Civil Engineering

The extended graduate education program of the Civil Engineering & Applied Mechanics Department at the University of Virginia is a five-year program leading toward the Master of Engineering (ME) degree with an emphasis in structural mechanics and/or structural design.

A tentative program is presented in this document. Students beginning study in a given year can schedule their courses appropriately, after consultation with an academic advisor. Typically, the University of Virginia requires certain minimal background for students pursuing Master's degrees. This includes:

1. A course in partial differential equations; e.g. MATH 517-518 (VCU), or MATH 501-502 (ODU)

2. CE 601, Advanced Mechanics of Materials

3. A course in Finite Element Analysis; e.g., CE 671 or CE 773, depending on the student's background

4. For students pursuing the design option, a minimum of one structural design course

5. A concentration of courses within the area of structural mechanics, or structural design.

Students wishing to obtain a strong structural design flavor in their graduate program will probably want to take as many of the offered design courses as possible. These students should also consider any courses in Geotechnical Engineering which may be offered by Virginia Tech as part of the Commonwealth program. Students located in the Tidewater area may wish to consider courses offered by Old Dominion University as part of their program of study.

Students wishing to obtain mechanics oriented master's degrees may want to substitute additional math courses from the appropriate participating university. These should be approved by the faculty advisor for the program in advance. Additional mechanics courses available to students include MAE 541 or MSE 732 (UVA). In addition, students may wish to consider mechanics courses offered by the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech. Students located in the Tidewater area may wish to consider mechanics oriented courses offered by the Mechanical Engineering Department at Old Dominion University as part of their program.

II. Tentative Programs

• A typical design oriented program might appear somewhat like the following:
  • CE 671 - Introduction to Finite Element Methods
  • CE 601 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials
  • CE 691 - Behavior and LRFD of Steel Structures, and/or
  • CE 681 - Advanced Design of Metal Structures I
  • CE 683 - Prestressed Concrete Design
  • CE 684 - Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design
  • CE 773 - Advanced Finite Element Applications in Structural Engineering
  • CE 620 - Energy Methods in Mechanics
  • MATH xxx - Applied Mathematics Requirement from cooperating institution
  • CE 675 - Structural Stability
  • CE xxx - Design electrive from cooperating institution (as available)

• A typical mechanics oriented program might consist of the following courses:
  • CE 671 - Introduction to Finite Element Methods
  • CE 601 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials
  • CE 773 - Advanced Finite Element Applications in Structural Engineering
  • CE 620 - Energy Methods in Mechanics
  • MATH xxx - Applied Mathematics requirement from cooperating institution
  • CE 675 - Structural Stability
  • CE 623 - Vibrations
  • MATH xxx - Mathematics elective from cooperating institution
  • XX xxx - Mechanics Elective from cooperating institution
  • CE 672 - Numerical Methods in Structural Mechanics

III. Suggested Course Alternatives

• Virginia Tech Courses

  Design oriented programs: Any geotechnical course offered by the Civil Engineering Department.

• UVA Courses
  • MAE 631 - Fluid Mechanics I
  • MAE 671 - Applied Finite Element Analysis
  • MAE 662 - Mechanical Design Analysis
  • MSE 732 - Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials

• VCU Math and Statistics Courses
  • MATH 517-518 - Methods of Applied Mathemtics I, II
  • MATH 515-516 - Numerical Analysis I, II
  • MATH 617-618 - Applied Mathematics I, II
  • MATH 507-508 - Analysis I, II
  • MATH 620 - Theory of Partial Differential Equations
  • STAT 513-514 - Mathematical Statistics

• GMU Courses
  • MATH 620 - Applied Matrix Analysis
  • PHYS 510 - Mechanics of Continuous Media
  • STAT 654 - Applied Statistics

• ODU Courses

  Any of the Civil Engineering Department graduate courses with numbers between CE 610-635, CE 711/811, and CE 713/813. Other Civil Engineering graduate courses may also be approved, provided they contribute to a cohesive program.

  Any of the solid mechanics oriented Mechanical Engineering courses. Other Mechanical Engineering courses may also be approved, provided they contribute to a cohesive program.

Five-Year Schedule of Courses.

Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program

Last modified: July 7, 1998