Founded in 1890, Washington State University is a

Seismic simulator with a three-story scale model structure attached.

comprehensive research, land-grant institution with a total student enrollment of approximately 20,000. Washington State University is located in Pullman, about 75 miles south of Spokane, and is one of the largest residential universities in the West. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has a total of 25 faculty and covers a broad spectrum of civil engineering disciplines. Approximately 300 undergraduate and 80 graduate students are enrolled in the department. External research funding is around $4 million annually. Earthquake engineering is an ongoing research topic in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Within the department, many of the faculty and graduate students are focusing on research topics related to earthquake engineering. These include: seismic response of woodframe buildings, seismic analysis of soil-structure interaction, seismic performance and retrofitting of reinforced concrete knee joints in bridges, use of fluid dampers for the seismic protection of woodframe structures, studies on the effect of confining stress and initial static shear on seismically induced liquefaction, evaluation of strong ground motions recorded in recent earthquakes, prediction of near-fault ground motions, seismic response of micropiles, and seismic resistance of log home shear walls. The civil engineering department has also had active participation in post-earthquake reconnaissance and follow-up studies of the Nisqually, Washington, and the June 23 Southern Peru earthquakes. Earthquake research funding comes from various organizations including the National Science Foundation, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department operates over 30 research and teaching laboratories. The Wood Material and Engineering Laboratory (WMEL) has been used to develop design and construction methods for over 50 years; it houses a 12.2 m by 24.4 m strong floor equipped with computer controlled loading actuators and electronic data acquisition systems. WMEL also hosts a seismic simulator. The seismic simulator consists of a 2.4 m x 1.5 m moving platform that is attached to a servo-hydraulic actuator. The actuator has a force capacity of 98 kN. The maximum acceleration, velocity, and displacement of the unloaded seismic simulator are 4.7 g, 28.4 cm/s, and 12.7 cm, respectively. The seismic simulator has been utilized for both structural dynamics and earthquake engineering research and education. Recent research involved experimental testing to evaluate the seismic performance of a three-story steel-framed building model containing a smart seismic isolation system. With respect to education, the seismic simulator has been utilized for instruction of students in both undergraduate (Structural Engineering Laboratory) and graduate (Structural Dynamics) courses. The Geotechnical Engineering laboratories contain specialized research equipment including CKC cyclic triaxial testing devices, a SBEL (Stokoe) hybrid resonant column/torsional shear device for obtaining dynamic soil parameters, cyclic simple shear and direct-residual shear devices. The department owns a fully equipped drill rig with a licensed driller as part of the permanent staff of the department. The university also owns two geophysical trucks equipped with borehole logging equipment.

Washington State University offers a unique educational environment that allows students to enroll in classes cooperatively taught at the University of Idaho. This opportunity allows for a broader scope of earthquake engineering expertise within the faculty as well as increased laboratory facilities available to students. Graduate classes related to earthquake engineering include structural dynamics, soil dynamics, geotechnical and structural earthquake engineering, and finite element analysis. The department is closely affiliated with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and conducts research for WSDOT on a regular basis. Washington State University is an affiliated institution in the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center (PEER), and its faculty currently participates actively in PEER funded research.

Graduate Programs in Civil Engineering at Washington State University

Master’s Degree Program
The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department is accredited and offers the Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree. This degree can be obtained in two ways: thesis or non-thesis options. A minimum of one-year residence is required to obtain a master’s degree. The student must maintain a 3.0 GPA to be enrolled as a graduate student as well as completing the following requirements:

Non-thesis option
- Complete a minimum of 26 credit-hours of graded course work
- Complete at least 17 credit-hours of graduate level graded work
- Complete 4 credit-hours minimum of master’s level directed study work
- Complete 9 credit-hours maximum of non-graduate graded coursework
- Produce a final design project

Thesis option
- Complete a minimum of 30 credit-hours total course work including 21 credit-hours minimum graded course work, 15 credit-hours minimum of graduate level course work, 4 credit-hours minimum of directed study credits, 6 credit-hours maximum of non-graduate graded course work
- Complete a research project culminating in a thesis developed in conjunction with the student’s graduate committee
- Pass a final oral thesis defense

Doctor of Philosophy
The Doctor of Philosophy Civil Engineering degree is designed for students who have completed a master’s degree and wish to continue their education in a specialized area. This requires a minimum of two years in residence at Washington State University as well as completing the following requirements:

- Complete 72 credit-hours minimum total credits
- Complete 34 credit-hours minimum graded course work
- Complete a minimum of 20 credit-hours of PhD-level research credits
- Complete a maximum of 9 credit-hours of non-graduate courses
- Pass pre-qualifying and preliminary exams
- Pass an oral dissertation defense