Undergraduate Students

About the Department

Explore Civil & Environmental Engineering

As a civil engineer, what will you do? You might manage the traffic control system for a large city. You may design buildings that can withstand the dynamic environment of an earthquake. You could interpret satellite photography to predict future droughts and famines in different parts of the world. The opportunities in the civil engineering field are great. Because of society's continuing demand for individuals to manage our modern infrastructure and our planet's fragile environment, the world needs civil engineers now and they will always be needed as long as there are people to be served. If you have an interest in working in a profession where the work that you do will have a great influence on the lives of individuals in society, then civil engineering may be the career for you.

Civil engineering is a customer-service profession. The water you drink and the roads you drive on are provided through the services of civil engineers. Civil engineers build hospitals, airports, bridges, dams, and other public works that are a large part of our every day world. The realization of these essentials of modern life comes from the work of civil engineers through their involvement in the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and management of these large public facilities.

Civil Engineering is traditionally divided into several sub-disciplines:

• Construction Engineering covers the management of the building function and the evaluation of the suitability of surface/subsurface materials and conditions for engineering systems.

• Environmental Engineering deals with elements such as water supply, solid waste, sewage treatment, and the disposal of hazardous materials.

• Structural Engineering deals with the design or rehabilitation of large public structures, such as bridges, dams, or buildings.

• Transportation Engineering considers the engineering aspects of highways and streets, air transport, fixed guide way systems (e.g., railroad, monorail, or maglev), and ports and waterways.

• Water Resources Engineering covers the engineering aspects of moving fluids and the study of rainfall, drainage, flooding, and waterways.

A Brief History

In 1881 Penn State introduced a course of study in civil engineering and the trustees appointed Professor Louis B. Barnard as the first Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at an annual salary of $1200. John F. Healy, the first graduate of the program received his degree in 1884.

President George W. Atherton in his annual report for 1882 stated that "The Department of Civil Engineering has been established only a little more than a year, but is proving, as was anticipated, to be one of the most attractive in the College to active and ambitious young men". That tradition continues to this day except with the addition of "active and ambitious young women".

In 1992, the department name was changed to "Civil and Environmental Engineering" to reflect the growing importance of environmental issues and our separate graduate degrees in environmental engineering. In 2006, Civil and Environmental Engineering celebrated its 125th anniversary, marking it one of the oldest departments at Penn State.

Today, there are over 7000 living Penn State Civil Engineering alumni around the world. For the 2005/06 academic year, we awarded 163 Bachelor of Science degrees and 33 graduate degrees. For the Fall 2006 semester, over 200 juniors entered the Civil and Environmental Engineering major

National Rankings

The 2005 U.S. News & World Report surveys ranked Penn State as #12 in Civil Engineering and #14 in Environmental Engineering.

Penn State also has been recognized for the job it does in preparing its students to benefit the nation. Up three spots from last year, Penn State now is ranked No. 3 in the nation behind only Massachusetts Institute of Technology (first) and University of California, Berkeley (second) by Washington Monthly, a political, inside-the-beltway publication. The magazine ranks institutions as engines of social mobility; as producers of academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth; and as forces to inculcate and encourage an ethic of service.

Among the 2006 university-wide accolades:

-- On Aug. 13, Newsweek ranked Penn State 40th among the world's top 100 global institutions. The top global universities were designated, in part, based on the amount of research taking place at those universities, the number of international faculty and the number of students studying overseas.

-- The 2007 edition "America's Best Colleges," the annual review by U.S. News & World Report unveiled Aug. 18, tied the University at No. 13 among all U.S. public universities.

-- In its Sept. 2006 edition, Washington Monthly magazine cited the University as third nationally. Washington Monthly looked at indicators related to how universities benefit the nation.

-- On Aug. 8, The Sporting News rated State College, Pa., home to Penn State's University Park campus, at No. 7 among U.S. sports cities without a professional sports franchise.

Penn State officials recommend that parents and prospective students look at a broad range of guides and not base application decisions on any one source of information.