View all Degrees

Master of Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program in Civil and Environmental Engineering is designed for engineers seeking to enhance their technical skills and practical experience. Students engage in advanced coursework and a project reflecting real-world engineering practice. The program offers three fields of study, providing a comprehensive education in the discipline.

Format

In-Person

Page Contents

Note: This page provides a general overview. For complete and accurate information, please refer to our M.Eng. Handbook consult the M.Eng. Student Services Coordinator. For current course offerings and information, refer to the Cornell University Registrar: Courses of Study

Program Requirements

A minimum of 30 credit hours of course and project work is required for the M.Eng. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Program core course requirements for each of the three major concentrations are provided in Appendix B. The remainder of each student’s program is designed and approved individually in consultation with an academic advisor based on their professional aspirations.

Environmental Engineering Core Courses

  • CEE 5051 or CEE 5052

    Project in Environmental Engineering (3 credits)

  • CEE 5930 or CEE 5970

    Data Analytics (4 credits)

  • CEE 5980

    Decision Framing and Analytics (3 credits)

  • CEE 5420 or CEE 6210

    Energy Technologies and Subsurface Resources (3 credits)

  • CEE 6210 or CEE 5420

    Renewable Energy Systems (3 credits)

  • CEE 6560 or CEE 6530

    Physical and Chemical Processes (3 credits)

  • CEE 6530 or CEE 6560

    Water Chemistry for Environmental Engineering (3 credits)

Additional Required Specialization Courses

Total credits including core courses and additional required courses from list below must equal or exceed 17 credits. Students may mix and match among the below specializations.

  • Environmental and Water Resources Systems
  • Sustainable Energy Systems
  • Environmental Processes (CEE 5510 required)
  • Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology (CEE 6330 required)

Environmental and Water Resource Systems Courses

  • CEE 6770

    Natural Hazards, Reliability, and Insurance (3 credits)

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis for Civil, Mechanical and Geophysical Applications (3 credits)

  • CEE 5900

    Project Management (4 credits)

  • CEE 5980

    Decision Framing and Analytics (3 credits)

  • CEE 5930

    Data Analytics (4 credits)

Sustainable Energy Systems Courses

  • CEE 6648

    Sustainable Transportation Systems Design (3 credits)

  • CEE 5200

    Economics of the Energy Transition (3 credits)

  • CEE 6880

    Applied Modeling and Simulation for Renewable Energy Systems (3 SP credits)

  • MAE 5020

    Wind Power (4 credits)

  • MAE 5010

    Future Energy Systems (3 credits)

  • CEE 5420

    Energy Technologies and Subsurface resources (3 SP credits)

  • CEE 6210

    Renewable Energy Systems (3 credits)

  • CHEM 6660

    Analysis of Sustainable Energy System (2 credits)

  • CEE 6800

    Engineering Smart Cities (3 credits)

Environmental Processes Courses

  • CEE 5510*

    Microbiology for Environmental Engineering (3 credits)

  • CEE 6530

    Water Chemistry for Environmental Engineering (3 credits)

  • CEE 6560

    Physical/Chemical Process (3 credits)

  • CEE 6565

    Wastewater Processes and Resources Recovery (3 credits)

  • CEE 6580

    Biodegradation and Biocatalysis (3 SP credits)

  • CEE 6590

    Environmental Organic Chemistry (3 credits)

* Required

Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology

  • CEE 6350

    Coastal Engineering (3 SP credits)

  • CEE 6330*

    Physical Hydrology in the Built and Natural Environments (3 SP credits)

  • CEE 6550

    Transport, Mixing, and Transformation in the Environment (3 credits)

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis for Civil, Mechanical, and Geophysical Applications (3 credits)

  • BEE 6710

    Introduction to Groundwater (3 SP credits)

  • BEE 5730

    Watershed Engineering (3 credits)

  • BEE 6790

    Ecohydrology (3 credits)

* Required

Environmental and Water Resource Systems Approved Electives

A student may select his or her supporting electives from engineering and non-engineering subject areas related to environmental engineering, including biology, chemistry, toxicology, law, policy, economics, operations research, computer science, engineering mathematics, systems engineering, and city and regional planning. Add as needed to reach a total of 30 credits.

Up to 2 credits for seminars may be counted toward the M.Eng. degree, whether they are participatory (i.e., requiring assignments beyond just attendance) or non-participatory. Students have the option to take CEE 6020 Environmental Seminar in the Fall and CEE 6021 in the Spring, but it is not required for the M.Eng. degree.

