The department offers graduate programs leading to either an M.S. or a Ph.D. degree. Five major areas in civil engineering are offered: environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering and mechanics, transportation engineering, and water resources. Course work is also available in remote sensing. There are two M.S. options. The research option requires 25 hours of approved course work and an acceptable thesis. The course work option requires 34 hours of approved course work and an acceptable master's report. A student becomes a doctoral candidate by passing a qualifying examination, satisfying residence requirements, fulfilling 54 credit hours of course work beyond the B.S., or 30 credit hours of course work beyond the M.S., and passing the general examination. The Ph.D. is conferred after successful completion of the dissertation.

Research in geotechnical engineering is focused on constitutive modeling of geomaterials, numerical methods in geomechanics, pile foundations, testing of soils, soil behavior, environmental geotechnics, soil reinforcement, electrokinetic remediation, geotechnics of recyclable materials, development of self-compacting concrete, object-oriented programming for reinforced concrete applications, and numerical simulation of cone penetrometers and tunnel boring in clay soils.

Recent research projects in the structures area include analytical and experimental studies of bridge members and systems, bridge and cable vibration controls, aerodynamics of long-span bridges, wind effects on transportation systems, wave and wind effects on coastal bridges, non-destructive evaluation using fiber optic sensors, acoustic emission, and ultrasound technologies, FRP composite material and smart material applications, structural identification, hurricane shelter design, and wind effects on industrial and petrochemical facilities, and structural reliability and LRFD code calibration.

 

Current research in the environmental engineering area emphasizes biological waste treatment, phytoremediation, air pollution control, water quality, image processing, and waste management and includes studies involving lake restoration, aquaculture, hazardous substance fate and transport, flood modeling, and coastal zone impact studies.

 

Research areas in water resources include surface hydrology, subsurface hydrology, stochastic hydrology, groundwater hydrology, water quality hydrology, open channel flow, hydraulics, sediment transport, and irrigation.  Current topics of research are stresses free-boundary problems, mathematical and stochastic modeling of hydrologic systems, entropy theory, infiltration modeling, saltwater intrusion, river morphology, surface and groundwater conjunctive use, experimental and theoretical studies of transport processes, ocean measurements and modeling, high-performance groundwater flow, and transport modeling.

Research in transportation engineering is focused on traffic operations and control, intelligent transportation systems, pavement performance design and management, materials characterization, maintenance and rehabilitation, travel demand modeling, travel survey methods, GIS and GPS applications, and land-use and transportation modeling integration.