Development of a research paper, professional practice or policy paper, or other equivalent report. Topic to be approved in advance by the student’s graduate advisor.
Students learn about operational hydrology, including the observation of water and the forecasting of hydrologic conditions to support the planning, design, management, operations, and maintenance of water resources systems. Applications include flood forecasting, drought monitoring, reservoir operations, and water quality forecasting. Emphasis in the seminar is placed on introducing recent research advances and new methods used in practice. Students gain professional skills as they develop a use-inspired interdisciplinary research project idea. Seminars provide learning opportunities related to team science, developing use-inspired research ideas, engaging research users, writing proposals, delivering proposal pitches, and the use of artificial intelligence.
Students will be engaged in seminars, guest speakers, tours, and workshops related to operational hydrology concepts, methods, and careers. In addition, students will have group-based professional development in four focal areas of (1) research to action translation, (2) project management, (3) communication, and (4) career preparedness.
In this seminar course, students will focus on building professional competencies in project management, professional communication, ethics, and other key characteristics for students entering the workforce. Students will build upon knowledge and skills acquired in Operational Hydrology Seminar I and Operational Hydrology Seminar II, including team science, developing use-inspired research, writing proposals, and making technical presentations.
Information Systems Design provides an overview of management information systems (MIS) with an emphasis on practical applications and methodologies relevant to construction engineering. The course examines how data are collected, processed, and transformed into useful information to support decision-making. Students explore information design methodologies and study building information modeling (BIM) in detail, with attention to current industry practices and emerging technologies.
The course will provide basic introduction to processing and analyses of large-scale transportation-related data. The course will prepare the students with programming skills in Python, the understanding of important algorithms and machine learning methods in transportation research and projects, and applying these algorithms and models using transportation data.
Engineering Management introduces fundamental management principles and the core functions of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling within engineering organizations. The course examines the management of engineers across research, design, manufacturing, construction, and quality-focused environments. Emphasis is placed on understanding organizational structures, team dynamics, and the broader context in which engineering decisions are made.
Fundamentals of microbiology for environmental engineers and application of these principles to natural and engineered systems.
Solid and Hazardous Waste Management covers the engineering and regulatory principles involved in the collection, storage, recycling, treatment, and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes. The course emphasizes practical approaches to waste management while integrating environmental, safety, and regulatory considerations. Students gain insight into the technical, scientific, and societal aspects of managing waste effectively and sustainably.
Air Quality Engineering is an introductory course that explores the evaluation and management of air resources in relation to human and environmental health. The course emphasizes fundamental principles of air quality assessment and design processes for engineered solutions. Students are also introduced to a variety of air pollution issues and treatment technologies used to mitigate contaminants in the atmosphere.
Groundwater Mechanics explores the physical and theoretical principles governing groundwater flow and contaminant transport. The course emphasizes understanding subsurface hydrology, fluid mechanics in porous media, and the application of these principles to analyze and solve practical groundwater problems. Students gain skills to model, predict, and manage groundwater resources effectively.
Introduces the fundamentals of data science with a focus on applications in environmental research. Students develop skills in data analysis methods and tools, with an emphasis on Python programming for practical applications. The course prepares students to conduct interdisciplinary research projects and to use data-driven approaches to address complex environmental problems.
Research funding is essential to a successful academic career. However, few PhD students receive adequate mentoring in how to craft competitive proposals. In this course, graduate students review literature, identify research questions, then draft and submit competitive funding proposals (for example to the EPA P3 program).
NDT of Structures introduces state-of-the-art and practical methods for non-destructively evaluating and testing civil engineering structures and materials, including concrete, asphalt, and steel. Students gain hands-on experience applying these techniques to assess the condition and performance of structures. The course emphasizes real-world problem solving through laboratory exercises and field evaluations of structures on campus.
