Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program
Master of Science Degree
Program in Civil
Infrastructure Engineering
at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech - Invent the Future
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Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program
C
ivil engineering today is concerned with the deterioration of the nation’s roads, bridges, water and power distribution
systems, storm and sanitary sewers and other public infrastructure. In cities across the country, the infrastructure is wearing out. A deteriorating public works infrastructure leads to increased costs for business, and ultimately for consumers.
Many of our water and sewer systems, roads, streets, bridges, and subways are cracking under the pressure of age and
overuse.
Civil engineers have an important role in accurately assessing infrastructure needs and making the proper decision in allocating resources in correcting deficiencies. Formal approaches must be presented for closing the socio-technological loop
by relating technological demand to social needs, and technological supply to socio-economic development on the one
hand and environmental impact on the other. Infrastructure investment must respond to three areas: infrastructure requirements for a growing society; infrastructure to support economic development; and infrastructure for improved quality of
life. Addressing the current needs in Civil Infrastructure Engineering (CIE) the Charles Edward Via Jr. Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Virginia Tech offers a Masters degree program with emphasis in Infrastructure Engineering.
The Civil Infrastructure Engineering program is predicated on two related ideas. The first is that the engineer is responsible for the life-cycle of the system s/he creates. The second is that the engineer must be capable of optimizing the total
system performance of large-scale public works projects, including their social and environmental impacts, in a way that
addresses critical issues of infrastructure behavior, deterioration science, and structural rehabilitation.
The program in Civil Infrastructure Engineering responds to the education, research, and extension missions of the University through the coordinated activities of the CEE Department, the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program
(CGEP), and our off-campus distance learning program. The program emphasizes to our students the highly interdisciplinary nature of civil infrastructure projects by drawing on a diverse mix of faculty both within CE and outside. Graduate
project reports would systematically address issues of deterioration science, assessment technology, renewal engineering,
socioeconomic and environmental impact methodologies, and innovative financing vehicles such as privatization, user
fees, enterprise zones and independent authorities.
The CIE program is offered via compressed video courses originating in Blacksburg and Northern Virginia. The degree
program has two required courses of three core offerings. Please refer to Table 1 for a list of required and elective courses
in this program. Note that several courses are generally available during each semester through the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program (CGEP).
The Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program has two options: (1) Project and Report and (2) Coursework only. The
former consists of eight 3-credit hour courses and a 6-hour Project and Report; the latter, ten 3 credit-hour courses. Of the
eight formal scheduled courses, two are required courses. Other offerings include two courses in the existing Systems
Engineering Program, two courses in the existing Environmental Engineering Program and various courses in Construction Management and Transportation Engineering (see Table 1).
The Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program has strong pedagogical and practical links to both of these programs. Systems Engineering involves the integration of many different engineering specialties into a total engineering effort, the
results of which constitute an efficient and effective product output. A major aspect of systems engineering is a concern
for the overall life cycle of the system; i.e., planning, design and development, testing, production, operations, sustaining
maintenance and support, and system retirement.
The Civil Infrastructure Engineering program is the logical place to launch the overlapping and intertwined concepts of
“green engineering” and “sustainable development” by including electives from the Environmental Engineering program
while concentrating on defining the role of infrastructure. Civil Infrastructure Engineering is an activity ideally positioned
to trade-off environmental and developmental concerns.
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Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program
CIE Program Courses
Table 1 offers an example of the multiple course offerings at Virginia Tech in support of this program. Some of these
courses originate in Northern Virginia and others in Blacksburg. Many of these courses are now offered through the Virginia Graduate Engineering Program. Others are offered point-to-point via the Virginia ATM Network (a high-speed link
between various universities and sites across the state). Up to nine credit hours of courses can be taken at other universities as part of the M.S. CIE degree program. Consult with the CIE Program Faculty Coordinators to verify transfer
options. Consult with your campus coordinator or with any of the CIE Program Faculty Coordinators to verify the most
recent schedule.
