Graduate Admissions

Civil Engineering MS, PhD Programs

From the bridges we cross to the roads we travel and the systems that deliver clean water, civil engineering shapes our everyday lives. Michigan Tech’s MS and PhD in Civil Engineering take you deeper into the science and engineering behind essential infrastructure. Explore how structures and systems are designed, built, evaluated, and improved to meet changing demands. Help shape the infrastructure of tomorrow.

You'll also join the CEGE community and a department committed to providing an intellectual environment that empowers students to make significant contributions to both the field of civil engineering and society as a whole. Are you ready?

The Accelerated Master's Program is available for current Michigan Tech students. Explore our Online Master's and Doctoral Program.

Who is This Program For?

This degree is designed for students and professionals interested in advancing their knowledge of infrastructure, engineering design, water resources, and construction. Whether you want to specialize in a technical discipline, conduct research, or strengthen your professional capabilities, you'll find opportunities to pursue your interests.

What You'll Study

In the master's or doctorate in civil engineering program, you can tailor your academic plan within six areas of emphasis:

  • Construction Engineering and Management
  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Structural Engineering
  • Transportation Engineering
  • Civil Engineering Materials
  • Water Resources Engineering

Deepen your understanding of the principles, materials, and methods that support modern infrastructure. Depending on your chosen emphasis and degree option, you can investigate topics ranging from structural behavior and foundation systems to transportation planning and water management.

Where You'll Apply Your Knowledge and Skills

Put your advanced engineering knowledge to work addressing challenges in the built environment. Your expertise can support the design, construction, maintenance, and evaluation of infrastructure, including transportation networks, buildings, foundations, and water systems.

Apply analytical and technical approaches to improve infrastructure performance, evaluate existing structures, and address changing environmental conditions.

  • Delivery Options

    • Online: MS, PhD
    • Accelerated: MS
    • On-Campus: MS, PhD

Civil Engineering Program Details

Choose a specific degree option or delivery type to learn more about the civil engineering program at Michigan Tech. For international students, Civil Engineering is a designated STEM program.

On-Campus Programs

Online Programs

Additional Program Information

Want to learn more about civil engineering at Michigan Tech? Visit the department for more information:

Contact

Graduate Director

Qingli Dai

Graduate Assistant

Angela Keranen

 

Sample Areas of Interest

Select areas of interest to help customize your civil engineering MS and PhD. Sample areas include:

  • Geotechnical
  • Infrastructure
  • Structural
  • Water Resources

View the full listing for this program.

Application Process and Admissions Requirements

Using a holistic approach, our graduate admissions team reviews applications on an individual and ongoing basis. 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, but you will need to upload them later.

Accredited by HLC

Michigan Tech has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) since 1928. We offer over 125 graduate certificates, master's degrees, and PhD programs to provide our students and the world with what tomorrow needs.

Who You'll Learn From and Work With

With a four-to-one graduate student-to-faculty ratio, you'll get ample guidance and support in your Civil MS or PhD program. Learn from Michigan Tech faculty whose expertise spans structural engineering, transportation, construction, materials, water resources, and infrastructure resilience.

You'll also benefit from researchers who regularly connect engineering principles and computational methods with challenges such as extreme weather, structural vulnerability, and the long-term performance of infrastructure.

Where You'll Study and Do Research

Michigan Tech's specialized civil engineering laboratories support research into the materials, structures, and systems that make modern infrastructure possible. Depending on your focus area, you could have access to eight start-of-the-art facilities for research, including world-class petrography laboratories for characterizing materials.

Other laboratories support structural testing, concrete mixing and testing, asphalt testing, binder characterization, hydrodynamic and scour studies, complex data visualization, and rail transportation planning. In fact, Benedict Laboratory, the largest lab on campus, is one of a select few university labs that can test and evaluate ultra-high performance concrete. Whether you pursue a master's or a PhD, you'll have a wealth of research resources.

Faculty Spotlight

Yousef Darestani

Yousef Darestani
Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

"Developing long-term, sustainable, and equitable green solutions to enhance the resiliency of coastal communities."

My research focuses on risk and resilience analysis and enhancement of infrastructures systems against weather related hazards. We leverage machine learning techniques to efficiently account for uncertainty in the hazards and complexities in system response to estimate vulnerabilities in coastal infrastructure systems such electric power and transportation systems.

Program Faculty