The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers the Master of
Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Areas of study include Environmental
and Water Resources Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, and Structural
Engineering and Mechanics at the master’s and doctoral levels.
The Environmental and Water Resource Engineering area focuses on quantitative
and qualitative aspects of marine and inland surface waters, groundwaters and
wetland environments. The program allows for study in environmental engineering,
surface and groundwater hydrology and water quality control, hazardous waste
remediation, coastal and estuarine hydrodynamics, and coastal engineering. An
interdisciplinary approach, intersecting with other departments’ related
programs is encouraged.
The University of Maine is fortunate to be located in a region having an
extensive and diverse system of natural ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. The
area also has an extensive coastal region with a 3,000 mile shoreline. This
forms a labyrinth of deep water estuaries, coves, rocky headlands, and coastal
islands. The State’s future economic development will be heavily tied to the
intelligent use of its surface and groundwaters as a resource in itself and in
conjunction with its forest, agricultural, fishing, and tourism industries. The
vast collection of natural water bodies in Maine provides one of the finest
outdoor laboratories in the world for basic and applied research involving the
understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological processes that occur in
natural water, and in our influence upon its quality and quantity.
A program of study can be planned in one of the following areas:
Environmental engineering: Industrial wastes water supply wastewater treatment;
hazardous wastes; physical, chemical and biological aspects of water quality;
freshwater and marine pollution control, modeling.
Physical behavior of water: Surface and groundwater hydrology, coastal and
estuarine hydrodynamics, modeling.
The graduate program in Geotechnical Engineering provides specialized training
and research in soil mechanics, use of waste materials, foundation engineering,
design of earth structures, soil-structure interaction including various soil
reinforcements, and ground water movements through and around earth structures.
The program may be oriented toward professional practice or research applied to
practical engineering problems.
Research opportunities are available utilizing field monitoring, laboratory
investigations and finite element analyses in properties and use of waste
materials in embankments and walls, behavior of soft and stiff clays, soil
structure interaction of piles and soil nail walls, thermal behavior of walls
and embankments, utilization of fiber reinforced plastics in geotechnical
applications, earth reinforcement for embankments, and application of
reliability to geotechnical engineering.
Graduate courses are offered in advanced soil properties, shallow and deep
foundations, earthwork design, earth retaining structures, thermal soil
mechanics, subsurface investigations, waste geotechnics, and ground improvement
techniques. Students in geotechnical engineering usually work closely with
faculty in the structural and environmental programs offered by the Department.
The program offers graduate courses and opportunities for advanced research in
several areas of modern structural mechanics and design.
These areas cover timber and concrete bridges and structures, finite element
analysis, fatigue of bridge connections, elastic stability, the nonlinear
behavior, and civil engineering applications. The program also offers
opportunities for research in the area of probability based design criteria.
Required graduate courses and seminars are offered in the C.E. and M.E.
departments and these cover the areas of structural dynamics, elasticity,
stability, nonlinear elastic behavior, elastic plastic behavior, stability of
structural systems, probabilistic design and related topics. The program is
research oriented but sufficiently flexible to permit students to develop their
interests and individual objectives.
Applicants for the M.S. program normally should have a B.S. degree in Civil
Engineering from an accredited institution. Applicants who do not meet this
requirement may find it necessary to take certain courses without graduate
credit. A grade point average of at least 3.0 usually is required for
admittance. Candidates with a grade point average less than 3.0 can be accepted,
based on sufficient evidence of satisfactory performance.
Candidates for the M.S. degree are required to take 24 credit hours of course
work, 12 of which are to be 500-level and above. A thesis is required for which
at least six credit hours can be awarded. Candidates for the non-thesis M.S.
degree are required to take 30 credit hours of course work and an oral
examination to be taken near the end of the program. Three hours of non-thesis
M.S. course work can be replaced by a project with a written report. Students
changing programs within the Department must have the approval of the
Departmental graduate faculty committee.
