Civil Engineering, MEng
Introduction
Graduate Education Policies and Procedures apply to this program.
There are many reasons to consider a Master’s of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering:
- Gain advanced training in your chosen civil engineering specialty.
- Become an expert in your chosen thesis (or report) research.
- Position yourself in a competitive employment market.
- Earn more than those with only a bachelor’s degree.
The Master of Engineering (MEng) in Civil Engineering at CU Denver is intended for students who have a non-engineering undergraduate degree. The program is structured to give basic knowledge in engineering in an interdisciplinary manner, allowing students to enhance their engineering education with courses from complimentary areas of study.
Our graduate programs offer ample opportunities for hands-on research. The civil engineering graduate program is designed for both full-time and part-time students who want to advance their academic and professional skills in civil engineering and related areas. Many students are full-time, while many also work full-time jobs and complete evening classes. Depending on a student's pace, the MEng program typically takes 2-4 years to complete. Most graduate courses are offered in the afternoons or evenings.
Specialty Areas
- Construction Engineering and Management
- Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Hydrologic, Environmental, and Sustainability Engineering
- Transportation Engineering
Program Prerequisites
Prerequisite classes are in addition to the 30 semester hours needed to complete a master's degree, as they are necessary background information that is usually included in an engineering bachelor's program. Students must receive a grade of C minus (C-) or better for the prerequisite class to apply to the program.
Students may complete prerequisite classes either before or after being admitted to a degree program. However, applicants with 5 or more incomplete prerequisites will not be admitted. Students may complete no more than nine credit hours of graduate work before completing these prerequisites. Note, all courses taken while enrolled in graduate studies at CU Denver count toward your grade point average (GPA).
If prerequisites are taken while admitted to the master's program, students must maintain a 3.0 overall GPA, per Graduate Education policies and procedures.
Transfer Credit
Master's students may transfer up to 9 semester hours from another institution toward their master's degree, if approved by their advisor
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours at the graduate level
- Students must complete 3 credit hours of master's report including a written comprehensive exam and an oral defense to a committee of at least two graduate faculty. The student's topic must be approved by the faculty advisor.
- 15 credit hours of course work must be completed with civil or construction engineering classes; this includes the master's report hours.
- 15 credit hours may be completed outside of the civil engineering department in related disciplines that supplement the student's area of study. This requirement gives the Master of Engineering degree the ability to be interdisciplinary and tailored to the student's exact area of interest.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of B (3.0) in all major courses taken at CU Denver and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 3.0. All graded attempts in required and elective courses are calculated in the major GPA. Students cannot complete any course requirements as pass/fail, or satisfactory/unsatisfactory.
- Every graduate student must also satisfy the degree requirements of Graduate Education on the Denver campus, specified in the Information for Graduate Students section of this catalog.
- The MEng must be completed within seven years of the date the student begins the degree program.
Construction Engineering and Management
The Master’s program in construction engineering and management provides the necessary decision-making skills to support complex construction projects and subsequent management throughout their useful life. Construction engineering and management concerns the design, planning and management of the construction, maintenance and disposal of structures, infrastructure, transportation systems, site work, and commercial, industrial, residential and environmental projects (for example: highways, bridges, airports, buildings, dams, reservoirs, light and high-speed rail systems, hospitals, laboratories, residential communities, utilities and environmental restoration projects).
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Required core courses: | 9 | |
Construction Materials and Methods | ||
Construction Planning and Control | ||
Construction Cost Estimating | ||
Construction Electives | 12 | |
Sustainable Construction | ||
Advanced Construction Engineering | ||
Project Management Systems | ||
Advanced Project Management | ||
Integrated Construction Leadership | ||
Introduction to Temporary Structures and Construction Engineering | ||
Building Information Modeling (BIM) | ||
Construction Safety | ||
Construction, Business and Innovation | ||
General Electives | 9 | |
Course selection should be based on planned career path, masters report focus, eligibility and availability of the courses. The following courses are some of the possibilities, but you should discuss course choices with your advisor. | ||
Any 5000+ CVEN or CEMT course | ||
Sustainable Design Practices | ||
LEED Certification, Greenbuilding Seminar | ||
Simulation Modeling | ||
Environmental Toxicology | ||
Leading Individuals and Teams | ||
Systems Engineering: Principles and Practice | ||
Business Model Development & Planning | ||
Landscape Biogeochemistry | ||
Environmental Impact Assessment | ||
Cross-Cultural Management | ||
Landform Manipulation | ||
Leadership Development | ||
Environmental and Hazards Law | ||
Urban Development | ||
Environmental Planning/Management | ||
Other topics as approved by faculty advisor | ||
Total Hours | 30 |
General Civil Engineering
The General Civil Engineering focus is structured to allow students to customize their engineering graduate education with courses from complimentary areas of study.
