Welcome to the Ph.D. Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Duke University. The department prides itself on the type and quality of students attracted to our research and teaching opportunities.
The goal of our graduate program is to study and teach the fundamental and advanced engineering subjects relevant to the discipline of civil and environmental engineering in general, with a special interest in the development of new technologies for the observation, monitoring and simulation of the behavior of structures, materials, geosystems and natural or engineered environments. To reach excellence in this endeavor, we emphasize independent thinking and creativity, a broad interdisciplinary approach, and the use of the most recent developments in science and engineering. We strongly encourage both an imaginative discovery in engineering sciences as well as engineering invention.
CEE faculty members are recruiting high caliber students to collaborate in research organized in three study tracks that parallel the research interests of our faculty:
- Materials, Structures and Geo-systems;
- Environmental Process Engineering; and
- Hydrology and Fluid Dynamics
Quick Links
Grad Student AccoladesEischeid wins NWRI Fellowship
Graduate student Anne Eischeid has been selected to receive a National Water Research Institute (NWRI) fellowship worth $10,000 a year ...
Bolch wins NASA ESS Fellowship
CEE graduate student Michael Adam Bolch was awarded a NASA Earth System Science (ESS) fellowship. The fellowship is worth $24,000 ...READ MORE
Shrestha wins NASA ESS Fellowship
Graduate student Prabhakar Shrestha in CEE Professor Ana Barros' laboratory has won a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship for his ...
Emphasis on Crossdisciplinary Research and Mentoring
We emphasize course study and research opportunities that transcend theboundaries of traditional academic disciplines. This is the nexus where today's most compelling problems are solved. Our students train to become independent thinkers capable of contributing to diverse teams of researchers from other fields of expertise. They publish with their faculty advisers and present research to professional peers.Our students develop lasting mentoring relationships with faculty, enjoy a high quality of life and all the resources of a top tier research institution.
World Class Research Opportunity
Specific areas of excellence in which our faculty have earned an international reputation include:
- computational mechanics
- nonlinear mechanics and adaptive dynamic systems
- environmental geomechanics, geotechnics and geophysics
- eco-hydrology and water-land-atmosphere interactions
- sensors and remote sensing of the environment
- emerging contaminants and the environment
- environmental nanotechnology
- multi-scale environmental and material modeling
- energy and the environment
In addition, our students have access to international authorities in several areas of Research, who serve as international Adjunct Faculty for our Department.
Getting Started
Explore our faculty and their research program--and then correspond with faculty members of interest to you and our Director of Graduate Studies. On this Website, we provide guidelines for designing a course of study for the Ph.D. degree and preparing the Ph.D.students for the Qualifying Exam. This website also includes information about stipends, residency requirements and admissions requirements. Online applications for graduate study, processed through the Duke Graduate School, are due in early December.