I. The department of Civil Engineering offers a graduate program leading to a Master of Science degree with a major in Civil Engineering (concentrations in Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering, and Water Resources Engineering) and a PhD degree with a major in Engineering (concentration in Civil Engineering).

Program objectives are: (1) ability to apply advanced knowledge of mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering principles to the solution of practical engineering problems; (2) meet or exceed the needs and expectations of public and private sector employers for M.S. graduates; and (3) preparation to pursue additional advanced studies if so desired.

II. MS Degree Program

A. Program Admission

The Herff College of Engineering has established uniform admissions criteria for all graduate programs. Exceptions to these requirements may be addressed by the Graduate Admissions and Retention Committee of the department and must be approved by the Dean.

B. Program Prerequisites
Bachelor of Science Degree

C. Program Requirements

1. Thesis option: 30 credit hours total. Students electing the thesis option will be required to complete an independent research project culminating in a master’s thesis. Upon completion of the thesis, the student must successfully pass an oral examination to assess mastery of the thesis topic and to evaluate the student’s knowledge in Civil Engineering. NOTE: Students electing to write a thesis should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write.
2. Non-thesis option: 33 credit hours total. Students electing the non-thesis option must take CIVL 7001, 7012, and 7993. In addition, non-thesis students must pass a written Civil Engineering Master of Science Examination. This examination will be offered in November and April of each year. This exam will be taken in the student’s final semester.
3. A minimum of 18 hours of Civil Engineering course work at the 7000 level will be required for all MS degree programs. No more than 9 hours of committee/advisor-approved course work below the 7000 level will be allowed in any program of study. Classes taken outside the department must be approved by the committeee/advisor and must complement the student's program of study in Civil Engineering.
4. Concentrations: Concentration may be made by selection of courses from the following five areas: (No special concentration is required.)
1. Environmental Engineering: 6140, 6143, 6144, 7140, 7141, 7142, 7143, 7144, 7145, 7146, 7147, 7185, 7195, 7196, 7991, 7996.
2. Geotechnical Engineering: 6136, 7132, 7133, 7134, 7182, 7991, 7996, 7130.
3. Structural Engineering: 6131, 6136, 7001, 7111, 7115, 7116, 7117, 7118, 7119, 7112, 7113, 7991, 7996.
4. Transportation Engineering: 6162, 6163, 6164, 7001, 7162, 7163, 7164, 7165, 7166, 7168, 7169, 7991, 7996.
5. Water Resources Engineering: 6180, 6190, 7133, 7153, 7163, 7181, 7182, 7185, 7191, 7192, 7193, 7194, 7195, 7196, 7197, 7991, 7996.

D. Retention Policy

All students enrolled in the Department of Civil Engineering are expected to attain high academic achievement in all courses taken. The criteria listed below will be used to determine retention status of students enrolled in the program leading to a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

1. Students having been unconditionally admitted to the graduate program in Civil Engineering who maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or higher will be considered to be in good standing.
2. Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 in all course work at The University of Memphis, in all Civil Engineering course work at The University of Memphis, and for all 7000 level course work at The University of Memphis at the end of each semester of enrollment. Any student not meeting these conditions will be placed on probation.
3. Students admitted on probation must maintain a 3.00 average at the end of each semester until 9 hours of graduate credit are earned. A student having a cumulative grade point average less than 3.00 at the end of the period described will be dismissed. A student having a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or above will then be subject to the retention criteria listed in 2 above.
4. A student will be permitted two (2) grades of 2.00 or lower in graduate courses taken at The University of Memphis. A student will be dismissed from the program at the end of the semester in which a third grade of 2.00 or lower is earned.
5. A student who has been dropped from the graduate program in the Department of Civil Engineering will be denied permission to enroll in Civil Engineering courses in semesters subsequent to dismissal from the department.

See the beginning of the College section for admission, retention, program objectives and graduation requirements.

6122. Structural Analysis II. (3). Analytical and numerical solutions for statically indeterminate structures. Three lecture hour a week. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 3121, 3322.

6131. Intermediate Steel Design. (3). Design of plate girders and composite beams; moment connections; building design. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3131.

