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School of Engineering

Mitchell School of Engineering

PhD Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Engineering (SRIE) with a pass-through (en passant) Master of Science (M.S.) in SRIE

Program Description

The SRIE program, offered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr School of Engineering (SOE), provides students with academic study to pursue a Ph.D. in SRIE, with en passant Master of Science (MS) in SRIE. This program covers the fundamental, theoretical, and applied research necessary to address the current and future needs for sustainable and resilient civil infrastructure. Unlike the SOE's Doctor of Engineering and Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering programs, which has focused more on applied research approaches in fields of Civil Engineering, the Ph.D. in SRIE will cover the fundamental, theoretical, and applied research addressing the present and future needs for sustainable and resilient civil infrastructure.

This Ph.D. program in SRIE provides a graduate curriculum for study and research in civil and environmental engineering, with focus on the engineering, planning, and management of critical civil infrastructure. The program will require a minimum of 60 graduate credit hours of study beyond a B.S. degree (the M.S. degree will be granted after the successful completion of 30 credits of study), or a minimum of 36 graduate credits of study for the student who already has a master’s degree. The required credit hours include a maximum of 18 dissertation-related research credit hours. The maximum time for the student to complete this Ph.D. program will be seven years. The Program provides the study and research concentration guidance on the following concentration areas: Structural Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Geomechanics, Transportation Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic/Hydrologic Water Resources Engineering, and Construction Engineering and Management. Under the guidance of faculty adviser, the student will select the courses within at least one of these respective areas and pursue research and development of the dissertation.

Program Objectives

The program is designed to equip highly motivated students with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue careers in research, education, consulting, administration, and other related positions. The objectives of the program focus on developing the technical expertise and research skills necessary to assess, design, build, and maintain sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems that can reduce risks and withstand natural disasters, hazards, and other disruptions. We aim to provide our students with a comprehensive understanding of the latest theories, tools, and technologies related to infrastructure engineering, while also emphasizing the importance of social and environmental sustainability in infrastructure development.

Program General Requirements

Students enrolled in the SRIE PhD degree program will be required to satisfy the following requirements:

Form a doctoral advisory committee of four members, among whom at least three of them should be tenured or tenure-track faculty members. The chair of the committee must be a member of the graduate faculty and the Department of CEE. A minimum of two faculty members from the Department must serve on the committee. The committee should be formed no sooner than the end of the first year, and no later than the end of the third year of enrollment, that will approve the student’s program of study and guide the student’s research activities.
Complete a minimum of 36 graduate credit hours (including 15 hours of dissertation-related research) of study beyond the master’s degree or complete a minimum of 60 graduate credit hours (including 15 hours of dissertation-related research) of study beyond the bachelors’ degree.
Pass a written qualifying exam within the first two years of study (one attempt must be taken within the first year), doctoral candidacy examinations (no sooner than a year of passing qualifying exam), administered by the dissertation committee, on the core subjects and declared concentration.
Develop and defend a dissertation proposal within the first four years of admission.
Complete and successfully defend a dissertation based on timely and original research in a relevant area of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Engineering within the six years of matriculation.
The original contribution of the dissertation work must be determined by the dissertation committee chair.

Note: Doctoral students are expected to complete at least three articles for publication, of which one is either accepted or published in a journal (approved by the doctoral committee) and two are submitted as a conference or a journal paper before completion of their program.

Note: To maintain good academic standing and remain in the Program, the student may not have more than two “C” course grades and must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0. A student has the option to retake “C” grades. The student’s transcript cannot have a grade of “F” and the course must be retaken. Failure to meet these requirements will lead to academic probation for one academic year.

Admission

Outstanding students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0) and above in the approved Master’s Degree Programs will be given consideration for admission. The Program also welcomes exceptional students from related disciplines with at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA for all graduate and undergraduate and students with an earned bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university from a regionally accredited college or university, preferably in related engineering and STEM fields. Other requirements include a resume or curriculum vitae documenting current and previous professional activities, planned career goals, statement of research interest (not to exceed 500 words), and three letters of recommendation from professors or supervisors familiar with the applicant’s academic/professional background.

