Civil Engineering Major, B.S.C.E.

Civil engineers design and build the infrastructure around us, including bridges, buildings, roads and dams. They protect public health by producing and distributing safe drinking water to our homes and treating and disposing of the wastes we generate. As a civil engineering student, you will take courses that cover the full spectrum of subfields in civil engineering, including structural, water resources, environmental, construction materials, transportation and surveying, construction estimating and management, and geotechnical. These courses will give you an opportunity for significant breadth and depth in the field. You will become an expert problem solver uniquely qualified to solve complex problems in these areas. USI’s civil engineering faculty all hold both a PhD and a professional engineering license (P.E.) in a civil engineering specialty. As a result, you will experience an applied perspective in the classroom with a focus on innovative real-world design problems. Many of USI’s elective courses include laboratory components that complement coursework with “hands-on” activities. Using well-equipped laboratory facilities, you will produce drinking water from Ohio River water and conduct the same soil and material tests that practicing civil engineers routinely conduct.

Upon graduation, you will have completed the first step toward becoming a licensed professional engineer. Passing the fundamentals of engineering (FE) exam is the next step toward licensure. USI’s graduates with a civil engineering degree routinely exceed the national average passing rate for this exam and are highly sought after in the job market. You will be qualified for a diverse array of civil engineering career paths, including opportunities in the private sector as a consulting engineer and in the public sector as a government employee.