Study Tracks for M.S./Ph.D.
Choose Your Path - Three Study Tracks
Graduate students in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department can choose from three engineering study tracks. These study tracks encompass a core set of courses that parallel the research interests of our faculty. Each student must fulfill both the required courses for a M.S./Ph.D. and also the requirements for thier chosen track. Matriculate before 2010? You have a choice.
Civil Track:
Environmental Tracks:
Overview
Students must satisfy the course requirements for their chosen study track (listed below) in addition to the other requirements for the M.S. or Ph.D. degree. Each student must take at least one course in each of the principal areas, and two courses in one area of specialization. Tracks are designed to be both preparation for the needs of their specific research and also as a foundation for their further professional growth in the years to come. The combination of departmental courses and track-specific core courses will greatly enhance that growth.
Note: Students may request that their Qualifying Exam Committee (QEC) grant a waiver for a track core course requirement. They must document previous knowledge of the content of the core course. The documentation submitted to their QEC may include, but is not limited to: prior course work, evidenced by course outlines, textbooks used, and course descriptions from official bulletins or catalogs. The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) must approve the waiver in writing.
Study Track: Materials, Structures and Geosystems
Graduate study in materials, structures and geosystems engineering is highly interdisciplinary and offers students tremendous flexibility in crafting a graduate program that suits individual interests. Students can take advantage of research and courses taught not only within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering but also in other engineering departments, and Duke's other professional schools and institutes. For example, students can select from course and research opportunities within the strong nonlinear dynamics/adaptive control, fluid dynamics and aerodynamics, thermal science and materials science programs of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
Typical areas of study within this track include engineering mechanics, computational mechanics, geomaterials and environmental geomechanics, engineering and environmental geophysics, and structural engineering.
Students must take a total of at least five courses from the set listed below, with at least one course in each of the four principal areas.
Courses by principal area:
Applied Math/Statistics
- CEE 501(202): Applied Mathematics for Engineers
- CEE 627(285): Linear Systems Theory
- MATH 551(211): Applied Partial Differential Equations and Complex Variables
- STA 611(213): Statistics
Advanced Dynamics
- CEE 625(210): Intermediate Dynamics (cross-listed as ME 210)
- CEE 525(272): Wave Propagation in Elastic and Poroelastic Media
- CEE 541(283): Structural Dynamics
Field Equations
- CEE 520(201): Continuum Mechanics
- CEE 521(206): Elasticity
- CEE 560(208): Transport Phenomena
Computational Science
- CEE 530(254): Introduction to Finite Element Analysis
- CEE 644(271): Inverse Problems in Geosciences and Engineering
- MATH 561(224): Scientific Computing
Study Track: Hydrology and Fluid Dynamics
Graduate study in environmental engineering is highly interdisciplinary and offers students tremendous flexibility in crafting a graduate program that suits individual interests. Research focuses on some of the most modern open problems in environmental fluid dynamics, hydrology and water resources. Ongoing research topics include: hydrometeorology (rainfall dynamics, land-atmosphere interaction, remote sensing), eco-hydrology (impact of hydroclimatic variability on ecosystems and feedbacks on the hydrologic cycle and local climate), contaminant transport hydrology (surface-subsurface interactions), water cycle dynamics and human health, and stochastic hydrology.
In addition to courses offered within the Pratt School of Engineering, students may take courses from Duke's professional schools and institutes including the Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, and the Sanford Institute of Public Policy.
Within the M.S./Ph.D. course and research opportunities offered for Duke graduate environmental engineering students, there are two tracks of study encompassing water resource engineering, hydrology, environmental fluid dynamics, and chemical and biological aspects of pollution ofwater, atmosphere, and soil, among others.
Students must take a total of at least five courses from the set listed below, with at least one course in each of the four principal areas.
Courses by principal area:
Applied Math/Statistics
- CEE 501(202): Applied Mathematics for Engineers
- CEE 502(200): Engineering Data Analysis
- STA 611(213): Introduction to Statistical Methods
- MATH 561(224): Scientific Computing
- MATH 577(229): Mathematical Modeling
Environmental Fluid Dynamics
- ME 631(226): Intermediate Fluid Mechanics
- ME 632(227): Advanced Fluid Mechanics
- CEE 690(265): Introduction to Turbulence
- ENVIRON 856(356): Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Hydrometeorology and Ecohydrology
- CEE 684(224): Physical Hydrology and Hydrometeorology
- CEE 686(220): Ecohydrology
- CEE 690(265): Vegetation and Hydrology
- ENVIRON 564(282): Biogeochemistry
Contaminant Transport Hydrology
- CEE 581(245): Pollutant Transport Systems
- CEE 585(260): Vadose Zone Hydrology
- CEE 683(227): Groundwater Hydrology and Contaminant Transport
Study Track: Environmental Process Engineering
Graduate study in environmental engineering is highly interdisciplinary and offers students tremendous flexibility in crafting a graduate program that suits individual interests. Research focuses on phenomena that govern the origin, transport, transformation and impacts of contaminants on our environment and technologies for reducing the associated risks to human health and the environment. Research includes chemical processes that affect the fate of trace metals in the environment, transport and impacts of nanomaterials, molecular biological methods to monitor and improve performance of engineered microbial systems; biodegradation of organic contaminants, development of advanced membrane processes for water treatment and reuse, energy technologies and their impacts, and the properties, measurement and effects of ambient aerosols.
In addition to courses offered within the Pratt School of Engineering, students may take courses from Duke's professional schools and institutes including the Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, and the Sanford Institute of Public Policy.
Within the M.S./Ph.D. course and research opportunities offered for Duke graduate environmental engineering students, there are two tracks of study encompassing water resource engineering, hydrology, environmental fluid dynamics, and chemical and biological aspects of pollution ofwater, atmosphere, and soil, among others.
Students must take a total of at least five courses from the set listed below, with at least one course in each of the four principal areas.
Courses by principal area:
Applied Math/Statistics
- CEE 501(202): Applied Mathematics for Engineers
- CEE 502(200): Engineering Data Analysis
- ENVIRON 710(210): Applied Data Analysis in Environmental Sciences
- MATH 541(216): Applied Stochastic Processes
- MATH 551(211): Applied Partial Differential Equations and Complex Variables
Transport Phenomena
- CEE 307(207): Transport Phenomena in Biological Systems
- CEE 560(208): Environmental Transport Phenomena
- CEE 581(245): Pollutant Transport Systems
Environmental Science
- CEE 561(242): Aquatic Chemistry
- CEE 563(240): Chemical Fate of Organic Compounds
- CEE 566(250): Environmental Microbiology
- CEE 569(229): Introduction to Atmospheric Particles
Environmental Design
- CEE 562(244): Biological Processes in Environmental Engineering
- CEE 564(241): Physical and Chemical Treatment Processes in Environmental Engineering
- CEE 571(249): Control of Hazardous and Toxic Waste
- CEE 575(247): Air Pollution
- CEE 576L(230L): Aerosol Measurements
Jeff Peirce
Ruby Carpenter