Surveying engineers measure the physical features of the Earth with great precision. They verify and establish land boundaries and are key players in the design and layout of infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and cell phone towers.
Their tools range from remote-sensing systems to transits, and by the time you graduate, you will know how to use them all.
And, you will be qualified to take the Fundamentals of Surveying exam, your first step toward certification as a professional surveyor.
You can choose from four concentrations on your way to a degree:
- Geodesy, a branch of math that deals with the exact shape of the Earth, the exact position of points on its surface, and gravitational and magnetic fields
- Cartography, the science of map making
- Photogrammetry, used to determine the 3D properties of images from photos, a practice used in fields ranging from topographic mapmaking to archaeology
- Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, which surveyors use to precisely locate points on the Earth’s surface
Jobs held by surveying engineering graduates
- Surveyor
- Cartographer
- Photogrammetrist
- Field Layout Engineer