Students who aspire to Graduate with Departmental Distinction (GDD) within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering conduct supervised research through independent study courses and present the results of individual research and study in both written and oral forms to the department's Awards and Honors Committee. Those candidates who are judged by the department's Awards Committee to have distinguished themselves through their paper and presentation earn Graduation with Departmental Distinction honors.

Eligibility

To be eligible for graduation with departmental distinction, a candidate needs to have a 3.5 or higher QPR and to complete two semesters of independent study, supervised by at least one of the faculty, culminating in a written report. In addition, students must present their research project orally to an audience of faculty and students.

Students must submit a completed Independent Study Form to the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Note, with careful planning, independent study courses can be used to satisfy both the requirements for Graduation with Departmental Distinction, and requirements to participate in the Pratt Undergraduate Research Fellows program. Students are strongly encouraged to pursue both distinctions.

Independent study courses:

• CE 197. Projects in Civil Engineering.
  These courses may be taken by junior and senior engineering students who have demonstrated aptitude for independent work. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies required. Half course or one course each. Instructor: Staff. Half course.
• CE 198. Projects in Civil Engineering. These courses may be taken by junior and senior engineering students who have demonstrated aptitude for independent work. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies required. Half course or one course each. Instructor: Staff. Half course.

OR

• CE 172. Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects.
  Intensive research project in Civil and Environmental Engineering by students selected as Engineering Undergraduate Fellows. Course credit is contingent upon satisfactory completion of 173 and 174. Consent of instructor and program director required. Instructor: Staff. One
  course.
• CE 173. Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects.
  Continuation course for Engineering Undergraduate Fellows, contingent upon satisfactory completion of 172. Consent required. Instructor: Staff. One course.
• CE 174. Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects. Final continuation course for Engineering Undergraduate Fellows, contingent upon satisfactory completion of 172 and 173. Consent required. Instructor: Staff. One course.

In assessing the submitted work the Committee may take advantage of, but not be limited to, the grade assigned to the student by the course instructor of (CE197 and/or CE198) or (CE172, CE173, and CE174).

Students interested in the Graduation with Department Distinction honor are encouraged to approach faculty members to discuss independent study opportunities. For ideas on whom to approach, peruse the department's faculty research interests as many independent study projects result from the faculty's funded research and interests.

GDD Process

The Awards Committee, through its Graduation with Distinction coordinator, will send to each student in the Graduation with Departmental Distinction Program, a letter at the beginning of the Fall term to include:

• a copy of GDD protocol
• advisability of conducting the research in two terms, with a minimum ½ course load per term,
• the standards for the presentations and the written-works, and the importance of the initial course description prepared by the student and the course instructor (submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies).

Students enrolled in the GDD program should provide a one-page progress report in early March to the GDD Coordinator with a note from their Advisor that the project is advanced enough to yield a work deserving of Distinction.

The Committee, immediately after the oral presentations, meets as a whole, discusses each of the orally-presented written-works and files a formal report, before adjourning, to the Director of Undergraduate Studies listing. The Committee reports the names of the students eligible for
Graduation with Departmental Distinction and the Committee's judgment for their orally-presented written-works as "distinguished" or "not distinguished". The Committee also identifies the name of the student deemed by the Committee to have demonstrated the highest excellence in independent study as demonstrated by professionalism of their orally-presented written-work.

Presentation

Each student will have 15 minutes for his/her presentation followed by 5 minutes of questions. The speakers are expected to prepare their view graphs and/or slides according to professional standards. The length of the presentation should be strictly observed.

The Committee as a whole listens to the student's 10-15 minute oral presentation and 5 minutes of possible discussions and evaluates on the basis of clarity, conciseness, and effectiveness.

Historically all oral presentations are scheduled by the Directors of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies on the last Friday of the Spring term. All members of the committee are expected to be present for the oral presentations. The presentations are typically scheduled during the graduate seminar, advertised to the department, and ordered alphabetically by the family names.

Report

The GDD coordinator must receive the following materials two days prior to the oral presentation by 5pm---oral presentations are generally scheduled on the last Friday of the Spring term and thus the materials noted below would be due by 5pm of the previous Wednesday.

• an electronic copy of the final written-work (in either .doc or .pdf format),
• digital photo(s) of the student working in the lab, at a field site, working at the computer, etc. which is(are) suitable to publishing to a website (optional)
• a copy of the description of the course work prepared with the student and submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies at the beginning,
• the grade(s) assigned for the course(s).

The written report needs to be prepared according to the Protocol and following ASCE journal publication requirements, should be submitted in .doc or .pdf format. If a student desires the Committee to preview their paper and receive comments in return then the paper should be submitted to the GDD coordinator at least one week in advance of the oral presentation.

In general, the written-work may not be less than 8 nor more than 12 pages of single spaced 10- or 12-pitch typed text including nomenclatures, figures, tables, appendices, and references, and it should be prepared as a photograph-ready manuscript for conference proceedings. However, in experimental, architectural, and other similar works the length and the format may be as defined by the course instructor.

Each written-work is evaluated by the Committee on the basis of correctness, neatness, conciseness, clarity, rigor, and depth.

Additional Award Opportunity

The most outstanding independent study project, as judged by the Awards Committee, is bestowed the Eric
I. Pas Award.

Recent graduates of our program who have earned the honor of Graduation with Distinction are listed below together with the title of their independent study project.