TABLE 1. Typical CIE Course Offerings.
Course Type
Course Number
Required
CEE 5600
Civil Infrastructure Systems Analysis
Course Title
Required for CIE
CEE 4634
Infrastructure Condition Asessment
M.S. Program
CEE 5754
Pavement and Bridge Management Systems
CEE 4144
Air Resources Engineering
Technical Electives
Sample Civil and Environmental Engineering
(1 out of 2)
Tech. Electives in Systems
Program
CEE 4174
Solid and Hazardous Waste Management
CEE 4984
Transportation Safety
CEE 5014
Construction Control Techniques
CEE 5024
Contracts Administration and Claims Resolution
CEE 5074
Construction Engineering: Means and Methods
CEE 5204
GIS Applications in Civil Engineering
CEE 5334
Analysis of Water Resources Systems
CEE 5604
Traffic Characteristics and Flow
CEE 5614
Analysis of Air Transportation Systems
CEE 5620
Transportation Network Analysis
CEE 5634
Analysis of Mass Transit Systems
CEE 5640
Highway Transportation Safety
CEE 5644
Transportation Systems Planning
CEE 5737
Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management
CEE 5984
Advanced Signal System Control
CEE 5984
Transportation Risk, Reliability and Security
CEE 5984
Treatment of Uncertainty in Transportation Analysis
ENGR 5004
The Systems Engineering Process
ENGR 5104
Applied Systems Enginieering
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Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program
Participating Faculty
Abbas, M, Ph.D., PE., Assistant Professor, traffic control, traffic signal systems.
De la Garza, J. M. Ph.D.,Vecellio Professor; construction management, computer aided construction, construction techniques, construction claims; Ph.D., University of Illinois.
Dymond, R., Ph.D.,PE., Associate Professor; GIS applications, virtual modeling, surveying, hydrology modeling.
Flintsch, G. W., Ph.D.,PE., Associate Professor; pavement and infrastructure management systems, neural networks,
pavement analysis and design, pavement evaluation and performance, life-cycle cost analysis.
Hancock, K. L., Ph.D., PE., Associate Professor, Associate Director CGIT, GIS applications.
Hobeika, A.G., Ph.D., Professor; transportation planning and evaluation,transportation simulation and modeling, intelligent transportation systems, transportation emergency management.
Kikuchi, S.,Ph.D., PE., Charles E. Via, Jr. Professor, urban transportation systems, uncertainty analysis.
Murray-Tuite, P., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, transportation network analysis, risk, evacuation modeling.
Rakha, H., Ph.D. P. Eng., Associate Professor, Director of the Center for Sustainable Mobility, traffic flow modeling,
traffic engineering.
Tignor, S. C., Ph.D. PE., FASCE, Adjunct Professor, highway traffic and safety engineering.
Trani, A. A., Ph.D., Associate Professor; air transportation, air traffic control, simulation and modeling, transportation
systems analysis and design, aviation operations.
Wang, L., Ph.D., PE., Associate Professor, characterization, modeling and simulation of pavement and materials, application of imaging techniques to infrastructure materials.
Vorster, M.C., Ph.D., Professor; dispute review boards, mentor programs for small disadvantaged businesses, construction equipment methods and economics.
How to Apply
For more information on how to apply to graduate programs at Virginia Tech, go to: http://www.grads.vt.edu/grads/prospective/cometovt.html. If you would like to receive more information about the CIE Program please contact:
Dr. Shinya Kikuchi
(Northern Virginia Campus)
Dr. Antonio A. Trani
(Blacksburg Campus)
Professor of Civil Eng.
Virginia Tech
Northern Virginia Grad. Center
Falls Church, VA 22043
Associate Professor of Civil Eng.
Virginia Tech
200 Patton Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Voice: (703) 538-8436
Voice: (540) 231-4418
Email: kikuchi@vt.edu
Email: vuela@vt.edu
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