Civil & Environmental Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering has both MS and PhD degree offerings.
With over four distinct and competitive areas of study, students choose a research area to focus on and that area's renown faculty to work with in their studies.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Environmental Engineers work to improve public health and quality of life, while protecting and restoring environmental systems. These engineers focus on drinking water treatment, wastewater reclamation, air pollution control, solid waste management and environmental remediation.
Research active professors in this area:
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Geotechnical Engineering is the application of Civil Engineering technology to some aspect of the earth, usually the soil and rock found on or near the surface. Infrastructure and natural geologic landforms and hazards designed and/or analyzed by Geotechnical Engineers include foundations for many types of structures (for example, buildings, bridges, dams, and roadways), natural and human-made slopes, retaining walls, tunnels, earthen dams and levees, highway embankments, earthquakes, liquefaction and lateral spread, ground contamination, ground improvement and stabilization, lightweight embankment materials, and re-use of construction and other waste materials. Sub-disciplines and related disciplines include Soil Mechanics, Rock Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Geoenvironmental Engineering, and Geological Engineering.
Research active professors in this area:
| Core Courses | ||
|---|---|---|
| As part of the 15 CORE Credits, structural and geotechnical students should take at least one course from each one of the following areas. The requirement can be partially or fully waived if the student passed at least one of the courses (or equivalent) in undergraduate studies. The waiver will not reduce the minimum credit course requirements for the MS degree. | ||
| Structures Area ----------------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 6210 | Structural Analysis II | |
| CVEEN 6220 | Concrete Design II | |
| CVEEN 6230 | Steel Design II | |
| CVEEN 6250 | Structural Dynamics | |
| Geotechnics Area --------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 5305 | Intro to Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6310 | Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6330 | Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering | |
| Core Courses ---------------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 5305 * | Intro to Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6210 * | Structural Analysis II | |
| CVEEN 6220 * | Concrete Design II | |
| CVEEN 6230 * | Steel Design II | |
| CVEEN 6240 | Masonry/ Timber Design | |
| CVEEN 6250 * | Structural Dynamics | |
| CVEEN 6270 | Computer Aided Structural Analysis | |
| CVEEN 6310 * | Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6330 * | Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6340 | Advanced Geotechnical Testing | |
| CVEEN 6510 | Highway Design | |
| CVEEN 6525 | Highway and Traffic Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6570 | Pavement Design | |
| CVEEN 6790 | Advanced Computer Aided Construction | |
| CVEEN 7225 | Prestressed Concrete Design | |
| CVEEN 7235 | Bridge Design | |
| CVEEN 7250 | Structural Earthquake Engineering | |
| CVEEN 7255 | Advanced Dynamics of Structures | |
| CVEEN 7310 | Advanced Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 7360 | Advanced Soil Mechanics | |
| CVEEN 7450 | Carbon Capture and Store Transportation | |
| CVEEN 7520 | Transportation Safety | |
| CVEEN 7560 | Advanced Construction Materials | |
| * Indicates the course is listed above | ||
| (Reviewed: August 2022 by group.) | ||
| Elective Courses | |
|---|---|
| CVEEN 6225 | Concrete Material Science |
| CVEEN 6710 | Cost Estimating and Proposal Writing |
| CVEEN 6720 | Project Scheduling |
| CVEEN 6730 | Project Management and Contract Administration |
| CVEEN 6750 | Engineering Law & Contracts |
| CVEEN 6920 | Special Topics in Geotechnics, Materials, Structures |
| CS 6300 | Artificial Intelligence |
| CS 6610 | Interactive Computer Graphics |
| GEO 5075 | Introduction to Geological Engineering |
