Civil Engineering, with Specializations, MSCE

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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fenn Hall 107
(216) 687-2400
http://www.csuohio.edu/engineering/civil/programs.html
Stephen Duffy, Graduate Program Director (environmental - interim)
Lutful Khan, Graduate Program Director (structures/foundations)
Jacqueline Jenkins, Graduate Program Director (transportation)
Ung Tae Kim, Graduate Program Director (water resources)

Programs of Study

Environmental
Structures and Foundations
Transportation
Water Resources

Introduction

While a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering can help you secure an entry-level job and a professional license, accelerating your career and earning higher salaries often requires a master’s degree. To that end, the graduate program in civil engineering is designed to provide the student with knowledge of advanced methods for analysis and design of bridges, tunnels, roads, dams and water supply systems. In addition, the program can enable the student to conduct research or product development efforts.

Initially the student must select one of the following graduate specializations: Transportation, Structures/Foundations, Water Resources Engineering, or Environmental Engineering. Note that full-time or part-time study may be pursued.

Faculty Research and Publications

Areas in which students may conduct research are reflected by the interests and publications of individual faculty members. These areas include concrete and steel structures, structural mechanics and dynamics, experimental and theoretical stress analysis, constitutive modeling, composite materials, stress-wave propagation, ultrasonics, nondestructive evaluation, numerical analysis, fracture mechanics, soil mechanics, foundations, water resources, hydraulics, transportation, highway engineering and the development of innovative construction materials.

Background information on the interests of current faculty can be found on the Cleveland State University Faculty Profile page.

Financial Assistance

All students interested in Graduate Assistantships must meet and maintain the requirements specified by the College of Graduate Studies as described in this Catalog.

Research assistantships are provided through sponsored research activities; the number available at a given point in time is dependent on the research activity within the College.

Interested students are encouraged to discuss the discuss the availability of assistantships and potential research projects with the program director, department chairs, and faculty as soon as possible.

Teaching assistantships are provided by individual departments to provide assistance with classroom and laboratory courses. Responsibilities can include conducting classroom recitation sessions, setting up laboratory experiments, tutoring students in class work, grading, monitoring tests, and related activities. For further information, students should contact the respective department chairs.

All graduate teaching assistants who are international students are required to pass an English Language Proficiency Examination, which is administered by the University Testing Center. Students are expected to work a maximum of twenty hours per week on their assistantship assignments unless fewer hours are specified under the terms of their contracts.

Career Information

Civil Engineers are stewards of the built infrastructure. Graduates of the MSCE degree program become enhanced stewards and find employment as project engineers at consulting firms; perform research in government laboratories; conduct analysis, design, and research in industry; and manage public works facilities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects on average 6.5% employment growth for graduate civil engineers between 2023 and 2033. In that period, an estimated 22,100 new jobs requiring civil engineers with graduate credentials should be available nationwide.

Accelerated Program in Civil Engineering

For details regarding the MSCE accelerated degree program the student is directed to the Civil Engineering, with Specializations, Accelerated Masters BSCE/MSCE section of this catalog.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the following admission requirements:

A cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 or better
Four-year undergraduate degree, or equivalent, in an engineering discipline from an accredited university. Students without a bachelor’s degree in engineering or science may be considered for admission however preparatory courses will be assigned as part of their study plan. Preparatory courses do not count toward the fulfillment of the graduate degree program.

Preparatory Program

The applicant must have successfully completed courses common to accredited undergraduate programs in engineering or engineering science. Topics include the following: statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, one year of physics, and mathematics up to and including ordinary differential equations.

If certain topics in the above list are missing in a student’s undergraduate education additional course work may be required to satisfy deficiencies. Additional coursework could include but is not necessarily limited to the following.

ESC 201 Statics
ESC 202 Dynamics
ESC 211 Strength of Materials
ESC 250 Differential Equations for Engineers
PHY 241 University Physics I
PHY 242 University Physics II
MTH 181 Calculus I
MTH 182 Calculus II

Apply Now: https://grad.engagecsu.com/

Degree Requirements

In addition to meeting other University requirements, a master’s candidate in Civil Engineering must fulfill the following:

Completion of at least 30 credit hours. For students pursuing the thesis option, a minimum of 24 credit hours of course work and a minimum of 6 credit hours of thesis are required. (A maximum of six credit hours of thesis may count toward the degree). For students pursuing the non-thesis option, all 30 credit hours must be earned in courses.
Students pursuing the thesis option must complete at least 15 credits of graduate level CVE course work. Students pursuing the non-thesis option must complete at least 21 credits of graduate-level CVE coursework.
A maximum of nine credits of course work may be taken outside of the department with advisor approval.
A maximum of six credit hours of course work may consist of approved 400-level courses taken outside of the department.
Course work may include a maximum of nine credits of graduate-level course work taken at other institutions.
A maximum of six credits of Special Topics may be used for the master’s degree.
A maximum of one credit of CVE 602 may be used for the master’s degree.

Each student must elect a specialization when applying for admission. Specializations include Environmental Engineering; Structures and Foundations; Water Resources Engineering; and Transportation Engineering. For each specialization, the student must plan a program of study in consultation with an advisor assigned by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

After the student’s program of study has been assembled any changes or substitutions require advisor approval. In planning the program of study, courses to satisfy the course work requirement (a minimum of 15 or 21 CVE/EVE credits for thesis and nonthesis students, respectively) should be selected to emphasize courses for the student’s specialization.

Specializations

Structures and Foundations

Courses most suitable for students having chosen the Structures and Foundations specialization are as follows:

Water Resources

Courses most suitable for students having chosen the Water Resources specialization are as follows:

Transportation

Courses most suitable for students having chosen the Transportation specialization are as follows:

Environmental

Courses required for students having chosen the Environmental specialization are as follows:

Exit Requirements

Thesis students must submit a thesis to their graduate committee, following the Thesis and Dissertation Format Guidelines, available on the College of Graduate Studies web page: https://graduate-studies.csuohio.edu/current-students/thesis-dissertation-format-guidelines

In order to graduate, each student’s thesis must be accepted by the graduate committee and pass an oral defense of the thesis.

Non-thesis students must complete the course requirements delineated above.