical activities. Over the past five years, more than 20 national and Provincial College Students' innovation and entrepreneurship activities have been approved and completed.

Laboratory Construction

At present, our major has already set up the laboratory of teaching and scientific research backed up with the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Environment and Designing. Furthermore, “Laboratory for Environmental Change and Preventive Treatment of Soil and Water Pollution” which is the open laboratory of key disciplines in universities of Henan Province, “The Centre for Soil Heavy Metal Pollution Control and Reinforcement Work in Henan Province”, “The Centre for Environment and Health Engineering”, etc. serve as the platforms for the laboratory of teaching and scientific research. The area of the laboratory rooms is 740 square meters. There are more than 30 sets of instruments and equipment, and each one is worth over 50 grand RMB. The total value is 17.16 million RMB. Meanwhile, more than 10 sets of advanced large-scale equipment and instruments have been purchased and installed, such as Gas Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (Mat 253), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS, Thermo fisher X2), etc.. Such good experimental conditions provide a good teaching platform to cultivate environmental professionals.

Internship Practice Base Construction

A batch of practical teaching bases have been established one after another, such as Practical Teaching Base of Natural Environment of Songshan, Practical Teaching Base of Kaifeng Environmental Protection, Practical Teaching Base of Jiyuan Environmental Protection, Practical Teaching Base of Pingdingshan Environmental Protection, Kaifeng Saving and Renewable Energy Company, The industry Cluster Agglomeration Zone of Nanzhao County in Nanyang, Baotianman Nature Reserve, etc.. The construction of those bases provides rich and useful practical teaching for students and lays foundation for them to be engaged in related work in the future.

Research and Reform of Education and Teaching

In recent years, our teaching team is actively committed to teaching reform and scientific research with remarkable results. They have undertaken a number of provincial and school-level teaching research and reform projects and published many papers on educational and teaching reform. Moreover, the provincial and school-level top quality courses, MOOCs courses and the construction of specialized teaching materials are carried out actively. Besides, there are several self-compiled teaching materials for our major, which includes Environmental Management Science, Environmental Impact Assessment Science, Environmental Economics, Treatment and Disposal of Solid Waste, etc.. Thereinto, Modern Physical Geography edited by Professor Ma Jianhua is the curriculum material for the 21st century. Some courses like a course of Professor Ma, Physical Geography, were selected as the top-quality courses in Henan Province. Courses including Physical Geography, and Environmental Geology, etc. were selected into MOOCs courses construction of Henan University. Some of the courses like “Global Changes” have already set up the bilingual teaching model. Not only that, “Global Changes” has also been awarded as the bilingual demonstration course in Henan Province.

Scientific Research

At the same time of paying conscientious attention to basic teaching, teachers of Environmental Science pay close attention to frontier problems and development trends in the field of environmental science at home and abroad. They devote themselves to scientific research with promoting teaching by scientific research and creating platforms for improving students’ practical abilities and academic level. Not only that, teachers of Environmental Science preside over more than 50 projects which are above the provincial level projects, including 15 projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, over 30 provincial and ministerial scientific projects and more than 10 projects of education reform. Over 100 papers were published in SCI, EI and core journals. Good capabilities of scientific research and scientific experiences of specialized teachers play an important role in the cultivation of students’ knowledge and comprehensive abilities. To directly apply the achievements and empirical materials of scientific researches to classroom teaching can effectively stimulate students’ interest in learning and scientific research and cultivate their practical abilities and accomplishment of scientific research.

Outlook

It’s a long and arduous task to improve and maintain the environment quality. Students and faculty members of DES (Department of Environmental Science) are willing to brave the wind and the rain and forge ahead. We will strive for the “blue sky”, “white clouds”, “verdant hills” and “clear water” we have!