Civil Engineering Master's Degree

Gain the knowledge and skills needed to help meet societal demands of an increasing population through maintenance and improvements in transportation, environmental or structural infrastructure.

The online civil engineering master’s degree allows you to customize the curriculum to meet your career goals. This program provides five areas of concentration with the ability to choose from a wide variety of courses to tailor the program specifically to your needs. Areas of concentration include environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation and water resources.

Designed for working professionals, this online master's degree is offered 100% online but does require a trip to the Manhattan, Kansas, campus for an oral examination at the end of the program.

$840.84 per credit hour*

30 credit hours

100% online

*This estimate includes online tuition and Carl R. Ice College of Engineering fees and is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ depending on your transfer hours, course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.

Career Prospect Highlights

Median Salary

Nationwide Median Salary

Jobs 2023

Jobs Nationwide

Job Growth

5-Year Nationwide Job Growth

Admission Requirements

All students are required to meet the general university admission requirements.

Graduate

International

Nondegree

Additional Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from an ABET-accredited institution. If you have a bachelor’s from an institution that is not ABET-accredited, you must submit a GRE score with a score in the 80^th percentile on the quantitative portion to be considered.

Additional Documentation
Your application must include the following:

Statement of objectives: A personal narrative of the reasons you are seeking admission to the program. You should provide specific reasons for selecting the field of study and professional plans. It is important to indicate one of the fields of specialization (environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation or water resources) as the major area of study. Most statements are three to four paragraphs in length.
Names and emails of three professional and/or academic references who will provide letters of recommendation. At least two letters must be from faculty members who have direct knowledge of your academic work. These individuals may include undergraduate faculty advisors, course instructors or undergraduate research/project supervisors. You may also have your employer or an internship supervisor provide a letter of recommendation. References will be contacted automatically using the email addresses provided by you, but it is your responsibility to ensure the letters are submitted on official letterhead before the application deadline.
Unofficial transcripts from each institution attended
- Failure to list any colleges or universities from which you received a degree or enrolled in graduate coursework may result in dismissal from the university.
- If transcripts are not in English, you must furnish a translation by an appropriate authority.
- You will be asked for official transcripts after notification of admission.

Careers

Environmental Curriculum

Core Courses (minimum 9 credits required)

CE 762 - Water Treatment Processes (3 credits)
CE 766 - Wastewater Engineering: Biological Processes (3 credits)
CE 861 - Environmental Engineering Chemistry (3 credits)
CE 816 - Fate and Transport Processes (3 credits)

Additional Courses (minimum 6 credits required)

CE 654 - Design of Groundwater Flow Systems (3 credits)
CE 690 - Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems (3 credits)
CE 751 - Hydraulics of Open Channels (3 credits)
CE 790 - Sustainability and Green Engineering (3 credits)
CE 854 - Analysis of Groundwater Flow (3 credits)
CE 863 - Water Supply and Wastewater Collection Systems (3 credits)
CE 864 - Unit Operations and Processes in Environmental Engineering (3 credits)
CE 866 - Advanced Wastewater Treatment (3 credits)
CE 967 - Physicochemical Processes (3 credits)
CE 970 - Advanced Topics in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (3 credits)

Environmental Engineering Electives

CE 625 - Principles of Geoenvironmental Engineering (3 credits)
CE 790 - Problems in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
CE 816 - Selected Topics in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
CE 916 - Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
BAE 651 - Air Pollution Engineering (3 credits)
BAE 665 - Ecological Engineering Design (3 credits)
BAE 669 - Watershed Modeling (3 credits)
BAE 869 - Advanced Watershed Modeling (3 credits)
CHE 642 - Fundamentals of Conversion of Biorenewable Resources (3 credits)
CHE 663 - Environmental and Ecological Risk Assessment (3 credits)
CHE 715 - Biochemical Engineering (3 credits)
CHE 725 - Biotransport Phenomena (3 credits)
CHE 862 - Advanced Transport Phenomena I (3 credits)
CHE 867 - Advanced Transport Phenomena II (3 credits)

