Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Science College of Engineering

The Civil Engineering profession is responsible for designing, building, operating and maintaining the physical infrastructure and protecting the natural environment that together support human society in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. The need to predict and mitigate the impact of complex human- and nature-induced stresses on large-scale, geographically-distributed systems has never been more evident than now. These challenges and inevitable societal changes result in a need to develop and adopt new technologies and improved efficiency into the infrastructure.

The Civil Engineering (BS) program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET under the commission's General Criteria and Program Criteria for Civil and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

Students are encouraged to adhere carefully to all prerequisite requirements. The instructor is authorized to drop students from a course for which stated prerequisites have not been completed. 

Areas of Specialization

Construction Engineering & Management

Construction engineering and management focuses on the role of civil engineers in the construction of all types of civil infrastructure. Construction engineering involves finding engineered solutions for sourcing, transporting, processing, assembling, fabricating, and testing materials and systems used to construct buildings, as well as transportation, water resources, geotechnical, and environmental infrastructure. Project management involves developing and executing plans to manage people, financial, and material resources in order to deliver projects with the correct scope, on time, within budget, and meeting engineering performance, environmental impact, and stakeholder expectations. While primarily applied to civil infrastructure projects, these principles are also applicable to many other fields.

Suggested Advisors

J. Harvey, S. Miller, J. Bolander, S. Nassiri

Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering focuses on understanding and management of physical, chemical, and biological processes in natural and engineered systems. Areas of emphasis include improvement of air, land, and water quality in the face of increasing population, expanding industrialization, and global climate change. Examples of environmental engineering include innovative analysis and design of air, water, wastewater, and solid waste treatment systems; mathematical modeling of natural and engineered systems; life cycle analysis; sampling, analysis, transport and transformation of natural and anthropogenic pollutants; and modeling of air pollutant emissions.

Suggested Advisors

H.N. Bischel, C.E. Bronner, C. D. Cappa, R. Corsi, C. DeFinnda, A. Kendall, M.J. Kleeman, F.J. Loge, J. Pena, T.M. Young, 

Geotechnical Engineering

Geotechnical Engineering encompasses civil infrastructure and environmental problems that require characterization and utilization of geologic materials (soils and rocks) to develop, design, analyze and model engineered solutions. This includes, but is not limited to, foundations for buildings and bridges retaining structures, earthwork (e.g. dams, tunnels, highways), pavements, effects of earthquakes and other natural hazards (e.g. ground motions, liquefaction, soil-structure interaction, landslides, tsunamis), ground improvement methods (e.g. compaction, cement mixing), and geo-environmental problems (e.g. groundwater flow, subsurface contaminant transport and remediation).

Suggested Advisors

J.T. DeJong, M.H. Gardner, J.T. Harvey, B. Jeremic, A. Martinez, S. Nassiri, K. Ziotopoulou

Structural Engineering & Structural Mechanics

Structural Engineering addresses the conception, design, analysis, construction, retrofit and modeling of all types of civil infrastructure, including buildings and bridges, dams, ports, highways, and industrial facilities subject to loadings ranging from gravity and earthquakes, to extreme environmental events, with consideration of safe, serviceable, and sustainable outcomes over the entire life-cycle. Structural Mechanics encompasses theories for solids and structures, and the associated methods of analysis, computation and materials characterization used in the practice of Structural Engineering. For both disciplines, materials of particular interest include steel, concrete, timber, advanced composites and particulate media.

Suggested Advisors

M. Barbato, J.E. Bolander, L. Cheng, J.T. Harvey, B. Jeremic, A.M. Kanvinde, S.K. Kunnath, S.A. Miller, N. Sukumar

Transportation Planning & Engineering

Transportation Engineering deals with the movement of people and goods in a manner consistent with society's environmental and socio-economic goals. Transportation engineering applies engineering, physical and mathematical sciences, economics, and behavioral social science principles to plan, analyze, design, and operate resilient and sustainable transportation systems, such as highways, transit, airfields and ports. Transportation planning involves the formulation and analysis of transportation policy, program, and project alternatives. Societal goals, budgetary constraints, socio-economic (such as safety, equity and mobility) and environmental (such as air and water quality, climate change, and clean energy) objectives, and technological feasibilities (such as vehicle, infrastructure, and information technologies) are considered.