The Ph.D. degree is granted in recognition of high scholastic attainment in some
area of civil engineering in concert with a demonstrated ability for independent
research. The preparation and defense of a thesis embodying the results of an
original investigation in a specialized area of civil engineering are essential
features of the program. The program for the Ph.D. carries a minimum residency
requirement of two academic years and a course credit requirement of 42 credit
hours, or the equivalent, beyond the bachelor’s degree. Transfer credit of up to
24 credit hours and one academic year of residency may be accepted. In view of
the wide variety of specialized areas embodied in Civil and Environmental
Engineering, each program of course work will be established by the student and
the student’s committee. To attain the academic breadth necessary in the
doctoral program, it also is required that all students complete an approved
minor program consisting of at least nine credit hours of course work outside
the major area of specialty. Before admission to candidacy for the Ph.D., a
student must complete successfully a qualifying examination designed to test the
student’s area of expertise. The qualifying examination normally will be taken
as soon as possible after the student has completed the graduate school
requirement of one and one-half years of study beyond the bachelor’s degree. No
foreign language requirement is included in the program.
Financial assistance is available for graduate students from several sources,
including teaching and research assistantships.
Dana N. Humphrey, Ph.D. (Purdue, 1986), Professor and Chair. Geotechnical
engineering, reinforced embankments, soil stabilization, behavior of stiff clay,
use of waste materials in construction.
John A. Alexander, Ph.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970),
Professor Emeritus. Engineering materials, infrastructure rehabilitation,
engineering ethics.
Aria Amirbahman, Ph.D. (California, Irvine, 1994), Assistant Professor.
Environmental chemistry, process dynamics and solute transport.
Willem F. Brutsaert, Ph.D. (Colorado State, 1970), Professor . Groundwater
hydrology, mathematical modeling of hydrodynamic systems, water resources and
water quality modeling.
Habib J. Dagher, Ph.D. (Wisconsin, 1985), Professor. Probabilistic mechanics,
timber structures, advanced wood composites, concrete structures, bridges.
William G. Davids, Ph.D. (University of Washington, 1998), Assistant Professor.
Structural engineering and computational mechanics; numerical modeling and
finite element analysis; bridge design.
Per Garder, Ph.D. (Lund University, 1982), Professor. Transportation planning;
forecasting, design & evaluation with emphasis on traffic safety & environmental
aspects.
Eric N. Landis, Ph.D. (Northwestern University, 1993), Associate Professor.
Experimental mechanics, nondestructive evaluation, fracture,
microstructure-property relationships for construction materials.
Roberto Lopez-Anido, Ph.D., P.E., (West Virginia University, 1995), Assistant
Professor. Mechanics of polymer matrix composites for infrastructure; modeling,
design and experimental characterization of advanced composite systems; fatigue
and durability of composite materials for construction; engineered wood
composites; methods of structural analysis.
Jean MacRae, Ph.D. (University of British Columbia, 1997), Assistant Professor.
Biological treatment of solid wastes for resource recovery, bioremediation,
environmental microbiology.
Vijay Panchang, Ph.D. (Maine, 1985), Cooperating Professor. Mathematical
modeling waves, tides, diffusion, coastal engineering, bridge hydraulics.
Bryan R. Pearce, Ph.D. (Florida, 1972), Professor. Coastal engineering,
estuarine hydrodynamics and material transport, hydraulics.
Chet A. Rock, Ph.D. (Washington, 1974), Professor and Associate Dean, College of
Engineering. Water quality, ecological effects of pollutants, wastewater
treatment.
Thomas C. Sandford, Ph.D. (Illinois, 1976), Associate Professor. Geotechnical
engineering; soil/structure interaction including piles, culverts, and
abutments; soil-nail walls; reliability based design; soft clay behavior; and
field monitoring.
Lynn E. Katz, Ph.D. (University of Michigan, 1994), Associate Professor.
Environmental engineering, physical-chemical processes, pollutant fate and
transport.
Richard Wardwell, Ph.D. (Colorado State, 1980), Associate Professor,
Geotechnical engineering, pollution remediation practices, hazardous waste
management.
Graduate School
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