International student applicants should be aware of SGS admission requirements. For international students, an evaluation report must be obtained from either World Education Services (WES) www.wes.org, Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) www.ece.org, FIS (Foundation for International Services) https://www.fis-web.com and Spantran https://www.spantran.com, only evaluations from these services will be accepted. The course-by-course evaluation of all transcripts converted must show their academic equivalency in the United States. Evidence of English proficiency is required of most international students, with students adhering the minimum scores set by SGS for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Testing System). English proficiency testing is not required for applicants from the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania).

All application materials must be sent directly to the School of Graduate Studies through the application system for preliminary screening, it is then reviewed by the department’s committee.

We encourage all applicants to submit their strongest possible application, please note that meeting our minimum eligibility requirements and submitting all required documents is just the first step in our process. The Program Admissions Committee will conduct a review of the required elements of the application, including but not limited to your academic background, relevant work experience, research interests, recommendations, and personal statement. We take a holistic approach to evaluating applicants, considering the entirety of their application and the availability of positions in the program. Following the committee's review, a recommendation will be made to the School of Graduate Studies on whether an offer of admission should be extended.

Candidacy

Before the student achieves the candidacy, the student must formulate a dissertation committee of 3-5 faculty members or professionals in Civil Engineering related areas. Generally, the committee should have 2 or more members who are current faculty members in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The committee members should have a doctoral degree. Students achieve candidacy by successfully passing the qualifying examination and a candidacy examination (usually dissertation proposal defense for readiness for dissertation preparation). Prior to achieving Candidacy, the student may enroll in CEGR 993: Pre-Candidacy.

Once a student achieves doctoral candidacy, the student will be allowed to enroll in the Dissertation Research courses (CEGR 905 – 925). After these required courses are completed, the student will continuously register in Fall and Spring semesters for CEGR 997 (Dissertation Guidance) until the Dissertation is completed and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies for review. The CEGR 997 course registration maintains the student status as a matriculated, full-time student (student is registered for 3 credit hours and the system reports a full-time 9 credit hour load). After the Intent to Defend the Dissertation form has been received by the School of Graduate Studies, this course registration will be changed to CEGR 998 (Dissertation Defense) for the given semester and count for 3 credit hours of curricular coursework (CEGR 998 will also count as 9 credits of load). The only eligible grade for CEGR 997 (Dissertation Guidance) is the grade of “S” and the only acceptable grade for CEGR 998 (Dissertation Defense) is “P/F” (Pass/Fail).

Dissertation Completion: After achieving candidacy, the doctoral candidate should prepare and complete the doctoral dissertation under the guidance of the dissertation committee, and then pass a dissertation defense as well as deposit the approved dissertation to the School of Graduate Studies for publication.

Other additional requirements: General rules and regulations, expectation of professional ethics and behavior, etc. that may affect the eligibility of the student for continued study must be articulated. A reference to appeals and due process must be included.

Residency Requirements: All candidates must satisfy eighteen (18) credit hours of residency requirements in one of the following ways: enrolling in nine credit hours per semester for two consecutive semesters or part-time candidates must register for six credit hours per semester for three consecutive semesters.

Program Course Requirements

The required minimum coursework for the Ph.D. in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Engineering is 60 graduate credits beyond the Bachelor's degree and 36 graduate credits beyond the Master's degree. At least nine credits of foundational elective courses from the same track are required for a concentration. Up to four courses (not to exceed 12 credits) from other accredited institutions may be accepted for transfer towards the Ph.D. degree, assuming that students do not use transfer courses to satisfy the academic requirements of the former program. Transfer courses at a grade of B or above are reviewed and approved by the corresponding department as well as the School of Graduate Studies. Students can take up to two elective courses from outside of the Department.

The Department has identified the intended core courses and electives from the seven concentration tracks in SRIE, which includes:

Required Courses in Tracks

Structural Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 628: Bridge Engineering

CEGR 635: Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design

CEGR 629: Advanced Structural Steel

Geotechnical Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 731: Advanced Soil Mechanics I

CEGR 745: Advanced Analysis of Slope Stability

CEGR 748: Design of Pile Foundation

Transportation Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 661: Airport Planning and Engineering

CEGR 680: Highway Infrastructure Management System

CEGR 681: Theory of Traffic Flow

Environmental Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 510: Principles of Environmental Engineering I

