Civil and Environmental Engr
- CBE 449/MAE 449/CEE 449: Numerical and Monte Carlo Methods in Engineering and Scientific ComputingAn introduction to numerical and Monte Carlo methods useful for engineering and scientific applications. Topics covered include solution of non-linear equations, interpolation and extrapolation, integration of functions, solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, random number generation, and stochastic sampling (Monte Carlo) methods. The emphasis is on the practical use of these methods. Assignments are expected to be completed using computing tools such as MATLAB, Excel, or Python.
- CEE 262B/ARC 262B/EGR 262B/URB 262B: Structures and the Urban EnvironmentKnown as "Bridges", this course focuses on structural engineering as a new art form begun during the Industrial Revolution and flourishing today in long-span bridges, thin shell concrete vaults, and tall buildings. Through laboratory experiments students study the scientific basis for structural performance and thereby connect external forms to the internal forces in the major works of structural engineers. Illustrations are taken from various cities and countries thus demonstrating the influence of culture on our built environment.
- CEE 306/ENV 318: Hydrology: Water and ClimateObjective/Overview: Analysis of fundamental processes in the hydrologic cycle, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, infiltration, streamflow and groundwater flow. The class focuses on exercises using observational data. There is a modeling and data analysis component using Python and Jupyter Notebooks, readings on flood and drought, and a forecasting competition.
- CEE 308: Environmental Engineering LaboratoryDesigned to teach experimental measurement techniques in environmental engineering and their interpretations. General considerations for experimental design and data analysis will be covered. Key techniques used to measure the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of environmental media will be taught through various hands-on modules that cover flow and transport of contaminants in the atmosphere, hydrologic measurements of soil-moisture dynamics in response to precipitation events, and measurements of solar and wind energy resources.
- CEE 311/CHM 311/GEO 311/ENE 311: Global Air PollutionStudents will study the chemical and physical processes involved in the sources, transformation, transport, and sinks of air pollutants on local to global scales. Societal problems such as photochemical smog, particulate matter, greenhouse gases, and stratospheric ozone depletion will be investigated using fundamental concepts in chemistry, physics, and engineering. For the class project, students will select a trace gas species or family of gases and analyze recent field and remote sensing data based upon material covered in the course. Environments to be studied include very clean, remote portions of the globe to urban air quality.
- CEE 312/MAE 312: Statics of StructuresDevelops notions of internal forces and displacements, and instructs students how to design and analyze structures. Presents the fundamental principles of structural analysis, determination of internal forces, and deflections under the static load conditions, and introduces the bending theory of plane beams and the basic energy theorems. The theory of the first order will be developed for continuous girders, frames, arches, suspension bridges, and trusses, including both statically determinate and indeterminate structures. Basic principles for construction of influence lines and determination of extreme influences will be presented.
- CEE 325/CBE 325/ENV 325/BNG 325: Environmental BiotechnologyOver the next several decades environmental sustainability will be a major challenge for engineers and society to overcome. This course is an introduction to environmental biotechnology focusing on how the applications of biotechnologies are impacting sustainability efforts in a variety of sectors including water systems, food and chemical production, and infrastructure construction. This course will provide a broad background in biological design concepts across scales from molecules to ecosystems, how bioengineering enables the design of new biotechnologies, and the ethical implications of engineering biology for use in the environment.
- CEE 344/ENV 344: Water, Engineering, and CivilizationA modern view of water resources, combining physical and engineering principles of hydrology, hydraulics and environmental fluid mechanics with the broader historical and social aspects of sustainable development. Examples from both ancient and modern civilizations will be analyzed. Teams of students will develop interconnected design projects on water distribution, hydrologic hazards, and sustainable use of water resources, with emphasis on interdisciplinary communication among stakeholders.
- CEE 361/MAE 325/MSE 331: Matrix Structural Analysis and Introduction to Finite-Element MethodsThis course presents the Matrix Structural Analysis (MSA) and Finite Element Methods (FEM) in a cohesive framework. The first half of the semester is devoted to MSA topics: derivation of truss, beam, and frame elements; assembly and partitioning of the global stiffness matrix; and equivalent nodal loads. The second half covers the following FEM topics: strong and weak forms of boundary value problems including steady-state heat conduction, and linear elasticity, Galerkin approximations, constant strain triangles, and isoparametric quads. Other topics such as dynamic analysis will also be discussed. MATLAB is used for computer assignments.