6136. Intermediate Reinforced Concrete Design. (3). Design of two-way slab systems; column design including length effects; integrated building design using current code provisions. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 4122, 4135.

6140. Environmental Engineering Design. (3). Detailed design of one component of an environmental engineering system with appropriate consideration of interactions with other components; design standards, procedures, and legal constraints emphasized. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITE: Consent of instructor.

6143. Physical-Chemical Treatment. (3). Basic physical-chemical treatment concepts, including sedimentation, filtration, adsorption, neutralization, coagulation, air stripping, dissolved air flotation, disinfection, and ion exchange, with application of basic concepts to design of water and wastewater treatment systems components. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3140.

6144. Biological Wastewater Treatment. (3). Basic biological treatment concepts, including kinetics, activated sludge, fixed-film systems, lagoon systems, and sludge digestion, with application of basic concepts to design of biological wastewater treatment system components. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3140.

6149. Pump Station Design. (3). Detailed design of sumps, pumps, piping, valves, and controls associated with the design of pumping systems for wastewater, process water, drinking water, and storm water. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 3180, 3182.

6162. Traffic Engineering. (3).Traits and behavior patterns of road users and their vehicles, including traffic signs and signals, pavement markings, hazard delineation, capacity, accidents, and parking analysis. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3103 and 3161.

6163. Airport Planning and Design. (3). Aeronautical demand and air traffic control; airport and runway configuration; capacity and delay analysis; geometric design of runways and taxiways; airport access and parking; ground movements and baggage movements. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3103 and 3161.

6164. Route Location and Design. (3). Elements of route location and design; emphasis on horizontal and vertical alignment, curvature, gradient, and sight distance. Two lecture, three laboratory hours per week. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 1101, 3161.

6180. Advanced Hydrology and Hydraulics. (3). Current methods and techniques used in hydrologic and hydraulic analysis for the design of water resources projects; watershed hydrology, groundwater hydrology, flood frequency analysis, flood plain management, hydraulic structures, hydraulic machinery, and project feasibility. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3181.

6190. Water Resources Planning and Design. (3). Application of engineering principles to planning and design of multipurpose water resources projects; various physical components and appurtenances of water resources projects; and economic, financial, and social feasibility of various purposes. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3181, 4111 or permission of instructor.

6900-6910. Special Topics in Civil Engineering. (1-3). Topics are varied and announced in the online class listings.

7001-8001. Engineering Analysis. (3). Numerical integration of linear and non-linear differential equations; finite difference methods; systems of linear algebraic equations; applications to engineering problems. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7012-8012. Probabilistic Methods in Engineering. (3). Concepts and methods of probability and statistics that are essential for modeling engineering problems under conditions of uncertainty; application to practical problems. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 3103.

7111-8111. Computational Mechanics. (3). Advanced mathematical modeling techniques using finite difference, finite element, and boundary element formulations to solve civil engineering problems. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7112-8112. Plastic Design of Steel Structures. (3). (7122). Plastic analysis and design of steel structures; application to multistory buildings. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7113-8113. Prestressed Concrete Design. (3). (7121). Theory of prestressing; design of prestressed concrete beams, slabs, and box girders; statically determinate and indeterminate structures. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7114-8114. Elastic Stability. (3). Classical theory of buckling of rods, plates, and shells. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7115-8115. Plate and Shell Structures. (3). (Same as MECH 7115). Analysis of rectangular and circular flat plates; large deflections of plates; variational methods; analysis of shells as surfaces of revolution under symmetric and unsymmetric loading. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7116-8116. Structural Dynamics. (3). Dynamic analysis of single-degree-of-freedom structures; response to general dynamic loading; modal analysis of multistory shear buildings; introduction to nonlinear and random vibration. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7117-8117. Finite Element Methods in Structural Mechanics. (3). Structural idealization, stiffness properties of elements, structural analysis of element assemblage; plane stress and strain problems; applications to problems of plates and shells; computer solution of large systems. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7119-8119. Earthquake Resistant Design. (3). Earthquake strong motion; response spectrum analysis; seismic design of buildings. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7123. Seismic Risk Assessment of Structures. (3). Evaluation of seismic hazard and site-specific ground motion for critical facilities; analysis of structural reliability and seismic risk. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7124-8124. Computational Software Development. (3). (Same as MECH 7382-8382). Systematic investigation of application of good software engineering principles applied to development of computationally intensive software; best practices and methodologies developed in last two decades (primarily in information processing field) applied within context of a numerical problem; language of discourse will be FORTRAN 90/95.

