Civil and Environmental Engineering
Solutions to the major societal problems tackled by civil and environmental engineers often require teams of people with diverse backgrounds to design appropriate solutions. Graduate students and faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have experience in areas as diverse as civil engineering, environmental science, economics, architecture, urban and regional planning, management, electrical engineering, physics, biology, microbiology, chemistry, computer science, geology and oceanography.
Graduate students in the department collaborate with professors and researchers to engage in research projects involving the environment as an integral part of engineering design. We seek to understand natural systems, foster the intelligent use of resources, and design sustainable solutions for energy, transportation, manufacturing, housing, agriculture, water and public health. Students conduct their research in one of the department’s many labs or in the field, in areas ranging from geotechnical engineering to hydrology to the mechanics of natural materials at the nano level.
Some representative areas of graduate study:
- Environmental chemistry
- Environmental microbiology
- Environmental fluid mechanics and coastal engineering
- Geotechnical engineering and geomechanics
- Hydrology and hydroclimatology
- Materials and structures
- Operations research/supply chain
- Transportation
Graduate Degree Options
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers the following graduate degree programs:
-
Master of Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering
This nine-month degree program is designed for individuals with a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a closely related field, and provides additional technical depth and an educational experience geared to professional practice. The degree offers four tracks: environmental, geotechnical, high-performance structures, and transportation. Students are required to complete a group project and an individual, practice-oriented thesis.
-
Master of Science or Master of Science in Transportation
These two-year, research-oriented degree programs are for students who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of an aspect of civil and environmental engineering and work closely with a faculty member on a research project, which usually forms the basis of the master’s thesis. The majority of students who earn the Master of Science degree stay on in the department to earn a doctoral degree. The Master of Science in Transportation is an interdisciplinary degree program with involvement of faculty from several departments at MIT, again with a focus on graduate-level research that forms the basis for a thesis.
-
Doctor of Science or Doctor of Philosophy
The doctoral degree is a research-intensive degree program for students who wish to teach in an institution of higher education or work as researchers. Students are expected to select a research project in one of the focal areas of the department and work with faculty to design and complete the research program, leading up to the writing of a doctoral thesis.
