Degrees and Programs of Study

Degrees

The M.S. degree may be completed with or without a thesis. The M.S. degree requires 32 credit hours of graduate course credit if a thesis is part of the program (with 8 of the 32 hours comprising the thesis), and 36 hours without a thesis. It is possible to complete the M.S. non-thesis degree in one year or less. 

The Ph.D. program requires 32 additional hours of coursework beyond the M.S. degree, plus a comprehensive research program and preparation of a dissertation for an additional 32 hours of thesis research credit.

The department offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in:

• Civil Engineering
• Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering

Areas of Specialization

M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are available in a variety of specialized areas. In addition to the department's established interdisclinary programs in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability and Societal Risk Management, students can also develop cross-disciplinary programs in consultation with their advisers.

• Construction Engineering and Management
• Construction Materials
• Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability (interdisciplinary)
• Environmental Engineering and Science
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Societal Risk and Hazard Mitigation (interdisciplinary)
• Structural Engineering
• Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems (interdisciplinary)
• Transportation Engineering
• Water Resources Engineering and Science

Special Degree Programs and Options

• Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Option
• MArch + MS-CEE (structures)
• MArch + MS-CEE (construction management)

Students from Underrepresented Groups may be eligible for an all-expenses paid visit under the Grainger College of Engineering's Multi-Cultural Engineering Recruitment for Graduate Education (MERGE) Program.