| GEO 5150 | Geological Engineering Design |
| GEO 5200 | Depositional Environments |
| GEO 5210 | Seismology I: Tectonophysics and Elastic Waves |
| GEO 5220 | Seismology II: Seismic Imaging |
| GEO 5320 | Signal Processing in the Geosciences |
| GEO 6330 | Seismic Sources |
| GEO 6350 | Groundwater |
| GEO 6360 | Fluid Mechanics of Earth Materials |
| GEO 6370 | Environmental Partitioning for Engineers and Scientists |
| GEO 6660 | Geochemistry |
| MATH 6420 | Partial Differential Equations |
| MATH 6610 | Analysis of Numerical Methods I |
| MATH 6620 | Analysis of Numerical Methods II |
| ME EN 6300 | Advanced Mechanics of Materials |
| ME EN 6400 | Vibrations |
| ME EN 6510 | Applied Finite Element Analysis |
| ME EN 6520 | Mechanics of Composite Materials |
| ME EN 7530 | Fracture and Fatigue |
| ME EN 7540 | Advanced Finite Elements |
| ME EN 7550 | Computational Constitutive Modeling |
| MET E 6250 | Principles and Practice of X-ray Diffraction Analysis |
| MET E 6300 | Alloy and Material Design |
| MET E 6450 | Mechanical Behavior of Metals |
| MET E 6600 | Corrosion Fundamentals and Minimization |
| MG EN 5150 | Mechanics of Materials |
| MG EN 5270 | Landslides and Slope Stability |
| MG EN 5290 | Introduction to Finite Element and other Numerical Models in Geomechanics |
| MSE 5475 | Introduction to Composites |
| MSE 6001 | Engineering Materials |
| Only 9 credits outside of the Department may be used towards a master's degree. Other courses may be approved by Supervisory Committee. | |
| (Reviewed by advisor June 2024.) | |
MATERIALS ENGINEERING
- Materials deals with the durability of materials. For example, better portland cement concrete does not fall apart from intrusion of chemicals (salts, etc.), better asphalt concrete will not be susceptible to water intrusions (e.g., less potholes during the spring thaw)
- When materials last longer, the maintenance cycle is extended (i.e., less often) resulting in substantial savings
- Better materials also reduce the carbon footprint of everything we built.
- Concrete last between 20 to 50 years and is responsible for 5% of all greenhouse emission in the planet
- Over $40M are spend every year in road maintenance. Given a 10 year cycle, a simple improvement of 1 year will result in $4M in savings. That's every year!
Research active professors in this area:
| The following is the listing of courses that could be taken to meet the Department's requirements. Before taking a course you should discuss with your advisor to see if they meet your curriculum plan. If a students advisor and supervisory committee wishes to vary from the course requirements a formal petition must be submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee. |
|
| Core Courses | |
| CVEEN 6510 | Highway Design |
| CVEEN 6530 | Quantitative Methods in Transportation Operations |
| CVEEN 6560 # | Transportation Planning |
| CVEEN 6570 | Pavement Design |
| CVEEN 6920 | Optimization in Transportation |
| CVEEN 7545 | Traffic Operations Analysis and Simulation |
| CVEEN 7560 | Advanced Construction Materials |
| CVEEN 7920 | Advanced Topics in Transportation |
| Elective Courses | |
| Any CVEEN 6000 or 7000 course approved by the Supervisory Committee | |
| CS 6140 | Data Mining |
| CS 6350 | Machine Learning |
| GEOG 6160 | Spatial Modeling with GIS |
| GEOG 6180 | Geoprocessing with Python |
| Note: Appropriate courses not listed can be approved by the student's supervisory committee for Elective credit. | |
| # Required for all transportation students. | |
| (Reviewed by advisor June 2024.) | |
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Structural engineering involves learning the theory of structures such as buildings and bridges, and includes computer-aided engineering and structural dynamics, and earthquake and wind engineering analysis and design. Structural engineers carry out performance-based design and study the behavior of structures built using reinforced and prestressed concrete, structural steel, timber, or composites. Moreover, structural engineers are involved in mitigating the impact of natural hazards and extreme weather using advanced structural sensing, hybrid simulation and reliability, to improve infrastructure resilience.
