Graduate Program in Civil Engineering

Master of Engineering – Civil Engineering

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 terminal professional degrees where the candidate demonstrates advanced ability in course work and advanced independent design. It meets the need for flexibility for 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 areas. 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. It is capped with an advanced engineering design project or practicum as opposed to a research thesis.

Students not interested in doing advanced research yet wishing 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 prepare 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 is designed to be completed with two semesters of full-time study plus a one-term practicum that can be performed off campus. This 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 in their practicum a level of independent learning, problem-solving, and project management skills as is expected of an MS student.

The practicum could be done either on-campus or off-campus, typically at the site of one of our department's corporate partners. 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 hire as graduate teaching or research assistants. Scholarships could be available for some students, but, for the most part, the MEng-Civil students pay full tuition. In addition, because the program is designed for the students to perform a 2-4 credit practicum and two semesters of coursework, most students will need to enroll for 13-14 credits during each of the two semesters that they are taking course work.

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 practicum and obtain graduate committee approval of a presentation related to their course work and 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 during their first month 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 can 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) can 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 that 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 can not 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 are encouraged to 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 for the degree of Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering. Of those, 26-28 credits are for course work (a maximum of 14 credits can be at the 3000-4000-level and the remainder of the credits must be at the 5000 level); and, students must complete a 2-4 credit engineering design practicum (CE5998). Students can obtain up to 1 credit of course work for the Civil Engineering (CE5990) graduate seminar but 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(s) and committee. There will be no required course(s) that all students in the Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering must take. Rather, the individual areas (construction, geotechnical, structures, transportation, environmental, water resources) will determine, based upon the student's background and experience, an appropriate course plan. However, a minimum of 9 credits (can be CE courses or courses from another department) are recommended to be related to one of 6 focus areas (construction, geotechnical, structures, transportation, environmental, or water resources) and a minimum of 3 courses must be CE5XXXX designated courses (excluding CE5990 and CE5998). The Final Degree Schedule (MEng-2 Form) must be submitted at least one month before graduation.

Requirements for the Engineering Design Practicum
For the degree of Master of Engineering - Civil Engineering, the student must set up a professional internship design practicum, with the assistance of his or her advisor(s), whose length and scope will vary inversely with the prior work experience of the MEng candidate. Credit is only provided for a practicum that is for work conducted after a student has been accepted into the MEng-Civil programs. Ideally the practicum would be conducted in the semester prior to initiating course work (for May graduates this would occur during the summer prior to beginning course work in fall semester). The design practicum can also be taken after course work requirements are completed.

This design practicum must be unanimously approved by the student's primary advisor(s), 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 advisor(s) and 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 the students' primary advisor(s), committee, and the department chair and detailed in a written memo to the department chair. Such practicums could consist of an experience dealing with one or more of these suggested topics: advanced participation in the engineering enterprise program, an advanced engineering design project, and work on a project involving operation, testing and/or analysis of a unit operation/pilot plant laboratory.