Matrix Analysis of Structures introduces the matrix-displacement method for analyzing framed structures, emphasizing both theoretical concepts and computer implementation. The course covers formulation of structural matrices, solution of structural systems, and the use of software tools for analysis. An introduction to finite-element analysis is also included, providing students with foundational skills for modeling and analyzing complex structures.
Introduction to advances structural mechanics topics, including elementary elasticity, elementary beam theories, beams on elastic foundations, energy methods, buckling and free vibration of beams, and elementary thin-plate theory.
Concrete Materials examines the materials, properties, and performance of concrete used in civil engineering applications. The course covers portland cement and supplementary cementitious materials, aggregates, mixture proportioning, properties of fresh and hardened concrete, durability considerations, construction methods, special concrete materials, and standard test methods. Emphasis is placed on understanding material behavior and selecting appropriate materials and mixtures for specific engineering applications.
Modern timber engineering: design of beams, columns, trusses, and floor systems.
Design of reinforced concrete building components including two-way slabs, slender columns, prestressed beams, slap-on-grade, and retaining walls.
Basic and elementary design procedures for steel structures such as plate girders, mill buildings, multistory buildings, highway bridges, and light-gauge steel structures.
Wind and Earthquake engineering theories and their applications in load estimation and structural design.
Analysis and design of prestressed concrete members, review of hardware, stress calculations, prestress losses, section proportioning, flexural design, shear design, deflections, and statically indeterminate structures.
Application of geotechnical and structural engineering principles to foundation system design. Topics include shallow foundations (spread footings, mat foundations), deep foundations (driven piles, drilled shafts), lateral earth pressures, retaining structures, soil-structure interaction, and foundation analysis under static and dynamic loading. Emphasizes both subsurface investigation interpretation and structural design of foundation elements.
Roadway Intersection Design focuses on the application of geometric design principles and traffic control strategies for roadway intersections. Topics include horizontal and vertical alignment, intersection design, traffic control devices, and traffic signal layout. Students complete design projects that apply standard techniques and design guidelines to develop safe and efficient intersection solutions.
This course focuses on major transportation safety and security issues. The course examines how death, injury and property damage and the public perception of risk detract communities from achieving their goals. The specific issues relate to transportation safety and security goals, relevant frameworks, and the selection of safety countermeasures and their evaluation in terms of specific criteria.
This course covers the fundamentals of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The topics to be covered in the course will include systems engineering approach applied to ITS, ITS deployment and transportation operations, transportation system management, traveler response to technologies and information, ITS planning, evaluation, and institutional issues.
This course provides a foundation in urban transportation planning, covering the planning process, relevant transportation modeling software, and the conduct of transportation planning and traffic impact studies. The course emphasizes integrating technical analysis with planning principles to develop safe, efficient, and sustainable urban transportation systems.
This course covers the fundamentals of traffic flow theory. Topics shall include microscopic flow characteristics, macroscopic flow characteristics, microscopic speed characteristics, macroscopic speed characteristics, microscopic density characteristics, macroscopic density characteristics, demand-supply analysis, capacity analysis, traffic stream models, shockwave analysis, queueing analysis, and simulation models.
This course covers the fundamentals of traffic engineering, including vehicle operating characteristics, traffic flow, traffic data, traffic hardware, traffic software, geometric design of road and intersections, and methods of traffic control.
This course covers two areas concerning care of existing highway asphalt and concrete pavements. Major maintenance includes overlay design, additional drainage, recycling, and slab repair. Routine maintenance includes distress surveys, pothole repair, and crack and joint sealing.
Introduces horizontal construction equipment, methods, and systems used in civil and construction engineering projects. The course covers the design of horizontal construction systems, construction operations analysis, and the use of simulation techniques to evaluate productivity, cost, and efficiency. Emphasis is placed on practical applications and decision-making in horizontal construction projects.
Introduces vertical construction equipment and methods used in building projects. The course covers the design of vertical construction systems, construction operation analysis, and construction management processes associated with vertical construction. Emphasis is placed on equipment selection, sequencing, productivity analysis, and effective management of building construction operations.
