Specializations include environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, transportation engineering, and water resources engineering. An active research program is conducted in each of these areas, and it is the goal of the department to maintain a close association between graduate study, research, teaching, and engineering practice.

Research facilities

The Department of Civil Engineering has several laboratories which can be used to perform a wide variety of graduate research projects. These include laboratories in the areas of environmental engineering, hydraulic engineering, materials testing, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and water resources engineering.

The department also has the Civil Infrastructure Systems Laboratory (CISL) which includes a full-scale Accelerated Pavement Testing facility.

In addition, the department has modern computing facilities including a number of personal computers and workstations.