College of Ecology and Environment

The College of Ecology and Environment of Chengdu University of Technology was established in 2017. But it originated from the former Departments of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology which were established in 1956 when the University was founded. It began to recruit students for the associate program of Environmental Monitoring and Protection and the undergraduate program of Environmental Engineering respectively in 1994 and 1999. In 2017, the University's Department of Environmental Science and Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering together with part of the Geochemistry specialty were combined and formed the College of Environment, renamed College of Ecology and Environment in 2019. Composed of Departments of Environmental Engineering, Eco-Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science and Engineering, and Biological Engineering, the College offers corresponding undergraduate programs. It's been approved to issue master's degrees in Environmental Science and Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Biological Engineering, and doctor’s degrees in Resources and Environment (Doctor’s Degrees of Engineering), Environmental Geology, Geochemistry, and Groundwater Science and Engineering( joint recruitment included). The undergraduate program of Environmental Engineering, a key subject of Sichuan Province and a brand-name of the University, and the program of Biological Engineering have been included in the Excellent Engineers Education and Training Program of Sichuan Province. The program of Environmental Science and Ecology was selected for the Province's First-Class Disciplines Project in 2017 and entered the top 1% of the ESI global ranking in March 2022.

The College has based itself on multiple state, ministerial and provincial scientific research platforms, including the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, the State Key Laboratory of Coordinated Control of Environmental Protection and Water and Soil Pollution and Joint Restoration, the Center of Materials and Technical Engineering for the Ecological Restoration of Vulnerable Geological Environment of Sichuan Province, and the Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection, Groundwater Pollution Prevention and Resource Security of Sichuan Province, and set up several field experimental and observing stations in the state protected area of Jiuzhaigou Valley, Ruoergai Wetland, Shergyla Mountain and other places.

For the efficient implementation of teaching and scientific research, the College has been continuously improving and optimizing its faculty team in terms of personnel quantity, quality and structure. Currently, it has a faculty of 75, including 60 full-time lecturers. Among them, 30 are professors, 18 are associate professors, and 19 are doctoral supervisors. Of the full-time lecturers, 95% possess a doctor’s degree and 27 have an overseas academic experience. With an average age of 38 years, this is a well-structured team of professionals in aspects of age, educational background, and position title. In the team, 1 is granted the Special Government Allowances of the State Council, 1 is included in the state-level Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talents Project, 1 is an expatriate professor from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 1 is titled the National Outstanding Mid-aged Expert, 1 is awarded the National Inventive and Innovative Person Award, 1 is included in the Sichuan Ten-Thousand Talent Project, 1 is a provincial academic and technological leader plus 12 reserve candidates, 1 is a Xiangjiang Scholar, 8 are selected for the Sichuan Thousand Talent Project, 1 is a winner of the Huang Jiqing Youth Geological Science & Technology Award, 1 is a gold prize winner of the Young Scientist Award of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, and 1 is a distinguished expert in environmental protection from Chengdu's "New Think Tank". The College has received many honors including 1 First Prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award, 1 Gold Prize of China Patent Award, 1 piece of Gold Medal of China Design Contribution Award, 1 of the Dragon Design Foundation Awards, and 12 first prizes of provincial and ministerial awards.

By now, it has a total of 548 graduates from undergraduate programs and 137 graduates from postgraduate programs, delivering a large number of talents to colleges and universities, scientific institutions, government departments and businesses. Among them, some are state, ministerial and provincial cadres, top youth talents in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and senior executives in businesses etc. Currently, there are 611 undergraduates and 348 master's students registered in the College.

The College has long been committed to studies of eco-environmental conservation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the geologically fragile areas to its east and of groundwater protection and pollution prevention. It has been developing the ecological and environmental programs on a characteristic path of its own, sticking to science and technology in parallel, relying on geological proximity, based on the western region of China and highlighting strengths in geoscience. During its service to promote environment protection and economic development in the southwest region, the College engaged in the revision of the national Technical Guidelines for Groundwater Environmental Impact Assessment and the formulation of Sichuan Province's version of the Soil Pollution Prevention Action Plan; it also took part in the research of other national major projects involving the restoration of ecological environment and geological environment in the mines that was damaged during the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the construction of Sichuan-Tibet Railway and the earthquakes of Wenchuan and Jiuzhaigou Valley. Since 2017, it has got 95 new scientific research programs including 1 state key R&D program, 18 programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China (1 key program, 9 general programs and 8 youth programs), and more than 40 ministerial and provincial programs, with an aggregate research fund of RMB 132 million, published 210 theses including 105 SCI-indexed ones, 9 EI-indexed ones and 4 SSCI-indexed ones, obtained 25 invention patents, and won 1 First Prize of the Invention and Achievement Award of the China Association of Inventions, the Gold Prize of the Young Scientist Award of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, 2 Second Prizes of the Science and Technology Progress Award of Sichuan Province, and 3 prizes of National Environmental Protection Science and Technology Award.

Over the years, the College has been active in foreign exchange and cooperation and established long-term relationships with more than 20 world-class universities and institutions in more than 10 countries and regions, including Georgetown University, University of California, Los Angeles, The Pennsylvania State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Connecticut, University of Florida, and University of Wisconsin System in the US, University of Aberdeen and the University of Manchester in the UK, Max Planck Society in Germany, University of Alberta in Canada, The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Hokkaido University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Waseda University and University of Tsukuba in Japan, Newcastle University in Australia and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Every year it invites more than ten internationally renowned professors to the University for exchange, sends several postgraduates abroad for joint training program, and receives international students and visiting scholars from other countries.