Faculty of Engineering

The complex problems and needs of current and future societies have created challenges for Engineering unparalleled in our history. To interpret and satisfy these needs, civil engineers currently direct the spending of more than one tenth of Canada's gross national product – more than any other professional group. The civil engineer must deal with the human impact of engineering – the social, moral, and legal issues – to a far greater degree than ever before.

Historically, civil engineering is the oldest branch of engineering and dates back at least 5,000 years to the profession of "master builder" involving pyramids, temples, and irrigation projects. Civil engineering has become an extremely diverse field with opportunities for graduates in many areas of application. The use of electronic data collection methods and the application of computers has revolutionized the practice of civil engineering. Consequently, our curriculum is being constantly reviewed in order to produce engineering graduates who can use advanced aids to solve complex problems.

The Civil Engineering curriculum is designed to provide the necessary fundamentals of mathematics and the natural sciences as well as to provide perspectives from the fields of the social sciences and humanities.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Waterloo, being one of the largest in Canada, is able to offer elective courses in each of the following areas.

Structural Engineering

Deals with the design and construction of all types of structures including buildings and bridges. Emphasis is placed on mechanics and the behaviour of materials.

Construction Engineering and Management

Intended for students interested in project management, construction materials, construction engineering, and building engineering.

Water and Waste Management Engineering

Addresses water and waste water treatment, surface and ground water pollution and control, solid and hazardous waste management, contaminant transport and behaviour in the environment. Support areas involving aquatic chemistry, computer modelling, simulation, and laboratory experimentation as examples are also stressed.

Transportation Engineering

Deals with the planning, design, construction, traffic operation, and evaluation of streets, highways, airports, and transit systems.

Geotechnical Engineering

Familiarizes students with the engineering properties of soils, the fundamentals of soil mechanics, and the application of geotechnical data and fundamentals to the design of foundation elements, earth-retaining structures, excavations, earth embankments, and highway pavements.

Engineering Mechanics

For students with a strong interest in a rigorous study of mechanics, applied mathematics, and related fields. Leads to an understanding of advanced analysis and serving as a preparation for graduate study in structural engineering, hydraulics, mechanics of solids and fluids, or properties of materials.

Water Resources Engineering

Deals with the planning, management, design, and operation of water supply and distribution systems, flood control and flood hazard mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic aspects of environmental issues, and application of remotely-sensed data to hydrologic and environmental problems.

Materials

Courses in this area are intended to provide students interested in structural engineering, mechanics, or properties of materials with a background in materials science.

Additional Areas of Study

Alternatively, the student can choose a more general pattern of study involving courses from several topic areas, or a program outside the traditional civil engineering field. For instance, with the approval of the associate chair for undergraduate studies, the student may augment the Civil Engineering course curriculum with elective courses from public administration, planning, management science, business administration, bioengineering, environmental health, and others.

To this end, the Civil Engineering curriculum has been designed to allow the maximum possible flexibility while still meeting the requirements for the professional degree. The Civil Engineering curriculum enables the students to conduct engineering analysis and design, to perform risk and life cycle analysis, and asset management, and to evaluate the impact of engineering work on the environment.

The profession of civil engineering is involved with the creation, operation, and maintenance of structures associated with water resources, transportation, power generation, and a wide range of industrial, commercial and institutional buildings and complexes including whole urban structures. The activities include investigation, planning design, construction, and evaluation.

Vocationally, a civil engineer may focus in such areas as biomechanics, solid mechanics, fracture mechanics, elasticity, building structures, bridges, hydrology, hydraulics, sanitation (public health), industrial wastes, water resource structures, irrigation and drainage, inland waterways, harbours, aerospace, highways (roads and streets), railroads, pipelines, geology, meteorology, soil mechanics, foundations, tunnelling (rock mechanics), surveying and cartography, urban and regional planning, and overall project planning. A civil engineering education may also be combined with another discipline or profession, such as economics, law, medicine, or biology.

