How do they match: Industrial Ecologists

  • Industrial Green Systems Designer
  • Natural Resources Engineer
  • Sustainable Systems Analyst

  • Apply principles and processes of natural ecosystems to develop models for efficient industrial systems. Use knowledge from the physical and social sciences to maximize effective use of natural resources in the production and use of goods and services. Examine societal issues and their relationship with both technical systems and the environment.

  • Analyze changes designed to improve the environmental performance of complex systems and avoid unintended negative consequences.
  • Apply new or existing research about natural ecosystems to understand economic and industrial systems in the context of the environment.
  • Conduct analyses to determine the maximum amount of work that can be accomplished for a given amount of energy in a system, such as industrial production systems and waste treatment systems.
  • Create complex and dynamic mathematical models of population, community, or ecological systems.
  • Examine societal issues and their relationship with both technical systems and the environment.
  • Identify environmental impacts caused by products, systems, or projects.
  • Identify or compare the component parts or relationships between the parts of industrial, social, and natural systems.
  • Promote use of environmental management systems (EMS) to reduce waste or to improve environmentally sound use of natural resources.
  • Redesign linear, or open-loop, systems into cyclical, or closed-loop, systems so that waste products become inputs for new processes, modeling natural ecosystems.