Addresses the estimating and cost control functions across all phases of a construction project, from conceptual planning through project execution. Topics include productivity analysis, organization and preparation of estimates, cost forecasting, estimating tools and techniques, contingency planning, and the relationship between estimates, contract types, and project execution strategies. Emphasis is placed on accuracy, risk management, and decision-making in construction cost estimating.
Introduces the principles of safety engineering, safety management, and accident prevention for engineering and construction projects. The course covers accident theories, hazard identification and control, human behavior and safety, and state and federal safety regulations, including those applicable to construction projects. Emphasis is placed on developing effective safety management systems and ensuring compliance with the Construction Safety Act and other relevant laws.
Introduces the principles of sustainable and lean construction with an emphasis on improving construction performance through efficient use of resources and effective project delivery. The course applies engineering economics to sustainable construction problems and examines green design, construction, and operations from a project management perspective. Students explore theoretical concepts and industry practices used to model, evaluate, and enhance construction performance through project scheduling, construction operations, and contracting relationships.
Covers the financial management of construction projects, emphasizing the evaluation and control of project costs and financial performance. Topics include alternative selection, life-cycle cost analysis, applied financial management techniques, insurance and indemnification, risk management, and tax implications. The course focuses on integrating financial principles with construction project decision-making.
Examines the organizational structure of construction companies and the laws, regulations, practices, tools, and processes used to plan, schedule, and monitor construction projects. The course emphasizes the development and management of construction schedules as tools for coordinating work, controlling time and cost, and supporting project decision-making. Writing proficiency within the discipline is required for successful completion of the course.
Basic concepts of fluid flow, energy and momentum principles, flow resistance in nonuniform sections, channel controls and transitions, and nonuniform flow computations.
Floods, droughts, and other water related events regularly dominate today’s headlines. Increases in frequency and magnitude of extreme hydrologic events combined with changes in land use, land cover, climate, policies, and societal behaviors are increasing the complexity and difficulty of hydrologic forecasting. Opportunities for the use of new observation platforms, data-driven techniques, modeling frameworks, prediction systems, and decision support are revolutionizing the state of the practice in hydrologic forecasting. The goal of the Hydrologic Forecasting Praxis Lab is to engage students in table-top experiential learning exercises to develop their knowledge, skills, and competencies to enter and advance the practice of hydrologic forecasting. Students will learn through preliminary training and the table-top forecasting exercises how to analyze hydrometeorological observations, use water prediction models and tools, apply new techniques such as artificial intelligence, and communicate forecast information to diverse stakeholders and decision makers.
The course follows an interdisciplinary approach in which knowledge and techniques from different disciplines are brought together in order to gain an integrated understanding of the impact of humans on freshwater systems and, vice versa, the societal and economic impact of freshwater scarcity and pollution.
Applications of statistical and probabilistic methodologies for analysis and solution of practical civil engineering problems, including hypothesis testing, simple and multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance for single and multi-factor experiments, forecasting models, simulation, and statistical quality control.
Students will examine hydrologic data (precipitation, snowpack, streamflow) and tree-ring data (proxies) and, when combining these datasets (Dendrohydrology), students will examine the past (paleo) variability of water. Students will participate in the collection (coring) of trees and an in-class lab on tree-ring cross dating. Students will gain knowledge in various statistical techniques including Stepwise Linear Regression and data filtering.
Introduces the fundamental principles of hydrology, including the hydrologic cycle, rainfall–runoff relationships, unit hydrograph theory, statistical hydrology, and hydrologic simulation. The course includes a class project applying hydrologic analysis to flood control, water supply, and multipurpose water resources projects. Emphasis is placed on quantitative analysis and practical engineering applications.
Develops a quantitative approach to understanding and predicting hydrologic processes that govern watershed behavior. Topics include interception, snowmelt, evapotranspiration, infiltration, groundwater flow, overland flow, and streamflow. The course emphasizes comparison of different model representations, their relative advantages and limitations, and the coupling of processes and their effects on integrated hydrologic response.
