Civil and Environmental Engineering

A 75-foot tall metal sculpture of a flower, standing in the middle of a park.

Floralis Genérica, a 75-foot tall solar sculpture in Buenos Aires' Plaza de las Naciones Unidas. The petals open each morning, turn to follow the sun, and close each evening, in an act of engineering and nature imitating each other. (Photo courtesy of Stuck in Customs on Flickr.)

Featured Courses

The mission of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) is to provide human services in a sustainable way, balancing society’s need for long-term infrastructure with environmental health. This positions CEE to play an essential role in solving some of the most pressing problems facing humanity, including concerns about energy and the environment.

Research domains

Research in CEE falls into six overlapping, cross-disciplinary focus areas:

Smarter Cities
Ecosystems
Coastal Zone
Water and Energy Resources
Chemicals in the Environment
Materials

Undergraduate Education

We offer two accredited majors, in civil engineering (1C) and in environmental engineering science (1E), as well as a flexible unaccredited program (1A). The core curriculum introduces principles of earth systems and sustainability, provides a grounding in the fundamentals of solid and fluid mechanics, and incorporates project-based labs that teach the processes and skills involved in planning, design and construction. The curriculum provides students with both a rigorous foundation in theory and the practical, hands-on experience they need to succeed in the field.

Graduate Education

At the graduate level, CEE runs two very successful professional engineering programs, the Master of Engineering and the interdepartmental Master of Science in Transportation. Both attract excellent applicants from leading U.S. and international universities. These programs provide a critical link between the department and companies and governmental agencies concerned with the environment, transportation and infrastructure. About one-third of our doctoral graduates go on to accept faculty positions, making our training of doctoral candidates in a wide range of research areas a point of pride. Our scholars regularly produce high-quality, impactful research and go on to shape the intellectual future of the field.