Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Program
Civil and Environmental Engineering Requirements
Upon enrollment in our department, students begin taking courses which will meet the General Education Curriculum (GEC) requirements. The GEC is a body of courses designed to ensure that each student becomes acquainted with a liberal education of the humanistic areas of academic study. To meet the GEC requirements, credit hours must be completed from the following areas of academic study: writing and communication skills; quantitative and logical skills; social diversity in the United States; social sciences; arts and humanities; and philosophical and historical studies.
Once a student has entered the civil and environmental engineering major, they will begin taking our department's core curriculum classes. Civil and environmental engineering core curriculum courses consist of CE400.01, 400.03, 405, 406, 413, 431, 451, 460, 516, 520, 535, 540, 554, 570, 576; ME500 and ECE300.
The remainder of your coursework include 28 hours of Technical Electives and 41 hours of General Education, for a total of 200 credit hours required to reach graduation. Technical electives are chosen from one of these major areas: construction engineering, environmental engineering, generalist, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics engineering, remote sensing, structural engineering, and transportation engineering. Each of these areas are briefly described, as follows:
Construction Engineering
Nearly all Civil Engineering projects the management skills of a construction engineer. The administration, scheduling and erection of constructed facilities is the responsibility of construction engineers. Construction engineers analyze constructed facilities based on function and economics; they determine the construction schedule, erection methods and equipment used, and they estimate the total labor and material costs of the constructed facility. Proper quality control procedures used by engineers during construction will increase performance and productivity and reduce the risk of construction failure and deficiencies.
Environmental Engineering
Environmental engineering is the application of engineering principles and standards, under constraint, for the sustainabilty and enhancement of the quality of the environment, and for the enhancement and protection of public works, health and welfare. Environmental engineers deal with the development, control, and management of our water resources. They predict surface runoff from precipitation, stream flow, droughts and floods, groundwater supplies, and future water demands. Environmental engineers determine reservoir sites from water supply, flood control, and hydroelectric power plants. They plan river and coastal developments to control damage and improve navigation. Environmental engineers focus on important topics, such as environmental chemistry and biology, environmental hydrology, environmental hydraulics and pneumatics, water treatment, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, air pollution control, hazardous waste management and risk assessment, noise pollution and control, and environmental quality modeling. The ABET-accredited environmental engineering program inside our department is ranked 6th in the nation.
Generalist
This is an option for those students who wish to maintain a diverse course of study across each of the major areas described herewith. Topics may typically include constructed facilities design, structural engineering analysis and design, construction management, and environmental impact and systems analysis.
Geotechnical Engineering
Geotechnical engineers analyze the properties of soil and rock that affect the performance of buildings, dams, pavements, and underground facilities that support above ground constructed facilities and public works. Geotechnical engineers evaluate the potential settlement of buildings, the stability of slopes and earth fills, the effect of earthquakes, and the seepage of ground water. Geotechnical engineers analyze, design, and construct earth systems, such as dams, foundations for high-rise buildings, and highway and railway tunnels. These engineers also analyze soils used in containment of hazardous wastes and off-shore oil platforms. Often geotechnical engineers are involved in the entire phase of constructed facility or public works project, from field investigations to computer-aided design to construction operations.
Hydraulics Engineering
Hydraulics engineers deal with the development, control, and management of our water resources. They predict surface runoff from precipitation, streamflow, droughts, floods, groundwater supplies, and future water demands. Hydraulics engineers also determine reservoir sites for enhanced water supply, for maximum flood control, and for hydroelectric power plants. Such engineers plan river and coastal developments to control lake and river erosions and improve maritime navigation.
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is a group of spatial data technologies used to measure and inventory land and water resources. It embodies traditional surveying and geomatics engineering disciplines of data analysis, photogrammetry, and surveying, as well as emerging areas, such as multi-spectral sensor measurements, image processing, geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) technologies. Remote sensing is used in a variety of civil and environmental engineering applications, including site selection, resource mapping, water quality and quantity monitoring, geotechnical measurements, and non-destructive testing. Remote sensing studies provide additional background in newer spatial data and informational technologies to enable the student to pursue civil and environmental ngineering curricula that complement more traditional major/minor options of coursework.
Structural Engineering
Structural engineers plan, analyze, and design a wide variety of large-scale structures including bridges, high-rise buildings, concrete dams, transmission towers, and special offshore and space structures. Structural engineers incorporate various materials in their designs, such steel, concrete, timber, and composites, which also requires these engineers to fully understand the behavior characteristics under loads as well as the mechanical, thermal, and elastic properties associated with these materials. Structural engineers also estimate strength as well as deflection and acceleration response of structures under extreme environmental factors, such as wind, earthquakes, temperature, vibrations, and in a post 9/11 world, structural engineers are currently examining the survivability of structures under extreme impact and explosion, so that evacation of inhabitants is possible in a safe and secure manner.
Transportation Engineering
Transportation engineers track, analyze and design all modes of (land, sea, and air) transportation systems, and they study the various ways operators and end-users decide within the nation's transportation enterprise. The challenge of transportation engineers is to plan, design, operate, and manage the nation's transporation systems such that the various modes will provide safe, security, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical and seamless movement of people, ideas, goods, and things. Highways and streets, mass transit systems, railroads, airports, waterways, and pipelines are all part of the nation's transportation system. Problems addressed by transportation engineers include traffic congestion, transportation decision-making of operators and end-users, economical transportation planning and design, high-speed rail systems, and efficient maintenance of highway and airport pavements. Modern transportation engineers must understand the latest advances in information and communications technologies in order to develop and advance the nation's intelligent transportation system and transportation security priorities. In achieving this, transportation engineers much understand economic, political, and social factors of these national transportation priorities.