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Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Civil engineers innovate, create, and design buildings, bridges, dams, and complex systems like transportation and water networks. They develop water and wastewater treatment systems and hazardous waste remediation projects to protect the environment, and even design structures for entertainment events.

Format

In-Person

Page Contents

Note: This page provides a general overview. For complete and accurate information, please consult with your advisor. For current course offerings and information, refer to the Cornell University Registrar: Courses of Study.

Degree Requirements

The field of CEE requires Ph.D. students to spend an equivalent minimum of three semesters of residency on the Ithaca campus, with a minimum of six semesters as registered students. Petitioning for in-absentia is permitted, with respect to deadlines; please review the in-absentia policy.

Courses

The field has no specific core course requirements in terms of course selectivity across the field or on an individual concentration basis. However, for Ph.D. students, by the end of the third semester and when the Q exam has been taken, a 12 graded course credit minimum is expected to be met.

Should the Q-exam be taken by the end of the second semester, a 9 graded course credit course minimum needs to have been met.

These credits are not necessarily restricted to concentration specific course requirements, if any, but they should be at or above the 5XXX level.

Per the chair’s request, an exception may be made for up to two 3XXX or 4XXX level courses to count towards the Q-exam graded course credit requirement.

Additionally, the students are expected to have at least the minimum additional credits of coursework, strictly above the 5XXX level, by graduation totaling a minimum of 18 credits. 3XXX and 4XXX level courses do not count towards these 18 credits required for graduation.

Each concentration is free to determine its own core course requirements, and individualized study plans are formalized by a student’s Special Committee.

Cornell’s Satisfactory Academic Progress policy stipulates that students in research degrees must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.75 to be in good academic standing. Please see the Q exam policy for exceptions.

Concentrations

  • Complex Systems Engineering

    Members of the Complex Systems Engineering concentration are united by the common goal of understanding how systems-level behavior emerges from component wise interactions, by combining mathematical modeling with data science, nonlinear dynamics, numerical simulation, optimization, and stochastic processes methods to enable insightful physical, chemical, and biological modeling of individual system components and their interactions. This research spans a wide range of application domains such as cyber physical systems, environmental fluids, microbial communities, renewable energy, synthetic biology, transportation, infrastructure, and power networks.

  • Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology

    Environmental fluid mechanics and hydrology deal primarily with the occurrence and movement of water and other fluids on the surface of the earth. Civil engineering applications of this discipline traditionally deal with river engineering, the hydrology of surface drainage and runoff, pipelines and conveyance systems, groundwater, flooding and its prevention, coastal processes and nearshore oceanography, hydroelectric generation, water supply and distribution, and fluid measurement.

  • Environmental Processes

    The Environmental Processes faculty focus on advancing fundamental knowledge and developing sustainable technologies that can contribute to the paradigm shifts needed to face the most urgent environmental challenges facing human societies such as energy and resources crises and climate change.

  • Environmental and Water Resource Engineering

    Research within the Environmental and Water Resources Systems group are concerned with the development and application of quantitative methods for the evaluation, planning and operation of water resource and environmental systems. Efforts address the integration and analysis of engineering and economic-policy issues posed by the need to manage water, land, air and human resources, as well as environmental remediation efforts. The fundamental sciences upon which such analyses are based include hydrology, hydraulics, environmental sciences, biology, and environmental engineering.

  • Structural Engineering

    The structural engineer is responsible for the analysis, design, and construction of traditional civil engineering structures including buildings, bridges, concrete dams, tanks, and towers, as well as a great diversity of other structures, such as radio telescopes; reactor containment vessels; cooling towers; railway, automotive, and aerospace vehicles; ships, space stations, and roller coasters.

  • Transportation Systems Engineering

    Planning, design and management of multimodal transportation systems is an area in which engineers can contribute to addressing a wide variety of challenges, ranging from congestion to security to environmental impact.

