Degree Requirements for Master of SciencePrograms

To be eligible for a Master’s degree a student must:

  • Satisfy all University requirements for a Master’s degree.
  • Meet all undergraduate deficiencies, and requirements as specified by the students’ advisory committee.
  • Complete 30 semester hours of acceptable graduate level courses, including up to 3 credits of an Independent Study course. Supervised Research credits are not counted toward the 30 credit degree requirement.
  • Optionally, complete an acceptable thesis (minimum six credits) or engineering project (minimum three credits).
  • Successfully complete the core courses defined for the student’s chosen specialty area
  • Earn a minimum grade point average of 3.0 in all approved courses in the student’s program of study.
  • Complete CGN 6939 Graduate Seminar.
  • For those students who chose the thesis option, they must get approval and written evaluation of the oral defense and written thesis by their thesis committee. The committee should have, at a minimum, three graduate faculty members, and each member must complete and sign the student evaluation.
  • For those students who chose the engineering project option, they must get approval and written evaluation of the oral defense and written engineering project by their project committee. The committee should have, at a minimum, three graduate faculty members, and each member must complete and sign the student evaluation.
  • For students who chose non-thesis and non-engineering program(all course) option, they must present a 5 page written report (in the format of a journal article) and an oral presentation (in CGN 6939) of a selected topic that demonstrates substantial professional engineering knowledge and experience. The written report and oral presentation must be evaluated and the student evaluation forms must be completed and signed by two departmental graduate faculty members, at a minimum, and then used by the CGN 6939 instructor to issue a P/F grade. The seminar will be scheduled and will be announced to students and faculty at least one week in advance in the last semester of the student’s program

Core Courses

In order to master real-life engineering problems, engineers need to have an education with both breadth, as well as depth. Therefore, in addition to the above degree requirements, students must choose an area of technical specialization upon enrollment and satisfy the
core course requirements as defined below. A proposed program of study shall be developed by a student’s academic advisor together with the student and approved by the Graduate Program Director. All students are strongly encouraged to take the Research Methods for Civil Engineers course – especially those who are pursuing the thesis option. Students are also required to register for the 0-credit Graduate Seminar (CGN 6939) at least once and are encouraged to take it each Fall and Spring semesters.

Environmental Engineering

Environmental engineering students are required to take at least one course in each of the following core areas:

  • Water supply/wastewater/water quality,
  • Air quality,
  • soil/solid/hazardous waste, and
  • water resources (including groundwater).

Furthermore, it is advisable that students gain some expertise in environmental chemistry and in computationaltechniques including GIS techniques, while seeking
knowledge in new areas of research and development

Students are also required to register for the zero-credit Graduate Seminar (CGN 6936) and are encouraged to participate in it each semester.

Water Resources Engineering

This field involves the analysis of qualitative and quantitative water issues and the search for integrated, innovative and sustainable solutions to problems in the surface, groundwater, and atmospheric water environments.

Students pursuing a M.S. in Civil Engineering with concentration in Water Resources Engineering will follow a program of study that includes 15 credit-hours of engineering coursework emphasizing advanced knowledge and applications in either hydrology, hydraulics or hydrosystems or their combination thereof. The students will also complete a three credit-hour independent study to enrich the area of sought expertise

Students are also required to comply with the following core requirements:

1.Take one course (3 credit-hours) among the following three background courses:

  • CWR 5305Surface Hydrology
  • CWR 6125Groundwater Hydrology
  • CWR 5140C Ecohydrology

2.Take one among the following applied courses:

  • CWR 5235Open Channel Hydraulics
  • CWR 5535Advanced Modeling Applications in Water Resources Engineering
  • CWR 6236Engineering Sediment Transport

Students are required to take the Graduate Seminar (CGN 6939) once and are strongly encouraged to attend it while registering in the program. Students may also include up to six credit hours from other civil engineering areas or related disciplines, as long as the subjects relevantly add to the student’s water resources engineering knowledge.

Structural Engineering

Students pursuing a M.S. in Civil Engineering with concentration in Structural Engineering will take at least twelve (12) credit hours of elective courses in structural
engineering relevant to their track. A maximum of six (6) credits taken outside of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department to enhance knowledge from related disciplines can be applied, upon approval of the academic advisor (or major professor), to graduation requirements. Furthermore, it is advisable that students gain some expertise in numerical methods.

Students in the Structural Engineering track are required to take at least six (6) credit hours of core course work as follows:

1. One course (3 credits) in design of structures from the following:

  • CES 5325 Design of Highway Bridges
  • CES 5606 Advanced Structural Steel Design
  • CES 5715 Prestressed Concrete Design
  • CES 5800 Timber Design
  • CES 6706 Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design

2.One course (3 credits) in analysis of structures from the following:

  • CES 5106 Advanced Structural Analysis
  • CES 5587 Topics in Wind Engineering
  • CES 6209 Advanced Structural Dynamics
  • EGM 5421 Structural Dynamics

Construction Engineering

Students pursuing a M.S. in Civil Engineering with concentration in Construction Engineering will follow a program of study that includes at least fifteen (15) credit-hours of civil engineering coursework that focuses on knowledge and applications within Construction Engineering of civil and environmental engineering infrastructure. The students will also complete a three (3) credit-hour independent study to enrich their graduate experience. Furthermore, it is advisable that students gain expertise in state-of-the-art computational methods in construction engineering

Students in the Construction Engineering track are required to take at least six (6) credit hours of core course work from the following:

1.CCE 5035 Construction Engineering Management;

2.CCE 5036 Advanced Project Planning for Civil Engineering

3.CCE 5405 Advanced Heavy Construction Techniques

Geotechnical Engineering

Students pursuing a M.S. in Civil Engineering with concentration in Construction Engineering will follow a program of study that includes at least fifteen (15) credit-hours of civil engineering coursework that focuses on knowledge and applications within Construction Engineering of civil and environmental engineering infrastructure. The students will also complete a three (3) credit-hour independent study to enrich their graduate experience. Furthermore, it is advisable that students gain expertise in state-of-the-art computational methods in construction engineering

Students in the Construction Engineering track are required to take at least six (6) credit hours of core course work from the following:

1.CEG 5065 Geotechnical Dynamics

2.CEG 6017 Theoretical Geotechnical Mechanics; and

3.CEG 6105 Advanced Foundations Engineering

Transportation

Transportation engineering is concerned with the planning, design, operation, and maintenance of the transportation infrastructure and systems. A student who chooses to specialize in transportation engineering must complete a minimum of five courses from the list below

    • TTE 5205 Advanced Highway Capacity Analysis
    • TTE 5215 Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering
    • TTE 5607 Transportation Demand Analysis
    • TTE 5805 Advanced Geometric Design of Highways
    • TTE 6257 Traffic Control Systems Design
    • TTE 6506 Mass Transit Planning
    • CGN 5320 GIS Applications in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Students are also required to register for the zero-credit Graduate Seminar (CGN 6936) and are encouraged to participate in it each semester.

Independent Study Course

A student may take up to a total of three credits of independent study, which will be letter graded. If a student needs a course that will not be offered during the student’s course of study, special topics courses should be set up to meet the student’s needs. There will be no limit on the number of special topics courses provided that the core course requirements are satisfied.