Alum guides future of environmental engineering master’s program

Jeffrey Starke (MSEnvE ‘01, PhDEnvE ‘11) is the new program director for the master of engineering in environmental engineering degree program.
 
Starke is taking the role after leading the Master’s Across Boundaries program at Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering. Before that, he served in the U.S. Army for 25 years, seven of which he was an academy professor with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. During his time in the Army, Starke worked on several international projects, including building a biogas digester in Uganda with five students.
 
Now Starke is bringing that wealth of experience to leading the master of engineering in environmental engineering program. As an online program, it connects students from across the country and even internationally. Starke says that’s an opportunity to emphasize how different regions may have different needs, but core principles of environmental engineering carry across communities, big or small. 
 
Starke says the program will position its students to tackle new and developing environmental engineering challenges, from monitoring disease outbreaks through wastewater to managing and mitigating toxic “forever chemicals” that are spreading through our soil, air and water.
 
“When I took my courses here, I remember some were designed so realistically that it felt like I was in a consulting firm,” he says. “We want to keep pushing that high level of quality to help students gain the knowledge that’s going to be required for these incredibly complex challenges.”
 
The program is “100% online but never alone,” with synchronous components that allow students to interact in real time with classmates and professors or instructors. It has a longstanding tradition of bringing in students who do not come from purely engineering backgrounds, and Starke hopes to continue building upon that legacy.
 
“We can fill in the gaps of knowledge they have in their undergrad experience and help them grow into engineers,” he says. “If someone demonstrates that they’re serious about their academics, then we can be that bridge for them to grow and achieve goals they might not have seen a way to do otherwise.”