Examinations

Ph.D. students need to take three exams – one of which is required by Civil and Environmental Engineering and two which are required by the Graduate School:

  1. The Qualifying Exam (Q): is required by CEE and must be taken by the end of a student’s second or third semester in the Ph.D. program (after a required minimum of 9 graded/course credits in the second or 12 graded/course credits in the third on a Cornell transcript; these course credits may also include up to a total of two 3XXX and 4XXX-level courses). Its purpose is to confirm the student’s fitness and potential for continuing Ph.D. study, including command of the fundamentals linked to research and beyond. This aids the student’s thesis advisor and the concentration members involved in the Q-exam in planning the student’s Ph.D. program. It may be oral and/or written, and is conducted by the faculty (or a subset thereof) in the candidate’s major concentration, and not their special committee. Emeritus faculty are permitted to participate. Committee composition is finalized by the advisor. Minimum number of faculty members is set to three. It is left to the discretion of the individual concentration whether the Q exam will test the student on relevant coursework or research, e.g. discussing a research paper. The result must be reported to the Director of Graduate Studies within seven days of the Q exam date (form is available here) along with all course credits completed as of that point – this should not be submitted to the Graduate School. Results forms are automatically forwarded to faculty Q exam committee members at time of form submission. If you need a Q Exam form or help with approvals, please work with the Assistant Director of Graduate Programs. Since this is a Civil and Environmental Engineering requirement and not a Graduate School requirement, the form is not available on the Graduate School’s website, nor does it have to be scheduled in advance with anyone except the faculty who are attending the exam. Students who pass the Q Exam continue in their doctoral studies.

If an exam is failed, with permission of the faculty advisor, the student is allowed to retake the exam in the exact same format one more time. No forms of conditional pass are permitted. The Q exam cannot be retaken any later than one semester after the initial exam; DGS approval needs to first be secured.

An exception to the Q exam policy is for M.S./Ph.D. students, the M exam can be used to fulfill the Q exam requirements.

  1. The A Exam (A): is required by the Graduate School. All Ph.D. students are required to have an A Exam, which can be completed after two semesters of registration and must be completed before the start of the 7th semester. Some concentrations award a non-thesis M.S. degree out to Ph.D. candidates that have passed the A exam. Please check with your major advisor and committee prior to taking your exam.
  2. The B Exam (B): all doctoral students take a Final Examination (which is the oral defense of the dissertation) upon completion of all requirements for the degree, no earlier than one month before completion of the minimum registration requirement.

Exam Administration – A, and B Exams
For the A, and B exams, the exam schedule must be submitted to the Graduate School a minimum of seven days in advance of the exam (online form.) The schedule and results forms must be signed by all current Special Committee Members of record and the Director of Graduate Studies. Scheduling of exams should be posted by email to the field faculty by the Assistant Director of Graduate Programs. Please send your title and abstract to the Graduate Field Coordinator once the exam is scheduled so an announcement can be drafted. The Results of the Examination (also an online form) must be submitted to the Graduate School within three business days following the exam. Please request clarification from the Assistant Director of Graduate Programs with clarifying questions.

Examinations General – A, and B Exams
The A, and B Exams are conducted by the Special Committee and occasionally supplemented by specially invited faculty participants. For a student to pass any of the exams, all members of the special committee must approve. The result of an examination, whether pass or fail, must be reported promptly to both the Graduate School and the Director of Graduate Studies of the field within three business days after the date of the exam.

With the exception that all examinations shall be wholly or partly oral, the special committee has full discretion in the content and conduct of examinations and may require any additional examinations it deems necessary.

Special Committee

Per the Code of Legislation, the Graduate Faculty requires Ph.D. students to have identified (or been assigned) a Special Committee Chair or a temporary advisor no later than three weeks after the first registration in the Graduate School (submitted to the Graduate School via Student Center). Per the Code, the graduate faculty requires Ph.D. students to have a full Special Committee no later than the end of the second semester.

Ph.D. candidates must select three Special Committee members; the third member is to be selected from either from a concentration in CEE that is different from the concentration represented by the committee chair or from a field external to that of CEE. More than the minimum number of members may serve on Special Committees and such extra members do not have to be officially identified as representing particular concen­trations. A chair should be named as soon as possible, but no later than completion of one semester of study. A full special committee is required before the end of the third semester of study.

Ph.D. students are normally admitted into the program connected to an advisor and funding support. Changing an advisor may disrupt funding plans, please discuss plans for changing an advisor with the Assistant Director for Graduate Programs or the DGS.

