Construction Engineering and Management

Milestones

Your application and supporting information must be received at the Graduate School by the deadlines indicated in the CE Graduate Programs brochure. When complete, it will be forwarded for CE Department and faculty review. We may advise first on the question of admission, and later on the question of aid. Often, if aid is available, we will not know initially whether it will be a Teaching or Research Assistantship. Grants and contracts could be awarded to faculty at any time of the year and sometimes create an opportunity for a student to shift to support on that project at the beginning of a semester.

If you are accepted, you will receive further information from the Graduate School on procedures, forms to submit, etc. Registration for courses can sometimes be handled in advance for US students, but is often done after the student arrives. There is usually no problem of limited seats in graduate courses. Registration for courses is accomplished by telephone or the web and requires a Personal ID Number that will be available from the CE Graduate Office. You should plan to meet with the Construction Program Coordinator or other construction faculty upon your arrival for advice on course selection. Students with Teaching or Research Assistantships are provided office space. Other students are considered for office space depending on availability, sponsorship, degree, etc.

Initially you will be assigned a temporary advisor for course selection and to answer your questions. Eventually, your advisor or committee chair will be the faculty member directing your project, thesis or dissertation. Masters students sometimes switch between MS and MCE after identifying their research. The faculty member may prefer or expect a student supported on a research project to do a thesis. The topic for a possible thesis or project is best selected by visiting with the various construction faculty and determining mutual interests. The faculty often have a list of topics they would like to see investigated. It is desirable to identify a topic by the end of your first full semester. Students present brief summaries of their planned research during the CE 603 Seminars. The MS thesis is defended in a presentation to the student's faculty committee. PhD students take a written exam roughly at the end of the planned coursework, followed by a preliminary oral exam including presentation of the planned research topic. After completion of the research, the dissertation is presented to the student's committee in a final defense. Although the project, thesis, or dissertation may seem like an ominous task, it generally becomes a natural part of the student's studies.

Students in the Construction area have a lot of contact and often develop many friendships providing mutual support. The study and research effort will require many hours, but the sense of accomplishment and learning become a lasting reward.