In the 1920’s and 1970’s the United States government took acres of land, usually far away from the normal population carry out experiments and test various equipments. After the war was over, and with no immediate use of weapons and the properties/lands acquired the properties languished and was abandoned. This is mainly because the Department of Defense do not necessarily like the spending of money without a mission.

During a presentation I had on Environmental pollution for the United States Navy from a profound engineer, I learned some additional and useful information that will be very much put into play after my college schooling. This information was titled “Career opportunities and disciplines”.

In other to develop soundly during ones career in engineering you have to be ready to be dynamic, that is, you should be able to switch to different fields at any given time. One has to be dynamic because after graduation, you may not really go on to partake in what you think you will do. This is because jobs changes frequently due to political changes, social and technological changes.

For career development, you need to have some certain points to guide you, these are:

• Finding a path
• Flexibility
• Find your core strengths
• Determine your weakness and figure how to compensate them
• Keep training after graduation
• Get certification
• Market your skills
• Be a team player
• Develop “the brand called you”

With these guidelines known to you, there are various career opportunities which are available to engineers and I shall name a few and further state the expertise needed.

• Flood Management;
• Ground water treatment – Geology, Hydro geology,soil science, engineering.
• Ports and Harbor – G.P.S instrumentation mapping, chemistry and toxicology.

• Site Investigation – Geologists, Hydro geology, engineer, chemist.
• Restoration and water management – engineering, regulatory permitting, hydrology.
• Mines and Minerals;

• Marketing and business management – engineering, business development, marketing, business management.
• Monitoring and compliance – Vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, regulatory permits.
• Sustainability – Planning, design and construction management.
• Policy and Law – Team building skills, policy and regulatory programs, infinite patience.

• Construction management – Design planning, construction management.

Switching attentions back to the Navy installation restoration program done in New England, the government took lands in the 1920’s and 1970’s for the Department of Defense. At that particular period, military bases put away all useless materials, be it toxic or not into river and were not subject to environmental law until the 1980’s when the “right to know” act and CERCLA was enabled.