Mission and Vision
Our Mission
The mission of the Department of Engineering Systems and Environment is to educate future leaders, and to create and disseminate knowledge that advances the design and operation of complex, sustainable engineering systems integrating people and technology to improve health, security, quality of life, and environmental quality in society.
Implementing Our Mission
The department achieves this mission through a collaborative team of scholars with the wide background and knowledge in the core areas needed for the advancement of engineering systems, which include: systems analysis, simulation and modeling, human systems engineering, environmental transport and reactions, automation and robotics, large scale sensing and data analytics. In addition, the team includes scholars with deep domain knowledge in engineering systems critical to quality of life, including infrastructure systems, healthcare systems, defense systems, and environmental systems. These scholars work together to deliver modern, innovative degree programs in systems engineering and civil and environmental engineering guided by the departments core focus on complex engineering systems.
Our Vision
The Department of Engineering Systems and Environment (ESE) at the University of Virginia was created in 2018 to address some of society’s most difficult engineering problems. The new department strategically integrates the CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING and SYSTEMS ENGINEERING programs, placing it in a preeminent position of field leadership in the study of human- and socio-technical engineering. We create knowledge and innovations that will help solve engineering’s “Grand Challenges.” These problems are often emergent, large-scale and complex, such that decision- makers have historically been poorly equipped to achieve outcomes that enhance long-term human well-being in a rapidly changing world. We believe that a better future is possible for all by training the leaders of tomorrow in a collaborative academic environment that encourages excellence in the classroom, laboratory and field.