Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Department Head: Chris Letchford

Associate Head, Academic Affairs:  Michael Symans

Department Home Page: http://www.cee.rpi.edu

Civil and environmental engineers are responsible for providing the world’s constructed facilities and the infrastructure on which modern civilization depends. These facilities can be large and complex and require that the engineer be broadly trained and able to deal with the latest technologies. Both civil and environmental engineers work to ensure that the impact of these facilities on the environment is considered, minimized and sustainable.

Civil and environmental engineers focus on the analysis, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of physical systems, both large and small. To ensure the proper construction and care of these complex systems and environments, Rensselaer civil and environmental engineers develop a full range of skills in design, analysis, construction, communication, management, and teamwork. The current rebuilding of the world’s roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, and other physical facilities has heightened society’s awareness of the profession and given it added prominence. The growing panoply of sensors, instrumentation, intelligent facilities, and new materials is also highlighting the high-tech character of the discipline, creating new educational challenges and redefining the skill set that civil and environmental engineers need to succeed.

At Rensselaer, civil engineering has a long and distinguished history. In 1835, the Institute became the first U.S. school to issue a civil engineering degree. Among its graduates are William Gurley (1839) and Lewis E. Gurley (1845) partners in W&LE Gurley, Troy, N.Y., one of the first manufacturers of precision surveying instruments. Other world-renowned Rensselaer civil engineering graduates include:

• Francis Collingwood, Jr. (1855), honored by civil engineering’s Collingwood Prize
• Washington Roebling (1857), builder of the Brooklyn Bridge
• Seijiro Hirai (1878), a president of the Imperial Railways, Japan
• George Ferris (1881), designer of the Ferris wheel
• Frank C. (1880) and Kenneth H. Osborn (1908), founders Osborn Engineering and designers of major-league, municipal, and collegiate stadiums producing many major league baseball stadiums, including  Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, which celebrated its centenary in 2012 and is the last surviving example of Osborn era of sports stadia
• Milton Brumer (1923), construction manager for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge
• Clay Bedford, Sr. (1925), general supervisor of the construction of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams
• Werner Ammann (1928), former partner, Ammann and Whitney
• Ralph Peck (1934), co-author with Karl Terzaghi of the internationally-known book Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice
• James Mitchell (1951), international soils mechanics expert.
• Robin Kemper (1981), National President of ASCE in 2019.

Today, Rensselaer civil and environmental engineers continue to be found at all levels in both private and public sectors throughout the world.

A long-standing tradition at Rensselaer is educational programs in environmental problem solving. An early contribution to this field was the water analysis work of William Pitt Mason (1874), the pioneer of such activities in the U.S. in the late 1800s. Edward J. Kilcawley, a Rensselaer civil engineering professor who introduced environmental engineering as an option in the mid-1940s and as a degree program in the mid-1950s, contributed visionary environmental engineering concepts.

In addition to those in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, there are faculty members with teaching and research interests in environmental problem solving in the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Mathematical Sciences.

Research Innovations and Initiatives

Earthquake Engineering (Civil)
Rensselaer’s earthquake engineering research program is concerned with seismic analysis and design methodologies that mitigate the negative impact of earthquakes on buildings, bridges, and pipelines (water, sewer, gas, and oil). It also focuses on analytical relationships that support decision-making and advance the state of the art in design codes, a key to future sustainability and durability. In these areas, Rensselaer’s earthquake engineering research is among the best in the world. The Institute has a major geotechnical centrifuge facility and a 1-g shaking table for structural system testing. The shake table is a major experimental components of Civil Engineering.

Structural Engineering (Civil)
Design and analysis of bridges, buildings, and other large-scale facilities; material selection and specification; static and dynamic structural modeling and analysis; environmental loads on structures, including snow, wind, and earthquakes; risk and resilience of structures.

Geotechnical and Multi-Hazard Engineering (Civil)
Rensselaer’s research program in geotechnical and multi-hazard engineering focuses on understanding and mitigating the impact of extreme events, including earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, and other geohazards, on infrastructure systems such as buildings, bridges, pipelines, and transportation corridors. This includes developing and validating advanced analysis and design methodologies that improve resilience, reduce risk, and support modern performance-based design codes. The program also emphasizes the integration of physics-based modeling and machine learning to accelerate engineering decision-making and infrastructure innovation. At the core of this program is the GRAVI-T Center (Geotechnical Research, Analysis, Validation, Innovation & Testing), which houses one of the most advanced geotechnical centrifuge facilities in the United States, equipped with in-flight robotic actuation, 2-D shaking capabilities, and environmental controls.

Transportation Engineering (Civil)
This area of research includes design, analysis, maintenance, and operation of transportation systems and facilities; intelligent transportation systems, especially highway networks, goods distribution systems, and transit systems; real-time, multiobjective network management and control, including route guidance and dynamic traffic assignment; signal control systems; network management strategies; multiobjective routing and scheduling; and logistics decision making under uncertainty.

