Degree Programs in Civil Engineering
Civil engineering offers an interesting and challenging career in the design and construction of buildings, bridges, dams, aqueducts, and other structures; in transportation systems, including highways, canals, pipelines, airports, rapid transit lines, railroads, and harbor facilities; in the transmission of water and the regulation of rivers; in the development of water resources for urban use, industry, and land reclamation; in the control of water quality through water purification and proper waste treatment; in the construction and contracting industry; and in the problems concerned with mankind's physical environment and the sustainable development of cities.
Admissions
Civil Engineering Degree Programs
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Bachelor of Science (BS)
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Master of Science (MS)
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Master of Engineering (MEng)
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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Bachelor of Science (BS) in Civil Engineering
The objectives of our BSCE degree program are to produce graduates who
- Are able to perform the technical analyses and design tasks of entry-level civil engineers
- Can successfully work toward professional engineering licensure
- Can communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
- Understand the importance of leadership skills, team building, and ethical practice
- Value life-long learning and improvement through graduate degrees or professional study
- Appreciate the importance of community involvement and social contribution
The UC Denver civil engineering curriculum places balanced emphasis on five principal areas of civil engineering practice: environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation, and water resources engineering. In each of these areas, the student receives instruction in planning, design, and analysis methods. Microcomputer skills are taught early in the program of study and used frequently in subsequent courses.
A minimum of 130 semester hours is required to earn the BS degree. The faculty provide advising to help students develop an efficient study plan. The student must satisfactorily complete all the course work in the curriculum, satisfy all University graduation requirements, and maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point average in the civil engineering courses.
Master of Science (MS) in Civil Engineering
Applicants for graduate study should have a baccalaureate degree in an ABET-accredited civil engineering program and should have earned a grade-point average of 3.00 (B) or better. Applicants whose grade-point average is less than 3.00 may be considered for provisional admission if there is evidence that the applicant will be able to handle graduate work successfully.
Applicants whose previous work was in a field other than civil engineering may also be admitted. Usually such applicants must remove engineering deficiencies by taking those undergraduate courses which are prerequisites for the graduate courses, plus such additional undergraduate courses as are needed to qualify the applicant as a civil engineer.
Civil engineering graduate courses are offered in the following five specialty areas:
- Environmental and Sustainability Engineering
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Geotechnical/Geo-Environmental Engineering
- Structural Engineering
- Transportation Engineering
- Water Resources Engineering
Most civil engineering graduate courses at UC Denver are evening courses. Thus, UC Denver programs are well-suited to the needs of the practicing professional as well as the full-time student. Many UC Denver graduate students are part-time students, attending classes in the evenings while holding daytime employment in the Denver metropolitan area. Full-time graduate students at UC Denver may also enroll in daytime graduate courses at the CU Boulder campus, the simultaneous enrollment providing greater flexibility and diversity of programs.
MS Degree Requirements
Course requirements will vary according to the student's background and interest areas and are established by agreement between the student and his or her advisor. As a minimum, however, the degree program must include:
PLAN I: A minimum of 30 credit hours with 24 or more credits of graduate level courses, plus at least 6 credits for a Master's Thesis.
PLAN II: A minimum of 30 credit hours with 27 or more credits of graduate level courses, plus at least 3 credits for a Master's Report.
Both Plans I and II require satisfactory completion of a written comprehensive exam and an oral defense of the Master's Thesis or Report to a committee of three graduate faculty.
COURSE OFFERINGS
Most civil engineering graduate courses at UC Denver are given at two-year intervals, while others are offered annually or at three-year intervals, according to demand. Occasionally, courses of special current interest or importance are added, usually in response to requests from students or from the professional community. Courses available include:
Environmental and Sustainability Engineering
- Intro to Environmental and Sustainability Engineering
- Environmental Pollution Modeling
- Physical Processes in Environmental Engineering
- Chemical Processes in Environmental Engineering
- Biological Processes in Environmental Engineering
- Design of Solid Residuals and Natural Treatment Systems
- Sustainable Water and Renewable Energy Systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Introduction to GIS
- GIS Data Development
- GIS Analyses
- GIS Management
- GIS Relational Databases
- GIS Laboratory (ArcGIS)
- GIS Laboratory (Object-Oriented Programming)
- Advanced Remote Sensing
- Web Deployment of GIS
- Natural Resources GIS
Geotechnical/Geo-Environmental Engineering
- Advanced Soils Engineering
- Engineering Properties of Soils
- Groundwater and Seepage
- Foundation Engineering
- Design of Earth Embankment Dams
- Foundations on Expansive Soils
- Theoretical and Applied Rock Mechanics
- Applied and Experimental Rock Mechanics
- Dynamics of Soils and Foundations
- Settlement Analysis
- Engineering Geology
- Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Structures
- Finite Element Methods in Geotechnical Engineering
- Shear Strength and Stability Analysis
- Earthquake Resistance Design of Earth Dams
- Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
- Load & Resistance Factor Foundation Design