Research active professors in this area:
| Core Courses | ||
|---|---|---|
| As part of the 15 CORE Credits, structural and geotechnical students should take at least one course from each one of the following areas. The requirement can be partially or fully waived if the student passed at least one of the courses (or equivalent) in undergraduate studies. The waiver will not reduce the minimum credit course requirements for the MS degree. | ||
| Structures Area ----------------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 6210 | Structural Analysis II | |
| CVEEN 6220 | Concrete Design II | |
| CVEEN 6230 | Steel Design II | |
| CVEEN 6250 | Structural Dynamics | |
| Geotechnics Area --------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 5305 | Intro to Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6310 | Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6330 | Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering | |
| Core Courses ---------------------------------------- | ||
| CVEEN 5305 * | Intro to Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6210 * | Structural Analysis II | |
| CVEEN 6220 * | Concrete Design II | |
| CVEEN 6230 * | Steel Design II | |
| CVEEN 6240 | Masonry/ Timber Design | |
| CVEEN 6250 * | Structural Dynamics | |
| CVEEN 6270 | Computer Aided Structural Analysis | |
| CVEEN 6310 * | Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6330 * | Soil Dynamics and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6340 | Advanced Geotechnical Testing | |
| CVEEN 6510 | Highway Design | |
| CVEEN 6525 | Highway and Traffic Engineering | |
| CVEEN 6570 | Pavement Design | |
| CVEEN 6790 | Advanced Computer Aided Construction | |
| CVEEN 7225 | Prestressed Concrete Design | |
| CVEEN 7235 | Bridge Design | |
| CVEEN 7250 | Structural Earthquake Engineering | |
| CVEEN 7255 | Advanced Dynamics of Structures | |
| CVEEN 7310 | Advanced Foundation Engineering | |
| CVEEN 7360 | Advanced Soil Mechanics | |
| CVEEN 7450 | Carbon Capture and Store Transportation | |
| CVEEN 7520 | Transportation Safety | |
| CVEEN 7560 | Advanced Construction Materials | |
| * Indicates the course is listed above | ||
| (Reviewed: August 2022 by group.) | ||
| Elective Courses | |
|---|---|
| CVEEN 6225 | Concrete Material Science |
| CVEEN 6710 | Cost Estimating and Proposal Writing |
| CVEEN 6720 | Project Scheduling |
| CVEEN 6730 | Project Management and Contract Administration |
| CVEEN 6750 | Engineering Law & Contracts |
| CVEEN 6920 | Special Topics in Geotechnics, Materials, Structures |
| CS 6300 | Artificial Intelligence |
| CS 6610 | Interactive Computer Graphics |
| GEO 5075 | Introduction to Geological Engineering |
| GEO 5150 | Geological Engineering Design |
| GEO 5200 | Depositional Environments |
| GEO 5210 | Seismology I: Tectonophysics and Elastic Waves |
| GEO 5220 | Seismology II: Seismic Imaging |
| GEO 5320 | Signal Processing in the Geosciences |
| GEO 6330 | Seismic Sources |
| GEO 6350 | Groundwater |
| GEO 6360 | Fluid Mechanics of Earth Materials |
| GEO 6370 | Environmental Partitioning for Engineers and Scientists |
| GEO 6660 | Geochemistry |
| MATH 6420 | Partial Differential Equations |
| MATH 6610 | Analysis of Numerical Methods I |
| MATH 6620 | Analysis of Numerical Methods II |
| ME EN 6300 | Advanced Mechanics of Materials |
| ME EN 6400 | Vibrations |
| ME EN 6510 | Applied Finite Element Analysis |
| ME EN 6520 | Mechanics of Composite Materials |
| ME EN 7530 | Fracture and Fatigue |
| ME EN 7540 | Advanced Finite Elements |
| ME EN 7550 | Computational Constitutive Modeling |
| MET E 6250 | Principles and Practice of X-ray Diffraction Analysis |
| MET E 6300 | Alloy and Material Design |
| MET E 6450 | Mechanical Behavior of Metals |
| MET E 6600 | Corrosion Fundamentals and Minimization |
| MG EN 5150 | Mechanics of Materials |
| MG EN 5270 | Landslides and Slope Stability |
| MG EN 5290 | Introduction to Finite Element and other Numerical Models in Geomechanics |
| MSE 5475 | Introduction to Composites |
| MSE 6001 | Engineering Materials |
| Only 9 credits outside of the Department may be used towards a master's degree. Other courses may be approved by Supervisory Committee. | |
| (Reviewed by advisor June 2024.) | |
TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
The transportation engineering program in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering emphasis on the applications of state-of-art advancements concerning planning, design, operations, maintenance, and assessment of transportation systems. The faculty conducts research in the area of the transportation system design and modeling, addresses contemporary issues such as shared mobility, vehicle electrification and automation, and stresses the development of computational analytics and problem-solving skill sets.
