Civil Engineering

Building and maintaining the infrastructure that makes modern societies work – that’s what civil engineering is all about. From highways and bridges to dams and airports, civil engineers design, build and manage the public and private works that make modern life possible.

With a master’s degree from the University of Idaho’s outstanding civil engineering program, you can anticipate a challenging and productive career in any number of fields critical to the sustenance and progress of modern society. Our emphasis on rigorous engineering fundamentals and their socially responsible application to design, will provide you with the comprehensive expertise, practical experience, exceptional faculty guidance and professional connections you need to launch an exciting and highly rewarding career in one of the world’s most important and valued professions.

Recognized as a regional leader in civil engineering education, the University of Idaho offers degree programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.

Graduate study is offered with specialization in the following areas:

• Environmental and Sanitary Engineering
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering
• Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics
• Transportation Engineering

The department offers master's and Ph.D. degrees, and graduate academic certificates. Distant students can earn master's degrees and certificates online with courses delivered by Engineering Outreach:

• Master of Science (30 credits, with thesis)
• Master of Engineering (33 credits, non-thesis)
• Doctor of Philosophy (in limited specialty areas)
• Certificate in Structural Engineering and in Water Resources Engineering (through Engineering Outreach)

You'll learn skills that prepare you to confidently design and supervise the construction of structural systems such as bridges, roads, airports and tunnels, as well as water systems for supply and sewage processing. With this advanced level of education and knowledge, you will become a valuable asset to engineering firms with the ability to factor all costs, regulations, hazards and maintenance into the safety and efficiency of their designs.

The civil engineering program at the University of Idaho is widely known and respected. We have an excellent reputation for producing quality graduates who are 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 (ASCE), recognizing the department's dedication and commitment to licensure, ethics and professionalism.

Our educational offerings include master's and doctoral programs through distance learning media and off-campus centers. Graduate programs are offered in three Idaho locations: Moscow, Boise and Idaho Falls.

Prepare for Success

Entering a graduate program in civil engineering opens up a world of opportunity for vision and change necessary to the world in which we live.  The curriculum for a civil engineering master's degree depends greatly on the focus, as there are a great many areas of study in this broad field of engineering.

Each degree program for a master's in civil engineering is tailored to one of several subdisciplines. The purpose of the degree is to allow you to develop an extensive knowledge base with career and research experience specific to the focus you have chosen.

Your First Year

The objective of our program is to produce graduates who can:

• Solve problems in mathematics through differential equations, probability and statistics, and calculus-based physics and chemistry.
• Conduct civil engineering experiments according to established criteria in two or more areas, and analyze and interpret the resulting data.
• Design a complex system or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability.
• Function effectively as a member of a multidisciplinary team.
• Solve well-defined engineering problems in four technical areas appropriate to civil engineering.
• Analyze a complex situation involving multiple conflicting professional and ethical interests, to determine an appropriate course of action.
• Organize and deliver effective verbal, written and graphical communications.
• Gain drawing board education that allows you to determine global, economic, environmental and societal impacts of a specific, relatively constrained engineering solution.
• Demonstrate the ability to learn on your own without the aid of formal instruction.
• Incorporate specific contemporary issues into the identification, formulation and solution of a specific engineering problem.
• Apply relevant techniques, skills and modern engineering tools to solve problems.

What You Can Do

A master’s in civil engineering opens the door to a wide variety of career options. Civil engineers work in the areas of:

• Construction engineering
• Environmental engineering
• Geotechnical engineering
• Structural engineering
• Transportation, urban planning and water resources

Opportunities

University of Idaho 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.

Our alumni work for consulting engineering firms, government agencies, construction contractors and manufacturing industries. They 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 develop plans for managing traffic, water and air quality, floodplains and the quantity and quality of water in streams, lakes and reservoirs.

In the foreseeable future, population growth and relocation will create a steady demand for infrastructure growth. Civil engineers will be required to apply evolving technologies and develop innovative solutions to ensure wise stewardship of our limited natural resources.

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, and 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, and the development and performance prediction of Superpave mixes
• Dynamic transportation systems modeling
• Hydrologic systems modeling
• Fluid transients and pipeline monitoring and modeling hydraulic transients in pipelines
• Water resources systems, conjunctive management of groundwater and surface water, evapotranspiration
• Water quality management and statistical analysis of environmental and climatological data
• Transportation operations and control, pavement systems, transportation infrastructure, and video-based traffic detection
• Traffic flow theory and control, traffic signal controller interface development, and control strategy for signalized intersections

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

Breakthroughs & Discoveries

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 Karen Den Braven.

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.