7130-8130. Foundation Analysis. (3). Analysis of footing, raft, pile, and pier foundations; analysis of earth pressures on retaining walls, rigid bulkheads, flexible bulkheads, and braced excavations.

7132-8132. Advanced Soil Mechanics. (3). Stresses in soil masses; pore-water stresses; consolidation and settlement; shear strength; applications to problem solution.

7133-8133. Earth Structures. (3). Analysis, design, and construction of earth dams, levees, embankments and slopes; soil stabilization; seepage, drainage, and flow nets. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7132-8132.

7134-8134. Foundation Engineering. (3). Critical study of foundation design of completed projects using case records; emphasis on failures and performance records. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7130-8130, 7132-8132.

7135-8135. Soil Dynamics. (3). Theory and measurements of dynamic properties of soils and their applications in seismic hazards assessments, earthquake engineering design, and geophysics studies. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7137-8137. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. (3). Earthquake magnitude and intensity, seismic hazard evaluation using deterministic and probabilistic approaches, site response analyses and ground motion amplification, liquefaction, and response to earth structures.

7141-8141. Water Treatment Plant Design. (3). Design of a water treatment plant; application of fundamental water treatment theory; evaluation of alternatives; selection and design of optimum alternative. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 6143 or permission of instructor.

7142-8142. Wastewater Treatment Plant Design. (3). Design of a wastewater treatment plant; application of fundamental wastewater treatment theory; evaluation of alternative; selection and design of optimum alternative. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 6144 or permission of instructor.

7143-8143. Solid Waste Management. (3). Systems approach to solid waste generation, characterization, collection, transportation, and disposal; emphasizes both domestic and industrial wastes. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7144-8144. Residuals Management and Resource Recovery/Recycling. (3). Systems approach to unique solid wastes (inflammable industrial, sewage sludge, etc.), as well as resource recovery and energy conversion as disposal practices. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7145-8145. Advanced Biological Treatment. (3). In-depth study of biokinetics applicable to waste management; model evaluations; hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 6144.

7146-8146. Advanced Physical/Chemical Treatment. (3). An in-depth analysis of theory and practice of advanced water and wastewater treatment processes; emphasis on adsorption processes, ion exchange, membrane processes, chemical oxidation, land treatment, nutrient removal, and sludge treatment and disposal. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 6143 or permission of instructor.

7147-8147. Hazardous Waste Management. (3). Design of hazardous waste management systems; application of current design theories; review of regulatory requirements. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7154-8154. Industrial Wastewater Treatment. (3). In-plant control measures and end-of-pipe treatment technologies for reducing conventional and toxic industrial pollutant discharges; emphasis on water conservation, wastewater recycle/reuse, and optimum treatment strategies for waste streams from major industries. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7162-8162. Transportation Systems Evaluation. (3). Transportation problems, goals, and objectives; evaluation and decision-making techniques; measurement of variables and intangibles in transportation decisions, cost allocation and benefit transfer, risk and uncertainty; financing and implementation; differential impacts of transportation improvements. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7164-8164. Urban Transportation Engineering. (3). A review of the transportation problem as it relates to development patterns in American cities. The theory and application to engineering and socioeconomic factors directed toward the formulation of models for conducting transportation studies. PREREQUISITE: Permission of the instructor.

7165-8165. Geometric Design of Transportation Systems. (3). Design of streets and highways with emphasis on the factors and features controlling safe and efficient vehicle operation; applications of design concepts to urban and rural systems, intersections, interchanges, safety appurtenances, and parking facilities. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 6164 or permission of instructor.

7166-8166. Design of Highway and Airport Pavements. (3). Design practices, materials, and testing of flexible and rigid pavements. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7168-8168. Traffic Engineering Operations. (3). Theory of traffic control: traffic laws and ordinances; application of traffic control devices; analysis and design of traffic signal systems, parking control and design pedestrian control; one-way and unbalanced lane operation, roadway illumination; selected operational problems. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 6162 or permission of instructor.

