For admission information, see Graduate Programs Admission on page 27.
The following introductory information is based on 2021-22 program requirements for UCLA graduate degrees. Complete program requirements are available at Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees. Students are subject to the detailed degree requirements as published in program requirements for the year in which they enter the program.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in Civil Engineering.
There are two plans of study that lead to the MS degree: the capstone plan (also known as comprehensive examination) and the thesis plan. At least nine courses (36 units) are required, a majority of which must be in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. At least five of the courses must be at the 200 level. In the thesis plan, seven of the nine must be formal 100- or 200-series courses. The remaining two may be 598 courses involving work on the thesis. In the capstone (comprehensive examination) plan, 500-series courses may not be applied toward the nine-course requirement. Courses completed outside of the department must be equal in rigor and related to the civil and environmental engineering program of study and are recommended to be quantitative in nature. In addition, MS students must attend the Civil and Environmental Engineering 200 seminar each quarter. Graduate students must meet two grade-point average requirements to graduate—a minimum 3.0 GPA in all coursework and a minimum 3.0 GPA in all 200-level coursework applied toward the degree. All courses counting toward the nine-course requirement, except for 598, must be taken for a letter grade.
Each major field has a set of required preparatory courses which are normally completed during undergraduate studies. Equivalent courses taken at other institutions can satisfy the preparatory course requirements. The preparatory courses cannot be used to satisfy course requirements for the MS degree; courses must be selected in accordance with the lists of required graduate and elective courses for each major field. Courses not listed below may be completed toward the course requirement if pre-approved by the faculty adviser and student affairs officer.
Undergraduate Courses. No lower-division courses (1-99) may be applied toward graduate degrees.
The MS degree offers seven fields of specialization that have specific course requirements.
Required Preparatory Courses. General chemistry and physics, both with laboratory exercises; multivariate calculus; linear algebra and differential equations; and introductory thermodynamics. Other undergraduate preparation could include Civil and Environmental Engineering C104, 120, 121, 135A, 140L, 142, and Materials Science and Engineering 104.
Required Graduate Courses. Two courses must be selected from Civil and Environmental Engineering C204, C205, 226, 253, 258A, 261B, M262A, 263A, 266, 267.
Other Elective Courses. Remaining courses (at least two) must be selected from Chemical Engineering 102A, 102B, 200, C219, 223, 230, 270, Chemistry and Biochemistry 103, 110A, 110B, 113A, C213B, C215A, C215B, C215C, C223A, C223B, C226A, C275, 276B, 277, Civil and Environmental Engineering 110, M135C, 153, 154, 155, 157B, 157C, M166, C206, C211, 220, 224, 226, M230A, M230B, M230C, 235A, 235B, 235C, 243A, 243B, 254A, 258A, 261, Conservation of Cultural Heritage 210, M215, 216, M250, Environmental Health Sciences 410A, Materials Science and Engineering 110, C111, 130, 131, 200, 201, 210, C211, 270, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 101, 105A, 133A, 156A, 256F, 261A, 261B, C296A, Statistics 201A.
Required Preparatory Courses. Chemistry and Biochemistry 20A, 20B, 20L; Civil and Environmental Engineering 151 or 153; Mathematics 32A, 32B, 33B (or Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 82); Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 103; Physics 1A, 1B, 4AL.
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Option. Required: Two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering 250A through 250D; two courses from 254A, 255A, 255B, 266. Select the remaining courses (nine total for the capstone [comprehensive examination] option and seven total for the thesis option) from the approved elective list or obtain approval for other electives.
Environmental Engineering Option. Required: Civil and Environmental Engineering 254A, 255A, 255B, 266; one course from 250A through 250D. Select the remaining courses (nine total for the capstone [comprehensive examination] option and seven total for the thesis option) from the approved elective list or obtain approval for other electives.
Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering Option. Required: Civil and Environmental Engineering 250A through 250D; one course from 254A, 255A, 255B, or 266. Select the remaining courses (nine total for the capstone [comprehensive examination] option and seven total for the thesis option) from the approved elective list or obtain approval for other electives.