Candidates may change or add Special Committee members with the approval of all continuing and new committee members. Changes for valid reasons may be made at any time except within three months prior to the M.S. Final Examination or after the Ph.D. Admission to Candidacy Examination, in which case approval of the General Committee of the Graduate School is required. Candidates should be cautioned that a reconstituted Special Committee is not obliged to accept prior commitments made to a candidate by its predecessor committee.

Concentration: Complex Systems Engineering

Complex Systems Engineering students should take at least two of the three core courses listed in the Core Courses section below.Students with a strong theoretical background may petition to opt out of one or more of the core courses. Petitions are approved by the advisor and by the ad hoc Q exam committee. In addition to the core courses, students will be required to satisfy the CEE graduate program course requirements. The CSE recommendation is to complement the core courses with foundational modeling and data science courses, as well as domain-specific courses in the student’s research area. A non-exhaustive list of examples is provided below.

Core Courses

(choose two)

  • CEE 6215

    Stochastic Modeling of Complex Systems

  • CEE 6736

    Mathematical Modeling of Natural & Engineered Systems

  • CEE 6745

    Inverse Problems: Theory and Applications

Other Foundational Modeling and Data Science Courses

  • CEE 6000

    Numerical Methods for Engineers

  • CHEME 6110

    Mathematical Methods of Chemical Engineering Analysis

  • CHEME 6800

    Computational Optimization

  • CS 5780

    Introduction to Machine Learning

  • CS 5786

    Machine Learning for Data Science

  • CS 6241

    Numerical Methods for Data Science

  • CEE 6640

    Microeconometrics of Discrete Choice

  • CS 6820

    Algorithms

  • ECE 5210

    Theory of Linear Systems

  • ECE 5412

    Bayesian Estimation and Stochastic Optimization

  • ECE 5640

    Statistical Inference and Decision

  • MAE 5790

    Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

  • MAE 6780

    Multivariable Control Theory

  • MATH 5200

    Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems

  • MATH 5220

    Applied Complex Analysis

  • MATH 6230

    Differential Games and Optimal Control

  • MATH 6260

    Dynamical Systems

  • ORIE 6300

    Mathematical Programming I

  • ORIE 6500

    Applied Stochastic Processes

  • PHYS 6562

    Statistical Physics I

  • PHYS 7653

    Statistical Physics II

  • SYSEN 5420

    Network Systems and Games

Examples of Domain-Specific Courses

Biological Systems (example courses)

  • BEE 5280

    Systems and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Energy

  • BEE 5600

    Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering

  • BME 6130

    Advanced Microbiome Engineering

  • PLBIO 6000

    Concepts and Techniques in Computational Biology

Energy (example courses)

  • CEE 5200

    Economics of the Energy Transition

  • CEE 6420

    Energy Technologies and Subsurface Resources

  • CEE 6880

    Applied Modeling and Simulation for Renewable Energy Systems

Engineered Systems (example courses)

  • CEE 5795

    Sensors for the Built and Natural Environments

  • CEE 6200

    Water-Resources Systems Engineering

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis for Civil, Mechanical and Geophysical Applications

  • CEE 6800

    Engineering Smart Cities

Environment (example courses)

  • CEE 6330

    Physical Hydrology in the Built and Natural Environments

  • CEE 6550

    Transport, Mixing, and Transformation in the Environment

  • CEE 6585

    Biogeochemical Reaction Modeling

Fluid and Solid Mechanics (example courses)

  • CEE 6726

    Intermediate Solid Mechanics

  • CEE 7780

    Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics

  • CHEME 6240

    Advanced Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer

  • MAE 6010

    Foundations of Fluid Mechanics I

Transportation (example courses)

  • CEE 6620

    Analysis and Control of Transportation Systems and Networks

  • CEE 6648

    Sustainable Transportation Systems Design

Concentration: Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology

Course requirements are selected and approved by each student’s advisor and special committee. A list of recommended core courses is provided to all incoming students. Typical advisor approved electives will depend on availability in each given semester.

Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology Core Courses (recommended)

  • MAE 6010

    Fluid Mechanics

  • MAE 6310

    Turbulence

  • CEE 6550

    Transport and Mixing in the Environment

  • CEE 6000

    Advanced Numerical Methods for Engineers

  • CEE 6330

    Physical hydrology in the Built and Natural Environments

  • CEE 6370

    Experimental Fluid Mechanics

Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology Electives

  • CEE 6300

    Spectral Methods for Incompressible Environmental Flows

  • CEE 6305

    Special Topics in Hydraulics and Hydrology: Boundary Layer Meteorology and Urban Climates

  • CEE 6360

    Environmental Fluid Mechanics

  • CEE 7360

    Turbulence and Mixing in Environmental Stratified Flows

Concentration: Environmental Processes

The Environmental Processes faculty recommends that students select a majority of courses from among the following core courses and elective courses. The core courses are typically offered every academic year and the elective courses are offered less frequently.

Environmental Processes Core Courses

  • CEE 6420

    Energy Technologies and Subsurface Resources

  • CEE 6560

    Physical/Chemical Processes

  • CEE 6530

    Water Chemistry

  • CEE 6565

    Waste Water Processes and Resources Recovery

  • CEE 6570

    Biological Processes

  • CEE 5510

    Microbiology for Environmental Engineering

Environmental Processes Electives

  • CEE 6005-105

    Noise in Biology & Environmental Sciences

  • CEE 6XXX

    Stochastic Modeling of Complex Systems

  • CEE 6580

    Biodegradation and Biocatalysis

  • CEE 6585

    Biogeochemical Reaction Modeling

  • CEE 6590

    Environmental Organic Chemistry

Environmental Processes Other Relevant Courses

  • BEE 6310

    Multivariate Statistics for Environmental Applications

  • CEE 6320

    Hydrology

  • CEE 6970

    Risk Analysis and Management

Concentration: Environmental and Water Resource Engineering

Research and courses within the Environmental and Water Resources Systems group are concerned with the development and application of quantitative methods for the evaluation, planning and operation of water resource and environmental systems. Efforts address the integration and analysis of engineering and economic-policy issues posed by the need to manage water, land, air and human resources, as well as environmental remediation efforts. The fundamental sciences upon which such analyses are based include hydrology, hydraulics, environmental sciences, biology, and environmental engineering.

Environmental and Water Resource Engineering Electives

  • CEE 5200

    Economics of the Energy Transition

  • CEE 5240

    Model Based Systems Engineering

  • CEE 5252

    Systems Analysis Behavior and Optimization

  • CEE 5735 / 6736

    Mathematical Modeling of Natural and Engineered Systems

  • CEE 5745

    Inverse Problems: Theory and Applications

  • CEE 5795

    Sensors for the Built and Natural Environments

  • CEE 5820

    Global Food, Energy, and Water Nexus

  • CEE 5930

    Data Analytics

  • CEE 5970

    Risk Analysis and Management

  • CEE 5980

    Decision Framing and Analytics

  • CEE 6000

    Advanced Numerical Methods for Engineers

  • CEE 6100

    Remote Sensing Fundamentals

  • CEE 6XXX

    Stochastic Modeling of Complex Systems

  • CEE 6200

    Water-Resources Systems Engineering

  • CEE 6330

    Physical Hydrology in the Built and Natural Environment

  • CEE 6550

    Transport and Mixing in the Environment

  • CEE 6665

    Modeling and Optimization for Smart Infrastructure Systems

  • CEE 6660

    Multiobjective Systems Engineering Under Uncertainty

  • CEE 6770

    Natural Hazards, Reliability, and Insurance

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis for Civil, Mechanical and Geophysical Applications

  • CEE 6800

    Engineering Smart Cities

  • CEE 6880

    Applied Modeling and Simulation for Renewable Systems

  • CEE 6930

    Public Systems Modeling

  • BEE 6110

    Hydrologic Engineering in a Changing Climate

  • BEE 6310

    Multivariate Statistics for Environmental Applications

  • SYSEN 6000

    Foundations of Complex Systems

  • SYSEN 5888

    Deep Learning

  • ORIE 5300

    Optimization I

  • ORIE 5310

    Optimization II

  • ORIE 5510

    Introduction to Stochastic Processes

  • CS 5780

    Introduction to Machine Learning

  • CS 5786

    Machine Learning for Data Science

  • CS 5789

    Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

Note: This list is not meant to preclude additional electives that can be approved by a student’s graduate advisor or committee member in Environmental and Water Resource Engineering.

