Civil and Environmental Engineering

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The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers several areas of study for those interested in pursuing an advanced degree in civil engineering. These degrees can lead to employment opportunities in government, industry, or academia. Our graduate program offers the following degrees:

•    Master of Engineering (ME) in Civil Engineering **
•    Master of Science (MS) in Civil Engineering
•    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Civil Engineering

** Students may complete the M.E. either on-grounds, or through the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP).

An important component of graduate education in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is active involvement in the department’s research program. The research program is organized into two focus areas:

Environmental and Water Resources: Our research in environmental and water resources engineering is focused largely on the developing environmentally sustainable technologies as it relates to our water, energy, and transportation infrastructure. This work covers a broad range of topics including protecting and improving the health of the rivers that act as water sources, optimizing the supply and transport of water to a community, improving the chemistry of point of use water treatment, understanding nanoparticle transport in groundwater, modeling contaminant transport in surface and subsurface waters, understanding multiphase transport in porous media, and creating algal biofuels from wastewater. Professors in this area utilize computer modeling, laboratory research, and field sites that vary from rivers in Charlottesville to remote African communities. The Water Quality Lab, the Sustainable Rivers Lab, and the Virginia Environmentally Sustainable Technologies Lab are led by researchers in this area.

Infrastructure Systems Engineering: Our research in infrastructure engineering focuses on improving the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure in a sustainable manner. The department has considerable expertise in advanced information technology to monitor and control infrastructure. Much of the work in this area is conducted in partnership with the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research, through the department’s Center for Transportation Studies. Complementary research in Infrastructure Engineering includes investigation of the physics and mechanics of solids to provide the basis for understanding, predicting and improving the behavior of civil engineering systems.

For more detailed information about the department, degree programs, and research areas, visit the website at cee.virginia.edu.

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering participates in the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP) by presenting graduate-level courses in a distributed learning environment.  CGEP students achieve a Master of Materials Science and Engineering degree. CGEP students participate in live class sessions alongside their student peers sitting in the classroom, accessing the interactive sessions via their computer and internet connection.  Class sessions are also recorded for later viewing/reviewing.