College of Engineering

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Students who have completed an MS with a thesis (Plan A or equivalent) in an engineering discipline are eligible to apply for admission to a PhD program. Admission will be based on the students’ prior academic records and, if they are graduates of USU, the recommendations of their graduate committees. It is assumed that students are adequately prepared in mathematics and engineering design courses to compete at the PhD level. If such is not the case, a program of courses to make up the deficiency will be required.

In addition to any prescribed review courses and seminars, the minimum requirements for a PhD program include 42 credits of approved graduate courses beyond a master’s degree, satisfactory completion of comprehensive examinations or submission of an approved manuscript to a refereed archival journal, and the writing of a dissertation based on an original research project.

The degree requirements beyond a master’s degree can be met by taking courses in engineering design, synthesis, and systems; mathematics; and related sciences.

Research

USU has attained worldwide prestige through the successful professional contributions of its graduates during a period of 80 years. The CEE Department is substantially involved in overseas research and training activities, for example in the Dominican Republic, Armenia, and Tatarstan, concerned with managing irrigation systems, on-farm water management, water resource development, and soil assimilation and recycling of industrial residues. Specific research projects in the irrigation and drainage engineering option include hydraulics of surface irrigation, consumptive use, return flow quantity and quality of irrigation waters, transient flow in tile drainage systems, drain envelopes, sprinkler irrigation, trickle irrigation, crop production and water requirements, salt movement, regional groundwater modeling for optimizing sustainable yield, conveyance system modeling and control, and remote sensing.

Financial Assistance

The large and diverse departmental research programs make it possible to offer graduate financial support in the form of research assistantships, traineeships, and teaching assistantships for qualified students. Research assistantships are provided by the CEE Department and by individual research projects. Teaching assistantships are provided by the School of Graduate Studies and by the College of Engineering. Traineeships and research assistantships carry tuition waivers. It is the goal of the CEE Department to provide research and/or teaching support for all qualified students.

Additional Information

Two guides are available from the department to assist students: (1) Report, Thesis, and Dissertation Format Guidelines and Policies, and (2) Policies and Procedures for Graduate Study.