Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
PhD in Environmental Engineering / PhD in Geosciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (Teaching/Research Assistantship)
Funding Package: Full tuition fellowship (covers 9 credit hours/semester) + monthly living stipend (~$25,000–$29,000/yr) + health insurance subsidy covered via Graduate Tuition Fellowship (GTF) and departmental GRA/GTA appointments.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 15 (Fall Priority)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.5
MS in Environmental Engineering (Thesis Track)
Eligible for Research Assistantships (GTF + Stipend)
Funding Reality: Thesis MS students supported on sponsored research projects receive GTF tuition coverage and GRA stipends.
Application Deadline: February 1
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (2 Profiles)
Prof. Hanadi S. Rifai
John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Associate Dean
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She tracks how catastrophic hurricane floodwaters flush toxic industrial chemicals and cancer-causing 'forever chemicals' out of refinery waste pits and into city streets and coastal bays.
Core Research Topics: Groundwater contaminant fate and transport, PFAS water contamination, urban storm runoff, hurricane flood contaminant mobilization, environmental modeling.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Investigating how catastrophic hurricane storm surges and urban flash flooding mobilize toxic industrial chemicals, dioxins, and PFAS from Superfund sites and refinery corridors into Galveston Bay and residential communities (NSF / EPA 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Groundwater transport models (MODFLOW, RT3D), hydrodynamic storm surge modeling (ADCIRC), GIS spatial risk analysis, LC-MS/MS, water sampling.
Recruiting Context: Pioneer of groundwater modeling (co-developer of BIOPLUME) and Gulf Coast contaminant resilience.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood StudiesEnvironmental PollutionWater QualityGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in flood-mobilized contaminant transport, PFAS fate modeling, and groundwater hydrology in the Rifai Research Group."
Prof. Guoquan Wang
Professor of Geophysics and Director, UH Coastal Center Geodesy Lab
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He uses ultra-precise satellite radar and GPS ground stations to detect millimeters of land sinking beneath coastal cities due to groundwater pumping, showing which neighborhoods are sinking fastest into flood zones.
Core Research Topics: GPS/GNSS geodesy, land subsidence monitoring, coastal flooding vulnerability, InSAR satellite radar, groundwater extraction sinking.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Operating dense permanent GPS networks and satellite InSAR time-series across Houston, Mexico City, and the Gulf Coast to map millimeter-scale land subsidence caused by excessive groundwater pumping and calculate worsening flood inundation risks (USGS / NSF 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: High-precision GPS/GNSS data processing (GAMIT/GLOBK), InSAR radar interferometry, Python, GMT, GIS topographic differencing.
Recruiting Context: World authority on high-precision GPS geodesy and urban land subsidence monitoring.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISFlood StudiesGeodesy & Geoscience
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in GPS/InSAR land subsidence monitoring, groundwater overdraft deformation, and coastal flood risk modeling in your geodesy lab."