The field of environmental engineering relies heavily on a number of analytical techniques, which have become the basis for a large amount of the work being conducted. The main objective of this course is to introduce students to the theory and application of many of the analytical instruments that are commonly used by environmental engineers.
Legal aspects of engineering and construction contracts and specifications; contract formation, interpretation, rights and duties, and changes; legal liabilities and professional ethics of architects, engineers and contractors. This is a three hour survey course covering, primarily, the organization of the federal and state courts, construction contracting, potential tort liability and professionalism for engineers in Alabama.
Nature and magnitude of erosion problems, and erosion plan development. Rainfall energy and erosion predictions. Sediment transport in urban areas. Channel and slope stability, and sedimentation and other controls.
Introduces the design, implementation, and application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for solving civil engineering problems. The course covers GIS data acquisition, spatial analysis, mapping, and decision-making tools, emphasizing practical applications in infrastructure, environmental, and transportation engineering.
Independent study. Credit is based on the amount of work undertaken.
Independent study, either as individual students or a group of five students or less working under the guidance and mentorship of an instructor. The independent study will typically focus on: (1) a specific issue, problem, application, design or process in a traditional field of civil engineering OR (2) a specific development, advancement, issue, problem, or challenge in a new or developing specialty area in the fields of civil engineering.
This course allows graduate students to gain classroom and laboratory experience under supervised conditions. Tasks may include grading for selected courses, structured lecturing, laboratory monitoring, and other related pedagogical exercises.
Research Not Related to Thesis. Variable credit.
This independent research course partially fulfills required master’s-level research thesis hours toward the master’s degree in Civil Engineering/Environmental Engineering. The course is conducted under the guidance of the thesis advisor. Material covered will be of an advanced nature aimed at providing master's students with an understanding of the latest research and current developments within the field. Discussion and advisor guidance will be directed towards readings of research articles and development of research methodology, with the aim of producing an original research contribution that represents a novel development in the field, or a novel perspective on a pre-existing topic in the field.
Introduction to experimental methods in the behavior of structures subjected to dynamic loading. Principles of vibration testing and digital signal processing. Current techniques in modal analysis, system identification, actuator and structural control, structural health monitoring.
The knowledge taught in this course is to provide the background needed to understand how reliability-based design criteria were developed and to provide a basic tool for structural engineers interested in applying this reliability-based design criteria to other situations.
No description available.
This course covers basic and advanced statistical and econometric methods as applied to engineering-related problems. Topics include introduction to ordinary least squares regression, count-data models including Poisson and negative binomial regressions and their extensions, simultaneous equations models, multinomial logit models, ordered probability models, joint discrete/continuous models, and hazard-based duration models.
Advanced work in some area of specialization. Credit awarded is based on the amount of work completed.
This course allows graduate students to gain classroom and laboratory experience under supervised conditions. Tasks may include grading for selected courses, structured lecturing, laboratory monitoring, and other related pedagogical exercises.
Independent study; general research activities; pass/fail; no credit toward Ph.D. course requirements; no substitution for CE 699. This course serves as an introduction to Ph.D.-level research prior to Ph.D. candidacy. It involves early-stage research activities to prepare students for more focused dissertation research taken as CE 699 once admitted to candidacy.
This independent research course partially fulfills required doctoral level research dissertation hours toward the Ph.D. in civil engineering. A minimum of 24 dissertation hours are required, at 1-12 hours per semester. The course is conducted under the guidance of the Ph.D. advisor. After completing requirements for admission to candidacy, the student registers for a minimum of 3 hours per semester in this course, each semester, until all dissertation requirements have been approved. Material covered will be of an advanced nature aimed at providing doctoral students with an understanding of the latest research and current developments within the field. Discussion and advisor guidance will be focused on readings of research articles and development of research methodology, with the aim of producing an original research contribution that represents a novel development in the field, or a novel perspective on a pre-existing topic in the field.