Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering at Ohio State offers our students an enriching intellectual environment enhanced by unique research experiences in our state-of-the-art laboratory and experimental testing facilities to give students resources to pursue their goals and interests in various areas of civil and environmental engineering.
Opportunities for Students
Our civil and environmental engineering graduate studies program allows you to learn from faculty who are the best in Ohio, across the nation and around the world. Our graduate programs lead to master’s and doctoral degrees in six different areas of specialization:
- Construction Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Geotechnical Engineering
- Remote Sensing
- Structural Engineering
- Transportation Engineering
A dual master’s degree is offered in Urban Transportation Planning in conjunction with the City and Regional Planning program at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture. We also offer an advanced professional degree designation as a civil engineer administered through the Ohio State College of Engineering.
About the Department
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science prepares professionals in service to society through research and education focusing on new and better ways of providing the vital public works essential to American civilization and by improving the science of observing our world. This requires the skillful conception, planning, design, construction and operation of facilities that enfold modern life, ranging from transit systems to waste treatment facilities to space satellites.
In the 21st century, the demand for civil and environmental engineers and geodetic scientists will increase significantly, due in part by efforts to rebuild, improve and make secure our country’s infrastructure, including our highways, bridges, tunnels, dams, harbors, airports, waterways, railways, power plants, air and water treatment plants, drainage systems and waste disposal facilities.
Research
Current research areas in civil and environmental engineering at Ohio State include structural vibration problems, development and behavior of concrete structures and structural composites, artificial intelligence and knowledge-based expert systems, earthquake engineering, dynamics of flow and sediment transport in coastal engineering, mathematical modeling and rheological characterization of material behavior, field performance of earth and rock structures and reliability, risk and decision analysis in construction, construction safety and reliability, probabilistic modeling of transportation systems, transportation infrastructure modeling, transportation planning and forecasting, intelligent transportation systems, water and hazardous waste treatment, advanced oxidation processes, photochemistry, membrane processes, water chemistry, contaminant fate and transport, colloid transport, waste re-use and industrial ecology.
Research Centers
Researchers in the department collaborate on interdisciplinary study with 17 research centers at Ohio State:
- Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design
- Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
- Biomedical Engineering Center
- Byrd Polar Research Center
- Campus Chemical Instrument Center
- Center for Mapping
- Center for Cognitive Science
- Center for Resilience
- Electroscience Laboratory
- Excellence in Manufacturing
- John Glenn School of Public Affairs
- Microscopic and Chemical Analysis Research Center
- Ohio Supercomputer Center
- Olentangy River Wetland Research Park
- Ohio Sea Grant
- Stone Laboratory Water Resources Center
- Consortium for Information Assurance Education and Research
Research Facilities
The department maintains extensive, state-of-the-art computing, laboratory and field instrumentation facilities in support of graduate education. For example, the Great Lakes Forecasting System houses an advanced computing environment for real-time coastal forecasting. Beyond the department, the flagship university computer facility is the Ohio Supercomputer Center located on campus. This facility principally supports research computing and contains Silicon Graphics Power Challenge, CRAY T3E and CRAY YMP computers as well as laboratories for advanced visualization. The department also develops and maintains an impressive array of field instrumentation equipment for the characterization and monitoring of both natural environments and engineered structures. Dedicated research laboratories with extensive instrumentation support each of the areas of specialization within the graduate program. Just some examples of dedicated laboratory facilities in the department include the Coastal Sediment Transport Lab, Environmental Engineering Analytical Lab, Knowledge Engineering Lab and the Mapping and GIS Laboratory. Graduate student researchers in the department also have access to a wide array of university facilities such as the Campus Electron Optics Facility and the OSU Microscopic and Chemical Analysis Research Center.
Graduate Applications
Applications to Ohio State University must be submitted online. Please visit the Ohio State University Office of Graduate Admissions Web site to apply online with a credit card. Also, the civil and environmental engineering department’s Web site provides links to the university admissions Internet site.
