Geotechnical Degrees

Our M.Sc. in Civil Engineering is flexible, allowing students to concentrate in geotechnical engineering, among other options.  The geotechnical concentration is practice oriented, but offers interested students the possibility of participating in advanced cutting edge research.

Students in the Geotechnical concentration are required to take 4 core courses (12 Credits), and 4 Geotechnical Courses (12).  The remaining 6 Credits may be taken as 2 electives, one elective and a 3-Credit Project, or as a 6-Credit Thesis.  The following are courses are available.  Bolded courses are required in the geotechnical concentration.

Core Courses

3 Credits Materials for Civil Engineers CE-GY 6023

The course covers: Materials composition and production of cementitious materials; polymeric composites and metals; mechanical properties subject to short-term and long-term loads, impact and fire; fatigue and fracture; transport properties, chemical degradation and long-term durability.
Prerequisite: Graduate Status.

3 Credits Instrumentation, Monitoring and Condition Assessment of Civil Infrastructure CE-GY 6073

This course covers: A systematic approach to planning and executing instrumentation, monitoring and condition assessment programs; strain measurements; civil engineering sensors (static, dynamic, optical); environmental measurements; mechatronic sensors; signal conditioning, information measurements and error analysis; business aspects; advanced-measurement systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

3 Credits Environmental Impact Assessment CE-GY 7673

The course examines legal and technical requirements in preparing environmental-impact statements. Considerations include legal and technical requirements, the procedure and the interdisciplinary nature of the analysis. Topics include overall impact evaluation, categories of impacts, problem definition, quantification of impact, methods used in analysis, field evaluations, mitigations, hearing procedures and management. Practical examples and case studies are used.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

3 Credits Urban Infrastructure Systems Management CE-GY 7843

This course provides a descriptive overview of key infrastructure systems and technologies that must be managed, operated and maintained. Systems treated include buildings and structures, water supply, solid and liquid waste handling and disposal, transportation, power, communications and information systems, health and hospitals, police and preprotection. The course explores the financial, political, administrative, legal and institutional settings of these systems and technologies. A portion of the course features distinguished guest lecturers who are experts in some of the systems and technologies included.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

3 Credits Project Management for Construction CE-GY 8253

The course covers topics specific to developing and coordinating large projects, including organizational structures, management functions, pricing and estimating project costs, bidding and contracting, risk allocation, scheduling, time and cost control, labor relations, quality management and project life-cycle activities.

3 Credits Risk Analysis CE-GY 8283

In this course, students investigate the ever-rising importance of risk analysis in project management. Topics include: analysis of qualitative and quantitative risk; techniques in probability analysis, sensitivity analysis, simulation of risk and utility theory; and computational methods for calculating risk. Students are exposed to real-world problems through case investigations.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing

Geotechnical Concentration Courses

3 Credits Ground Improvement CE-GY 8423

The course discusses foundation engineering practice, foundation rehabilitation, and emerging ground- improvement technologies. Topics covered are the selection, design and analysis of ground-improvement techniques for different foundation problems, as well as the construction, monitoring and performance evaluation of such solutions.
Prerequisites: undergraduate soil mechanics and foundations, CE-UY 4173 or equivalent.

3 Credits Advanced Foundation Design CE-GY 8663

Topics covered: Advanced analysis of foundations, shallow foundations, bearing capacity, settlement, deep foundations, axial and lateral loading of piles, wave equation analysis, drilled piers, design and construction issues, and case histories.
Prerequisites: undergraduate soil mechanics and foundations, CE-UY 4173 or equivalent.

3 Credits Excavation Support Systems CE-GY 8673

The course covers design and construction methodologies for excavation support systems, including soldier pile, sheet pile, and secant pile wall systems. Both traditional limit-equilibrium and modern elastoplastic analysis methods will be presented. Students will get the opportunity to utilize industry software to design excavation support systems. Last, for the 1st time this year, students will have the opportunity to also experience excavation support systems in virtual or augmented reality.
Prerequisites: undergraduate Geotechnical Engineering.

CE-GY 8403 Please refer to the bulletin for more information

CE-GY 8433 Please refer to the bulletin for more information

3 Credits Environmental Geotechnology CE-GY 8493

The course covers: Clay mineralogy; soil-water interaction processes; chemical transport through soils; hydraulic conductivity, diffusion and attenuation mechanisms; water-disposal systems; design of land-fills, seepage barriers and cut-off walls; geo-environmental site characterization techniques; and soil-remediation techniques.
Prerequisite: undergraduate soil mechanics, CE-UY 3153 or equivalent.

3 Credits Selected Topics in Geotechnical Engineering CE-GY 8603

The course explores current special interest topics, such as ground improvement, geotechnical earthquake engineering, site characterization and remediation. Topics vary with each offering and are disseminated before registration.
Prerequisites: CE-UY 4173 or equivalent.

Recommended Educational Background: BS/BE Civil Engineering

The PhD in Civil (Geotechnical Engineering) offers a personalized research-based educational experience.   Recent graduates have worked on a wide range of topics including (1) physical modeling of soil structure interaction and flow using transparent soil surrogates, (2) capacity of piles, (3) penetration mechanics, (4) behavior of polymeric piling, and (5) ground improvement, among others.  Graduates went on to academic careers in the United States, and overseas, as well as to leading positions in consulting and construction.  

Recommended Educational Background: MS Civil Engineering