Also called: Fish Ladder Engineer, Hydraulic Engineer (Fisheries)
Designs fish ladders, culverts, and dam removals so salmon and other fish can migrate past human-made barriers.
You model how water flows through a culvert under a highway and redesign it so young salmon can swim through. Then you visit construction sites in rubber boots to make sure it's built right.
Civil engineers overall.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 5 years after high school. Bachelor's in civil engineering (often master's in water resources) plus PE license.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 5% over 10 years). Civil engineers; large federal culvert-replacement funding.
Low risk for 10 years. AI speeds hydraulic modeling; designing ladders and culverts and signing off as a PE stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Earth science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2051.
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