Jul 01, 2024

2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

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2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

Civil Engineering, Ph.D.

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College of Engineering
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Major Contacts, Deadlines, and Delivery Information

Concentrations:

Engineering for International Development
Water Resources

The Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering is awarded in recognition of demonstrated scholarly competence and ability to conduct and report original and significant research in a sub-discipline of Civil Engineering, such as transportation, geotechnical, structural, materials, water resources or transportation engineering.

The field of Civil Engineering has long been known for its breadth and ability to adapt to the new technological needs of society. The traditional areas of public works, such as highways, bridges, water supply, and building design, remain very important. In addition, the area of sustainable interntaional development has been included in the Civil Engineering domain. Graduates of the major are prepared for careers in academia, with public agencies, or with private industry, including firms involved in planning, design, research and development, or regulation.

Accreditation

The Florida Board of Professional Engineers allows for successful completion of a graduate studies leading to Ph.D. degree in engineering to provide credit toward two years of engineering experience.

Major Research Areas:
Civil Engineering, including the sub-disciplines of Structural, Materials, Geotechnical, Transportation, and Water Resources Engineering. Students may also apply this knowledge to problems facing developing countries through our Engineering for International Development Concentration.

The Department has a high bay structures laboratory, which includes an MTS 250 kip testing machine. There are also well-equipped soils, pavement and hydraulics laboratories. These laboratories include equipment for bench and pilot scale studies, field instrumentation for environmental and water resources studies, constant rate of stress consolidometer, triaxial units, and Superpave testing equipment.

Admission Information

Must meet University Admission and English Proficiency requirements as well as requirements for admission to the major, listed below.

Undergraduate GPA greater than 3.30 preferred
GRE with V (45th percentile), Q (75th percentile), and AW (55th percentile)
Resume provided at the time of application.
Three (3) letters of reference provided at the time of application
Statement of Purpose provided at the time of application
Exceptions made on a case-by-case basis where warranted.

Curriculum Requirements

Total Program Hours:

75 hours minimum post-bachelor’s

Core requirement – 5 Credit hours
Concentration – 6 Credit hours minimum
Electives – 44 Credit hours minimum
Dissertation – 20 Credit hours minimum

45 hours minimum post-master’s

Core requirement – 5 Credit hours
Concentration – 6 Credit hours minimum
Electives – 14 Credit hours minimum
Dissertation – 20 Credit hours minimum

Core Requirement (5 Credit Hours)

CGN 6311C Introduction to Data Science for Civil Engineers Credit Hours: 3
CGN 6945 Graduate Research Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering Credit Hours: 2

Concentration Requirements (6 Credit Hours Minimum)

Students may select from one of these concentrations or may elect no concentration and instead complete electives in consultation with the Major Professor.

Engineering for International Development (9 Credit Hours Minimum)

Students must engage in full-time global training and service as part of the concentration (e.g., in the U.S. Peace Corps, with a non-governmental organization, UNESCO-IHE, or equivalent). This work must be incorporated into the student’s dissertation. Note that a student may register for CST 6920 for 0 credit hours while in their country of service.

Required (3 Credit Hours):
ENV 6510 Sustainable Development Engineering Credit Hours: 3
And a minimum of one course from the following Applied Anthropology courses (3 Credit Hours):
ANG 6766 Research Methods in Applied Anthropology Credit Hours: 3
ANG 6730 Socio Cultural Aspects of HIV/AIDS Credit Hours: 3
ANG 6469 Selected Topics in Medical Anthropology Credit Hours: 3 (Health, Illness, and Culture)
And a minimum of one course from the following Global Public Health courses (3 Credit Hours):
PHC 6764 Global Health Principles and Contemporary Issues Credit Hours: 3
PHC 6761 Global Health Assessment Strategies Credit Hours: 3

Water Resources (6 Credit Hours Minimum)

A minimum of two courses from the following list (6 Credit Hours):
CWR 6305 Urban Hydrology Credit Hours: 3
CWR 6535 Hydrologic Models Credit Hours: 3
CWR 6105 Vadose Zone Hydrology Credit Hours: 3
CWR 6625 Ecological Engineering Credit Hours: 3
CWR 6820 Coastal Waves and Structures Credit Hours: 3
ENV 6564 Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Design Credit Hours: 3
CGN 6933 Special Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering Credit Hours: 1-4
Special Topics taken as:
- Environmental Fluid Mechanics (3 Credit Hours for this program)
- Water Resources Engienering (3 Credit Hours for this program)
- Advanced Numerical Methods (3 Credit Hours for this program)
- Water Resources Sustainability (3 Credit Hours for this program)

Electives (44 Credit Hours Minimum)

44 Credit Hours Minimum required for Post-Bachelor’s

14 Credit Hours Minimum required for Post-Master’s

Graduate level electives are selected in consultation with the student’s major research advisor, Graduate Director, and/or advisory committee.

No more than nine (9) credit hours of Independent Study may be applied to meet the coursework requirement.
No more than six (6) credit hours of Thesis may be applied to meet the coursework requirement (for post-bachelor’s).
No more than nine (9) credit hours of Directed Research and/or Dissertation credits may not be applied towards the coursework requirement.

Qualifying Exam

Doctoral students are expected to pass a qualifying examination no later than the semester following the completion of 45 credits of coursework beyond a bachelor’s degree. At minimum, the exam will include a written dissertation proposal and oral defense by the dissertation committee. A written exam in the area of concentration may also be required. Poor performance on the qualifying exam based on the judgment of the committee may result in the student failing the exam. If a student does not pass on the first attempt, he/she may request in writing to repeat the exam. Students who fail the Qualifying examination the second time will be dismissed by the Major.

Dissertation Requirements (20 Credit Hours Minimum)

A minimum of 20 credits of dissertation, an approved PhD dissertation, and a dissertation defense are required. Students may not sign up for dissertation credits until they have defended their proposal and advanced to candidacy (see Qualifying Exam, above).

CGN 7980 Dissertation Doctoral Credit Hours: 2-19 (20 credits for this program)

Publication Requirement

Students must have at least one paper accepted to a peer-reviewed journal or peer-reviewed conference based on their research carried out during their doctoral studies at USF.

University of South Florida

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