You are in the official 2001-2002 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
Department of Civil and Geomatics
Engineering and Construction
Engineering and Construction
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering includes the research, development, planning, design, construction, and maintenance associated with urban development, water supply, structures, energy generation and transmission, water treatment and disposal, and transportation systems. The civil engineer deals with the function and safety of such public facilities as buildings, bridges, dams, pipelines, powerplants, highways, and harbors, and is concerned with the protection of the public against natural hazards of earthquakes, floods, landslides, and fires.
The graduate curriculum leading to an M.S. degree in Civil Engineering provides specialized training in the fields of structural engineering and applied mechanics, soil mechanics and foundation engineering, environmental engineering, water resources engineering, highway engineering, and geomatics engineering.
Mission of Civil Engineering
The mission of the Civil Engineering Program is to provide the educational environment necessary for civil engineering students to develop their personal potential to the greatest extent possible and to enrich the students' lives in a culturally diverse environment. Civil engineering also provides the high quality education required for the students to fully develop their professional qualities and skills to serve society.
The Civil Engineering Program's Educational Objectives
- Offer a broadly based curriculum to civil engineering students, including general education as well as civil engineering education.
- Provide a civil engineering curriculum that includes an appropriate balance of engineering fundamentals and practical applications. Engineering fundamentals are covered mostly in the lower division courses while the practical applications are strategically developed from the freshman through the senior levels.
- Provide the students with hands-on experience through laboratory courses, term projects, senior projects, and extra-curricular activities.
- Provide the students with the tools and skills required in professional practice and to make them aware of the necessity for a life-long learning approach in professional practice.
- Foster the development of sensitivity and awareness of the role of the professional civil engineer in society.
- Foster in the students the development of communication skills, responsibility, and dependability.
- Develop in the students the ability to effectively work in groups; multidisciplinary as well as multicultural groups.
- Develop in the students an understanding of the ethical, social, and political issues inherent in the civil engineering profession.
Bachelor of Science Degree Requirements
Civil Engineering Major
Major requirements (69 units)
C E 20, 85, 121L, 123, 123L, 124, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133, 142,
142L, 150, 180A, 180B, 185 (34 units)
G M E 15 (3 units)
ECE 70, 90 or 91 (6 units)
I E 160, I E 182W (5 units)
M E 26, 112, 136 (9 units)
Technical Area Courses (12 units)
Select mandatory technical area courses in one or more of
the following groups subject to the Design Courses statement below.
Environmental and Water Resources: C E 140, 141, 143, 144
General Professional: C E 110, 161, 190, 191T
Geotechnical: C E 125, 134
Structures: C E 131, 135, 136, 137, 138
Geomatics: G M E 151, 173
Transportation: C E 151, 152, 153
Design Courses: at least 6 units of technical area courses must be selected from the following design courses: C E 125, 134, 135, 136, 141, 143, 144, 151
Other requirements (68 units)
--- General Education ---
Select one course from each of the G.E. areas: Area A1, A2, B2,
C1, D1, D2, D3. (See G.E. listings).
The following courses are required to satisfy both G.E. and major
requirements: MATH 75 [B4], CHEM 1A [B1], PHIL 20 [C2], C E 121
[IB], PHIL 120 [IC], PL SI 120 [M/I]
--- Additional requirements ---
GEOL 1; MATH 76, 77, 81; PHYS 4A, 4AL, 4B, 4C
Total (137 units)
__________
Note: Engineering majors are exempt from G.E. Area A3, third course Area C, Area E, and Area ID.
Advising Notes
- Courses in mathematics, the physical sciences, or engineering taken CR/NC are not counted toward fulfillment of degree requirements in civil engineering.
- Since the civil engineering major curriculum is very demanding, many students, especially those not fully prepared in mathematics, chemistry, and/or physics take 41/2 or more years to graduate rather than the traditional 4 years. Students not fully prepared in chemistry should consider taking CHEM 3A in lieu of CHEM 1A. If needed, students also may go to the Learning Resource Center in Lab School, Room 137 and request tutorial assistance.
Click here for civil engineering's recommended program.
Master of Science in Civil Engineering
(See also Admission to
Graduate Standing, Advancement
to Candidacy, Program
Requirements, and Criteria
for Thesis and Project.)
Admission. TThe requirements for graduate admission to California
State University, Fresno must be met. Applicants should possess
a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, geomatics engineering,
or a related field from an institution accredited by the Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology. They must have a 2.7 grade
point average in the last 60 semester-units of engineering courses
attempted, on the basis of 4.0 being A, or the approval of the
Graduate Committee of the Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering.
If an applicant's preparation is deemed insufficient by the Graduate
Committee of the Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering,
the applicant is required to take additional courses which are
specified in writing to remove the deficiency. Such courses, taken
as an unclassified student, are in addition to the minimum of
30 semester hours credit for the master's degree in engineering.
The department graduate program coordinator shall appoint an interim
graduate adviser for each student when that student is accepted
into the graduate program. The coordinator will take into account
student interests and correlated faculty interests when making
this appointment.
A student must satisfactorily complete a written examination
administered by the department before being eligible for Advancement
to Candidacy; this satisfies both the university's graduate writing
requirement and demonstrates the student has sufficient technical
proficiency to continue in the program.
Continuation in the Program. Prior to being admitted to
classified standing, a student is required to take the Graduate
Record Examination. The minimum grade considered passing is quantitative
450.
The student then should select a graduate adviser before completing
12 units of graduate study and advancing to candidacy. Other members
of his or her graduate committee shall be selected in consultation
with the graduate adviser if the student has selected Plan A.
This committee shall consist of a total of three members, two
of whom must be tenure/tenure track faculty. The graduate student
shall notify the department's Graduate Committee with a letter
signed by both the student and the graduate adviser of the membership
of the students' Graduate Committee. This letter shall be placed
in the student's academic folder.
A graduate student may change graduate advisers but such change
must be approved by the department's Graduate Committee. The student,
together with his or her graduate adviser, completes a contract
program within his or her first semester of coursework taken for
graduate credit. This program must be approved by the department's
Graduate Committee. A minimum of 12 semester hours must be earned
before the average is determined.
Campus graduate disqualification procedures shall be enforced
by the department graduate program coordinator if the GPA drops
below 3.0 (4.0 scale) each semester and cumulatively throughout
all graduate program coursework. Any semester for which the grade
point average falls below 3.0 shall result in placing the affected
graduate student on probation. Normally, a second consecutive
offense shall lead to disqualification. Such probation shall be
for at least one semester or shall continue until the cumulative
grade point average has again been raised above 3.0.
Program. Each master's degree student selects, as early
as possible during the first semester of attendance, and upon
consulting with and securing the approval of the graduate adviser,
a program best suited to the student's interests and objectives.
The M.S. degree in Civil Engineering requires the completion of
30 units one of three programs of
study.
Civil Engineering
Courses