Civil engineers design, plan, and improve the built environment and infrastructure systems, including buildings, power generation facilities, water supply networks, pollution control works, flood protection structures, dams, and canals, as well as vital network systems for commerce such as roadways, airports, railroads, and ports. Civil engineering encompasses several subdisciplines, including hydraulics and hydrology, structural, geotechnical, construction, environmental, civil engineering materials, and transportation engineering.
Coursework in the major builds especially on a strong foundation in math and physics, and exposes students to these subdisciplines. An emphasis in the sustainable engineering of civil infrastructure is also provided by the curriculum.
As a leading educational and research institution, we are driving the development of innovative technologies that:
- Enhance the performance and sustainability of civil and environmental infrastructure
- Have a favorable impact on the natural environment; and
- Manage complex issues at the intersection of built and natural systems.
We are committed to solving major societal problems by providing forward-looking education, enhancing multidisciplinary research and performing broad-based service.
To accomplish our mission, we must:
- Provide an enriching educational environment, together with extracurricular and service opportunities, that prepare our students to:
- Excel as leaders in the understanding, design, construction, operation and maintenance of civil and environmental infrastructural systems,
- Be ethical stewards of the built and natural environments, and
- Adapt to an ever-changing profession through lifelong learning.
- Recruit, educate and support students, researchers, staff and faculty from diverse backgrounds, and provide them with the foundation to become global leaders;
- Enhance the department’s positive impact nationally and internationally and make transformative contributions within the State of Michigan;
- Champion the translation of research findings into professional practice;
- Provide a technical foundation for shaping policy that addresses the complex issues facing civil and environmental infrastructure systems and the natural environment;
- Foster a leading-edge collaborative environment that is well-positioned to address high-impact research issues and provide solutions to critical societal challenges; and
- Foster and support the spirit of entrepreneurship among our students, faculty, and staff.
The following set of objectives describes what our graduates are expected to achieve within several years of graduation.
- The graduates of the Civil Engineering Program at Michigan will have the necessary intellectual tools and technical skills to take on careers of leadership in the development of new technologies, construction of innovative and sustainable infrastructure, the design of engineered systems at the intersection of natural and built environments, and to contribute to society through participation in policy making and governance.
- Graduates will have a solid foundation in civil engineering and will achieve success in graduate education and a broad range of career opportunities.
- Our graduates will become team leaders, and will successfully address open-ended problems applying critical thinking.
- The U-M Civil Engineering graduates will become effective communicators of technical and professional information in written, oral, visual and graphical form.
- Professional careers of U-M graduates will be distinguished with a high degree of awareness of moral, ethical, legal and professional obligations to protect human health, human welfare, and the environment.
The outcomes we desire are that graduates of the University of Michigan Civil Engineering Program demonstrate:
- An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering.
- An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
- An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
- An ability to function in multi-disciplinary teams.
- An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems.
- An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
- An ability to communicate effectively.
- The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
- A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
- A knowledge of contemporary issues.
- An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Civil Engineering Focus Areas
The following are areas of focus within Civil Engineering at Michigan:
Construction Engineering and Management
Planning, estimating, scheduling and managing the construction of engineered facilities using modern construction methods, materials, and equipment; business and legal principles of construction contracting.
The principles, design and methods for implementation of sustainable environmental and earth systems; water resource development, management, conservation and systems design; engineering of water quality and pollution control processes and systems; treatment, distribution and collection networks and infrastructures for optimal municipal and industrial water use, recovery and recycle; environmental design for efficient energy and resource utilization and minimization of water and air pollution and solid wastes generation; modeling of the fate and transport of contaminants in environmental media and systems and quantitative assessment of associated human and ecological risks.
Evaluation of soil properties and environmental conditions in foundations of earth-supported structures; mass stability in excavations and subsurface construction; use of soil characteristics and properties and soil classification in design and construction of highways, railways, airports, and other surface facilities; landslides, levees and slope stability.