CEGR 663: Readings in Environmental Engineering

CEGR 673: Advanced Environmental Engineering Design

Hydrologic/Hydraulic/Water Resource Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 615: Open Channel Hydraulics

CEGR 619: Modeling of Groundwater Flow

CEGR 687: Ground Water Hydrology

Earthquake Engineering (9 credits)

CEGR 631: Structural Dynamics

CEGR 702: Seismic Design

CEGR 749: Earthquake Engineering

Construction Engineering and Management (9 credits)

CEGR 645: Construct Project Administration and Management

CEGR 646: Construction Engineering and Management for Engineering

CEGR 755: Construction Cost Management

Elective Courses in Tracks:

Structural Engineering

CEGR 590: Smart Material Systems

CEGR 630: Finite Element Analysis

CEGR 631: Structure Dynamics

CEGR 533: Matrix Structural Analysis

CEGR 628: Bridge Engineering

CEGR 629: Advanced Structural Steel

CEGR 634: Prestressed Concrete Design

CEGR 635: Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design

CEGR 665: Random Vibrations and Nonlinear Dynamics

CEGR 690: Adaptive Structures

CEGR 691: Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

CEGR 692: Theory of Elastics

CEGR 695: Concrete-Time Control Engineering

CEGR 702: Seismic Design

CEGR 703: Geometrically Nonlinear Structural Analysis

CEGR 704: Innovations in Structural Steel Design

Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

CEGR 688: Advanced Mechanics of Solids

CEGR 705: Mechanics of Composite Materials

CEGR 709: Wave Propagation in Elastic Media

CEGR 723: Advanced Consolidation Theory

CEGR 725: Aquifer Mechanics

CEGR 726: Geosynthetics

CEGR 730: Constitutive Laws in Geomechanics

CEGR 731: Advanced Soil Mechanics I

CEGR 737: Continuum Mechanics

CEGR 738: Boundary Element Method in Geomechanics

CEGR 739: Discrete Element Method in Geomechanics

CEGR 743: Finite Element Method in Geomechanics

CEGR 744: Tensor Analysis in Geomechanics

CEGR 745: Advanced Analysis of Slope Stability

CEGR 746: Advanced Soil Dynamics

CEGR 748: Design of Pile Foundation

CEGR 749: Earthquake Engineering

CEGR 750: Advanced Geotechnical Experiments

Transportation Engineering

CEGR 651: Computer Aided Highway Engineering Design

CEGR 655: Traffic Engineering I

CEGR 656: Transportation Models and Simulation Analysis I

CEGR 657: Advanced Topics in Traffic Engineering

CEGR 659: Pavement Analysis and Design

CEGR 661: Airport Planning and Engineering

CEGR 670: Special Topics in Highway Safety

CEGR 671: Traffic Flow Theory

CEGR 680: Highway Infrastructure Management System

CEGR 681: Theory of Traffic Flow

CEGR 684: Advanced Algorithms in Transportation I

CEGR 685: Advanced Algorithms in Transportation II

CEGR 686: Demand Analysis and Forecasting

CEGR 697: Geographic Information System Applications in Transportation

Environmental Engineering

CEGR 510: Principles of Environmental Engineering I

CEGR 511: Principles of Environmental Engineering II

CEGR 512: Principles of Environmental Engineering III

CEGR 513: Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology

CEGR 514: Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment

CEGR 531: Reliability Analysis for Infrastructure and Environmental Systems

CEGR 613: Physical-Chemical Treatment of Waste and Wastewater I

CEGR 614: Physical-Chemical Treatment of Waste and Wastewater II

CEGR 616: Biochemical Processes in Environmental Engineering

CEGR 617: Advanced Biochemical Processes in Environmental Engineering

CEGR 663: Readings in Environmental Engineering

CEGR 673: Advanced Environmental Engineering Design

Hydrology/Hydraulic/Water Resources Engineering

CEGR 610: Stormwater Management

CEGR 611: Hydrologic Modeling

CEGR 612: Stormwater Modeling

CEGR 615: Open Channel Hydraulics

CEGR 619: Modeling of Groundwater Flow

CEGR 620: Modeling of Groundwater Pollutant Transportation

CEGR 623: Hydrodynamics

CEGR 624: Hydrostatistics

CEGR 625: Modeling of Surface Water

CEGR 626: Surface Water Hydrology

CEGR 627: Introduction to Multiphase Flow

CEGR 687: Ground Water Hydrology

CEGR 747: Well Hydraulics

Construction Engineering and Management

CEGR 645: Construct Project Administration and Management

CEGR 646: Construction Engineering and Management for Engineering

CEGR 755: Construction Cost Management

CEGR 756: Advanced Construction Cost Management

CEGR 760: Dissertation Research & Writing for Construction Students

CEGR 765: Law for Architects, Business, Engineers and Construction Managers

Other Electives (for all available tracks)

