As California turns the corner economically, it needs to rapidly re-utilize its military bases that are closing and re-train displaced workers. To help achieve that goal, UC Davis engineering professors have been giving displaced workers at one military base a crash course on environmental cleanup. Home to the Navy since 1854, Mare Island Naval Shipyard will close in less than two years, but cleaning the island of toxic substances will take far longer. Some 60 engineers are taking courses that include standard subjects such as hydrology, integrated waste management and water quality management, and some will involve special design projects unique to cleaning up the base's fuel-contaminated soils. "It's a major commitment as well as an experiment," says Daniel Chang, professor of environmental engineering and coordinator of the project. "Promoting economic development through the transformation from a defense industry to one of new techniques in environmental assessment and remediation is a good step for California," says Chang.