- CEE 365: Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical EngineeringPart-1 Classical Soil Mechanics: Physical and engineering properties of soils; soil classification and identification methods; site exploration; sampling; laboratory and in-situ testing techniques; shear strength; bearing capacity; earth pressure; slope stability; permeability and seepage. Part-2 Application of Soil Mechanics in Civil Engineering: Earth retaining structures; deep foundations, ground improvement; tunneling; levees; and construction and contracting implications.
- CEE 376: Independent StudyIndependent research in the student's area of interest. The work must be conducted under the supervision of a faculty member, and must result in a final paper.
- CEE 461: Design of Large-Scale Structures: BuildingsThis course will focus on the structural design of buildings and is open to students of engineering and of architecture who meet the prerequisites. The course will culminate in a major building design project incorporating knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work. Structural design is considered from concept development to the completion of detailed design while incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints.
- CEE 478: Senior ThesisA formal research proposal need to involve analysis, synthesis, and design, directed toward improved understanding and resolution of a significant problem in civil and environmental engineering. The research is conducted under the supervision of a faculty member, and the thesis is defended by the student at a public examination before a faculty committee. The senior thesis is equivalent to a two-semester study and is recorded as a double course in the Spring.
- CEE 507: Independent Study IUnder the direction of a faculty member, each student carries out independent study. Prior to course registration, students must complete a departmental Graduate Independent Study form that describes the work being undertaken, and have the form approved by the supervising faculty member and the Director of Graduate Studies.
- CEE 508: Independent Study IIUnder the direction of a faculty member, each student carries out independent study. Prior to course registration, students must complete a departmental Graduate Independent Study form that describes the work being undertaken, and have the form approved by the supervising faculty member and the Director of Graduate Studies. Usually taken in the Spring semester.
- CEE 509: Directed ResearchUnder the direction of a faculty member, each student carries out research and presents the results. Directed research is normally taken during the first year of study. The total grading of the course is 25% poster presentation and 75% submitted work.
- CEE 510: Research SeminarThis is a continuation of CEE 509. Each student carries out research, writes a report and presents the research results. Doctoral candidates must complete this course one semester prior to taking the general examination. The total grading of the course is based 10% on oral presentation and written "poster" communication skills and 90% based on advisors evaluation of the semester's work.
- CEE 511: Design of Large-Scale Structures: BuildingsThis course will focus on the structural design of buildings and is open to students of engineering and of architecture who meet the prerequisites. The course will culminate in a major building design project incorporating knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work. Structural design is considered from concept development to the completion of detailed design while incorporating appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints.
- CEE 520/COS 520: Advanced Topics in Network ScienceNetworks matter! This holds for technical infrastructures, information systems and social media in the WWW, but also for various social, economic and biological systems. What can we learn from data that capture the topology of such complex systems? How can we discover significant patterns in the structure of networks? This course equips you with the analysis techniques needed to answer such questions based on network data across different disciplines. You learn how networked systems can be modeled, how patterns in their topology can be characterized quantitatively, and how complex macroscopic features emerge from simple processes.
- CEE 529/MSE 539/ENE 529: Optical Materials for Thermoregulation of the Built Environment and BeyondThis course explores material and optical design strategies for thermal management of buildings. In the first part of the course, we cover fundamental aspects of thermal radiation and light-matter interactions in built and natural environments. The second part covers traditional and emerging materials and strategies for radiative thermoregulation of buildings. Specific topics include traditional designs such as cool-roof films and low-E coatings, emerging materials like radiative coolers, and adaptive coolers/heaters, and their impact within buildings and the broader environment.
- CEE 531/MSE 531: Materials and ProcessesThe course focuses on the linear and non-linear rheology of colloidal materials and materials processing and solidification mechanisms. The rheological sections of the course focus on the fundamentals of rheological properties, viscoelasticity, flow, and constitutive models. The materials processing sections focus on chemistry, physics, and mechanics principles governing the behavior of materials and particulate. The course objective is to teach a framework for quantitative analyses of materials' rheological responses and processes and help students understand materials' capabilities and limitations.