Approved Elective Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 110, 151, 152, 154, 155, 157A, 157B, 157C, 157L, M165, 226, 250A through 250D, 251C, 251D, 252, 253, 254A, 255A, 255B, C258, 258A, C259, 260, 261A, 261B, M262A, 263A, 263B, 266, or other elective courses approved by the academic adviser and graduate adviser. Electives in the fields of biostatistics/statistics, chemical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry, computer science, Earth and space sciences, electrical and computer engineering, and environmental health sciences are commonly approved to satisfy course requirements. No more than two courses may be applied outside of Civil and Environmental Engineering unless pre-approved for exceptional circumstances. No more than two undergraduate courses may be applied toward the nine-course requirement unless pre-approved for exceptional circumstances.
Required Preparatory Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 108, 120, 121.
Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 220, 221, C223.
Major Field Elective Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 224, 225, 226, 227, C228, C239, 245.
Other Elective Courses. Other elective courses may be taken with prior approval from the faculty adviser.
Required Preparatory Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 135A, 135B, and 141 (or 142).
Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 235A, C239, 241, 246, and at least two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering 235B, 241, 243A, 244, 245, 247.
Elective Courses. Undergraduate—no more than two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering M135C, 143, and either 141 or 142 (whichever was not used as a requisite for graduate courses); geotechnical area—Civil and Environmental Engineering 220, 221, 222, C223, 225, 227; general graduate—Civil and Environmental Engineering M230A, M230B, M230C, 232, 233, 235B, 235C, 236, M237A, C239, 241, 243A, 243B, 244, 245, 247, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 269B.
Civil and Environmental Engineering 125 may not be applied toward elective courses.
Required Preparatory Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 130, 135A, 135B.
Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 232, 235A, 235B, M237A, 244.
Elective Courses. Undergraduate—maximum of two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering M135C; graduate—Civil and Environmental Engineering M230A, M230B, M230C, 233, 235C, C239, 246, 247, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 269B.
Civil and Environmental Engineering 125 may not be applied toward elective courses.
Required Preparatory Courses. General chemistry and physics with laboratory exercises, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations, introductory thermodynamics, structural analysis (Civil and Environmental Engineering 135A, 135B), steel or concrete design (course 141 or 142). Other undergraduate preparation could include Civil and Environmental Engineering C104, 120, 121, 140L, and Materials Science and Engineering 104.
Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering C204, M230A (or 243A), 235A, C282.
Elective Courses. At least one course from civil engineering materials (Civil and Environmental Engineering 226, 253, 258A, 261B, M262A, 266, or 267) and if M230A is selected, one course from structural mechanics (M230B, M230C, 232, 236, or M237A) or if 243A is selected, one course from structural/earthquake engineering (241, 243B, 244, 245, 246, or 247).
Other Elective Courses. Remaining courses must be selected from the following with no more than two undergraduate courses allowed: Chemical Engineering 102A, 102B, 200, C219, 223, 230, 270, Chemistry and Biochemistry 103, 110A, 110B, 113A, C213B, C215A, C215B, C215C, C223A, C223B, C226A, C275, 276B, 277, Civil and Environmental Engineering 110, M135C, 141 or 142 (whichever was not used as a requisite for graduate courses), 143, 153, 154, 155, 157B, 157C, M166, C206, C211, 220, 221, 222, C223, 224, 225, 226, 227, M230A, M230B, M230C, 232, 235A, 235B, 235C, 236, M237A, C239, 243A, 243B, 244, 245, 247, 254A, 258A, 261, Conservation of Cultural Heritage 210, M215, 216, M250, Environmental Health Sciences 410A, Materials Science and Engineering 101, 110, C111, 130, 131, 200, 201, 210, C211, 270, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 105A, 133A, 156A, 256F, 261A, 261B, C296A, 296B, Statistics 201A.