Concentration: Structural Engineering

Course requirements are selected and approved by each student’s advisor and special committee. Typical advisor approved electives will depend on availability in each given semester

Structural Engineering Electives (Fall)

  • CEE 5735 / CEE 6736

    Mathematical Modeling of Natural & Engineered Systems

  • CEE 5950

    Construction Planning and Operations

  • CEE 6000

    Numerical Methods for Engineers

  • CEE 6720

    Introduction to Finite Element Method

  • CEE 6730

    Design of Concrete Structures

  • CEE 6770

    Natural Hazards, Reliability, and Insurance

  • CEE 6790

    Time Series Data Analysis

  • CEE 7710

    Stochastic Problems Engineering and Science

  • MAE 5700

    Finite Element Analysis for Mechanical and Aerospace Design

  • MAE 6110

    Foundations of Solid Mechanics

  • MAE 6010

    Foundations of Fluid Mechanics

  • MAE 6130

    Mechanics of Composite Structures

  • MAE 6730

    Intermediate Dynamics and Vibrations

  • MAE 5010

    Future Energy Systems

  • MAE 6810

    Methods of Applied Mathematics

  • ICS 6210

    Numerical Analysis and Differential Equations

Structural Engineering Electives (Spring)

  • BME 5810

    Soft Tissue Biomechanics

  • CEE 5745 / CEE 6745

    Inverse Problems: Theory and Applications

  • CEE 5795

    Sensors for the Built and Natural Environments

  • CEE 6725

    3D Printing Parts that Don’t Break

  • CEE 6750

    Concrete Materials and Construction

  • CEE 6780

    Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

  • CEE 7740

    Advanced Structural Concrete

  • CS 6220

    Introduction to Scientific Computation

  • MAE 5130

    Mechanical Properties of Thin Films

  • MAE 5790

    Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

  • MAE 6120

    Foundations of Solid Mechanics II

  • MAE 6160

    Advanced Composite Materials

  • MAE 6640

    Mechanics of Bone

  • MAE 6780

    Methods of Applied Mathematics

  • IIMSE 6020

    Elasticity, Plasticity, and Fracture

  • TAM 6680

    Elastic Waves in Solids with Applications

Concentration: Transportation Systems Engineering

Transportation Systems Engineering Core Courses (required)

  • CEE 6620

    Analysis and Control of Transportation Systems and Networks

  • CEE 6640

    Microeconometrics of Discrete Choice

Transportation Systems Engineering Core Courses (recommended)

  • CEE 6648

    Sustainable Transportation Systems Design

  • CEE 5930

    Data Analytics

Transportation Systems Engineering Elective Courses

  • CRP 5040

    Urban Economics

  • CRP 5080

    Intro to Geographic Information Systems

  • CRP 5170

    Economic Development

  • CRP 5190

    Urban Theory and Spatial Development

  • CRP 5520

    Land Use Planning

  • CRP 5840

    Green Cities

  • CRP 6090

    Urban and Regional Theory

  • CRP 6860

    Planning for Sustainable Transportation

  • CEE 5290

    Heuristic Methods for Optimization

  • CEE 5900

    Project Management

  • CEE 5970

    Risk Analysis and Management

  • CEE 6620

    Analysis and Control of Transportation Systems and Networks

  • CEE 6640

    Microeconometrics of Discrete Choice

  • CEE 6665

    Modeling and Optimization for Smart Infrastructure Systems

  • CEE 6930

    Public Systems Modeling

  • ECON 5540

    Economics of Regulation

  • ECON 6090

    Microeconomic Theory

  • AEM 6170

    Decision Models for Small & Large Businesses

  • AEM 6320

    Public Private Sector Economics Linkages

  • AEM 6330

    Devolution, Privatization, & the New Public Management

  • ORIE 5300

    Optimization I

  • ORIE 5310

    Optimization II

  • ORIE 5510

    Introduction to Stochastic Processes

  • ORIE 6580

    Simulation Modeling & Analysis

  • NBA 6410

    Supply Chain Management