- CEE 571/ENV 571: Environmental ChemistryThis course covers pollutant chemicals in the environment with a focus on water and soil. The focus is on hazardous and toxic chemicals such as benzene, trichloroethane, pesticides and PCBs. In this course, environmental chemistry serves as a vehicle for study of chemical thermodynamics. Students gain an understanding of Gibbs free energy, chemical potential, and fugacity, and the universal applicability of thermodynamics to describe equilibrium and kinetic processes such as phase partitioning.
- CEE 575: Interfacial Waters in Natural SystemsThis course presents an overview of current research on the behavior of interfacial waters in natural systems. Sub-topics include adsorption at water-solid and water-air interfaces, the thermodynamics of adsorbed water films, interfacial mass transfer, interfacial energy and wetting, colloidal aggregation in saturated and unsaturated soils, surface waters, and the atmosphere. The course focuses particularly on insights gained from the combination of experiments, atomistic simulation, and geochemical models.
- CEE 599/ENE 599: Special Topics in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources: Pathways to Water Sector DecarbonizationThis course explores the One Water framework, focusing on decarbonization and building resilient, circular, and equitable water/wastewater systems.
- ECE 455/CEE 455/MAE 455/MSE 455: Optical and Photonic Systems for Environmental SensingThis class will teach you about optical and photonic sensing technologies and their applications to environmental monitoring. The course will contain elements of atmospheric science and Earth observation, fundamentals of optics, photonics and laser physics, as well as a survey of modern optical and spectroscopic sensing applications. In this course students will be asked to prepare two oral presentations and there will be three laboratory assignments focused on fundamentals of optical sensing
- ENV 302/CEE 302/EEB 302: Practical Models for Environmental SystemsHumans increasingly dominate environmental systems throughout the world. To understand human impacts on the environment, quantitative modeling tools are needed. This course introduces quantitative modeling approaches for different environmental systems, including global models for carbon cycling; local and regional models for water, soil, and vegetation; models for transport of pollutants in water and air; and models for the spread of infectious disease. Students will develop simple models for all these systems and apply the models to a set of practical problems.
- ENV 353/CEE 353/GEO 353: Chemistry of the EnvironmentThis course focuses on a quantitative understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere and natural waters on Earth, while exploring some of today's most pressing environmental issues, including the greenhouse effect, ocean acidification, urban smog, the ozone hole, acid mine drainage, and coastal dead zones. The goal is to leverage the laws of chemistry to understand our current environment, make sense of remediation strategies and explore the future.
- ENV 423/CEE 423/GEO 423: HydroclimatologyStudents will learn basic concepts related to climate and how it controls different components of the global water budget. Emphasis will be placed on dominant large scale climate modes (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation). The role of major types of storms (e.g., tropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers) as flood agents will be addressed. Climate change, its possible causes and the interaction with the living world will be discussed. Statistical methods to examine the relation between climate and hydrologic variables will be introduced. Basic computer coding and math skills are required.
- GEO 427/CEE 427/ENV 427: Climate II: Coupled Earth System DynamicsThis course explores the fundamentals of climate dynamics. Through examination of the coupled interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, land, and cryosphere, students will investigate how these systems drive climate variability and change across timescales ranging from weeks to millennia. Topics include: global energy balance, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the hydrologic cycle, climate sensitivity and feedbacks, and paleoclimate. Students will study a hierarchy of climate models, from theoretical frameworks to comprehensive general circulation models, and assess the mechanisms behind major climate feedbacks and modes of variability.
- VIS 418/CEE 418: Extraordinary ProcessesThis year, students will design, build, and critically analyze three common objects - a Cushion, a Prosthetic, and a Light Fixture - each of which will be informed by the diverse structural properties of a single material: ash wood. Assignments will be three weeks long and will be executed round-robin. The round-robin structure allows students to lead the way on some assignments, and learn from the work of their classmates on others, supported by concrete data gathered from visiting artists and lab work. A larger goal of this class, then, is to compare and contrast methods of evaluation in visual art, engineering, design, and ergonomics.