Students will work with their advisor to develop appropriate graduate course choices across multiple disciplines within civil engineering. Example of disciplines include transportation, sustainability, geomatics, and construction. This does not lead directly to engineering licensure and is not appropriate for a structural engineering focus.
A reflection essay must be written by the student before being approved for graduation
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Courses approved by faculty advisor | 30 | |
Total Hours | 30 |
Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The Geomatics Engineering and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver provides broad-based expertise and cutting-edge skills that span the growing geospatial field and helps alleviate the shortage of well-educated geospatial professionals. The program is intended for engineers and other geospatial, environmental and urban infrastructure professionals seeking skills in using and managing rapidly developing geospatial data technologies.
All GIS graduate courses are entirely online, as they have been for more than 20 years. However, master’s degree students have the option of taking some courses on the CU Denver campus from other programs such as geography or computer science.
Our Geomatics and GIS curriculum covers a wide range of geospatial principles. Students learn from industry professionals in areas of surveying, geodesy, mapping science and cartography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, high-definition surveying, and relational GIS databases.
Our program prepares graduates for careers in industry and/or science. Students who complete the program have a comprehensive understanding in these disciplines, empowering them to advance their careers in geospatial engineering and analysis or to continue their research.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Research credits (requires advisor approval): | 3 | |
Master's Report | ||
Required course: | 3 | |
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems | ||
Civil Engineering GIS electives: | 24 | |
Geospatial Data Development | ||
GIS Project Management | ||
GIS Relational Database Systems | ||
Advanced Remote Sensing | ||
Interactive Web Mapping GIS | ||
Introduction to Geomatics | ||
Unmanned Aerial Systems | ||
GPS/GNSS | ||
HDS/LiDAR Tools & Data Analyses | ||
Other topics as approved by faculty advisor | ||
Total Hours | 30 |
Hydrologic, Environmental, and Sustainability Engineering
The graduate track in hydrologic, environmental, and sustainability engineering (HESE) in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Denver brings together the hydrologic cycle, environmental processes, and sustainability—the powerful notion that everything we engineer should support economic prosperity, environmental health, and social justice.
Graduate coursework in the HESE track requires breadth and depth. Students are required to take at least one graduate course in each of the three areas plus at least two additional courses in one of those three areas. The program also includes graduate-level electives, allowing students to customize their program to match their professional needs and intellectual curiosity.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Research credits (requires advisor approval). | 3 | |
Master's Report | ||
Breadth courses | 9 | |
Depth courses | 9 | |
Elective courses | 9 | |
Hydrology and Hydraulics | ||
Surface Water Hydrology | ||
Groundwater Hydrology | ||
Vadose Zone Hydrology | ||
Pipe Network and Sewer Design | ||
Storm Water System Design | ||
Environmental Engineering | ||
Introduction to Environmental Engineering | ||
Contaminant Fate and Transport | ||
Water and Wastewater Treatment | ||
Sustainability Science | ||
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment | ||
Complex Systems Methods | ||
Introduction to Sustainable Urban Infrastructure | ||
Sustainability and Climate Change | ||
Other topics as approved by faculty advisor | ||
Total Hours | 30 |
Transportation Engineering
The Master of Engineering program in transportation places an emphasis for courses and research on transportation engineering, planning, operations and management. Our studies address local, state, national and international issues with funding from federal, state, local and private sources. We develop and investigate new methods and technologies to analyze the performance and safety of alternative transportation operations and designs.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Research credits (requires advisor approval). | 3 | |
Master's Report | ||
Transportation Engineering Electives. Choose 9 courses | 27 | |
Advanced Highway Design | ||
Transportation Engineering Statistics | ||
Traffic Impact Assessment | ||
Highway Capacity Analysis | ||
Traffic Operations and Control | ||
Transport Modeling and Big Data | ||
Sustainable Transportation Systems | ||
Urban Street Design | ||
Transportation System Safety | ||
Other topics as approved by faculty advisor | ||
Total Hours | 30 |