Sample Course Plan for Coursework MSCE: Pavements and Transportation Materials

The sample course plan for Michigan Tech's civil engineering master's degree with a focus on pavements and transportation materials provides a guide to courses and requirements.

Sample Course Plan

This sample course plan is a sample, and adjustments may be required due to curriculum changes. Students should work with their advisor to develop their individual plan. A full list of graduate course descriptions is available.

Assumed Student Background

The sample course plan shown below was designed assuming that a student has taken (as a minimum) CEE 3101 (Civil Engineering Materials), CEE 3401 (Transportation Engineering), and CEE 3810 (Soil Mechanics for Engineers), or equivalents.

Requirements: 30 credits minimum (12 maximum credits at 3000-4000 level; 18 credits at 5000 level)

Sample Coursework List

Take two of the following courses:

Course Credits Semester
CEE 4101/5101 – Bituminous Materials 3 Fall/Spr
CEE 4401 – Pavement Design 3 Fall
CEE 4407/5417 – Transportation Design 4 Spring
Course Credits Semester
CEE 5102 – Advanced Concrete Materials 3 Spring
CEE 5109 – Sustainable Pavements 3 Fall
CEE 5202 – Finite Element Analysis 3 Spring
CEE 5401 – Advanced Pavement Design 3 Spring
CEE 5810 – Advanced Soil Mechanics 3 Fall
CEE 5811 – Fundamentals of Soil Behavior & Eng. Lab. 3 Spring
ENG 5525 – Systems Analysis for Sustainability and Resilience 3 Spring
Systems Elective 3  

Systems Elective

 Must take at least one of these courses.

Course Credits Semester
CEE 5730 – Probabilistic Analysis and Reliability 3 Fall
CEE 5740 – Introduction to System Identification 3 Spring
CEE 5760 – Optimization Methods 3 Spring

Sample Graduate Electives

Course Credits Semester
CEE 4820 – Foundation Engineering 3 Fall
CEE 5190 – Special topics in Civil Engineering Materials 1-3 Fall/Spr/Sum
CEE 5404 – Transportation Planning 3 Fall
CEE 5409 – Railroad Facilities and Design 3 Fall
CEE 5490 – Special Topics in Transportation Engineering 1-3 Fall/Spr/Sum
CEE 5811 – Fundamentals of Soil Behavior & Engr. Lab 3 Fall
ENG 5510 – Sustainable Future I 3 Fall
ENG 5520 – Sustainable Futures II 3 Spring
MA 3740 – Statistical Programming and Analysis 3 Fall
MA 4710 – Regression Analysis 3 Spring
MA 4720 – Design and Analysis of Experiments 3 Fall
MEEM 5110 – Continuum Mechanics/Elasticity 3 Fall
MEEM 5180 – Mechanics of Composite Materials 3 Spring
MEEM 6130 – Engineering Fracture Mechanics 3 Spring/Sum
MSE 5530 – Theory of Scanning Electron Microscopy 3 Fall/Spring
MSE 5580 – Introduction to Scanning Probe Microscopy 2 Fall

Thinking About Graduate School?

If you are interested in strengthening your technical expertise, specializing in pavements and transportation materials, and expanding your career opportunities, the MSCE with a focus on pavements and transportation materials may be a strong next step.