The Department of Civil Engineering has many well-equipped laboratories with active research programs in most areas. The research programs provide financial assistance for graduate students. In addition, financial assistance is available through teaching assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships. Information about the graduate program in Civil Engineering can be obtained by writing the Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Civil Engineering
Admission Requirements
In addition to satisfying general Graduate School and College of Engineering admissions requirements (a GPA of 2.8/4.0 on all undergraduate work is normally required), applicants for admission to the M.S.C.E., and Ph.D. degree programs in Civil Engineering must have been awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from an engineering program accredited by the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). This requirement may be waived for applicants who have been awarded bachelor’s degrees other than in engineering or from unaccredited engineering programs (including those offered by foreign institutions) if the applicant has received an acceptable score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Students with undergraduate majors not in engineering must also take a certain number of undergraduate remedial courses. Neither the M.S.C.E. degree nor the Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering will be conferred unless the candidates have successfully completed, during their undergraduate and/or graduate careers, at least one basic course in at least four of the following seven areas: civil engineering materials, construction engineering and management, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics and water resources engineering, structural engineering, and transportation engineering.
Another admission requirement is a minimum combined verbal and quantitative scores of GRE as follows: 1000 (300: New GRE), and 1100 (330: New GRE) for Master’s and Ph.D. degree applicants, respectively. Scores on the analytical portion are not considered. Foreign applicants whose native language is other than English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and score at least 550 (Computer Based TOEFL: 213, iBT TOEFL: 80).
Degree Requirements
For the Master of Science in Civil Engineering (M.S.C.E.) degree Plan A, 30 credit hours of course work, which can include zero to six credits of CE 768 , and a thesis are required to fulfill degree requirements. For the Master of Science in Civil Engineering (M.S.C.E.) degree Plan B, a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate work are required, including at least 3 credit hours of independent work. The requirement for independent work may be satisfied by either taking an approved curriculum of courses which contain integral independent study components totaling a minimum of 3 credit hours, or by completing at least three credit hours of CE 790 and/or CE 791 .
Students who wish to complete the independent work requirement by choosing from an approved curriculum of courses containing integral independent study components, shall present a plan of study which satisfies this requirement, and all other Graduate School requirements, to the Director of Graduate Studies for approval before the completion of 12 credit hours of graduate course work. Preferably this should occur no later than the end of the first semester of graduate residence. The requirement for all independent work must be satisfied under the direction of one faculty member (for students choosing a CE 790 and/or CE 791 ), or several faculty members (for students following an approved curriculum of courses), who will assign, monitor, and evaluate the student’s work as part of the specific course. Written reports will usually represent the work product to be evaluated.
All students must pass a Final Examination as specified by the rules of the Graduate School. The contents and style of the examination, and the evaluation of the student’s performance, are the responsibility of a Graduate Faculty committee appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School.
There is no language requirement for the M.S.C.E. degree in Civil Engineering.
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