Required Preparatory Courses. Knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations; Civil and Environmental Engineering 180, or equivalent course or professional experience; Geography 7, Urban Planning 206A, or equivalent professional experiences. These preparatory courses may be taken while enrolled in the MS program, but may not count toward the required nine degree program courses.
Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering C281, C286; Civil and Environmental Engineering C285 or Urban Planning M253; Urban Planning 206B; and one course from Urban Planning C251, 254, M255, M256, or M258.
Elective Courses. Any four courses not counted as a required course selected from Civil and Environmental Engineering C285, C211, Urban Planning C251, M253, 254, M256, M258.
Other Elective Courses. Other elective courses may be taken with prior approval from the faculty adviser.
In addition to the course requirements, a comprehensive examination (capstone) is administered that covers the subject matter contained in the program of study. The examination may be offered in one of the following formats: (1) a portion of the doctoral written preliminary examination, (2) examination questions offered separately on final examinations of common department courses to be selected by the comprehensive examination committee, or (3) a written and/or oral examination administered by the committee. Committees for the capstone plan consist of at least three faculty members. In case of failure, the examination may be repeated once with the consent of the graduate adviser.
In addition to the course requirements, under this plan students are required to write a thesis on a research topic in civil and environmental engineering supervised by the thesis adviser. An MS thesis committee reviews and approves the thesis. No oral examination is required.
The normative duration for full-time students in the MS program on the comprehensive examination track is four quarters and on the thesis track is six quarters. The maximum time allowed for completing the MS degree is three years from the time of admission to the MS program in the school. Each quarter, students must make satisfactory progress toward their degree. Quarters taken on an approved leave of absence do not count toward the three year time limit.
Civil engineering materials, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrology and water resources engineering, structural/earthquake engineering, structural mechanics, and transportation engineering.
There is no formal course requirement for the PhD degree, and students may theoretically substitute coursework by examinations. However, students normally take courses to acquire the knowledge needed for the required written preliminary examination. The basic program of study for the PhD degree is built around one major field and one super-minor field or two minor fields. A super-minor field is comprised of a body of knowledge equivalent to five courses, at least three of which are at the graduate level. When two minor fields are selected, each minor field normally embraces a body of knowledge equivalent to three courses from the selected field, at least two of which are graduate courses. The minimum acceptable grade-point average for the minor field is 3.25. If students fail to satisfy the minor field requirements through coursework, a minor field examination may be taken (once only). The minor fields are selected to support the major field and are usually subsets of other major fields. A minimum 3.25 grade-point average is required in all coursework. In addition, PhD students must attend the Civil and Environmental Engineering 200 seminar each quarter until they advance to candidacy.
Students who have completed graduate-level coursework prior to entering a UCLA doctorate program may apply coursework toward one of the following: PhD major field, one minor, or super-minor. At least 50 percent of coursework applied toward the PhD program must be completed at UCLA, unless a petition has been approved by the department.
After mastering the body of knowledge defined in the major field, students take a written preliminary examination that should be completed within the first two years of full-time enrollment in the PhD program. Students may not take the examination more than twice.
After completing the written preliminary examination and/or starting the second year of the PhD program, all PhD students are required to make a public presentation once per year (summer through spring) each year of the program. The presentation may be delivered to various audiences (research group, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, conference) and must be publicized to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in advance of the presentation date. Students will provide documentation of presentations annually to the Student Affairs Office. The qualifying oral examination (prospectus), final oral examination (defense), and poster presentations are eligible to fulfill the annual presentation requirement.
After passing the written preliminary examination and substantially completing all minor field coursework, students take the University Oral Qualifying Examination. The nature and content of the examination are at the discretion of the doctoral committee, but ordinarily include a broad inquiry into the student’s preparation for research. The doctoral committee also reviews the prospectus of the dissertation at the oral qualifying examination. The student must confirm with the committee the expectations of deliverables for the prospectus including, but not limited to, written documents and an oral presentation.