Suggested Advisors

Y. Fan, J.T. Harvey, M.A. Jaller, A. Jenn, A. Kendall, S. Nassiri, D. Sperling, K.E. Watkins, H.M. Zhang

Water Resources Engineering

Water Resources Engineering includes hydrology, hydraulics, fluid mechanics, and water resources systems planning and design. Hydrology deals with quantifying and understanding all aspects of the hydrologic cycle, including the relationships between precipitation, runoff, groundwater, and surface water. Water quality and contaminant transport issues are linked to hydrologic conditions. Hydraulics and fluid mechanics deal with flows in pipes, open-channel water-distribution systems, and natural systems, such as lakes and estuaries. Water resources systems planning and design deals with the comprehensive development of water resources to meet the multiple needs of industry, agriculture, municipalities, recreation, and other activities.

Suggested Advisors

F.A. Bombardelli,  A. Escriva-Bou, A.L. Forrest, J.D. Herman, M.L. Kavvas,  V.L. Morales, H.J. Oldroyd, B.A. Younis

Additional information on areas of specialization and potential faculty advisors can be obtained from the departmental website. 

The major requirements below are in addition to meeting University Degree Requirements & College Degree Requirements; unless otherwise noted. The minimum number of units required for the Civil Engineering Bachelor of Science is 150.

