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The Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering (MEng-Civil) degree, which is a spin off of the Master of Engineering (MEng) degree at Michigan Tech, is intended to be a terminal professional degree. It meets the needs of students who want to expand their knowledge in a specific discipline or to change disciplines as they plan careers in corporate markets as well as other professional arenas.
The degree is intended for students wishing to work in the areas of consulting engineering, industry, and/or government. The MEng-Civil degree is a professional degree different from the Master of Science (MS) Civil Engineering degree.
Students who are not interested in doing advanced research yet wish to enhance their educational background should be attracted to the MEng degree program. It allows students to gain either a greater depth or more breadth in professional skills. Some students may elect to take additional course work related to their baccalaureate degree (e.g., construction, environmental, water resources, transportation, structural, geotechnical). Others will want to take course work in a different specialty that complements their undergraduate degree (e.g., course work in environmentally conscious manufacturing, graphical information systems/remote sensing, or computer science). Yet other students may elect to take course work in business or environmental policy, in addition to advanced engineering courses, that prepares them for entrepreneurial careers, careers with small- to medium-sized businesses, or government.
What is particularly attractive about the MEng-Civil degree is that it can be completed with two semesters of full-time study. A student may also choose to take a lighter on-campus course load and include a 2-4 credit practicum that can be performed off campus. Either of these options is less than the typical one and one half to two years of full-time study required for the MS. However, MEng candidates lacking significant engineering work experience will be required to demonstrate independent learning, problem-solving, and project management skills similar to those expected of an MS student.
If chosen, the practicum can be done either on-campus, with your graduate advisor, or off-campus, usually through your employer. The MEng degree particularly lends itself to short-term projects that often are required by industry.
Students pursuing the MEng degree are expected to be self-supported and are not eligible for graduate teaching or research assistantships. Scholarships could be available for some students, but, for the most part, the MEng-Civil students pay full tuition.
Curriculum Design
The Master of Engineering student must complete the following: 1) choose an advisory committee; 2) file a Degree Schedule form; 3) complete course work and, if chosen, a practicum. If a practicum is chosen, the student will need to obtain graduate committee approval of a presentation related to their practicum; 4) fulfill a campus residency requirement; 5) file an approved MEng-3 Form, and 6) finish the degree within a prescribed time limit.
Administrative Structure
Applicants must possess a first degree in engineering. Applicants who apply to the MEng-Civil program will have their applications reviewed by Department faculty involved in the following graduate areas: structural, geotechnical, water resources, construction, and transportation. All MEng-Civil applications must be approved by the Department Chair.
Accepted students will be assigned a faculty advisor within 2 weeks of acceptance into the program. Students are expected to submit a draft degree schedule (MEng-1 Form), define their graduate committee, and define their practicum, if chosen, during their first semester in residence (except in the case of the practicum being conducted prior to beginning course work).
The graduate committee shall consist of an advisor and at least two additional faculty members. A three-person graduate committee may consist of either three faculty members from Civil & Environmental Engineering or two faculty members from Civil & Environmental Engineering and one faculty member from outside the Department. The advisor and Department committee member(s) must consist of faculty from the following ranks:
Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Lecturer. At least two committee members must be members of the graduate faculty.
Students first accepted into the MS Civil Engineering program who wish to switch into the MEng-Civil program must reapply through the graduate school for the MEng-Civil and program. A student's application will then be reviewed by the appropriate faculty review committee. Students switching from an MS program cannot apply any research credits (CE5999 or equivalent) to an MEng degree in Civil Engineering. Students who wish to switch from the Masters of Engineering program to an MS program may do so but must also reapply to the appropriate MS program.
Specific Degree Requirements for Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering
Students must take 30 semester credits of course work for the degree of Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering (a maximum of 14 credits can be at the 3000-4000-level and the remainder of the credits must be at the 5000 or 6000 level). Students who choose a practicum must complete a 2-4 credit engineering design practicum (CE5998) and take 26-28 credits of coursework to meet the 30-credit requirement. Students must obtain 1 credit of course work for the Civil Engineering (CE5990) graduate seminar and are expected to attend seminar during all semesters they are enrolled and on campus.
Course work must be approved by a student's graduate advisor and committee. A minimum of 9 credits (can be CE courses or courses from another department) are recommended to be related to one of 6 CE specialty areas (construction, geotechnical, structures, transportation, environmental, or water resources), and a minimum of 3 courses must be CE5XXX or CE6XXX designated courses (excluding CE5990 and CE5998). The Final Degree Schedule (MEng-2 Form) must be submitted at least one month before graduation.
As stated above, students may choose to set up a professional internship design practicum. The practicum will be developed with the assistance of his or her advisor(s), and its length and scope will vary depending on the prior work experience of the MEng candidate. The design practicum must be approved by both the student's graduate committee and the Department chair. It is required that students obtain this approval prior to beginning a practicum. Students must provide an oral presentation and written record of their practicum to their graduate committee in order to obtain credit for CE5998. A combination of the oral presentation and written record must include the following components, each of which must be adequately addressed to pass the oral practicum defense: a description of the student's engineering work experience, a description of their practicum, a description of a significant independent engineering project (which may be part of the practicum or may be part of prior work experience), and a description of their MEng course work with a demonstration of how that course work fits into the student's professional goals. This presentation must be observed by all committee members and approved by at least a majority of committee members, as indicated on the MEng-3 form.
Cases in which the design practicum is performed at Michigan Tech will be considered on a case-by-case basis. These case-by-case situations must be approved by both the student’s graduate committee and the Department chair.
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