Introduction

Established as a department in 1887, Civil

The high bay lab is a complex consisting of a full-service machine shop structural testing facility and materials testing area.

Engineering is one of the oldest courses of study at Texas A&M University. After a century of growth, the graduate and undergraduate programs are among the largest and best known in the country.  The department’s mission is to produce outstanding civil engineers and to serve the academic, research and continuing education needs of the state and nation.

Civil Engineers

Civil engineers are dedicated to improving the human environment through the design and construction of industrial facilities, public works, and transportation systems.  The buildings, highways, railways, bridges, offshore and ocean structures, airports, dams, reservoirs, waste treatment and hazardous waste disposal plants, aqueducts, tunnels, pipelines, and water resources systems that form the nation’s infrastructure were designed and constructed by civil engineers.  The civil engineer of tomorrow will also seek solutions to benefit both society and the individual to reduce ground, air and water pollution; to repair or replace deteriorating infrastructures; to improve congested transportation systems; and to minimize havoc created by natural hazards such as floods, wind, storms, and earthquakes.  The civil engineering profession will meet the challenges of tomorrow with state-of-the-art resources including analytical and physical modeling, advanced instrumentation, artificial intelligence, robotics and computers.

Curriculum

A civil engineer’s professional life may be varied and geographically wide ranging.  It generally involves frequent contact with other professionals and with the society we serve.  The civil engineer’s workplace may vary from the design office to the construction site, and the employer may be corporate, government, or private (including self-employed).  It provides relative freedom from indoor office routine compared to other engineering disciplines.  At present, there is a potential shortage of civil engineering graduates to share the challenges and rewards of this diverse, interesting and meaningful career.

Because of the diversity of the profession, the Department of Civil Engineering offers instruction in 8 major specialty areas of civil engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels including:

• Coastal & Ocean Engineering
• Construction Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Transportation Engineering
• Water Resources Engineering

The first two years of the curriculum develop a foundation of mathematics, science and the basic engineering sciences.  The junior year provides a through grounding in the majority of the specialty areas listed above and introduces the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design.  Toward the end of the junior year, the student decides to pursue either the broad program or one that concentrates on one of the specialty areas.  Thus, there is ample opportunity for the student to learn what civil engineering is all about before deciding on a specialty area for the senior and graduate level.

The senior year provides some depth and concentration on the design process to prepare the student for the next career step.  A Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering opens up many attractive opportunities with private industry, with consulting firms or in public agencies; graduate studies provide a desirable additional option.  The continued demand for civil engineers assures the civil engineering graduate of a secure and rewarding future.

Facilities

Extensive facilities are available within the department. A wide range of computer hardware and software is readily accessible to civil engineering students. Well-equipped Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Coastal Engineering, Hydromechanics, and Bituminous and Portland Cement Concrete Materials laboratories are in frequent use. Full-scale structural test facilities and research support services are located in the 2,200-acre Highway Safety Research Center and Proving Grounds of the Texas Transportation Institute. Civil and Ocean Engineering students also utilize the facilities of the Water Resources Institute, the Institute of Environmental Engineering, the Center for Dredging Studies, the Center for Marine Geotechnical Engineering and the Center for Oil Spill Technology.