Bachelor's In Civil Engineering

The Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering at the University of Delaware combines classroom learning with laboratory courses, senior design, research opportunities, and professional experience. Students work across areas such as structural, geotechnical, environmental, water resources, transportation, railroad, and coastal/ocean engineering, with access to department research facilities and the option to complete a 26-week co-op while remaining on a four-year graduation path.

Students gain practical experience through:

• Senior Design Project: CIEG 461 – Senior Design Project (DLE & Capstone) gives seniors an opportunity to integrate their civil engineering knowledge in a final design experience.
• Civil Engineering Materials Laboratory: CIEG 213 – Civil Engineering Materials Lab provides hands-on experience with civil engineering materials alongside CIEG 214 – Construction Materials.
• Fluid Mechanics Laboratory: CIEG 306 – Fluid Mechanics Laboratory gives students practical experience applying fluid-mechanics principles to civil engineering problems.
• Geotechnical Laboratory: CIEG 323 – Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Lab provides laboratory experience related to soils, foundations, and geotechnical engineering.
• Transportation Laboratory: CIEG 451 – Transportation Engineering Lab provides practical work connected to transportation engineering.
• Research opportunities: Undergraduates can work with faculty and graduate students as research assistants, either for pay or for independent-study credit, with research covering bridge design and evaluation, composite materials, coastal processes, intelligent transportation systems, infrastructure management, and contaminated-soil remediation.
• Co-op experience: The optional 26-week Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Co-op integrates academic and career interests with paid, productive work experience at cooperating organizations locally, nationally, and globally.
• Center for Innovative Bridge Engineering: Students interested in structural and bridge engineering can benefit from facilities including a Structures Laboratory, Field Testing Capabilities, Material Evaluation, High Performance Computing, and NDT Laboratory.
• Environmental Testing Lab: The department’s Environmental Testing Lab works with water, wastewater, soil, and gas samples and provides access to analytical equipment including ICP-OES, ICP-MS, GC-MS, ion chromatography, and total organic carbon analysis for approved users and research activities.
• Coastal Engineering Laboratory: The two-story Coastal Engineering Laboratory includes a Precision Wave Tank and Sand Beach Wave Tank for experimental work in coastal and ocean processes.
• Study abroad: Civil Engineering students can participate in semester or winter/summer study-abroad opportunities, adding an international dimension to their academic experience. 

Graduates of the Bachelor of Civil Engineering at the University of Delaware can move into roles across structural, geotechnical, transportation, environmental, coastal, water-resources, and infrastructure engineering. The program also provides pathways into industry through co-op and internships, while students interested in advanced study can progress directly into UD’s graduate civil engineering options.

Typical job roles: Structural Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer, Transportation Engineer, Environmental Engineer.

Career development and industry opportunities:

• Career services: The UD Career Center provides career fairs, employer meetups, career-development resources, and connections with employers; the Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering Career Fair specifically brings employers recruiting for internships, co-ops, and early-career positions.
• Internships and co-op: Most department undergraduates participate in either an internship or undergraduate research program, while the optional civil engineering co-op can provide up to 26 weeks of full-time professional experience while maintaining a four-year graduation path.
• Industry connections: Recent department internship and research opportunities have included AECOM, DelDOT, JMT, Langan, Skanska USA, Turner Construction Company, Whiting-Turner, Woodard & Curran, WBCM, and Diamond Materials, giving students exposure to consulting, transportation, construction, infrastructure, and environmental engineering.
• Employment demand: The department reports that approximately 75% of companies participating in UD’s Tech Fair during National Engineers Week were looking for civil, construction, and environmental engineers.
• Salary information: UD’s Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering department reports $45,000–$59,000 per year as the starting-salary range for graduates with bachelor’s degrees in civil, construction, and environmental engineering. This is a department-level range rather than a civil-engineering-only median.
• College-wide outcomes: The UD College of Engineering currently reports 90% of graduates are employed or pursuing further education and a $80,000 median salary; these figures cover the College of Engineering overall, not specifically Civil Engineering.
• Accreditation value: The Bachelor of Civil Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET under the General Criteria and Civil Engineering Program Criteria. The program’s stated educational objectives include professional licensure, lifelong learning, graduate study, sustainability, communication, ethical decision-making, and professional development.
• Graduation outcomes: UD’s career-outcomes system tracks employment and further-education activity within six months of graduation using the NACE First-Destination Survey model. The university provides outcomes by degree, college, and major/program where sufficient data are available.

Further Academic Progression: Graduates can continue into the Master of Civil Engineering (M.C.E.), Master of Applied Science (M.A.S.), or Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at UD, with concentrations including coastal, environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation and civil infrastructure systems, and water resources engineering. Qualified UD Civil Engineering students can also enter the 4+1 B.C.E./M.C.E. pathway, beginning graduate coursework as an undergraduate and completing the non-thesis master’s degree in as little as one additional year; UD also lists M.C.E./MBA and other graduate pathways.