Structural Engineering: Building Design—Graduate Certificate

Online Education for Working Professionals

Acquire the ability to perform design tasks for building structures.

Study advanced connections, complex structures, and system-level building design.

Learn advanced techniques to evaluate structures as a building engineer. Design building components and systems in structural steel, reinforced and prestressed concrete, masonry, and/or timber. This flexible certificate will allow you to study high-level design topics spanning multiple material systems or focus within a single material system.

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How to Apply

3 courses in 3 semesters.

Department	Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
Admissions requirement	Civil engineering, structural engineering, or related degree.
Contact	Angela Keranen

Length	3 courses in 2-3 semesters
Effort	3 hours per credit per week
Each course	3 credits
Total credits	9
Course type	Online or on-campus
Modality	Watch class recordings on demand
Cost	Based on credits and course type
Already enrolled?	Speak with your advisor

Curriculum

Progress quickly with a compact curriculum. Work with the program advisor to select courses that fit your interests and prerequisite skills.

Prerequisites

Check your preparation. Here are some of the pre-requisite courses for this certificate.

CEE 3202 - Structural Analysis

Introduction to structural concepts and techniques for analyzing trusses, determinate and indeterminate beams, and frame structures. Apply concepts from statics and mechanics of materials to determine internal forces and deflections of structural members and systems, including loads and load paths.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): (ENG 2120 or MEEM 2150) and (MA 2320(C) or MA 2321(C) or MA 2330(C))

CEE 4201 - Matrix Structural Analysis

Analysis of trusses and frames by the direct stiffness method. Use of a typical commercial computer code is stressed as a tool for complex structures. Introduces three-dimensional structures.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-2-2)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 3202

Electives

Take 9 credits of elective courses. There are no required courses. Only one course at the 4000-level can be applied toward this graduate-level certificate. For students taking a 4-credit 4000 level course, only 3 of 4 credits will be applied. Students are responsible to ensure that they are able to meet the prerequisite requirements for the courses that they wish to take.

Choose one of the following.

CEE 4213 - Structural Concrete Design

Introduction to design of reinforced concrete structural components. Analyze and design reinforced concrete beams, columns, and footings. Understand material behavior, limit state criteria, and practical detailing considerations. Application of the ACI 318 to cast-in-place and precast systems.

Credits: 4.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-2)
Semesters Offered: Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 3202

CEE 4223 - Steel Design I

Behavior and design of structural steel members using both ASD and LRDF approaches. Covers material behavior, external loads, and the design of tension, compression, and flexural members (rolled, built-up, and composite), and simple welded and bolted connections.

Credits: 4.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-2)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Summer
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 3202

CEE 4233 - Structural Timber Design

Introduction to the use of wood as a structural engineering material. Includes design of beams, columns, nailed and bolted connections, trusses, and panels. Overview of engineered timber systems including glulam, LVLs, I-joists, and cross-laminated timber.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 3202 or CMG 3250

CEE 4244 - Loads for Civil Structures

The course focuses on the theory and building code requirements for civil structural loadings that are used in design. The loads and load combinations will include dead loads, occupancy live loads, snow loads, wind loads, and seismic loads.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 3202

Choose two of the following.

CEE 5201 - Advanced Structural Analysis

The study of nonlinear structural analysis techniques, especially energy methods, applied to elastic buckling analysis, large deflections of beams, second-order effects in frames, and plastic analysis of steel structures.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 4201

CEE 5212 - Prestressed Concrete Design

Theory of prestressed and post-tensioned members. Covers analysis and design of prestressed concrete beams, slabs, box girders, and bridge girders by elastic and ultimate strength methods. Precast and cast-in-place system construction techniques will be included.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 4213

CEE 5213 - Concrete and Masonry Building Systems

Design of reinforced concrete two-way slabs and reinforced masonry systems for buildings. Includes design of bearing walls, shear walls, lintels, pilasters, slender columns, torsional beams and connections. A design project may be included during the semester.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 4213

CEE 5223 - Steel Design II

Additional topics in steel design including beam-columns, floor vibrations, diaphragms, buckling behavior of thin elements, torsional buckling, and beam and column bracing. Includes an introduction to cold-formed steel design.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Spring
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 4223

CEE 5233 - Advanced Structural Timber Design

Advanced design of timber structures, including glulam tapered and curved beams, arches, and traditional timber frames, advanced shear wall design, advanced connection design, including timber connectors and cross-laminated timber design.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, in odd years
Pre-Requisite(s): CEE 4233

Typical Schedule

The minimum completion time is three semesters. Here are typical schedules.

Option 1: Steel Concentration

Fall	Spring
CEE 4223	CEE 5201
Summer
CEE 5223

Option 2: Cementitious Materials Concentration

	Spring
	CEE 4213
Summer	Fall
CEE 5213	CEE 5212

Option 3: Advanced Building Systems Concentration

Summer	Fall
CEE 5223	CEE 5212
	Spring
	CEE 4233

Application Process and Admissions Requirements

Applications are reviewed on an individual basis using a holistic approach. Fill out our free graduate application online to apply to any of our programs. Official transcripts and scores are not required for the initial application, although you will need to upload them later.

Graduate School Admissions Process

Applying to the Graduate School is free (no application fees) and fast (no official transcripts, test scores, or letters needed to start). The application process involves three easy steps.

See Admissions Steps

Graduate School Requirements

To be considered for admission to the Graduate School as a degree- or certificate-seeking student, you need to:

have a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from an accredited institution, and
be prepared for advanced study in your chosen field, as demonstrated by your previous degree and your scholastic record.

See additional application requirements, including required materials:

Official Transcripts

Program Specific Requirements

Program Specific

Admitted applicants typically have an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale
GMAT/GRE: Not required
Preferred major: Civil, environmental or related degree

International Students

TOEFL: Recommended Score of 79 iBT
IELTS: Recommended Overall Band Score of 6.5

Admissions Decisions

Made on a rolling basis.

Certificate Admissions

Prospective Students

Prospective students and non-degree seeking students interested in obtaining a graduate certificate must apply to the certificate program using the online application.
Accelerated certificate options exist for current Michigan Tech undergraduate students in good standing and have achieved at least junior-level standing or recent bachelor’s graduates of Michigan Tech (less than two years).
The number of credits earned prior to admission that can be counted are restricted.

Current Graduate Students

Current Michigan Tech graduate students who are in a degree program do not need to formally apply. Current students must still submit the appropriate degree schedule in order to complete the certificate.

International Student Requirements

International Students must apply and be accepted into a degree-granting program in order to earn a graduate certificate. A non-refundable $10 processing fee per application is required.

See International Applicants

Interested in taking a single, online course? Enroll as a non-degree seeking student.

Upon completion of the certificate, students will be able to:

Design building components and connections for gravity and lateral loads with a range of structural materials using current building code specifications and standards.

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We set out as the Michigan Mining School in 1885 to train mining engineers to better operate copper mines. Today, more than 60 percent of Michigan Tech students are enrolled in our 17 undergraduate and 29 graduate engineering programs across nine departments. Our students and curriculum embrace the spirit of hard work and fortitude our founders once had. Our online graduate courses are the same, robust classes taken by our doctorate and masters candidates, taught directly by highly regarded faculty, with outstanding support from staff. We invite working professionals to join these courses, bring their own experience and challenges as part of the discussion. Leverage the national reputation of Michigan Tech to advance your career in tech leadership.

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