Additional Electives

AGRON 605 - Soil and Environmental Chemistry (3 credits)
AGRON 905 - Advanced Soil Chemistry (3 credits)
AGRON 816 - Soil Physics (3 credits)
AGRON 901 - Environmental Instrumentation (3 credits)
BIOL 612 - Freshwater Ecology (3 credits)
BIOL 818 - Advanced Aquatic Ecology (3 credits)
BIOL 826 - Nutrient Dynamics (3 credits)
GEOG 508 - Geographic Information Systems I (3 credits)
GEOG 608 - Geographic Information Systems II (3 credits)
GEOL 650 - Geomicrobiology (3 credits)
GEOL 711 - Water Resources Geochemistry (3 credits)
GEOL 790 - Biogeochemical Reaction Modeling (3 credits)
GEOL 870 - Groundwater Contaminant Remediation (3 credits)
GRAD 740 - Water and Society: Interdisciplinary Foundation (3 credits)
MATH 632 - Elementary Partial Differential Equations (3 credits)
MATH 655 - Elementary Numerical Analysis I (3 credits)
MATH 656 - Elementary Numerical Analysis II (3 credits)
STAT 704 - Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 705 - Regression and Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 716 - Nonparametric Statistics (3 credits)
STAT 880 - Time Series Analysis I (3 credits)

Must include a minimum of 15 credit hours from civil engineering (CE prefix).

Geotechnical Curriculum

Core Courses (minimum 9 credits required)

CE 728 - Adv. Geotechnical Design (3 credits)
CE 822 - Shear Strength and Slope Stability (3 credits)
CE 824 - Strength and Deformation of Geo-Materials (3 credits)
CE 828 - Advanced Seepage and Settlement Analysis in Soils (3 credits)

Additional Courses (minimum 12 credits required)

CE 625 - Principles of Geoenvironmental Engineering (3 credits)
CE 774 - Pavement Design (3 credits)
CE 803 - Numerical & Analytic Tech for Engineering (3 credits)
CE 816 - Advanced Testing of Geo-Systems (3 credits)
CE 816 - ABAQUS Applications in Geo-Systems (3 credits)
GEOL 630 - Stratigraphy – Sedimentation (3 credits)
MATH 632 - Elementary Partial Differential Equations (3 credits)
ME 862 - Finite Elements (3 credits)
STAT 703 - Intro to Statistical Methods (3 credits)

Electives

AGRON 816 - Soil Physics (3 credits)
AGRON 916 - Adv. Soil Physics (3 credits)
CE 654 - Design of Groundwater Flow Systems (3 credits)
CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 703 - Responsibility in Engineering: Codes & Professionalism (3 credits)
CE 704 - Responsibility in Engineering: Leadership & Diversity (3 credits)
CE 741 - Civil Engineering Materials II (3 credits)
CE 802 - Adv. Mech. Mat. & Appl. Elasticity (3 credits)
CE 837 - Structural Stability (3 credits)
CE 854 - Analysis of Groundwater Flow (3 credits)
GEOL 743 - Intro to Geophysics (3 credits)
GEOL 745 - Exploration Geophysics (3 credits)
GEOL 880 - Clay Mineralogy (3 credits)
MATH 635 - Dynamics, Chaos, and Fractals (3 credits)
ME 836 - Intro to Fracture Mechanics (3 credits)
ME 902 - Theory of Plasticity (3 credits)
STAT 770 - Theory of Statistics I (3 credits)

Must include a minimum of 15 credit hours from civil engineering (CE prefix).

