Civil and Environmental Engineering

What is Civil Engineering?

Civil Engineering involves the planning, design, and construction of many of the developments, large and small, that make modern life possible. This involves finding solutions to many problems faced by society while staying within the limits of available resources, such as materials, space, and money.

What do Civil Engineers do?

Some of the many facilities that civil engineers are responsible for include bridges, buildings, tunnels, highways, offshore structures, transit systems, dams, airports, irrigation systems, water treatment and distribution facilities, and wastewater collection and treatment facilities.

Civil Engineering at UIUC

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department is consistently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top programs in the country and attracts the best students and faculty members. A curriculum in civil and environmental engineering encompasses a wide variety of subjects. An undergraduate in this program will receive training in all these areas, while choosing one for primary emphasis.

Construction: This field involves the planning, coordination, and supervision of the building of facilities. A career in construction engineering requires courses in structures, foundations, buildings, bridges, and transportation facilities.
Environmental: This field involves finding solutions to problems such as air and water pollution, and the disposal of solid waste and hazardous by-products of industry and agriculture. This is done by designing and building facilities to purify and alter such substances while enforcing state and federal pollution control regulations.
Geotechnical: This field involves the selection, design, and supervision of foundation construction. Their expertise is also needed in siting, designing, and constructing dikes, dams and underground facilities.
Hydrosystems: This field involves planning, designing, constructing, and operating facilities for the control and use of water and structures in the marine environment. They provide systems of freshwater supplies, and are involved in projects that require underwater work and ocean mining.
Materials: This field involves developing innovative materials to fit the needs of society. Students in this discipline will take courses in mechanics and materials and will study the properties of concrete, steel, wood, and other common materials.
Structures: This field involves designing structural projects and supervising their construction. Structural engineers design a variety of systems, ranging from buildings and bridges, to power plants, dams, offshore oil platforms, transmission line towers, and aircraft and space structures.
Transportation: This field involves the design of transportation systems such as highways, railways, and airports. They are also responsible for rehabilitating and maintaining existing facilities, and planning transportation systems to handle international, inter-regional, and intra-city commodity and passenger flow.

All these disciplines require an intense study of physics, math, chemistry, and mechanics, along with some economics and related courses.

Career Opportunities

Our graduates have been involved in many civil engineering projects of great magnitude. From the Golden Gate Bridge, to the Sears Tower, to the English Channel Tunnel, this department's alumni have had a hand in shaping the world in which we live and move. Students find employment in firms such as Commonwealth Edison, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and Boeing. A number of students do also continue for graduate study.

Why Civil Engineering?

With so many fields of interest, a Civil Engineering degree offers students a wide variety of options before and after graduation. Students are prepared for a challenging career made necessary by the growing demands of society. It allows one to work indoors, outdoors, individually, and in teams, to provide for the needs of society and improve modern life.

Department Contact Information:

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1105 Newmark Civil Engineering Lab., MC-250
205 N. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801

Telephone: 217-333-3812
Fax: 217-333-9464
Web page: http://cee.ce.uiuc.edu

Engineering Guide | Tau Beta Pi | College of Engineering