Structural Engineering Core Course

  • CEE 5071

    Professional Experience in Structural Engineering (3 credits)

  • MAE 5700

    Finite Element Analysis for Mechanical and Aerospace Design (4 credits)

  • MSE 5820

    Mechanical Properties of Materials, Processing, and Design (3 credits)

  • CEE 5760 (Recommended)

    Behavior and Design of Concrete and Masonry Structures (4 credits)

Structural Engineering Electives: Behavior and Design Track

  • CEE 5710

    Timber Behavior and Design (3 credits)

  • CEE 5790

    Introduction to Building Information Modeling (BIM) using Revit (2 credits)

  • CEE 5770

    Intermediate Behavior of Concrete and Metal Structures (3 credits)

  • CEE 6075

    Foundation Engineering (1.5 credits)

  • CEE 6075

    Tall Building Fundamentals (1.5 credits) FA

  • CEE 6075

    Tall Building Fundamentals (1.5 credits) SP

  • CEE 6075

    Forensic Eng & Structural Failure (1.5 credits) SP

Structural Engineering Electives: Advanced Materials Track

  • CEE 5746

    Sustainability and Automation: The Future of Construction Industry (4 credits)

  • ARCH 5614

    Building Technology I: Materials and Methods (3 credits)

  • MSE 5820

    Mechanical Properties of Materials, Processing, and Design (3 credits)

  • MAE 5670

    Polymer Mechanics (3 credits)

  • MAE 6110

    Foundations of Solid Mechanics (3 credits)

  • EAS 6590

    Earthquake Physics (3 credits)

Structural Engineering Electives: Analysis and Computation Track

  • CEE 5745

    Inverse Problems: Theory and Applications (3 credits)

  • CEE 5735

    Mathematical Modeling of Natural and Engineered Systems (3 credits)

  • MAE 5770

    Engineering Vibrations (3 credits)

  • CEE 6730

    Finite Element Method: Theory and Applications in Mechanics and Multiphysics (3 credits)

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis for Civil, Mechanical, and Geophysical Applications (3 credits)

  • CEE 6800

    Engineering Smart Cities (3 credits)

Structural Engineering Electives: Analysis and Computation Track

Students may also find advisor approved electives in the below fields:

  • Engineering Management
  • Architecture
  • S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management
  • Real Estate

Students are expected to take Seminar – Civil Infrastructure CEE 6070 in the fall, and CEE 6071 in the spring.

Transportation Systems Engineering Core Courses

  • CEE 5061 or CEE 5062

    Project in Transportation Engineering (3 credits)

  • CEE 5930

    Data Analytics (4 credits)

  • CEE 6620

    Analysis and Control of Transportation Systems and Networks (3 credits)

  • CEE 6640

    Microeconometrics of Discrete Choice (3 SP credits)

  • CEE 6648

    Sustainable Transportation Systems Design (3 credits)

Note: Minimum of 12 core credits are required.

Advisor Approved Electives: Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • CEE 5900

    Project Management (4 credits)

  • CEE 5970

    Risk Analysis and Management (3 credits)

  • CEE 6620

    Analysis and Control of Transportation Systems and Networks (3 credits)

  • CEE 6930

    Public Systems Modeling (3 credits)

Advisor Approved Electives: City and Regional Planning

  • CRP 5040

    Urban Economics (3 credits)

  • CRP 5080

    Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Planners  (3 credits)

  • CRP 5190

    Urban Theory (3 credits)

Advisor Approved Electives: Other

  • ECON 6090

    Microeconomic Theory I (3 credits)

  • ORIE 5300

    Optimization I (3 credits)

  • ORIE 5310

    Optimization II (3 credits)

  • ORIE 5510

    Introduction to Engineering Stochastic Processes (3 credits)

  • NBA 6420

    Supply Chain Analytics (1.5 credits)

Note: This is not a complete list of courses offered that can go toward degree completion. Students may take courses outside of the list as they relate to the degree with approval from their advisor.

CEE 6065 Special Topics in Transportation can be used to pursue an independent study on a particular transportation topic if you and your advisor agree that this is appropriate. In this case, the selection of appropriate core courses will depend on your background and will be determined in discussion with your advisor.

M.Eng. Project

The M.Eng. program requires an engineering project of 3-6 units over 1-2 semesters. We offer a diverse selection of hands-on projects for the different majors that can either be taken over one or two semesters.

Students develop new solutions for open-ended civil and environmental engineering problems using laboratory experiments, field measurements, and/or computer modeling and simulations. Students can select projects to develop skills in engineering design, engineering research and development, and/or data analysis and decision making.

Group Projects

  • Provide opportunities to apply your skills to a real engineering problem.
  • Provide valuable insight to the sponsoring client
  • Involve worldwide traveling for fieldwork
  • Help you define a desired career path after graduation

Student teams have developed village scale sustainable water-supply treatment plant technologies and designs; seven such plants have been built in Honduras. They have modeled electricity microgrids for the waterfront energy district as well as for South Ithaca and the Cayuga Medical Center Hospital Complex, that provide energy from distributed generation in parallel with the regional grid but can also function in “island mode” during a grid failure. Work with the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility has also extended to converting part of the waste stream into liquid fuels for use in vehicles such as trucks or public buses, and extracting energy from the heat content of the waste water itself for use in district heating. Teams have also studied local hydropower and wind resources.

Project Fields

  • Structural Engineering M.Eng. Project

    Representative themes for the project experience include forensic engineering studies and failure investigations; and design of signature buildings or bridges; structural condition assessment and prognosis studies.

  • Environmental Engineering M.Eng. Project

    Students develop new solutions for open-ended civil and environmental engineering problems using laboratory experiments, field measurements, and/or computer modeling and simulations.

  • Interdisciplinary M.Eng. Project

    The Interdisciplinary M.Eng. Projects are open to any program

  • Transportation Systems M.Eng. Project

    Focuses on transportation planning, design and analysis.