Structural Curriculum

Core Courses (minimum 9 credits required)

CE 732 - Advanced Structural Analysis I (3 credits)
CE 742 - Advanced Steel Design (3 credits)
CE 743 - Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design (3 credits)
CE 802 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials (3 credits)

Additional Courses (minimum 12 credits required)

CE 641 - Civil Engineering Materials I (3 credits)
CE 741 - Civil Engineering Materials II (3 credits)
CE 745 - Structural Dynamics (3 credits)
CE 833 - Advanced Structural Analysis II (3 credits)
CE 837 - Structural Stability (3 credits)
CE 844 - Prestressed Concrete Design (3 credits)
CE 803 - Numerical and Analytic Techniques for Engineers (3 credits)
MATH 551 - Applied Matrix Theory (3 credits)
MATH 632 - Elementary Partial Differential Equations (3 credits)

Suggested Electives

ARE 723 - Timber Structures (3 credits)
ARE 725 - Cold-Formed Steel Design (3 credits)
ARE 726 - Masonry Structural Design (3 credits)
ARE 729 - Building Seismic Design (3 credits)
CE 680 - Economics of Design & Construction (3 credits)
CE 703 - Responsibility in Engineering: Codes & Professionalism (3 credits) (3 credits)
CE 704 - Responsibility in Engineering: Leadership & Diversity (3 credits) (3 credits)
CE 728 - Advanced Geotechnical Design (3 credits)
CE 790 - Engineering Ethics Case Studies (3 credits)
CE 822 - Shear Strength and Slope Stability of Soils (3 credits)
CE 834 - Strengthening Design of Reinforced Concrete with Fiber Reinforced Polymers (3 credits)
CIS 635 - Intro to Computer Based Knowledge (3 credits)
CIS 730 - Principles of Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
EECE 670 - Engineering Applications of Machine Intelligence (3 credits)
IMSE 822 - Advanced Engineering Economy (3 credits)
MATH 630 - Intro to Complex Analysis (3 credits)
IMSE 836 - Operations Research in Artificial intelligence (3 credits)
MATH 633 - Advanced Calculus I (3 credits)
ME 610 - Finite Element Application in Mechanical Engineering (3 credits)
ME 650 - Intro to Computer-Aided Design (3 credits)
ME 651 - Intro to Composites (3 credits)
ME 736 - Applied Elasticity (3 credits)
ME 738 - Experimental Stress Analysis (3 credits)
ME 760 - Engineering Analysis I (3 credits)
ME 831 - Boundary Layer Theory (3 credits)
ME 836 - Introduction to Fracture Mechanics (3 credits)
ME 862 - Finite Elements (3 credits)
ME 871 - Mechanics of Composite Materials (3 credits)

Must include a minimum of 15 credit hours from civil engineering (CE prefix).

Transportation Curriculum

Required Courses (all options)

CE 774 - Pavement Design (3 credits)
CE 775 - Traffic Engineering (3 credits)
CE 786 - Land Development for Civil Engineers and Planners (3 credits)

Choose at least one course from each of the following areas, or 9-12 credits in one option area. Other optional electives may be selected with the approval of your advisory committee.

Planning Option

CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 771 - Travel Demand Modeling (3 credits)
CE 872 - Transportation Safety (3 credits)
CE 874 - Sustainable Transportation Asset Management (3 credits)
CE 816 - Advanced Topics (3 credits)
ECON 631 - Principles of Transportation (3 credits)
GEOG 608 - Geographic Info Systems II (3 credits)
IMSE 850 - Ergonomics (Human Factors) Engineering (3 credits)
STAT 704 - Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 705 - Regression and Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 710 - Sample Survey Methods (3 credits)

Design Option

CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 771 - Travel Demand Modeling (3 credits)
CE 728 - Advanced Geotechnical Design (3 credits)
CE 751 - Hydraulics of Open Channels I (3 credits)
CE 822 - Shear Strength and Slope Stability of Soils (3 credits)
CE 844 - Prestressed Concrete Design (3 credits)
CE 872 - Transportation Safety (3 credits)
CE 874 - Sustainable Transportation Asset Management (3 credits)
CE 816 - Advanced Topics (3 credits)
IMSE 850 - Ergonomics (Human Factors) Engineering (3 credits)
STAT 704 - Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 705 - Regression and Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 710 - Sample Survey Methods (3 credits)