Computational Mechanics (Civil)
Studies involve modeling and simulation of engineering systems for analysis and design, computational micromechanics and multiple-scale modeling, automated finite element and discrete element modeling techniques, system identification and inverse problems, and adaptive analysis procedures and design of systems using knowledge-base techniques.

Pollutant Fate and Transport (Environmental)
Research areas are assessment of pathogen loading and transport in water supplies and treatment systems, fate of hydrophobic organics in sediment, environmental chemistry of PAHs, molecular modeling in environmental chemistry, and structure activity relationships.

Water Treatment (Environmental)
Researchers investigate the influence of natural organic matter properties and water chemistry on the formation of disinfection byproducts, understanding fouling mechanisms in the use of membrane processes in water treatment, membrane modifications for water treatment, adsorption processes and hybrid processes for removal of DBP precursors.

Site Remediation and Bioremediation (Environmental)
Research areas include combined advanced oxidation and biological treatment for sediment and soil slurry systems, in-situ degradation of chlorinated organics in groundwater, and solid phase treatment reactors for soils, slurries, and municipal solid wastes.

Water Resources Engineering (Civil and Environmental)
Fundamental to life, the design, construction, and management of water collection, storage, and distribution systems is one of the earliest forms of Civil Engineering Infrastructure.  Research aims to improve efficiency of capture, treatment and delivery to end users to ensure sustainability of this precious resource.

Engineering Education (Civil and Environmental)

As we prepare the next generation of global engineers to develop 21st-century engineering professional competencies and skills, we need to study the student experience and learning across the learning environment. Specific research areas include gameful learning and engineering judgment.

Research Facilities
Rensselaer’s geotechnical centrifuge was commissioned in 1989 and has conducted thousands of hours of high-gravity physical modeling to evaluate the behavior of soil and soil-structure systems under extreme conditions. Originally focused on earthquake simulation, the facility has since evolved to support a broader range of hazard scenarios, including rainfall-induced landslides, post-wildfire slope failure, permafrost degradation, and coastal storm surge. Upgraded to a 150 g-ton overall capacity, the centrifuge now features in-flight robotic systems, multi-axis actuation, and environmental control capabilities. It supports both academic research and industry collaboration, serving as the foundation for numerous M.S. and Ph.D. theses and supporting investigators across the country. The GRAVI-T Center is a hub for interdisciplinary simulation research, offering hands-on training, advanced data collection, and hybrid physical-numerical modeling workflows that connect laboratory testing with numerical analyses.

The Rensselaer 1-g seismic shaking table, located in the Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory (SDEEL), part of the Jonsson Engineering Center High Bay Laboratory, is utilized to evaluate the behavior of scale-model structures subjected to dynamic loading. The shaking table, 1.6 m x 2.6 m in plan, is driven by a servo-controlled hydraulic actuator and is capable of reproducing a variety of input motions, including random motion for system identification testing and historical earthquake records for seismic testing. A variety of dynamic measurement sensors are available in the laboratory along with a spectrum analyzer and high speed data acquisition system.

Environmental Engineering students and faculty have access to the Environmental Engineering laboratories, and the W.M. Keck Foundation Water Quality Laboratory, both located in the Materials Research Center building. Facilities are also available in other laboratories on campus, such as the Rensselaer Biotechnology Center. The Environmental Engineering laboratories include the NSF-MRI Colloid and Particle Characterization Laboratory, offering a Brookhaven BI-90 differential light scattering instrument for nanoparticle characteization, a Coulter Multisizer II particle counter with a range of apertures for analysis of particles over a size range of 0.3 to over 100 microns, and a Quantachrome Autosorb-1A-MP gas adsorption analyzer with a 1-torr pressure transducer and multi-gas capabilities, to characterize particle surface area and porosity. Other major analytical equipment available in the Environmental Engineering laboratories includes UV-visible spectrophotometers; Hewlett Packard gas chromatographs with FID, TCD, and ECD detection; a Shimadzu A17 GC with FID and ECD detectors; a Hewlett-Packard 1100 high performance liquid chromatograph with a quaternary pump, an on-line degasser, an autosampler, a temperature-controlled column station, and with UV, fluorescence, and electrochemical detection; a Shimadzu HPLC with UV detector and an autosampler; a Shimadzu TOC-5000 low-level organic carbon analyzer. The department recently constructed a microbiology lab that is fully equipped with instruments and facilities needed to enrich, isolate, cultivate and analyze aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms that are important contributors to environmental biogeochemical processes. 

Faculty *

Professors

Gao, B.—Ph.D. (Cornell University); biochar, environmental nanotechnology, and contaminant fate and transport.

Holguín-Veras, J.—P.E., Ph.D. (The University of Texas at Austin); intelligent transportation networks, intermodal transportation, transportation planning and modeling, transportation economics.