The civil engineer, regardless of whether they are a generalist or a specialist, draws heavily upon the work of the physical and social sciences, other professions and other branches of engineering. Moreover, as engineers have become involved in many interdisciplinary activities over the last decade, the job demarcation between boundaries of engineering has become much less restrictive. Certainly one of the advantages of completing a Civil Engineering plan is that it allows professional registration while simultaneously providing a basis for further study and professional development in a large variety of fields.

Academic Curriculum

Legend

TE is a Technical Elective course
CSE is a Complementary Studies Elective course
* Must be a TE if CSE is selected in a previous term, and vice versa 

Term 1A (Fall)

CHE 102 Chemistry for Engineers 
CIVE 100 Civil Engineering Concepts
CIVE 104 Mechanics 1
CIVE 115 Linear Algebra
ENGL 191/SPCOM 191 Communication in the Engineering Profession (List D-Other CSE)
MATH 116 Calculus 1 for Engineering

Term 1B (Winter)

CIVE 105 Mechanics 2
CIVE 121 Computational Methods
CIVE 123 Electrical Circuits and Instrumentation
CIVE 153 Earth Engineering
CIVE 199 Seminar
MATH 118 Calculus 2 for Engineering

Term 2A (Fall)

CIVE 204 Solid Mechanics 1 
CIVE 221 Advanced Calculus
CIVE 224 Probability and Statistics
CIVE 241 Transport Principles and Applications 
CIVE 265 Structure and Properties of Materials 
CIVE 298 Seminar 

Term 2B (Spring)

CIVE 205 Solid Mechanics 2
CIVE 222 Differential Equations
CIVE 230 Engineering and Sustainable Development 
CIVE 280 Fluid Mechanics
CIVE 299 Seminar
CIVE 392 Economics and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (List B-Engineering Economics CSE) 

Term 3A (Winter)

CIVE 303 Structural Analysis
CIVE 332 Civil Systems and Project Management
CIVE 341 Transportation Engineering Applications 
CIVE 353 Geotechnical Engineering 1
CIVE 382 Hydrology and Open Channel Flow 
CIVE 398 Seminar
CSE 1 Approved Complementary Studies Elective
WKRPT 200 Work-term Report

Term 3B (Fall)

CIVE 310 Introduction to Structural Design
CIVE 375 Environmental Engineering Principles
CIVE 399 Seminar
TE 1 Approved Technical Elective
TE 2 Approved Technical Elective
CSE 2 or TE 3* Approved Complementary Studies Elective or Technical Elective
WKRPT 300 Work-term Report

Term 4A (Spring)

CIVE 400 Civil Engineering Design Project 1
CIVE 491 Engineering Law and Ethics (List D-Other CSE)
CIVE 498 Seminar
TE 3 or CSE 2* Approved Technical Elective or Complementary Studies Elective 
TE 4 Approved Technical Elective
CSE 3 or TE 5* Approved Complementary Studies Elective or Technical Elective
WKRPT 400 Work-term Report

Term 4B (Winter)

CIVE 401 Civil Engineering Design Project 2
CIVE 499 Seminar
CSE 3 or TE 5* Approved Complementary Studies Elective or Technical Elective
TE 6 Approved Technical Elective
TE 7 Approved Technical Elective
TE 8 Approved Technical Elective

Electives

Each student is responsible for selecting their own combination of electives, in keeping with their ultimate career objectives after graduation. The combination must satisfy the requirements of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), which meet engineering accreditation requirements such that students are eligible to count their undergraduate education towards a professional engineering license. This includes having to meet minimum requirements in mathematics, natural sciences, engineering sciences, engineering design, and complementary studies.

Exceptions to courses on the Faculty CSE lists and the Civil Engineering TE and Specialization Lists require the approval of the CEE associate chair undergraduate studies. Some courses of interest may require prerequisite knowledge that is not part of the core curriculum in Civil Engineering. Students may require extra courses or may need to seek enrolment approval from the course instructor if the prerequisites have not been satisfied.