Research active professors in this area:
| The following is the listing of courses that could be taken to meet the Department's requirements. Before taking a course you should discuss with your advisor to see if they meet your curriculum plan. If a students advisor and supervisory committee wishes to vary from the course requirements a formal petition must be submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee. |
|
| Core Courses | |
| CVEEN 6510 | Highway Design |
| CVEEN 6530 | Quantitative Methods in Transportation Operations |
| CVEEN 6560 # | Transportation Planning |
| CVEEN 6570 | Pavement Design |
| CVEEN 6920 | Optimization in Transportation |
| CVEEN 7545 | Traffic Operations Analysis and Simulation |
| CVEEN 7560 | Advanced Construction Materials |
| CVEEN 7920 | Advanced Topics in Transportation |
| Elective Courses | |
| Any CVEEN 6000 or 7000 course approved by the Supervisory Committee | |
| CS 6140 | Data Mining |
| CS 6350 | Machine Learning |
| GEOG 6160 | Spatial Modeling with GIS |
| GEOG 6180 | Geoprocessing with Python |
| Note: Appropriate courses not listed can be approved by the student's supervisory committee for Elective credit. | |
| # Required for all transportation students. | |
| (Reviewed by advisor June 2024.) | |
WATER RESOURCES
Water resources engineers plan and design infrastructure systems to provide clean drinking water, collect and treat wastewater, supply water for agriculture, protect from floods, prevent adverse water quality impacts, increase efficiency, address greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigate drought impacts. Today’s exciting opportunities for civil engineers include applications of smart technologies, distributed sensor systems, artificial intelligence, natural systems, biotechnology, robots, social sensing, and more to make water systems of all kinds more sustainable and resilient.
Research active professors in this area:
| Masters | PhD |
|---|---|
| MS Non-Thesis: This is a coursework only based degree. Students in a MS non-thesis degree program must complete 30 hours of graduate credit coursework. In the final semester of study the student is responsible for the completion of an essay-based comprehensive exam. | Traditional PhD: Applicants will have completed a MS prior. |
| MS Thesis: This degree is a research based master degree. Students in this degree program must complete 24 credit hours of coursework, and six hours of research. In the student's final semester there is a formal thesis defense, with supervising faculty members. This defense is an open forum. | Direct Admit PhD: Applicants are highly qualified students who have completed a BS. The direct admit PhD degree emphasizes scholarly research activities, can reduce course requirements, and expedite progress towards degree completion. |
| How are applicants evaluated? | Masters | PhD |
|---|---|---|
| GPA: | Mean undergraduate GPA is 3.0+ on 4.0 GPA scale. | Traditional PhD: Undergraduate GPA is 3.0+ on 4.0 GPA scale. Direct Admit PhD: Undergraduate GPA is 3.5+ on 4.0 GPA scale. |
| Education | A prior degree in civil engineering is not required. | A prior degree in civil engineering is not required. |
* The only exception is for MS non-thesis students who have an undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.
| Degree requirements | Masters | PhD |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum # of coursework hours | MS Non-Thesis: 30 MS Thesis: 24 | Traditional PhD: 18 Direct Admit PhD: 30 |
| Minimum # of research hours | MS Non-Thesis: N/A MS Thesis: 6 | 14 |
| Funding Available? | MS Non-Thesis: No. MS Thesis: Occasionally | Yes. |
Our Graduate Students Make a Difference
Now a Ph.D. student, Beatriz Fieldkircher sought an internship in the asphalt materials lab at the University of Utah in 2022. Initially driven by the desire to design enduring pavements, Beatriz’s research began to hone in on asphalt’s behavior under varying temperature conditions.
Her research was recently awarded The Utah Asphalt Pavement Association’s $1,500 One-Time Annual Scholarship—a distinct and prestigious recognition in the state’s engineering and transportation industry.