- Deep Foundations and Earth Retaining Walls
Structural Engineering
- Advanced Mechanics of Materials
- Matrix Analysis of Structures
- Finite Element Analysis
- Dynamics I
- Dynamics II
- Advanced Classical Analysis
- Condition Assessment and Failure Analysis
- Advanced Steel Design
- Advanced Concrete Design
- Advanced Timber Design
- Highway Bridge Design
- Pre-stressed Concrete
- Advanced Concrete Materials
- Masonry Design
- Highway Bridge Design
Transportation Engineering
- Traffic and Safety Data Analysis
- Traffic Impact Assessment
- Traffic Flow Fundamentals
- Highway Capacity Analysis
- Traffic Operations and Control
- Safety Engineering in Geometric Design
- Transportation Planning Methods
- Urban Transportation Modeling
- Pavement Design
Water Resources and Hydrology
- Applied Hydrology
- Groundwater Hydrology
- Hydraulic Design
- Open Channel Hydraulics
- Urban Storm Water Modeling
- Environmental Fluid Mechanics
- Water Resources Systems
- Western Water Rights
- River Hydraulics and Management
- River Morphology and Sediment Transport
- Water Resources Development and Management
ENGINEERING RESEARCH
Civil engineering faculty and graduate students are conducting research in all five of the major areas of civil engineering. Research efforts currently underway or recently completed:
- Influence surfaces for inverted-cone hoppers
- Stacking-tube design criteria
- Flash flood forecasting
- Location of zero depth plane in rough channels
- Feasibility of a roadway-powered electric vehicle system for Denver
- Public policy options to reduce work-related automobile commuting
- Earthquake ground motion amplification through soft soils
- Constitutive modeling of static and cyclic behavior of soils
- Earthquake-induced soil liquefaction
- Foundations and pavement in/on expansive soils
- Seismic resistance analysis of highway bridges
- Environmentally-sensitive sanding and deicing practices
- Nonlinear analysis of earth structures under earthquakes
- Geo-environmental engineering
- Numerical simulation of contaminant migration in groundwater aquifers
- Soil-reinforcement interaction of geotextile-reinforced earth structures
- Long-term creep of fabric-reinforced soils
- Evaluation of geotextile versus geogrid for reinforced embankment over soft soil
- Mechanism of fast-motion landslides
- Design and analysis of large-diameter drilled piers in expansive soils
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Center for Geotechnical Engineering Science (CGES)
Master of Engineering (MEng)
The Master of Engineering (MEng) degree program meets the needs of engineering students who wish to follow an integrated, interdisciplinary program of graduate studies in engineering and allied subjects related to the individual student's professional interests. The MEng degree allows student to combine advanced engineering courses with graduate-level non-engineering courses such as business administration, social sciences, biological sciences, public administration, and so forth. Presently, the Civil Engineering Department offers the MEng degree with an emphasis in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Sustainable Infrastructure or Transportation Systems.
The MEng admissions requirements are the same as those for the Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE) degree except for differences in specific prerequisite or deficiency courses. Completion of the MEng degree requires a minimum of 30 credit hours, with 27 or more credits of graduate-level coursework plus at least 3 credit hours for a Master's Report. It also requires satisfactory completion of a written comprehensive exam and an oral defense of the Master's Report to a committee of three graduate faculty. At least 15 of the total 30 credit hours must be civil engineering courses at the 5000 level or above. As many as 15 credit hours may be taken outside of civil engineering.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
More information about the Master of Engineering with GIS option offered by the CE Department is available through this link to
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Sustainable Infrastructure
Click for more information on the Masters of Engineering in Sustainable Infrastructure
PhD, Civil Engineering
The Civil Engineering PhD Program at UC Denver is offered through coordination with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at CU Boulder. The following rules and policies for the Civil Engineering (CE) Department supplement those of the UCD Graduate School. It is the responsibility of the student to know and follow the rules and policies of the Department and the Graduate School. Unless otherwise specified, exceptions to the rules must be petitioned by the student in writing and must have the approval of the Thesis Advisor and the Chair of the Graduate Committee.
Program Tracks
The Department has five traditional graduate specialty areas: Geotechnical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, and Water Resources. The Department also offers a Civil Engineering Systems track for which the rules differ from the traditional tracks due to its interdisciplinary nature.
Admissions Policies
The PhD admissions procedure proceeds in two phases. First, the student makes application to UC Denver and that application is processed through the UCD Civil Engineering Graduate Committee. Application files for those applicants that are approved are then reviewed in coordination with the Boulder CEAE Graduate Committee and a final decision is made. This procedure occurs approximately once each semester.
Recommendations for admission to the PhD program shall be the decision of the Graduate Committee considering all evidence documenting the applicant's creative ability and promise for an outstanding engineering career at the highest level. Students are admitted to a particular specialty area. If a student wishes to change the specialty area then written permission of the Graduate Committee must be obtained.
Graduates from non-engineering curricula will, in general, have undergraduate deficiencies to be determined by their advisors according to the following principles: (a) The student is expected to acquire a background sufficient to address engineering problems in a rational manner. The student should therefore have a foundation in mathematics and basic science equivalent to that required for a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. (b) The student is expected to acquire an undergraduate background in an appropriate field of engineering specialization.