Lower Division Required Courses
Mathematics
MAT 021ACalculus4
MAT 021BCalculus4
MAT 021CCalculus4
MAT 021DVector Analysis4
MAT 022ALinear Algebra3
MAT 022BDifferential Equations3
Physics
PHY 009AClassical Physics5
PHY 009BClassical Physics5
PHY 009CClassical Physics5
Physical, Biological & Data Science Requirement4-5
Choose One:
Introduction to Biology: Essentials of Life on Earth
Introduction to Biology: Principles of Ecology & Evolution
Physical Geology
and Physical Geology Laboratory
Introduction to Atmospheric Science
Biometeorology
Applied Machine Learning for Non-Majors
Computer Networks for Non-Majors
Databases for Non-Majors
Algorithms for Data Science
Machine Learning
Chemistry
CHE 002AGeneral Chemistry5
or CHE 002AH Honors General Chemistry
CHE 002BGeneral Chemistry5
or CHE 002BH Honors General Chemistry
Civil Engineering2-6
Spatial Data Analysis
Choose one: 1
Civil & Environmental Infrastructure & Society
OR
Transfer Transition for Civil & Environmental Engineering
Engineering
ENG 003Introduction to Engineering Design4
or ENG 003Y Introduction to Engineering Design
ENG 006Engineering Problem Solving4
or ECS 032A Introduction to Programming
or ECS 032AV Introduction to Programming
ENG 035Statics4
Lower Division Composition/Writing; choose one; a grade of C- or better is required:4
Major Works of the Ancient World
Major Works of the Medieval & Early Modern World
Major Works of the Modern World
Major Works of the Contemporary World
Introduction to Literature
Introduction to Literature
Introduction to Native American Literature
Introduction to Academic Literacies
Introduction to Academic Literacies: Online
Introduction to Academic Literacies
Lower Division Required Courses Subtotal69-74
Upper Division Requirements
Engineering
ECI 100Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers4
or ENG 103 Fluid Mechanics
ENG 102Dynamics4
or ENG 105 Thermodynamics
If both ENG 102 & ENG 105 are completed, the additional 4 units will be considered towards the ECI elective requirement.
ENG 104Mechanics of Materials4
or ENG 104V Mechanics of Materials
ENG 104LMechanics of Materials Laboratory1
ENG 106Engineering Economics4
Civil Engineering
ECI 114Probabilistic Systems Analysis for Civil & Environmental Engineers4
ECI 193ACivil & Environmental Engineering Senior Design 4
ECI 193BCivil & Environmental Engineering Senior Design4
Numerical Methods Requirement; choose one:4
Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering
Matrix Structural Analysis
Water Resources Simulation
Deterministic Optimization & Design
Civil & Environmental Engineering Breadth
Choose one course from five of the following group options:16-18
To satisfy Geotechnical & Water Resources breadth area groups, both lecture and lab courses must be completed.
Construction Engineering & Management
Construction Principles & Project Management
Deterministic Optimization & Design
Environment
Environmental Analysis of Aqueous Systems
Chemical Principles for Environmental Engineers
Air Pollution
Geotechnical
Soil Mechanics
Soil Mechanics Laboratory
Structures
Structural Analysis
Transportation
Choose one:
Transportation System Operations
Transportation Infrastructure Design
Energy & Environmental Aspects of Transportation
Transportation Policy
Water Resources
Engineering Hydraulics
Engineering Hydraulics Laboratory
Civil & Environmental Engineering Depth
Choose two courses from two of the following group options selected from Civil & Environmental Engineering Breadth: 16
Construction Engineering & Management
Structure & Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
Construction Principles & Project Management
Deterministic Optimization & Design
Pavement Engineering & Design
Pavement Management, Evaluation, & Rehabilitation
Construction Cost Estimation & Analysis
Buildings: Assemblage & Construction Quality Management
Environment
Chemical Principles for Environmental Engineers
Water & Wastewater Treatment System Design
Air Pollution
Geotechnical
Foundation Design
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
Pavement Management, Evaluation, & Rehabilitation
Structures
Matrix Structural Analysis
Structural Design: Metallic Elements
Structure & Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
Structural Loads: Calculation & Modeling
Structural Design: Concrete Elements
Building Design
Earthquake Loads on Structures
Transportation
Deterministic Optimization & Design
Transportation System Operations
Transportation Infrastructure Design
Introduction to Electric Vehicles
Pavement Management, Evaluation, & Rehabilitation
Water Resources
Engineering Hydrology
Groundwater Systems Design
Hydraulic Structure Design
Water Resources Simulation
Water Resources Engineering Planning
Civil & Environmental Engineering Electives 2
Civil & Environmental Engineering electives may include any upper division, letter-graded Civil & Environmental Engineering courses; e.g., not already used towards the ECI breadth, ECI depth, and Numerical Methods requirements.12-16
Civil Engineering Competency Requirement
No additional units are necessary as students can count these as competency and another major requirement.
Material Science Competency; complete one of the following options:0-4
Structure & Properties of Civil Engineering Materials
OR
Complete two of the following courses:
Structural Design: Metallic Elements
Structural Design: Concrete Elements
Soil Mechanics
Foundation Design
Pavement Engineering & Design
Design Competency; complete one of the following courses:0-4
ECI 140
(Discontinued) **
Hydraulic Structure Design
Air Pollution Lab
Transportation Infrastructure Design
Foundation Design
Pavement Engineering & Design
Career Development Competency; complete one of the following:0-1
Internship or Relevant Work Experience; minimum ECI 192, 1 unit.
Research experience with faculty member; minimum ECI 199, 1 quarter.
Participation in an Engineering Student Professional Organization in a design team or organizing a major event; e.g., ASCE, EWB, AWWA, etc., ECI 198 at least 1 unit.
CEE Career Development Seminar; winter quarter – 10 weeks, 1 unit
Construction Engineering & Management Seminar; fall, spring – 10 weeks, 1 unit.
Upper Division Composition Requirement
Choose one: a grade of C- or better is required: 0-4
Advanced Composition
Advanced Composition
Advanced Composition
Writing in the Disciplines: Engineering
Writing in the Disciplines: Environmental Writing
Writing in the Professions: Business Writing
Writing in the Professions: Business Writing
Writing in the Professions: Business Writing
Writing in the Professions: Science
Writing in the Professions: Technical Writing
Passing the Upper Division Composition Exam.
Upper Division Requirements Subtotal77-90
Total Units150-164
1

ECI 003 is required for lower-division students. Transfer students and junior-level students will take ECI 101 if they have not taken ECI 003. Students who change into the major and who do not take either of these courses by their senior year will substitute four units of additional letter graded upper-division Civil & Environmental Engineering (ECI) coursework.

2

Also can include, but not exceed, a combination of 6 units from ECI 198 & ECI 199.

**

** Course(s) discontinued; see your advisor for course options.