How do they match: Industrial Ecologists

  • Industrial Green Systems Designer
  • 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.
  • Conduct environmental sustainability assessments, using material flow analysis (MFA) or substance flow analysis (SFA) techniques.
  • 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.
  • Prepare technical and research reports, such as environmental impact reports, and communicate the results to individuals in industry, government, or the general public.
  • Promote use of environmental management systems (EMS) to reduce waste or to improve environmentally sound use of natural resources.
  • Provide industrial managers with technical materials on environmental issues, regulatory guidelines, or compliance actions.
  • Redesign linear, or open-loop, systems into cyclical, or closed-loop, systems so that waste products become inputs for new processes, modeling natural ecosystems.

  • Develop technical or scientific databases.
  • Prepare research or technical reports on environmental issues.