Welcome to the Department
L. Sebastian Bryson, Ph.D., P.E., D.GE, F.ASCE
Professor and Chair
Greetings from the University of Kentucky Department of Civil Engineering. Our Department focuses on understanding the impact of Civil Engineering on people. We offer Bachelor’s (BSCE), Master’s (MSCE) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in Civil Engineering. We average 430 undergraduate students per year and 70 to 100 graduate students per year. Undergraduate degrees (BSCE) conferred each year number 60 to 75, and graduate degrees number 25 to 35 at the MSCE level and about five at the Ph.D. level. Department of Civil Engineering is located in the Oliver H. Raymond Building, which we share with the Kentucky Transportation Center. The department provides a stimulating study and research atmosphere for both students and faculty. The Raymond building provides well-equipped laboratories and computing facilities for our students.
Twenty full-time faculty members are actively engaged in teaching, research, and professional service. Ten part-time faculty members, who are local professional engineers, supplement the faculty. Our faculty members teach more than 65 courses in different areas of Civil Engineering. Dedicated support staff also serve the department.
The undergraduate Civil Engineering program is a traditional ABET-accredited engineering program with required courses in all areas of Civil Engineering. However, the curriculum offers flexibility to students by allowing two technical design electives, a structure elective, a supportive elective and a technical elective. We offer courses in eight technical areas: Civil Engineering Materials, Construction Engineering and Project Management, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Surveying, Transportation Engineering and Water Resources Engineering. We offer all the major fields in Civil Engineering and we’re working to integrate Civil Engineering and resolve the issues facing the world through effective research that breakthrough traditional discipline boundaries.
The graduate program offers the MSCE and Ph.D. degrees. Master of Science in Civil Engineering students can pursue either a thesis option or non-thesis option; the non-thesis option requires three hours of independent study. Teaching assistantships, research assistantships and fellowships are available to qualified students. Faculty and graduate students are active in a wide variety of research projects with both internal and external funding. Our Research Areas include Naturally Managed & Distributed Ecosystems, Resilient Infrastructure, Natural Hazards Engineering, and Intelligent Infrastructure Systems.
Our graduates are educated to handle the challenges of a professional engineering career. All of our students have a personal faculty advisor to help them plan their academic programs. I am also pleased to inform that a unique and rewarding four-year scholarship program is available from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for qualified students from Kentucky. After reviewing the information on our program, please contact our main office, our faculty or myself with any questions you might have. Best wishes to you and with your academic endeavors!