Master of Science in civil engineering

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers graduate students a challenging, state-of-the-art education in the analysis, design and management of civil engineering systems. It is recommended that every student entering the Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering declare a field of specialization before registering for courses. The four specialty fields offered by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department are briefly described below.

1. Environmental Engineering: focuses on applying scientific and engineering principles, theories, technologies, and methods to the protection and improvement of environmental quality and human health. Courses address the design and operation of water treatment and distribution systems, wastewater collection and treatment systems, industrial waste treatment, surface and groundwater hydrology, mathematical modeling of receiving water systems, environmental systems analysis, and land disposal of hazardous wastes. 
2. Structural Engineering: concerns the use of analysis and design methods to provide safe, functional, and efficient structures to support the civil infrastructure. Courses primarily address steel, concrete, and advanced composite building and bridge structures. 
3. Transportation Engineering: focuses on the application of technology and scientific principles for the planning, design, operations, and management of transportation facilities to provide the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. 
4.  Construction Engineering Management: includes course work on integrated project management, building information modeling, advanced technology integration, construction methods, estimating, scheduling, safety, legal aspects, and finance. Students can select from graduate course offerings in the traditional civil and environmental disciplines as environmental, structural, and transportation engineering. In cooperation with your advisor, additional courses may be taken in: Accounting (ACC3010, 3020) and project management (ISM5900) from the WSU Mike Ilitch Business School; urban and regional planning (UP3530), sustainable cities (UP4460), and GIS (UP6830) from Urban Planning; and quality management system (IE6240), quality engineering (IE6225), project management (IE6840) and value engineering (IE6220) from Industrial and Systems Engineering as electives.

Construction Management Technology (CMT), Engineering Technology, and/or online courses cannot be used to fulfill credit requirements for the MS in Civil Engineering (MSCE), PhD in Civil Engineering (PhDCE) and MS in Environmental and Sustainability Engineering (MSESE) degrees, unless it is approved by the student’s academic advisor and graduate program director prior to registering for the course.

Admissions

Admission to the M.S. program in civil and environmental engineering may be granted on a regular or qualified basis. Regular admission is considered for applicants who have achieved an overall honor point average (GPA) of 3.0 in completing an undergraduate engineering degree from an institution accredited by the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) or from a comparable foreign institution. In the event that the degree is in an engineering field other than civil and environmental engineering, the student may be required to complete a set of pre-requisite undergraduate courses before graduate credit may be accrued. 

The GRE is not required for admission to the M.S. program in civil and environmental engineering. However, the department may request a recent GRE score for applicants if they are unable to reach an admission determination based on the required material.

Only in exceptional cases will a student without an undergraduate engineering background be admitted to the civil and environmental engineering graduate program. In such cases, significant undergraduate pre-requisite work will be required.

International students are required to submit a qualifying TOEFL or IELTS English Proficiency score and a WES Evaluation.

All M.S. applicants have the option to submit a one-page statement of purpose.  Applications are submitted through the Graduate School.