Mar 29, 2024  
2012-2013 Undergraduate Academic Catalog 
    
2012-2013 Undergraduate Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Civil Engineering Freshman-to-Master’s Degree


Program Director:

Dr. Francis Mahuta
Office: CC-60D
Phone: (414) 277-7599
Fax: (414) 277-7415
Email: mahuta@msoe.edu

Civil engineers are responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the infrastructure necessary to support civilized society. MSOE’s five-year, freshman-to-master’s civil engineering degree program satisfies the new Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century requirements developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). These new requirements call for civil engineers to be proficient in both technical and professional skills, including familiarity with issues of business and public administration, public policy, globalization, leadership and teamwork. Satisfying these requirements will also equip students to meet the proposed new licensing requirements developed by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying, which call for a minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent as a prerequisite for professional engineering licensure.

MSOE students will be able to specialize in one of the following three civil engineering disciplines: structural engineering, environmental engineering and water resources engineering. In addition, students may also choose to take elective course work from MSOE’s nationally-renowned construction management program. Alternatively, students may choose to use their technical electives to pursue a minor in a field such as mathematics, chemistry or physics.

Program Educational Objectives

Program objectives are broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishments that the civil engineering (CVE) program is preparing the graduates to achieve. The program objectives of MSOE’s CVE program are as follows:

  • Graduates who choose to pursue registration as a professional engineer can, after attaining the required years of work experience stipulated by their state licensing board, achieve that distinction.
  • Graduates will pursue opportunities to advance their professional skills through lifelong learning.
  • Graduates will demonstrate a commitment to their profession by participating in one or more professional societies in their area of technical specialization.
  • Graduates will apply the principles of sustainable design in their profession.

Student Outcomes

Student outcomes are narrower statements that describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. The student outcomes of the CVE program are as follows:

  • Solve problems in the mathematics and sciences areas listed below, and apply this knowledge to solve well-defined civil engineering problems:
    • Mathematics: calculus through differential equations, probability and statistics
    • Natural sciences: calculus-based physics, general and organic chemistry and one additional area of natural science
    • Engineering sciences: statics, mechanics of materials, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, materials science
    • Probability and statistics
  • Understand the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the practice of civil engineering
  • Conduct experiments and analyze the experimental results in more than one area of civil engineering according to established procedures, as well as design experiments to meet a need, conduct the experiments, and analyze and explain the resulting data
  • Formulate and solve an ill-defined civil engineering problem by selecting and applying appropriate techniques and tools
  • Design a civil engineering system or process to meet desired needs while taking into account realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, constructability and sustainability
  • Analyze and solve well-defined civil engineering problems in at least four technical areas within civil engineering
  • Analyze and design a complex system or process in one technical area within civil engineering
  • Explain key concepts and processes applicable to the following subject areas:
    • Project management
    • Business management and leadership
    • Business/construction law and public policy
    • Globalization
  • Organize and deliver effective verbal, written, virtual and graphical communications
  • Function effectively as a member of a project team
  • List attitudes supportive of the professional practice of civil engineering
  • Demonstrate the ability for self-directed learning
  • Apply standards of professional and ethical responsibility to determine an appropriate course of action

Specialties

At MSOE, civil engineering course work provides a broad-based education touching on each of the traditional areas within the civil engineering field: structural engineering, environmental engineering, water resources engineering, transportation, construction, surveying and geotechnical engineering. Students will then gain in-depth proficiency and design skills in one of these three areas:

Environmental Engineering

Equips graduates to design systems for the production of potable water, the treatment, disposal, and reuse of wastewater, air-permitting and air-pollution control, the management of solid and hazardous wastes and the remediation of contaminated groundwater and subsurface soils.

Water Resources Engineering

Equips graduates to design systems to manage our natural water resources, including potable water distribution systems, wastewater collection systems, storm water conveyance systems, and the design of groundwater wells for potable water production.

Structural Engineering

Equips graduates to design the structures associated with buildings, bridges, dams and other infrastructure elements.

The MSOE Advantage

  • MSOE is the first and only university in the state of Wisconsin to offer a five-year, freshman-to-master’s degree in civil engineering.
  • With years of experience practicing what they teach, the professors at MSOE make phenomenal instructors and even better mentors.
  • The laboratories in which you learn the ins and outs of your profession are industry standard and so are the computer programs you will use.
  • MSOE is the only university in the state of Wisconsin to offer degrees in civil engineering, architectural engineering and construction management, giving students more choices with respect to potential career paths .
  • Additionally, the program offers the benefits of longstanding partnerships with business and industry leaders, as well as a comprehensive focus on student support.

