Civil and Environmental Engineering (Graduate Field)

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Field Description

Students in the M.S. or Ph.D. program may select one area of concentration. Each student in the Ph.D. program must take a qualifying examination by the end of their third semester. Additional information on the M.S. and Ph.D. programs is available on request from the graduate field office.

The professional degree of master of engineering (civil & environmental) is intended primarily for persons who plan to practice engineering directly. Admission preference is given to applicants with an accredited United States civil engineering degree or a substantial equivalent. The professional degree requires a minimum of 30 credits of graduate-level work in the principles and practices of the field. Specific requirements include a broad-based technical background in the field, courses in design, and professional practice. Additional information may be obtained from the assistant director of the graduate program at  cee_grad@cornell.edu

Complex systems engineering investigates how systems-level behavior emerges from interactions among components in both engineered and natural systems. This inherently interdisciplinary field combines mathematical modeling, nonlinear dynamics, data science, numerical simulation, optimization, and stochastic processes with domain-specific knowledge grounded in physical, chemical, and biological principles. Research in this area spans a wide range of applications, including cyber-physical systems, environmental fluids, microbial communities, renewable energy, synthetic biology, transportation systems, infrastructure, and power networks. The curriculum provides a strong foundation in mathematical modeling, with flexibility for students to tailor coursework to their specific research interests.

Environmental processes is concerned with the protection and management of the quality of the environment for the benefit of society. Degree programs emphasize biological, chemical, and physical phenomena and engineering principles; laboratory and computational skills; and their application to the analysis of relevant problems.

Environmental fluid mechanics and hydrology involves the study of fluid mechanics of the environment and the associated application to hydraulics, hydrology, coastal oceanography, and meteorology as related to the wet earth and atmosphere.

Environmental and water resources systems engineering. Research and instruction in this area address the development and application of scientific principles, economic theory, and mathematical techniques to the management and planning of public infrastructure and environmental and water resource systems. Research projects include evaluation of engineering projects, groundwater contaminant modeling and remediation optimization, statistical analysis of hydrologic processes, hydropower systems optimization, water supply systems management, water quality planning, risk analysis, river basin and groundwater systems planning and operation, ecological systems management, sustainable development, and computer graphics-oriented decision support systems.

Structural engineering includes, in addition to the conventional aspects of structural analysis and design, interests in computational mechanics, artificial intelligence, dynamics and earthquake engineering, behavior of thin steel structures, control of large-space structures, reliability, stochastic mechanics, natural disaster risk assessment and management, civil infrastructure systems, evaluation of structures and nondestructive testing, fracture mechanics, blast and impact loads, progressive collapse, and structural materials. (Note: the M.S. degree is not admitting applicants into the structural engineering concentration at this time.)

Transportation systems engineering embraces policy, planning, design, and evaluation of transport systems and the relationships among transport supply and demand, land use, and regional development. The approach is multimodal and systems oriented; it emphasizes the use of quantitative and analytical techniques of operations research and economics.

Detailed academic requirements can be located in the Graduate Study Handbook (for M.S., M.S./Ph.D., and Ph.D. students).

Data and Statistics

Field Manual