Hydraulic and Hydrological Engineering
Development of surface water and ground-water resources; flood prediction and flood control, flow of contaminant transport in surface and ground waters, transients in pipelines and channels, coastal engineering and design of structures to interface with the water environment.
Civil Engineering Materials
Analysis, engineering, and testing of civil engineering materials pertaining to infrastructure renewal and high-performance structures, including the study of infrastructure rehabilitation (including bridge and pavement technology), advanced emerging materials (including cement-based composites, polymers and ceramics), micro-mechanics of composite materials and durability of materials.
Theory, analysis, design and construction of structures such as bridges, buildings, towers, and housing, involving the use of steel, reinforced concrete, pre-stressed concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, advanced composites, and wood; studies of inelastic behavior of materials and structures; studies of dynamic forces and their effects on structures. Response of structures to earthquakes, fires and terrorist attacks.
Transportation Systems Engineering
Analysis, develop, and test of ongoing issues with the existing transportation system: high fatality and injury rates, growing levels of congestion and pollution, rising transportation costs, and inefficient use of resources;development of information for vehicular technologies. Connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies will further revolutionize urban and rural mobility and support a range of uses, from sole vehicle ownership to shared ownership, ridership, and subscription services. These technologies hold the potential to substantially improve traffic safety, facilitate mobility, and reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and emissions.
Environmental engineers design systems to provide safe water, air, and land for human habitation, and to address the impact of human activities on the environment. For example, environmental engineers may be involved in the design of technologies to remove emerging contaminants from drinking water, monitor and mitigate greenhouse gas compounds, recover resources and energy from waste streams, design sustainable alternative energy sources, clean up hazardous waste sites, or restore streams and lakes damaged by human activities.
In this major, a strong foundation in math, chemistry, physics, biology, and earth science is important, and the engineering tools to apply them are provided in the curriculum. The social and policy issues associated with environmental problems are also explored.
To provide an outstanding education in environmental engineering that prepares students for leadership positions in the improvement of human and ecological health at the intersection of built and natural systems.
To provide an enriching educational environment that prepares students with the environmental science and engineering design principles to develop sustainable solutions to environmental problems and the professional skills to become leaders in the discipline.
The following objectives describe what our graduates are expected to achieve within several years of graduation:
- The graduates of the Environmental Engineering Program at Michigan will have the necessary intellectual tools and technical skills to take on careers of leadership in the development of new technologies for environmental protection and the design of sustainable modern environmental infrastructure, analysis of natural and engineered environmental systems and to contribute to society through participation in policy making and governance (Objective 1);
- Graduates will have a solid foundation in environmental engineering and achieve success in graduate education and a broad range of career opportunities (Objective 2);
- Our graduates will become team leaders and have the critical thinking skills to successfully address open-ended problems (Objective 3);
- U-M Environmental Engineering graduates will become effective communicators of technical and professional information in written, oral, visual, and graphical form (Objective 4); and
- Professional careers of U-M graduates will be distinguished with a high degree of awareness of moral, ethical, legal and professional obligations to protect human health, human welfare and the environment (Objective 5).”
The outcomes we desire are that graduates of the program demonstrate:
- An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering;
- An ability to design and conduct experiments, and to critically analyze and interpret data;
- An ability to design a system, component or process to meet desired needs;
- An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams;
- An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems;
- An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility;
- An ability to communicate effectively;
- The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context;
- A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning
- A knowledge of contemporary issues;
- An ability to use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice;
Enrollment and Graduation Data
In Fall 2017, 121 students enrolled in the program. In AY16-17, degrees were awarded. For other terms, the University Registrar publishes the number of students enrolled annually in this program, and the number of degrees granted each term by this program.
In Fall 2017, 79 students enrolled in the program. In AY16-17, degrees were awarded. For other terms, the University Registrar publishes the number of students enrolled annually in this program, and the number of degrees granted each term by this program.