Each of the program areas has established undergraduate deficiency requirements (available from the UCD Department of Civil Engineering).
Advising
All students are urged to determine a Thesis Advisor and a research theme at the earliest opportunity. Students who have not identified a Thesis Advisor may not be admitted to the PhD program. The Thesis Advisor will be a person with whom the student will work closely in preparing a degree program, finding a research topic for the dissertation, naming the advisory committee members, and so forth, and will be responsible for (a) for determining course deficiencies, if any, (b) approving a degree plan for the student, and (c) monitoring the advisee's academic progress. When approved by the Thesis Advisor, this becomes the student's degree plan and is filed in the student's departmental record. Changes to the degree plan require the approval of the Thesis Advisor. Change of the specialty area of study and/or the Thesis Advisor will require approval of the Graduate Committee.
Graduate Coursework
Courses for Credit
In accordance with Graduate School Rules, a minimum of 30 semester hours of course work at the 5000 level or above is required for the PhD. The program of study will be defined by the student’s advisor in collaboration with CU graduate faculty having interest in the student’s research theme. For any of the five traditional tracks, at least 9 hours of graduate credit must be taken at the Boulder CEAE Department. For the CE Systems track, at least 3 hours of graduate credit must be taken at the Boulder CEAE Department.
Up to 15 semester hours of 5000 level or above course work or above may be transferred from another institution and applied toward the 30 hours minimum course work requirement. For a student who has obtained an M.S. degree at the University of Colorado (Denver or Boulder campus), up to 21 semester hours of 5000 level or above course work may be transferred.
In accord with the Rules of the Graduate School, 30 hours of dissertation research credit are required.
Quality of Graduate Level Work
The minimum requirements for level of academic work are contained in the Rules of the Graduate School. Decisions regarding whether or not a student must repeat a course, or substitute another course as a result of receiving a grade less than B- are the responsibility of the academic advisor. (See Repeating a Course in the Graduate School Rules).
A student who fails to do satisfactory work will be subject to suspension from the Graduate School by the Graduate Dean.
Language Requirement
The Department does not have a foreign language requirement.
Thesis Advisor and Committee
The student shall select a Thesis Advisor who is willing to supervise his/her thesis; this should occur at the time of application to the program. The Thesis Advisor must be a member of the resident graduate faculty in Civil Engineering at UCD. If the student cannot find a Thesis Advisor, he/she will not be admitted to the PhD Program. An Advisory and Examination Committee shall be formed when the student is prepared for the Comprehensive Examination (see below). For any of the traditional tracks, the student’s committee shall be comprised of at least five members of the graduate faculty, two of whom are from the Boulder CEAE Department and another member from outside the Denver CE or Boulder CEAE departments. For the CE Systems track, the Committee could be formed by five members of the at-large CU graduate faculty having interest in the research theme. If the Chair of the doctoral student's Advisory and Examination Committee is not a full-time member of the Department's resident faculty, then a Co-Chair must be appointed who is a full-time member of the Department's resident faculty. If at some point the student desires to change his/her Thesis Advisor, then the student must petition the Graduate Committee whose approval is required. If the student wishes to transfer from the Denver CE PhD program to the Boulder CEAE PhD program, then approval of the Boulder Graduate Committee is required.
Examinations and Dissertation
Preliminary Examination
The purposes of the Preliminary Examination are to evaluate the potential of prospective PhD candidates and to identify subject matter areas in which a student may need additional study. Each doctoral student must take a Preliminary Examination as determined by the faculty of the specialty area in which the student is enrolled when the Thesis Advisor considers it appropriate. The content of this examination will include material at the terminal Master's level and will be formulated by graduate faculty members in the program track. The student must pass the Preliminary Examination in order to continue in the Doctoral Program. Failure to pass the Preliminary Examination may be remedied by repeating the examination after not less than one year from the first attempt. Failure to pass the exam a second time will result in the student's suspension from the Graduate program.
Comprehensive Examination
When the student is ready to take the Comprehensive Examination, the student's Thesis Advisor shall recommend to the Program Director an examination committee selected in accordance with the Rules of the Graduate School. The Committee membership should be formulated as defined above in the section Thesis Advisor and Committee. The Application for Admission to Candidacy must be filed at least 14 days before the Comprehensive Examination.
The Comprehensive Examination shall consist of an oral and possibly a written examination depending on the program track. The exam may not be attempted until the student's last semester of formal course work. The student may be questioned in any pertinent field, whether or not the course work has been completed. At the Comprehensive Examination, the student shall present a proposal for the dissertation research to the Advisory Committee for approval.
Failure to pass the Comprehensive Examination may be remedied by repeating the examination after an interval of not less than four months. Failure to pass the second time will result in the student's suspension from the Graduate program.
Dissertation Requirement
The dissertation will be based upon an original investigation carried out by the candidate, showing mature scholarship and critical judgment, as well as familiarity with tools and methods of research. The student's advisory committee must approve the research topic.
Final Examination
The Final Examination (Dissertation Defense) will be given in accordance with the Rules of the Graduate School.