Our research expertise covers the spectrum of civil engineering disciplines, leading the field in dynamic traffic simulation, sediment transport, design and health monitoring of structures, FRP materials, and infrastructure resilience. Funding comes from national, state and local agencies, public foundations, and private companies. Five of our faculty have won National Science Foundation Young Investigator Awards, and two have received American Society of Civil Engineers Huber Prizes. We also boast two ASCE Distinguished Members. As a result, our graduate program is ranked 40th out of 141 civil engineering graduate programs in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report - even as the second-smallest department in the top 50. Our group of 10 research faculty produced 35 ISI journal publications in 2016. We have been accredited as a testing laboratory for fiber-reinforced polymer materials, conducting a large-scale testing regime.
The doctoral program is designed to prepare a professional engineer for senior responsibility in industry, research, or teaching. The successful candidate must demonstrate the ability to devise and execute a program of study and research, which makes a fundamentally new contribution to the chosen field. The most important aspect of the doctoral program is the dissertation, which is the evidence of this fundamental contribution. The student should be prepared for a very demanding period of study beyond the master's degree.
A minor field may be selected from architecture, chemistry, environmental engineering, geology, mathematics, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, mining engineering, nuclear engineering, physics, or systems engineering, or from within the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. Still other fields are available as minors with the approval of the head of the department.
At the option of the department, a Master of Science degree may be awarded to candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy degree who have passed the comprehensive examination, provided they write a thesis or engineering report.