3/14/2013
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Three new cross-disciplinary programs are now fully launched in the department. The programs are designed to integrate the traditional CEE sub-disciplines and give undergraduate and graduate students a broad, systems perspective on the world’s complex civil and environmental engineering problems. The three programs are Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability and Societal Risk Management.
For undergraduates, the new programs offer additional choices for primary or secondary concentrations, along with the traditional CEE areas of study—construction management, construction materials engineering, environmental engineering, environmental hydrology and hydraulic engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering and transportation engineering.
The programs also offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, opportunities for international trips as part of a “Global Leaders in CEE” component, which brings together both undergraduate and graduate students. The programs also offer seminar series that bring systems experts to campus.
“The students are voting with their feet in support of the cross-cutting programs; the number of students, their grades and their enthusiasm is further proof of the timeliness of expanding our curricula and educational experience in general,” said Amr Elnashai, Professor and Head. “Other leading departments are following suit.”
Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems
Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability
Societal Risk Management
The SRM program focuses on reliability, risk and life cycle analysis; decision-making under uncertainty; the ethical, economic and political dimensions of risk management; the legal elements of regulatory mechanisms; risk perception and cognitive biases; risk communication; and post-disaster response and recovery.
“The three programs are bringing together teams of researchers who have not collaborated before, addressing the pressing needs of society in a comprehensive and multidisciplinary framework,” Elnashai said.
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