Model Full-time Track - V1.0


Year One


Year Two


Environmental Engineering Specialty


Year Three


Year Four


Fall


Total: 17 lecture hours - 5 lab hours - 18 credits

Winter


  • 3 credits
  • CV 614 - Environmental Microbiology 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


  • 3 credits
  • CV 752 - Risk Assessment and Environmental Auditing 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 13 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Year Five


Fall


  • 3 credits
  • CV 710 - Environmental Statistics and Modeling 3 credits
  • CV 760 - Environmental Law 3 credits
  • CV 800 - Research and Writing 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
Total: 14 lecture hours - 3 lab hours - 15 credits

Winter


  • 3 credits
  • CV 730 - Pollution Prevention and Waste Minimization 3 credits
  • CV 890 - Capstone Design Project I 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Note:


1 Fifteen elective credits from the HU/SS series of courses are required: six credits from the HU series, six credits from the SS series, and three credits from the SS-45X course sequence.

2 Nine technical elective credits are required that may be used to:

All students must submit a proposed list of course to be used to satisfy this requirement to the Program Director for review and approval prior to taking any of these credits.

3 Fifteen graduate elective credits are required; see the prescribed graduate elective course list for options.

Students are required to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam in their senior year as a condition of graduation.

Students in the Air Force ROTC program can make the following substitutions:

  • AF-301 for advanced TC course
  • AF-401 for SS-45X course

 

Structural Engineering Specialty


Year Three


Year Four


Fall


Total: 17 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 16 credits

Winter


  • AE 614 - Lateral Loads on Structural Systems 3 credits
  • AE 616 - Structural Stability 3 credits
  • 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


  • 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 13 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Year Five


Fall


  • CV 800 - Research and Presentation 3 credits
  • 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 14 lecture hours - 3 lab hours - 15 credits

Winter


  • AE 730 - AISC Steel Design 3 credits
  • CV 890 - Structural Engineering Design I 3 credits 4
  • 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Note:


1 Fifteen elective credits from the HU/SS series of courses are required: six credits from the HU series, six credits from the SS series, and three credits from the SS-45X course sequence.

2 Nine technical elective credits are required that may be used to:

All students must submit a proposed list of courses to be used to satisfy this requirement to the program director for review and approval prior to taking any of these credits.

3 Twenty-one graduate structural engineering elective credits are required; see the prescribed graduate elective course list for options.

4 Students choosing the capstone project report option must substitute one graduate structural engineering elective and one graduate elective course for the AE-890/892 capstone project course sequence.

5 Math electives may be chosen from the following: MA 330 , MA 343 , MA 380 , MA 383 , MA 387 

Students are required to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam in their senior year as a condition of graduation.

Students in the Air Force ROTC program can make the following substitutions:

  • AF-301 for advanced TC course
  • AF-401 for SS-45X course

Water Resources Engineering Specialty


Year Three


Total: 16 lecture hours - 4 lab hours - 17 credits

Winter


Total: 15 lecture hours - 4 lab hours - 17 credits

Total: 18 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 18 credits

Year Four


Fall


Total: 17 lecture hours - 2 lab hours - 17 credits

Winter


  • 3 credits
  • CV 614 - Environmental Microbiology 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


  • 3 credits
  • CV 752 - Rick Assessment and Environmental Auditing 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
  • Elective (Technical) 3 credits 2
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
Total: 13 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Year Five


Fall


  • 3 credits
  • CV 710 - Environmental Statistics and Modeling 3 credits
  • CV 760 - Environmental Law 3 credits
  • CV 800 - Research and Writing 3 credits
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
Total: 14 lecture hours - 3 lab hours - 15 credits

Winter


  • 3 credits
  • CV 730 - Pollution Prevention and Waste Minimization 3 credits
  • CV 890 - Capstone Design Project I 3 credits
  • Elective (Graduate-level) 3 credits 3
  • Elective (HU/SS) 3 credits 1
Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Spring


Total: 15 lecture hours - 0 lab hours - 15 credits

Note:


1 Fifteen elective credits from the HU/SS series of courses are required: six credits from the HU series, six credits from the SS series, and three credits from the SS-45X course sequence.

2 Nine technical elective credits are required that may be used to:

All students must submit a proposed list of course to be used to satisfy this requirement to the program director for review and approval prior to taking any of these credits.

3 Fifteen graduate elective credits are required; see the prescribed graduate elective course list for options.

4 Math electives may be chosen from the following: MA 330 , MA 343 , MA 380 , MA 383 , MA 387 

Students are required to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam in their senior year as a condition of graduation.

Students in the Air Force ROTC program can make the following substitutions:

  • AF-301 for advanced TC course
  • AF-401 for SS-45X course

Civil Engineering Required Specialty Courses/Elective


Structural Engineering Required Undergraduate Specialty Courses


Technical Electives


Electives numbered 400-500 may be used to satisfy either undergraduate technical elective or graduate elective requirements (but not both); courses counting towards an undergraduate minor in mathematics, physics, chemistry, or business may also be used as undergraduate technical electives if the student successfully completes all requirements of the minor.