Students nominate a doctoral committee prior to taking the University Oral Qualifying Examination. Students are required to meet with committee members once per year (summer through spring) after advancement to candidacy until graduation. Meetings may be one on one or as a group and members may participate remotely. Students will provide documentation of meetings annually to the Office of Academic and Student Affairs.
Note: Doctoral Committees. A doctoral committee consists of a minimum of four members. Two members, including the chair, must hold full-time faculty appointments in the department. For a full list of doctoral committee regulations, see the Graduate Division Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.
Students are advanced to candidacy upon successful completion of the written preliminary and oral qualifying examinations.
Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student’s ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.
A final oral examination, or defense of dissertation, is required for all students in the program.
The normative duration for full-time students in the PhD program, after completing an MS degree, is 12 quarters. The maximum time allowed for completing the PhD degree, after completing the MS degree, is 24 quarters. Each quarter, students must maintain satisfactory academic progress toward their degree. Quarters taken on an approved leave of absence do not count toward the time limit.
Ongoing research is focused on inorganic, random porous materials and incorporates expertise at the interface of chemistry and materials science to develop the next generation of sustainable construction materials. The work incorporates aspects of first principles and continuum scale simulations and integrated experiments, ranging from nano-to-macro scales. Special efforts are devoted toward developing low-clinker factor cements and concretes, reducing the carbon footprint of construction materials, and increasing the service life of civil engineering infrastructure.
Research in environmental engineering focuses on the understanding and management of physical, chemical, and biological processes in the environment and in engineering systems. Areas of research include process development for water and wastewater treatment systems and the investigation of the fate and transport as well as treatment technologies of contaminants in the environment.
Research in geotechnical engineering focuses on understanding and advancing the state of knowledge on the effects that soils and soil deposits have on the performance, stability, and safety of civil engineering structures. Areas of research include laboratory investigations of soil behavior under static and dynamic loads, constitutive modeling of soil behavior, behavior of structural foundations under static and dynamic loads, soil improvement techniques, response of soil deposits and earth structures to earthquake loads, and the investigation of geotechnical aspects of environmental engineering.
Ongoing research in hydrology and water resources deals with surface and ground-water processes, hydrometeorology and hydroclimatology, watershed response to disturbance, remote sensing, data assimilation, hydrologic modeling and parameter estimation, multiobjective resources planning and management, numerical modeling of solute transport in groundwater, and optimization of conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater.
Research in structural mechanics is directed toward improving the ability of engineers to understand and interpret structural behavior through experiments and computer analyses. Areas of special interest include computer analysis using finite-element techniques, computational mechanics, structural dynamics, nonlinear behavior, plasticity, micromechanics of composites, damage and fracture mechanics, structural optimization, probabilistic static and dynamic analysis of structures, and experimental stress analysis.
Designing structural systems capable of surviving major earthquakes is the goal of experimental studies on the strength of full-scale reinforced concrete structures, computer analysis of soils/structural systems, design of earthquake resistant masonry, and design of seismic-resistant buildings and bridges.
Teaching and research areas in structural/earthquake engineering involve assessing the performance of new and existing structures subjected to earthquake ground motions. Specific interests include assessing the behavior of reinforced concrete buildings and bridges, as well as structural steel, masonry, and timber structures. Integration of analytical studies with laboratory and field experiments is emphasized to assist in the development of robust analysis and design tools, as well as design recommendations. Reliability-based design and performance assessment methodologies are also an important field of study.
Research in transportation engineering covers various topics including traffic system operations and control, intelligent transportation systems, transportation planning, transportation network system analysis, travel behavior and demand modeling, resilient infrastructure systems and health monitoring, and highway safety. Specifically, the program focuses on new mobility technologies and systems and considers the intersection of travel behavior, economics, engineering, regulation, and infrastructure as technology and business forces lead to new mobility options such as automated and connected vehicles, electric vehicles, vehicle/ride sharing, and micromobility.