The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers exceptional educational and research opportunities for students.  Undergraduate civil engineering students receive comprehensive exposure to technical subjects in all four disciplines of civil engineering: Environmental/Water Resources, Geotechnical, Structures, and Transportation, which are integral parts of the mandatory curriculum.

While the B.S.C.E. curriculum is designed to provide undergraduate students with a broad Civil and Environmental Engineering educational experience, undergraduate students may also select an optional concentration in two select areas:

• Energy Infrastructure
• Land Development Engineering

The Civil Engineering field encompasses various challenges, including:

1. Analysis, design, construction, and monitoring of foundation systems, buildings, bridges, dams, and other structures.
2. Transportation systems, such as highways, mass transit, airports, railroads, pipelines, canals, and harbor facilities.
3. Land development, and urban and regional planning.
4. Power infrastructure design and testing.
5. Environmental solutions, addressing air pollution, groundwater pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, ecological effects.
6. Managing water resources for urban use, industrial applications, and land reclamation.
7. Developing systems for water transmission and river control.
8. Establishing water quality control systems for purification and waste treatment.

Undergraduate Environmental Engineering (B.S.) students undergo coursework that integrates core Environmental Engineering subjects with ongoing design experience throughout the curriculum. This approach offers students opportunities to assess, analyze, and solve real-world and locally relevant problems related to contamination of soils, water, and the atmosphere. The Environmental Engineering field encompasses various challenges, including: 

1. Environmental solutions, addressing air pollution, groundwater pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, ecological effects.
2. Managing water resources for urban use, industrial applications, and land reclamation.
3. Developing systems for water transmission and river control.
4. Establishing water quality control systems for purification and waste treatment

All program-level Admission and Progression Requirements are in addition to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Admissions Requirements .

Advanced Degree Programs

Civil and Environmental Engineering students can pursue the following advanced degrees:

• Master of Science in Civil Engineering (M.S.C.E.)
• Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.)
• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Civil Engineering
• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Infrastructure and Environmental Systems (INES)

Graduate students typically engage in coursework and/or research within a specific technical area.

Students should consider the graduate study options offered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as they plan their undergraduate program of study.  While qualified students can begin working on a Master’s degree at the completion of their B.S.C.E. or Environmental Engineering B.S., students also have two options for an accelerated Master’s degree:

1. Incoming freshmen may elect to enroll in the 5-year program to obtain both a B.S. and an M.S. degree upon graduation.
2. An early-entry M.S. degree option is available to students who meet the 3.2 GPA criterion.  Qualified students who elect this option apply to the Graduate School as an undergraduate student, and are permitted to double-count 9 credit hours of graduate coursework towards upper-level undergraduate electives.  For additional information about the graduate programs, see the UNC Charlotte Graduate Catalog. 

Civil Engineering (B.S.C.E.) Program Educational Objectives

The Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) Program Educational Objectives (PEO) listed below describe the program’s objectives for BSCE graduates three to five years after they have completed the program. 

1. BSCE Program graduates will be progressing successfully in their career and exhibiting leadership qualities.
2. BSCE Program graduates will be demonstrating integrity and ethical behavior in all professional activities. Graduates will further demonstrate professionalism by nearing/obtaining professional licensure as appropriate for their chosen career, and by actively participating in professional activities.
3. BSCE Program graduates will be demonstrating their technical ability to solve problems and/or manage engineering solutions from conception through implementation.
4. BSCE Program graduates will be maintaining and expanding professional competencies and mastering emerging technologies by engaging in lifelong learning that includes graduate studies and professional education.
5. BSCE Program graduates will strive to incorporate global, societal, economic, and environmental impacts in their professional work, consistent with the principles of sustainable development.
6. BSCE graduates will be committed to continued engagement and support of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and seek opportunities to mentor future engineers.
7. BSCE Program graduates will be engaging and collaborating with the communities in which they live and work.

Accreditation

The undergraduate Civil Engineering Program within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.

Student Outcomes

The following student outcomes for the BSCE program support the program educational objectives.  Attainment of these outcomes prepares graduates to enter the professional practice of engineering.  Student outcomes include:

1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics;
2. An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors;
3. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences;
4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts;
5. An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives;
6. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions; and
7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

ASCE Program Criteria

ABET requires that accredited programs meet program-specific criteria established by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  Specifically, the Civil Engineering program at UNC Charlotte must meet ASCE program-specific criteria related to:  1) Curriculum and 2) Faculty as outlined below:

1.   The curriculum must prepare graduates to apply knowledge of mathematics through differential equations, calculus-based physics, chemistry, and at least one additional area of basic science; apply probability and statistics to address uncertainty; analyze and solve problems in at least four technical areas appropriate to civil engineering; conduct experiments in at least two technical areas of civil engineering and analyze and interpret the resulting data; design a system, component, or process in at least two civil engineering contexts; include principles of sustainability in design; explain basic concepts in project management, business, public policy, and leadership; analyze issues in professional ethics; and explain the importance of professional licensure.
2. The program must demonstrate that faculty teaching courses that are primarily design in content are qualified to teach the subject matter by virtue of professional licensure, or by education and design experience.  The program must demonstrate that it is not critically dependent on one individual. 

Programs

• Civil Engineering, B.S.C.E.
• Civil Engineering, Energy Infrastructure Concentration, B.S.C.E.
• Civil Engineering, Land Development Engineering Concentration, B.S.C.E.
• Environmental Engineering, B.S.

• Civil Engineering, M.S., Early Entry