CEGR 531: Reliability Analysis for Infrastructure and Environmental Systems

CEGR 636: Artificial Neural Networks I

CEGR 638: Artificial Neural Networks II

CEGR 695: Discrete-Time Control Engineering

CEGR 740: Special Topics in Geographic Information System (GIS)

CEGR 741: Special Course in Remote Sensing (RS)

CEGR 742: Geographic Information System (GIS) Modeling in Raster

CEGR 780: MSU/JHU Education Engineering Study

EEGR 505: Advanced Engineering Mathematics with Computational Methods

IEGR 512: Advanced Project Management

Pursuing a Ph.D. beyond the Bachelor’s Degree (60 Credits):

Foundational Track* and Elective Courses (24 credit hours)

CEGR XXX: Foundation Track Course 3

CEGR XXX: Foundation Elective Course 3

Research Courses (15 credit hours)

CEGR 805: Pre-Candidacy Research I 3

CEGR 810: Pre-Candidacy Research II 3

CEGR 815: Pre-Candidacy Research III 3

CEGR 820: Pre-Candidacy Research IV 3

CEGR 825: Pre-Candidacy Research V 3

Dissertation Research (15 credit hours)

CEGR 905: Dissertation Research I 3

CEGR 910: Dissertation Research II 3

CEGR 915: Dissertation Research III 3

CEGR 920: Dissertation Research IV 3

CEGR 925: Dissertation Research V 3

Thesis/Dissertation Seminar (3 credit hours)

CEGR 787: Graduate Seminar 3

Dissertation Defense CEGR 997/998 (3 credit hours)

CEGR 997/998: Dissertation Guidance/Defense 3*

*Note: the required Foundation Track Courses must be taken from one of the seven tracks

Pursuing a Ph.D. from beyond the Master’s Degree (36 Credits):

Note: The nine credits of elective courses from the same track are required for a concentration.

Foundational Track Courses (9 credit hours)

CEGR XXX: Foundation Track Course 3

Research Courses (6 credit hours)

CEGR 805: Pre-Candidacy Research I 3

CEGR 810: Pre-Candidacy Research II 3

Dissertation Research (15 credit hours)

CEGR 905: Dissertation Research I 3

CEGR 910: Dissertation Research II 3

CEGR 915: Dissertation Research III 3

CEGR 920: Dissertation Research IV 3

CEGR 925: Dissertation Research V 3

Graduate Seminar (3 credit hours)

CEGR 787: Graduate Seminar 3

Dissertation Guidance/Defense CEGR 997/998 (3 credit hours)

CEGR 998: Dissertation Defense 3

*Note: Upon achieving Doctoral Candidacy and completing all required coursework, the student will continuously register in Fall and Spring terms for CEGR 997 (Dissertation Guidance) until the Dissertation is completed and submitted to the School of Graduate Studies for review. The course is used only when the curriculum has been completed, candidacy has been achieved, and the student is completing the research and writing of the Dissertation. The CEGR 997 course registration maintains the student status as a matriculated, full-time student (student is registered for 3 credit hours and the system reports a full-time 9 credit hour load). After the Intent to Defend the Dissertation form has been received by the School of Graduate Studies, this course registration will be changed to CEGR 998 (Dissertation Defense) for the given semester and count for 3 credit hours of curricular coursework (CEGR 998 will also count as 9 credits of load). CEGR 997 will not count toward curricular credits. Other courses cannot be substituted for CEGR 997 (Dissertation Guidance). The only eligible grade for CEGR 997 (Dissertation Guidance) is the grade of “S” and the only acceptable grade for CEGR 998 (Dissertation Defense) is “P/F” (Pass/Fail).