Complementary Studies Electives

Three complementary studies elective (CSE) courses in approved non-technical subjects, must be taken. The CSEs are in addition to those courses which are part of the core curriculum and contain complementary studies material, such as ENGL 191/SPCOM 191 (List D), CIVE 392 (List B), and CIVE 491 (List D). The CSE courses are organized on a Faculty basis and detailed in this Calendar, under the Complementary Studies in the Faculty of Engineering page. The three CSE courses are to be chosen according to the following constraints:

• One course from List A - Impact Courses
• Two courses from List C - Humanities and Social Sciences Courses

Technical Electives

Students are required to complete eight technical elective (TE) courses within the following requirements:

1. At least three TEs must be from TE List A (Engineering Design Intensive Technical Electives)
2. Up to four TEs may be from TE List B (Technical Electives)
3. One TE must be from TE List C (Natural Science Technical Electives)

The Technical Elective Lists for Civil Engineering are provided below. Note that the offering of these courses is contingent upon sufficient demand and/or available teaching resources. There may be courses added and changes made to the content, term of offering, or meet times from what is listed below. Special Topics courses (CIVE 495 and CIVE 497) are offered as resources and faculty availability permit. Further information is available from the CEE Undergraduate Office or CEE website.

Key for TE List A, B, and C:

Term courses are offered: F=fall term, W=winter term, S=spring term

TE List A - Engineering Design Intensive Technical Electives (Choose at Least Three)

TE List B - Technical Electives (choose a Maximum of Four)

TE List C - Natural Science Technical Electives (Choose One)

Specializations

The Faculty of Engineering recognizes specializations with the Civil Engineering BASc degree. Students who satisfy the specialization requirements (courses and grades) will have the specialization designation shown on their transcript and diploma. Specializations are intended to recognize success in a concentration of electives within the Civil Engineering degree specification. In other words, specializations focus the selection of electives required for the base degree and do not require extra courses.

The Civil Engineering plan has four specializations recognized by the Faculty of Engineering:

• Geotechnical Specialization
• Structural Specialization
• Transportation Specialization
• Water Resources Specialization

Each specialization requires students to select technical electives with a common theme. Students are responsible for meeting the TE requirements of the Civil Engineering degree when pursuing a specialization. Each specialization requires the successful completion of a minimum number of TEs specified by the specialization with an average of at least 60%. Students must declare a specialization for it to be recognized as part of their degree and appear on the transcript and diploma.

The specialization course requirements are provided below. Exceptions to the listed courses require the approval of the CEE associate chair, undergraduate studies.

Geotechnical Specialization

1. CIVE 354 Geotechnical Engineering 2 (F, TE List A) and CIVE 554 Geotechnical Engineering 3 (W, TE List A).
2. At least two additional TEs from the list below.

Structural Specialization

1. At least five TEs from the list below.
2. At least one of CIVE 413 or CIVE 414 must be taken in the five TEs.

Transportation Specialization

1. At least four TEs from the list below.
2. At least three of the four TEs must be CIVE courses.

Water Resources Specialization

1. ENVE 383 Advanced Hydrology and Hydraulics (W, TE List B).
2. At least three TEs from the list below.

Faculty Options

The Faculty of Engineering recognizes options within the BASc degree. Students who satisfy the option requirements (courses and grades) will have the option designation shown on their transcript and diploma. Options are intended to recognize success in a field of study outside of the basic degree. Consequently, students must usually take extra courses to complete an option.

Options recently completed by students in Civil Engineering are the Entrepreneurship Option, Environmental Engineering Option, International Studies Option, Management Sciences Option, and Statistics Option. Complete details of designated options available to engineering students are provided in this Calendar in the section entitled Options, Specializations and Electives for Engineering Students.

The Faculty of Engineering offers an Accelerated Master's program. See Accelerated Master's Programs in Engineering for details.