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What misconceptions do students often have about this discipline?

Do students who graduate in this discipline often pursue graduate work (Masters, PhD, etc.)?

What degree(s) is this discipline often compared to?

What are some of the most popular research areas for this discipline? 

What minors are often paired with this major/degree? Why?

Why should a student pursue this degree? Why should they not?

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Some students may consider Mining Engineering to be low-technology, dirty, and damaging to the environment. In fact, Mining Engineers lead the industry in innovation and new technology, in safety improvements, in automation of operations and management of big real-time data flows, and of course, on protecting the environment. Some students think that Mining Engineers only work "out in the boonies" when in fact Mining Engineers can often choose to be located in towns and cities with a great social climate and quality of life, and they can choose to work in almost any country on earth. Mining Engineering is an adventure.

Some students may consider Mining Engineering to be low-technology, dirty, and damaging to the environment. In fact, Mining Engineers lead the industry in innovation and new technology, in safety improvements, in automation of operations and management of big real-time data flows, and of course, on protecting the environment. Some students think that Mining Engineers only work "out in the boonies" when in fact Mining Engineers can often choose to be located in towns and cities with a great social climate and quality of life, and they can choose to work in almost any country on earth. Mining Engineering is an adventure.

Some students may consider Mining Engineering to be low-technology, dirty, and damaging to the environment. In fact, Mining Engineers lead the industry in innovation and new technology, in safety improvements, in automation of operations and management of big real-time data flows, and of course, on protecting the environment. Some students think that Mining Engineers only work "out in the boonies" when in fact Mining Engineers can often choose to be located in towns and cities with a great social climate and quality of life, and they can choose to work in almost any country on earth. Mining Engineering is an adventure.

Civil Engineering

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CENTER FOR ACADEMIC SERVICES & ADVISING

Answers provided by representatives of the respective department. Students are encouraged to connect with CASA or the Academic Department for more information.

Civil Engineering is an exciting career path for students that are interested in working on large-scale engineering projects that which make a positive impact on society. Civil Engineers design buildings, bridges, transportation projects, sites, watersheds, and infrastructure systems. We are responsible for many conveniences of modern life -- from clean and plentiful drinking water to safe structures. Specializations within Civil Engineering include Structural Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Construction Engineering, and Environmental Engineering, to name a few. Civil Engineers practice in a variety of industries, such as the construction industry, the oil and gas industry, and the mining industry. Positions range from engineering consulting companies, construction companies, government agencies, or take an entrepreneurial path to start their own engineering consulting �rm. Civil Engineers are employed in major cities, in suburbs, and in small towns -- and have the ability to work all over the world.

Students who care about stewardship of the environment, society, technology, and people are well-suited for a career in Civil Engineering. Civil projects are for the public, and civil engineers have a unique role in ensuring public safety and well-being. There are more licensed Civil engineers than any other engineering �eld. This �eld is well suited to students that are creative and design-oriented. Some Civil Engineers have successful careers by focusing on the technical side of design, which includes heavy use of computational and graphical software to "build" those designs digitally. Others may focus on working in teams with architects, contractors, owners, clients, and other engineers in order to plan, coordinate, budget, market, and build complex projects.

Civil Engineering is unique due to its scale, and the ability to design the built or natural environment. For example, skyscrapers are designed and built by hundreds of people, but every one of those people can point at the �nished building and say "I helped make that." That's a really unique and ful�lling aspect of this career path. Another unique facet of the Civil Engineering �eld is that engineers can choose a career that is primarily outdoors (managing a construction site), indoors (performing engineering computations on a computer in an o�ce), or a combination of the two.

This generation of Civil Engineers is employing creative and innovative design practices to develop more sustainable approaches to maintain and modernize the civil infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) promotes "a broad understanding of the economic, environmental, political, social, and technical issues and processes as related to sustainable development," and advocates that Civil Engineers "advance the skills, knowledge, and information necessary for a sustainable future; including habitats, natural systems, system �ows, and the e�ects of all phases of the life cycle of projects on the ecosystem."

Civil Engineering is the oldest �eld of engineering; it is timeless and essential to human society. The �eld is always evolving and changing; here are just a few areas of cutting-edge research and innovative design in the �eld: increased use of sensors and technology in construction and maintenance of infrastructure, new initiatives to better educate policy-makers to safely rehabilitate existing infrastructure; the development of new design approaches to minimize loss from natural disasters; the improvement oftransportation and water resources infrastructure.

We �nd that students have a number of misconceptions about Civil Engineering. First, students that are passionate about Humanitarian Engineering, the McBride Honors Program, Engineers Without Borders, and Bridges to Prosperity often don't realize that a career in Civil Engineering can be tailored to the very same societal issues championed by those groups. A second common misconception is that all Civil Engineers are Structural Engineers. Structural Engineering is only one sub-�eld of Civil Engineering. A third misconception is that Civil Engineers are not compensated as well as those specializing in other �elds of engineering. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for Civil Engineers is comparable to other common engineering specialties, such as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Environmental Engineering. The same source projects more growth in Civil Engineering employment than in any other sub-�eld of engineering.

Some students pursue graduate degrees; others do not. Most students that pursue a graduate degree select a MS in Civil Engineering. The advanced degree will often allowthe graduate to qualify for more lucrative career opportunities.

Civil Engineering is sometimes compared to Mechanical Engineering. Both of these �elds are very broad, but Mechanical Engineering caters more towards private industry with a focus on creating pro�table products. Instead, Civil Engineering is focused on protecting public safety and welfare. Civil Engineering can also be .compared to Environmental Engineering. Historically, Environmental Engineering was a sub-�eld under the umbrella of Civil Engineering. Here at Mines, a student can pursue a career in Environmental Engineering with either the Civil degree or the Environmental degree; the former is more broad and the latter is more focused.

Research in Civil Engineering is very diverse; topics include the development of .new and innovative construction materials that outperform conventional materials and are more sustainable, the development and use of sensors and technology in order to enhance construction and maintenance processes, new algorithms to model and optimize transportation networks, and new structural engineering design and detailing procedures that enhance structural resistance to extreme loadings, such as those arising from earthquakes and �oods.

This varies per the student's interest. Some common choices include Underground Construction and Tunneling, Humanitarian Engineering, the McBride Program, and Computer Science.

Students should pursue a degree in Civil Engineering if they want to design and construct big and exciting projects that make a di�erence to society.

Whether they decide to major in Civil Engineering or in another other �eld, we urge students to follow their passion. All engineering �elds are well-compensated, so we recommend that students think about their quality of life and select a career that is best suited to their interests. Unlike some of the niche degrees on campus that only have job opportunities that are localized to speci�c natural resources, Civil Engineers can �nd work anywhere in the United States and all around the world.