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M.S. IN CIVIL ENGINEERING >> HAND BOOK (PDF)
  1. OBJECTIVES
    The objective of the Civil Engineering graduate program is to provide educational opportunities to professionals in the Piedmont Triad for advanced study and research in the following areas:
  • Environmental / Water Resources
  • Structures/Geotechnical
  • Transportation / Regional Development
  • Energy Resources / Systems
One or more courses in each of the above areas are scheduled every semester and are offered when student demand meets the University's minimum enrollment requirement Students may, therefore, be required to adjust their curriculum plan in response to the availability of courses.
  2. CIVIL ENGINEERING CORE
   
  • CIEN 644 Finite Element Analysis
  • CIEN 700 Emerging Technologies in Civil Engineering
  • CIEN 702 Civil Engineering System Analysis
  • CIEN 721 Advanced Soil Testing for Engineering Purposes
  3. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
    A student pursuing a Master of Science in Civil Engineering has the following three options:
  1. All course work option
  2. Project option
  3. Thesis option
All students pursuing a Master of Science in Civil Engineering must complete at least one (1) course of the group of Core Courses, six credit hours of advanced math courses (or equivalent math courses), and must enroll in the Master's Seminar (CIEN 792) every semester in residence.
   
  4. COURSE WORK OPTION
    This option requires thirty (30) credit hours of approved course work plus a comprehensive examination that would be administered by the student's graduate committee during the last semester in residence.

Project Option
    The project option requires twenty-seven (27) credit hours of approved course work and three credit hours of the Master's Project (CIEN 796). This option is intended for students wishing to investigate a design problem of current interest to industry or to pursue a practical application. These students will have to demonstrate to the committee their capacity to perform and report work adequately
Thesis Option
    This option requires twenty-four (24) credit hours of approved course work and six (6) credit hours of Master's Thesis (CIEN 797). The student's graduate committee must formally examine the thesis content and quality, and judge the thesis defense. Furthermore, thesis MUST follow the format required by the School of Graduate Studies.
Different Options
    All options require a minimum of thirty (30) credit hours and the formation of a formal graduate committee.
    The graduate committee will consist of the advisor and two additional faculty members selected in agreement between the advisor and the student.
    The plan of study should be prepared by the student and must be approved by the graduate committee. Specifically, only the courses approved by the graduate committee can be used to satisfy the minimum requirements set forth as approved course work.
    At least half of the credit hours counted in the approved course work to satisfy the requirements for a master's degree must be 700 level courses, that is, courses open only to graduate students. Furthermore, courses numbered 790 and above cannot be used to satisfy the approved course work requirements, with the only exceptions as listed Graduate Hand Book.
  5. GRADES REQUIRED
    Grades for graduate students
    Grades for graduate students are recorded as follows: A, excellent; B, average; C, below average, but permissible; D, clearly below average and not acceptable; F, failure; S, satisfactory; U, unsatisfactory (all courses CIEN 792 through CIEN 797 will be assigned S or U and will not be counted in the student's GPA); I, incomplete; W, withdrawal. The following academic requirements are in effect:
The graduate program must be completed within six (6) consecutive calendar years.
    Programs remaining incomplete after this time interval are subject to cancellation, revision, or special examination for outdated work. In the event that studies are interrupted for duty in the armed services, the time limit shall be extended for the length of time the student shall have been on active duty providing the candidates resumes graduate work no later than one year following release from military services.
  6. TO EARN A DEGREE
   
  1. To earn a degree, a student must have a cumulative average of B (3.0 on the 4.0 system).
  2. A graduate student is automatically placed on warning when his/her cumulative average falls below B. The student has one semester to raise his/her average to B or above or be placed on Probation. Probationary status will remove a student's eligibility for a teaching assistantship.
  3. A student may be dropped from the degree program if he/she has not achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the end of the probationary semester.
  4. A student may not repeat a required course in which C or above was earned. Uncompromising Excellence: A Blueprint for the Future 93
  5. A student may repeat a required course in which F was earned. A student may not repeat the course more than once. If a student achieves less than C the second time, he/she is dismissed from the degree program.
  6. All hours attempted in graduate courses and all grade points earned are included in the computation of the cumulative average of a graduate student.
  7. A student who stops attending a course but fails to withdraw officially will be assigned a grade of F.
  8. All grades of I must be removed during the following semester within the prescribed time period.
  9. Changing the selected option, for example from thesis to project, requires approval of the Graduate advisor and the Graduate Program Coordinator and may lead to loss of credit for thesis or project credits.