Operations Option

CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 771 - Travel Demand Modeling (3 credits)
CE 816 - Advanced Topics (3 credits)
CE 872 - Transportation Safety (3 credits)
CE 875 - Traffic Flow Theory (3 credits)
CE 874 - Sustainable Transportation Asset Management (3 credits)
ECON 631 - Principles of Transportation (3 credits)
IMSE 560 - Operations Research I (3 credits)
IMSE 850 - Ergonomics (Human Factors) Engineering (3 credits)
STAT 704 - Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 705 - Regression and Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 710 - Sample Survey Methods (3 credits)

Materials Option

CE 641 - CE Materials I (3 credits)
CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 728 - Advanced Geotechnical Design (3 credits)
CE 741 - CE Materials II (3 credits)
CE 773 - Hot Mix Asphalt Mixture Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 777 - Portland Cement Concrete Pavements (3 credits)
CE 822 - Shear Strength and Slope Stability of Soils (3 credits)
CE 802 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials and Applied Elasticity (3 credits)
CE 828 - Advanced Seepage and Settlement Analysis in Soils (3 credits)
CE 816 - Advanced Topics (3 credits)
CE 874 - Sustainable Transportation Asset Management (3 credits)
ME 862 - Finite Elements (3 credits)
STAT 704 - Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 705 - Regression and Analysis of Variance (3 credits)
STAT 710 - Sample Survey Methods (3 credits)
STAT 720 - Design of Experiments (3 credits)

Must include a minimum of 15 credit hours from civil engineering (CE prefix).

Water Resources Curriculum

Core Courses (minimum 9 credits required)

CE 654 - Design of Groundwater Flow Systems (3 credits)
CE 751 - Hydraulics of Open Channels (3 credits)
CE 752 - Advanced Hydrology (3 credits)
CE 803 - Numerical and Analytic Techniques for Engineers (3 credits)
CE 854 - Analysis of Groundwater Flow (3 credits)

Additional Courses (minimum 6 credits required)

CE 625 - Principles of Geoenvironmental Engineering (3 credits)
CE 725 - Seepage in Permeable Materials (3 credits)
CE 760 - Environmental Engineering Seminar (3 credits)
CE 762 - Water Treatment Processes (3 credits)
CE 766 - Wastewater Engineering: Biological Processes (3 credits)
CE 768 - Geoenvironmental Engineering Design (3 credits)
CE 861 - Environmental Engineering Chemistry(3 credits)
CE 863 - Water Supply and Wastewater Collection Systems (3 credits)
CE 864 - Unit Operations and Processes in Environmental Engineering (3 credits)
CE 866 - Advanced Wastewater Treatment (3 credits)
CE 970 - Advanced Topics in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (3 credits)

Water Resources Electives

CE 680 - Economics of Design and Construction (3 credits)
CE 703 - Responsibility in Engineering: Codes & Professionalism (3 credits)
CE 704 - Responsibility in Engineering: Leadership & Diversity (3 credits)
CE 723 - Designing with Geosynthetics (3 credits)
CE 728 - Advanced Geotechnical Design (3 credits)
CE 786 - Land Development for Civil Engineers and Planners (3 credits)
CE 790 - Problems in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
CE 816 - Selected Topics in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
CE 823 - Engineering Properties of Cohesive Soils (3 credits)
CE 824 - Strength and Deformation of Geo-materials (3 credits)
CE 825 - Environmental Geotechnology (3 credits)
CE 828 - Advanced Seepage and Settlement Analysis in Soils (3 credits)
CE 916 - Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
GRAD 740 - Water and Society: Interdisciplinary Foundation (3 credits)

Additional Water Resources Electives

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