Minimum Degree Requirements
All degree requirements must be completed within five years of the beginning of graduate study. Under extraordinary circumstances, a written request for an extension of this time limit may be submitted to the student’s department for approval by the Department Chair and the Vice Dean. A minimum grade-point average of 2.5 is required for the M.S. degree.
The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics offers a graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Science (M.S.) in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. The Master of Science degree is awarded upon the satisfactory completion of a minimum of 30 points of credit of approved graduate study extending over at least two semesters. There is no requirement for an M.S. thesis, but students have the option to work for a total of up to 6 points of credit on independent research that can be considered as the equivalent of an M.S. thesis.
The M.S. program is very flexible and includes concentrations in construction engineering and management, engineering mechanics, environmental engineering and water resources, forensic (structural) engineering, geotechnical engineering, and structural engineering, or combinations of these areas. There are no required courses at the M.S. level. Every student is assigned a faculty member as an academic advisor. Student and advisor meet regularly and plan together the sequence of courses that best fit the student’s interests. While a suitable M.S. program will necessarily entail some degree of specialization, the program of study established between the student and the advisor should be well balanced, including basic subjects of broad importance as well as theory and applications. Students may take graduate-level courses from across various concentrations within the department.
An M.S. applicant who lacks essential undergraduate training in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics will be required to strengthen or supplement her/his undergraduate work by taking certain undergraduate courses before proceeding to graduate study. No graduate credit (that is, credit toward the minimum 30-point requirement for the Master of Science degree) will be allowed for such subjects. As part of the application review process, the department determines if an applicant would be required to complete undergraduate courses.
Concentrations
By selecting technical electives, students may focus on one of several areas of concentration or prepare for future endeavors such as architecture. Some typical concentrations are below:
Construction engineering and management: Capital facility planning and financing, strategic management, managing engineering and construction processes, construction industry law, construction techniques, managing civil infrastructure systems, civil engineering and construction entrepreneurship
Environmental engineering and water resources: Transport of water-borne substances, hydrology, sediment transport, hydrogeology, and geoenvironmental design of containment systems
Engineering Mechanics: The science that deals with the behavior of solids and fluids when subjected to loads, displacements or a range of other boundary conditions.
Forensic (Structural) Engineering: Investigation and determination of the causes of structural failures of buildings, bridges and other constructed facilities
Geotechnical engineering: Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Earth Retaining Structures, Slopes, and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
Structural engineering: Applications to steel and concrete buildings, bridges, and other structures