FAQ

Civil engineers are the planners, designers, construction experts and operators of our built environment (i.e. buildings, neighborhoods, highways, and supporting infrastructure such as storm-water control, water supply, and energy networks), and the stewards of the natural environment and its resources.

The department provides an exceptional broad-based undergraduate education in a liberal arts environment emphasizing student-faculty interaction, integrated study-abroad experiences, opportunities for hands-on learning, scholarship and service, and an understanding of the professional, societal, ethical, and environmental implications of the engineering practice.

Distinctive features of our program include the excellence with which we incorporate a personalized hands-on education – through faculty taught, laboratory intensive classes, project based electives, and extracurricular clubs such as our student American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) chapter, Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES), and Green Building Club. Flexibility – Students can choose between a focused engineering education enhanced with an integrated liberal arts component or a broad-based, integrated engineering and liberal arts education. Our robust Study Abroad program, of which between 30 to 50% of our sophomore civil engineering students regularly participate, is one of the strongest in the nation, and our diverse student body and faculty, both composed of more than 30% women – combine with the personalized, hands-on education and flexibility to make for an outstanding education.