Civil and environmental engineers work to create a cooperative balance between the needs of
people and protecting the natural resources in our environment. They
plan, design, and construct many of the civil works that make modern
life possible, such as highways, water and wastewater systems, tunnels,
dams, buildings, airports, railroads, and bridges.
Civil and environmental
engineers work as planners, designers, builders, researchers, plant
operators, government employees, lawyers, teachers, and administrators.
At MSU, our excellent faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, active student
groups, and comprehensive educational programs combine to offer superior
preparation for a professional career.
Our extensive facilities include outstanding environmental engineering
laboratories, the new Civil Infrastructure Laboratory, and
computing laboratories. The environmental laboratories contain
sophisticated instrumentation for studying chemical and biological
remediation techniques. The Civil
Infrastructure Lab allows testing of large-scale structural
and pavement components, as well as construction materials.
Mission
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
at Michigan State University will:
- establish an outstanding undergraduate program capable
of producing the future leaders of the profession;
- establish nationally and internationally renowned
research and graduate programs in the focus areas of
environmental, infrastructure and transportation
engineering, and provide leadership and support to
federal, state and private agencies in these areas;
- excel in outreach and service to the profession and the
community at large in selected areas, in keeping with
the land-grant philosophy of the university; and
- employ principles of continuous quality improvement to
enhance its programs and itssion.
Faculty & Staff
CEE is composed of 22 faculty members and 21 academic specialists and support
staff. Most of the department's faculty are active both in teaching
undergraduate and graduate courses and in research. Faculty
specialties encompass
construction materials, environmental engineering, hydrology
and water resources engineering, geotechnical engineering, pavement
engineering, structural engineering, and transportation engineering.
All faculty members are either registered professional engineers or
are pursuing registration.
Undergraduate Program
We offer undergraduate students an educational environment rich in opportunities
to obtain knowledge and skills that facilitate civil engineering practice,
life-long learning, and professional development, all of which lead
to career success. Each year, approximately 350 undergraduate students
are enrolled and 100 bachelor's degrees are awarded.
Students learn to:
- Solve engineering problems
- Integrate experimentation, analysis, and design
- Refine writing and speaking for technical communication
- Use interpersonal and social skills required for working on a team and
in an organization
- Be aware of professional ethics, societal impacts, and contemporary issues
in engineering practice
Highlights of the program are:
Graduate Programs
We offer graduate degrees in both civil and environmental
engineering disciplines. Within civil engineering, there are two
primary focus areas: civil
infrastructure engineering, which includes many of the traditional
civil engineering areas, and transportation
engineering. Each year, approximately 100 graduate students are
enrolled and 30 students are awarded degrees.
Graduate students in all areas work with faculty as teaching assistants and/or
as research assistants on funded research projects. Funded projects
come from a variety of sources and are based on strong relationships
with various state and national-level agencies and industry.
We provide significant financial support to graduate students through paid teaching
and research positions. In 2003, we provided $217,000 to fund teaching
assistants; $663,804 from external grants to support research assistantship
positions; and $55,196 to fund fellowships.
Research
Our department has leadership roles in environmental
remediation, civil
infrastructure, and transportation
engineering. We operate or partner with five research centers--the
Midwest Hazardous Substance
Research Center; three Michigan Department of Transportation-sponsored
centers of excellence in pavement research, bridges and structures,
and transit research; and the National
Center for Pavement Preservation. External research funding for
2002 totaled $3.3 million.
Our faculty conduct cutting-edge research in areas such as solid
and hazardous waste treatment, environmental
hydrology, pavement
engineering, intelligent
transportation--traffic
operations and safety, and construction
materials and structures.
This research is strongly linked to our education programs through course
offerings and the training of students.
Our facilities enable MSU researchers to address pressing needs within Michigan and
across the nation, including:
- Environmental remediation
- Water quality
- Repair and rehabilitation of deteriorating roads and bridges
- Generation of stronger and more durable construction materials and pavements
- Development of advanced transportation systems
Major Research Sponsors
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
- National Institute of Health
- National Science Foundation
- Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
- National Cooperative Highway Research Program
- Michigan Department of Transportation
- Michigan Department of State Police
- U.S. Department of Transportation
Click here for a brief history of the department
The Michigan State University Community
MSU, founded in 1855, offers a broad range of academic, social, and
living environments. It is located on 5,000 acres in East Lansing, in the Lansing
metropolitan area, 90 miles west of Detroit. While the university itself
is quite large (~42,000 students), it prides itself on being able to
offer an environment which is very livable. The Lansing area boasts
of the state capitol, a huge General Motors facility (Lansing has held
the record of most vehicles produced in a single city several times
in recent years), and the university. In addition to rich ethnic and
cultural diversity, Lansing is also home to a new modern minor league
baseball park (home to the Lansing Lugnuts), a symphony orchestra, several
theater groups, and a wide variety of restaurants and clubs. The area
offers a great mix of urban, suburban, and rural living within 20 minutes
of campus. The university itself has tremendous diversity in both the
student body and the faculty and staff. On-campus events over the last
few years illustrate the breadth of the cultural experience that can
be obtained at MSU-from hosting the Clinton-Dole-Perot presidential
debates to a Rolling Stones concert in the stadium to national touring
shows such as the "Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats" to country music
to Big-10 sports and exciting minor league baseball to intimate coffee
houses, MSU and the Lansing area offer it all!
While MSU is quite proud of being characterized as a research-intensive
university, our faculty strive for excellence in teaching, research,
and service to the profession and community. MSU offers literally hundreds
of majors; osteopathic, human, and veterinarian medicine schools; and
schools of law, business, and engineering among others. The engineering
college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer, electrical,
mechanical, mechanics and materials science, civil and environmental,
biosystems, and chemical engineering along with computer science. There
are also several innovative interdisciplinary programs within the engineering
college including, for example, manufacturing engineering.
