Floralis Genérica, a 75-foot tall solar sculpture in Buenos Aires' Plaza de las Naciones Unidas. The petals open each morning, turn to follow the sun, and close each evening, in an act of engineering and nature imitating each other. (Photo courtesy of Stuck in Customs on Flickr.)
Featured Courses
The mission of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) is to provide human services in a sustainable way, balancing society’s need for long-term infrastructure with environmental health. This positions CEE to play an essential role in solving some of the most pressing problems facing humanity, including concerns about energy and the environment.
Research domains
Research in CEE falls into six overlapping, cross-disciplinary focus areas:
- Smarter Cities
- Ecosystems
- Coastal Zone
- Water and Energy Resources
- Chemicals in the Environment
- Materials
Undergraduate Education
We offer two accredited majors, in civil engineering (1C) and in environmental engineering science (1E), as well as a flexible unaccredited program (1A). The core curriculum introduces principles of earth systems and sustainability, provides a grounding in the fundamentals of solid and fluid mechanics, and incorporates project-based labs that teach the processes and skills involved in planning, design and construction. The curriculum provides students with both a rigorous foundation in theory and the practical, hands-on experience they need to succeed in the field.
Graduate Education
At the graduate level, CEE runs two very successful professional engineering programs, the Master of Engineering and the interdepartmental Master of Science in Transportation. Both attract excellent applicants from leading U.S. and international universities. These programs provide a critical link between the department and companies and governmental agencies concerned with the environment, transportation and infrastructure. About one-third of our doctoral graduates go on to accept faculty positions, making our training of doctoral candidates in a wide range of research areas a point of pride. Our scholars regularly produce high-quality, impactful research and go on to shape the intellectual future of the field.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Courses
Archived Civil and Environmental Engineering Courses
Some prior versions of courses listed above have been archived in OCW's DSpace@MIT repository for long-term access and preservation. Links to archived prior versions of a course may be found on that course's "Other Versions" tab.
Additionally, the Archived Civil and Environmental Engineering Courses page has links to every archived course from this department.