As a recently created program, environmental engineering science has not yet been incorporated into the terminology found among environmentally focused professionals.  In the few engineering colleges that offer this major, the curriculum shares more classes in common with environmental engineering than it does with environmental science.  Typically, EES students follow a similar course curriculum with environmental engineers until their fields diverge during the last year of college.  The majority of the environmental engineering students must take classes designed to connect their knowledge of the environment to modern building materials and construction methods.  This is meant to direct the environmental engineer into a field where they will more than likely assist in building treatment facilities, preparing environmental impact assessments or helping to mitigate air pollution from specific point sources.
Meanwhile, the environmental engineering science student will choose a direction for their career.  From the range of electives they have to choose from, these students can move into a fields such as the design of nuclear storage facilities, bacterial bioreactors or environmental policies. These students combine the practical design background of an engineer with the detailed theory found in many of the biological and physical sciences.