Civil Engineering

Prepare to meet the rapidly growing demand for civil engineers with a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Idaho. 

As a student in our well-known and widely respected program, you will develop the expertise and skills to manage and guide technological advances necessary for human health and well-being. You will graduate positioned competitively for a challenging career in which you may plan, design and construct highways, buildings, bridges and other infrastructure; manage water, air and energy resources; protect society from natural catastrophes such as earthquakes; or handle hazards such as toxic wastes.

Our program features small class sizes, valuable practical experiences, engaging research programs, and personal guidance from our esteemed faculty members. You'll learn not only to plan, design and manage civil engineering systems and processes, but to do so in an ethical and socially responsible manner that will ultimately lead to positions of leadership in the profession. 

We have an excellent reputation for producing top graduates, well prepared to succeed in the field of civil engineering. The University of Idaho Civil Engineering Department received the inaugural Walter LeFevre Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, recognizing the department's dedication and commitment to licensure, ethics and professionalism.

In addition, our students' scores were substantially higher than the national university average on the Fundamentals of Engineering national board examination. Over the past five years, our pass rate has averaged 98 percent compared to the national average of 64 percent.

Prepare for Success

If you have an aptitude in math and science and you are interested in infrastructure, then civil engineering may be perfect for you. Designing and building roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems and large structures to meet the needs of a growing society requires an in-depth knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences, an understanding of economic principles, proficiency in the use of technical and computer tools and excellent communication skills. To prepare for this program, build your skills in these areas.

Your First Year

Your first year in the four-year civil engineering program will build on the math and science foundation you achieved in high school. You'll complete required lower-division courses in calculus, physics, chemistry, engineering graphics and an introductory civil engineering course. A typical first year looks like this:

FRESHMAN FALL:

• MATH 170 Analytical Geometry and Calculus I
• CHEM 111 Principles of Chemistry I
• CE 115 Introduction to Civil Engineering
• ENGL 102 College Writing and Rhetoric
• Core Discovery

FRESHMAN SPRING:

• MATH 175 Analytical Geometry and Calculus II
• ENGR 105 Engineering Graphics
• PHYS 211 Engineering Physics I
• BASIC SCI Biology, Chemistry, Geology or Microbiology
• Core Discovery

For civil engineering students interested in geology, there is also an option to complete a minor in geologic engineering.

What You Can Do

A bachelor of science in civil engineering opens doors to many career options. As a civil engineer you could be involved in the planning, design or management of a variety of projects. Your assignments might place you at a computer, in front of a public hearing or at a work site monitoring the progress of your designs. Civil engineers work in the areas of:

• Construction engineering
• Environmental engineering
• Geotechnical engineering
• Structural engineering
• Transportation
• Urban planning
• Water resources

Opportunities

You can’t go anywhere without finding or using something designed by a civil engineer. They’re important for the way we live, travel, do business, obtain light, heat and water, or just have fun. Civil engineers design and build highways, bridges, water conveyance systems, water and wastewater treatment plants, dams, airports, structures and foundations for buildings, and other constructed facilities. They also develop plans for managing traffic, water and air quality, floodplains and the quantity and quality of water in streams, lakes and reservoirs.

Continued population and economic growth are expected to create a growing demand for civil engineers who will be needed to design and construct higher capacity transportation, water supply, and pollution control systems, as well as large buildings and building complexes. Civil engineers will also be needed to repair or replace existing roads, bridges and other public structures.

Our graduates can be found in virtually all of the major organizations hiring civil engineers in the Northwest and in many other locations throughout the U.S. and the world. Many of our graduates are partners or officers of their organizations. They work for consulting engineering firms, governmental agencies, construction contractors and manufacturing industries. Nearly 100 percent of our graduates are hired before or soon after graduation for positions with starting salaries ranging between $43,000 and $62,000.

Current Research

Research activities include everything from earthquake, engineering and flood management to converting organic waste matter into biological thermoplastics. Here are a few examples:

• Structural analysis and design, infrastructure management, and seismic analysis of reinforced concrete
• Slope stability, soil dynamics, and earthquake engineering
• Sustainability through advanced biological nutrient removal systems, and converting waste organic matter into biological thermoplastics
• Ecohydraulics, environmental river management, ecological restoration and enhancement of river, wetland and estuarine systems
• Flood management, sediment management, geomorphic evolution and environmental management
• Subgrade soil moisture monitoring for pavement design, development and performance prediction of Superpave mixes
• Dynamic transportation systems modeling
• Hydrologic systems modeling
• Fluid transients and pipeline monitoring, modeling hydraulic transients in pipelines
• Water resources systems, conjunctive management of groundwater and surface water, evapotranspiration
• Water quality management, statistical analysis of environmental and climatological data
• Transportation operations and control, pavement systems, transportation infrastructure, video-based traffic detection
• Traffic flow theory and control, traffic signal controller interface development, control strategy for intersections with automatic signals