7169-8169. Mass Transit Systems. (3). Operational analysis of equipment and facility design and service characteristics of urban mass transit systems; analysis of capacity, speed, accessibility, terminal operations; study of financing, decision-making, administration and marketing policies and practices, trends in future transit technology. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7170-8170. Ground Water Contaminant Fate and Transport. (3). Elements of ground water contamination and migration; study of various contaminant transport modeling techniques; analysis of numerical dispersion and stability criteria; chemical reactions; discussion of analytical solutions. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7173. Environmental Geochemistry. (3). (Same as GEOL 7140). Inorganic and organic geochemical concepts applied to transport and fate of contaminants in surface water, ground water, and sediment. Three lecture hours per week. PREREQUISITES: GEOL 6341 and permission of instructor.

7177-8177. Quantitative Hydrogeology. (3). Analysis of ground water parameters; geostatistics of aquifer properties used in ground water modeling via various techniques; salt water intrusion. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7195-8195 or permission of instructor.

7181-8181. Statistical Hydrologic Modeling. (3). Current statistical techniques used in stochastic, deterministic, and parametric hydrologic models; emphasis on probability and frequency analysis; optimization methods; time series analysis and synthesis; sensitivity analysis; computer applications. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7182-8182. Engineering Aspects of Sedimentation and Erosion. (3). Soil erosion and sedimentation process within a watershed; emphasis on means of controlling erosion and sediment from land-disturbing activities. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7185-8185. Hydraulics of Open Channels. (3). (7148). Phenomena accompanying flow of water in open channels, uniform and varied flow, critical conditions, backwater curves or water surface profiles, hydraulic jumps, hydraulic drops, and various design applications. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7191-8191. Computer Application in Water Resources. (3). Application of current computer programs used in hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport, groundwater flow, water quality, and water resources engineering and planning. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7192-8192. River Engineering. (3). River mechanics and principles governing river regulation and improvement, with emphasis on navigation and flood control structures. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7185-8185 or permission of instructor.

7193-8193. Hydraulics of Sediment Transport in Rivers and Lakes. (3). River mechanics and stream morphology governing hydraulics of bed loads and sediment transport in alluvial river system; current methods for conducting sediment investigation; engineering analysis procedures for design of stable channel system. PREREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7194-8194. Computation River Hydraulics. (3). (7149). Advanced studies in computational open channel hydraulics; major emphasis on unsteady flow simulation in natural rivers, dynamic flood routing, sediment transport and transport of pollutants. PREREQUISITES: CIVL 7001-8001 and CIVL 7185-8185, or permission of instructor.

7195-8195. Groundwater Hydraulics. (3). (Same as ESCI 7195). Geological contributions to ground water flow; ground water contribution to water demand and conjunctive use; well hydraulics, design and construction, pump selection; determine aquifer properties via field well tests. PREEREQUISITE: Permission of instructor.

7196-8196. Urban Drainage. (3). Flooding and pollution problems associated with urban areas; application of planning, analysis, and hydraulic design techniques for storm water and erosion control measures. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7185-8185 or permission of instructor.

7197-8197. Ground Water Quality Control. (3). Analysis of ground water quality and contamination problems; study of multispecies chemical reactions and radioactive microbiological decay; techniques for monitoring, and site remediation of ground water problems. PREREQUISITE: CIVL 7170-8170 or permission of instructor.

7900-10–8900-10. Special Topics in Civil Engineering. (1-3). Topics are varied and announced in the online class listings.

‡7991-8991. Projects. (3). Independent investigation of problem selected in consultation with instructor; report required. Nine laboratory hours per week.

‡7993-8993. Project and Report. (3). Independent study for students in non-thesis option program. Students demonstrate ability to pursue, complete, and report on project related to Civil Engineering practice. Written and oral report prepared for acceptance by faculty committee. Nine laboratory hours per week.

†7996. Thesis. (1, 3, or 6).

†9000. Dissertation. (1-12).

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.
‡Grades of A-F, or IP will be given.