Civil Engineering, MS
Introduction
Graduate Education Policies and Procedures apply to these programs.
There are many reasons to consider a master’s 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 Science (MS) in Civil Engineering at CU Denver is intended for students who have previously earned an undergraduate degree in engineering or a similar field. Students of other backgrounds are welcome but usually have more prerequisites to complete before they can be admitted to the MS program.
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. Our graduate programs are designed for working professionals and offer ample opportunities for hands-on research.
Many students are full-time, while many also work full-time jobs and complete evening classes. Depending on a student's pace, the master's 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)
- Geotechnical Engineering
- Hydrologic, Environmental, and Sustainability Engineering
- Structural 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. You may complete no more than nine credit hours of graduate work before completing these prerequisites. Note, all courses taken at CU Denver while enrolled graduate studies count toward your grade point average (GPA).
If prerequisites are taken after admission to the master's program, students must maintain a 3.0 overall GPA, per Graduate Education policies and procedures. The student’s faculty advisor may also specify undergraduate courses that must be completed before starting graduate course work, but these will not count toward the semester hour requirements for the degree.
Transfer Credits
Master's students may transfer up to 9 semester hours from another institution toward their master's degree, if approved by their advisor. Students who completed their undergraduate degree at CU Denver many have additional options available.
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours at the graduate level, including a master's report or thesis.
- Students must complete 6 credit hours of master's thesis or 3 credits of master's report. Both require a written comprehensive exam and an oral defense to a committee of at least two graduate faculty for a report and three graduate faculty for a thesis. The student's topic must be approved by the faculty advisor.
- Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours in your chosen host department or within Civil Engineering, not including master's report or thesis. Any courses taken outside your host department must be approved by advisor.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of B- (2.7) 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.
- The MS 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 |
---|---|---|
Research Credits (requires advisor approval). Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Required core courses | 9 | |
Construction Materials and Methods | ||
Construction Planning and Control | ||
Construction Cost Estimating | ||
Construction Electives | 9 | |
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 | 6-9 | |
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 |
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) Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Required course | ||
CVEN 5381 | Introduction to Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
Civil Engineering GIS electives | 21-24 | |
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 |
Geotechnical Engineering
The Master of Science program in geotechnical engineering offers opportunities for study and research in design and construction of structures built on, in or of natural/improved soils or rocks. As desirable construction sites in urban settings are fast becoming fewer, innovations in geotechnical engineering are arguably some of the most intriguing and interesting. Geotechnical engineering covers diverse areas such as earth retaining structures, reinforced soil structures, dams, tunneling, bridge abutments, landslide stabilization, environmental geotechnics, in-situ testing, new soil composites, soil-structure interaction, earthquake engineering, subsurface characterization, ground improvement, computational geomechanics, and geosynthetics.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Research credits (requires advisor approval). Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Civil Engineering Geotechnical electives | 24-27 | |
Advanced Soils Engineering | ||
Engineering Properties of Soils | ||
Foundation Engineering | ||
Foundations on Expansive Soils | ||
Dynamics of Soils and Foundations | ||
Additional courses are selected by mutual agreement of the student and faculty advisor after admission to the degree program. |
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). Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Breadth courses | 9 | |
Depth courses | 9 | |
Elective courses | 6-9 | |
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 |
Structural Engineering
Structural engineering is the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. At CU Denver the area of structural engineering includes structural and bridge engineering; repair, evaluation, maintenance and rehabilitation of civil infrastructure, maintenance and experimental analysis of concrete; and more.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Research credits (requires advisor approval). Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Structural Engineering Electives | 24-27 | |
Advanced Structural Classical Analysis | ||
Structural Dynamics | ||
Structural Design Loads | ||
Masonry Design | ||
Highway Bridge Design | ||
Advanced Timber Structure Design | ||
Advanced Topics in Structural Steel Design | ||
Advanced Topics in Reinforced Concrete | ||
Design of Prestressed Concrete | ||
Design of Composite Structures | ||
Computer-Aided Structural Analysis and Design | ||
Pavement Design | ||
Structural Dynamics II | ||
Other topics as approved by faculty advisor |
Transportation Engineering
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
The Master of Science 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. | ||
Research credits (requires advisor approval). Choose 1 of the following | ||
CVEN 5950 | Master's Thesis | 6 |
CVEN 5960 | Master's Report | 3 |
Transportation Engineering Electives | 24-27 | |
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 |