Activities

Students are active in a variety of professional organizations, including:

• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): The University of Idaho ASCE student chapter competes in the Pacific Northwest Regional Conference. It has consistently placed in the regional conference competing against nearly a dozen schools and has qualified to compete at the national level as well.
• Institute of Transportation Engineers
• Society of Women Engineers
• Idaho Society of Professional Engineers

Design EXPO
The University of Idaho’s annual Design Expo, made possible by a generous $25,000 outreach grant from the Micron Foundation, is one of the region’s largest interdisciplinary showcases for engineering and technological innovation. Each April it attracts nearly 500 high school students and teachers from schools in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Utah, helping tomorrow’s engineers get a head start on building a better world.

Hands-On Experience

Opportunities for hands-on experience include the Red River Wildlife Management Area, a river restoration project being developed as a field research site and educational center. Managed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the restoration effort has been guided by an interagency scientific advisory panel that includes the Nez Perce Tribe, U.S. Forest Service, Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The project is a collaborative effort between small business and the University and is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Program.

The following University of Idaho research centers also offer outstanding hands-on experiences:

• National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (NIATT), niatt@uidaho.edu, (208) 885-0576. There are four centers within NIATT:
• Center for Clean Vehicle Technology
• Center for Transportation Infrastructure
• Center for Traffic Operations and Control
• Idaho Technology Transfer (T2) Center
• Idaho Water Resources Research Institute (IWRRI), iwrri@uidaho.edu, (208) 885-6429
• Center for Ecohydraulics Research (CER), Boise, cer@uidaho.edu, (208) 364-6164
• Kimberly Research Center Water Resources, kimberly@uidaho.edu, (208) 423-6559
• Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA), Idaho Falls, inra@inra.org, (208) 524-4800
• Engineering Outreach, outreach@uidaho.edu, (208) 885-6373 or 1-800-824-2889

Breakthroughs & Discoveries

Our faculty research efforts have led to several practical outcomes that benefit the profession and the public. Below are a few examples:

Controller Interface Device
The Controller Interface Device (CID), developed by students and faculty in the National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (NIATT) in response to a challenge from the Federal Highway Administration, integrates traffic signal controller hardware directly into the traffic simulation process. This simulation environment, known as hardware in the loop simulation, is also an integral part of NIATT’s annual Traffic Signal Summer Workshop, a weeklong immersion that has attracted more than 70 students from around the U.S. to learn about traffic signal operations in a hands-on, laboratory environment. NIATT has been a national leader in developing traffic simulation technologies that have been used by more than 40 research, governmental and consulting organizations around the U.S. For more information, contact Professor Michael Kyte.

WINFLEX
WINFLEX is flexible pavement design software used to design asphalt overlay for pavements. The latest 2006 version was developed through research sponsored by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD). The software is based on modern mechanistic-empirical design principals. The software is currently implemented in the ITD pavement design manual. Using this software leads to more accurate assessment of the overlay design and performance, which leads to significant savings in the construction of overlays. For more information and to get a copy of the software, contact Professor Fouad Bayomy.

Gyratory Stability
Designed to augment the Superpave mix design system, gyratory stability provides a new method of measuring the performance of asphalt mixes. Developed at the University of Idaho with funds from the Idaho Transportation Department, it enables pavement and material engineers to quickly and objectively assess the performance of asphalt mixes prior to pavement construction. It requires no additional equipment and is based on information gathered during mix compaction in a gyratory compactor. For more information, contact Professor Fouad Bayomy.

METRIC
METRIC is a satellite image process that produces high-resolution maps of evapotranspiration. It employs a series of algorithms describing the surface energy balance and represents the first successful operational process to derive accurate maps of the consumptive use of water over large regions. METRIC has been adopted as a standard process by the Idaho Department of Water Resources for use in water rights management, watershed water balance studies and groundwater simulation studies. It is also currently being adopted by governmental departments in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington. For more information, contact Professor Richard G. Allen.

ETIdaho
The University of Idaho Kimberly Research and Extension Center has developed a process called ETIdaho that calculates daily water consumption (evapotranspiration) throughout the year, including the winter, for more than 100 weather station locations in Idaho. ETIdaho employs automated algorithms for estimating plant phenology (beginning and ending of growth) for a variety of agricultural crops and natural vegetation, and simulates evaporation following rain and snow. ETIdaho constitutes the primary data set in Idaho for estimating water consumption from land surfaces. The computation process is being adapted and applied by the states of Nevada and Washington. For more information, contact Professor Richard G. Allen.