Letchford, C.—P.E., C.P. Eng., D. Phil. (Oxford University); wind engineering, bluff body aerodynamics, structural dynamics.

Wang, X.—P.E., Ph.D. (The University of Texas at Austin); transportation engineering.

Zeghal, M.—Ph.D. (Princeton University); soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering, computational geomechanics, geotechnical system identification and seismic response monitoring, damage diagnosis and nondestructive evaluation, and seismic risk analyses.

Associate Professors

Bennett, V.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); engineering education, gameful learning, geotechnical engineering, and remote sensing instrumentation.

He, X.—Ph.D (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities); transportation system analysis and modeling, traffic operations and management.

Kilduff, J.—P.E., Ph.D. (University of Michigan); physicochemical processes, separations and recovery processes in water and wastewater treatment, effects of adsorption and mass-transfer on pollutant fate and transport in natural systems, membrane processes for water quality control.

Nyman, M.C.—Ph.D. (Purdue University); fate and transport of hydrophobic organic contaminants in natural systems, environmental chemistry.

Symans, M.—Ph.D. (University at Buffalo); structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, seismic isolation and energy dissipation systems, structural vibration control.

Tessari, A. - Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); geotechnical engineering; infrastructure; geohazard mitigation; novel sensors and instrumentation for concrete foundations; high temperature soil testing equipment; and response of soil-liner systems during extreme fire events.

Uchida, S.—Ph.D. (University of Cambridge); geotechnical numerical analysis; computational geomechanics; thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of soils; constitutive modeling of solids; soil structure interactions, and soil dynamics.

Assistant Professors

Ke, R. - Ph.D (University of Washington); intelligent transportation systems; AI for transportation; Edge Computing; Quantum Computing; and infrastructure digital twin.

Li, M. - Ph.D. (Colorado State University); risk assessment/mitigation; resilience-based decision making; surrogate-based uncertainty quantification; and machine learning.

Professor of Practice

Reilly, J.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); transportation systems.

Sr. Lecturers

El-Shafee, O.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); physical and computational modeling of response of sand deposits subjected to biaxial base excitation.

Lander, D.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); influence of freestream and forced disturbances on the shear layer of a square prism.

Lecturers

Ashenafi, E.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); environmental engineering, advanced oxidation processes, photobiology.

Bhaduri, T.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); computational mechanics of concrete, additive manufacturing with concrete, structural vibration control.

Varsamis, C.—Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); structural engineering, earthquake engineering.

Emeritus Faculty

Clesceri, N.L.—Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin); advanced waste treatment, environmentally sound manufacturing, sediment decontamination.

Dobry, R. - Sc.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); soil dynamics, geotechnical earthquake engineering and geotechnical dynamic centrifuge testing. 

Feeser, L.J.—P.E., Ph.D. (Carnegie Mellon University); structures, computer applications and computer graphics, computer-aided design, structural optimization.

O’Rourke, M.J.—P.E., Ph.D. (Northwestern University); structures, lifeline earthquake engineering, snow loading on structures.

*Departmental faculty listings are accurate as of the date generated for inclusion in this catalog. For the most up-to-date listing of faculty positions, including end-of-year promotions, please refer to the Faculty Roster section of this catalog.

Undergraduate Programs

Student Outcomes of the Undergraduate Curricula

Students who successfully complete the program in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering will be able to demonstrate an ability to:

• Identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics

• Apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors

• Communicate effectively with a range of audiences

• Recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts

• Function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives

• Develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions

• Acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Objectives of the Undergraduate Curriculum in both Civil and Environmental Engineering

Rensselaer’s Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering programs are both designed to prepare students for continuous learning and successful careers in industry, government, academia, and consulting.

Within a few years of graduation, Bachelor of Science graduates in both programs are expected to:

1. Responsibly and ethically contribute to their chosen field of expertise as professionals who apply engineering judgement to problem-solving, design, and discovery.
2. Continue to develop both professionally and personally through contributions to professional societies, continuing education, service to the community, and progression toward professional licensure.
3. Further develop leadership skills, communicate in professional and civic forums, and pursue increasing levels of responsibility.

The Civil Engineering program at Rensselaer is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Civil and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

The Environmental Engineering program at Rensselaer is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Environmental and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.

Graduate Programs

Graduate programs leading to the M.Eng., M.S., and Ph.D. are available in both curricula and Transportation Engineering. The selection of a graduate program and degree is based on student interest, area of graduate concentration, and satisfaction of prerequisites. Office of Graduate Education requirements in relation to minimum grades (B average) and maximum number of credits at the 4000 level (15 credit hours) apply.

Minor Programs

The department offers minors in both civil and environmental engineering.

Course Descriptions

Courses directly related to all Civil and Environmental Engineering curricula are described in the Course Description section of this catalog under the department codes CIVL and ENVE.

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