About the Department

 

Innovating Engineering Solutions for a Sustainable Future

A Message from the Chair

I would like to extend you a hearty welcome to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University. What a great time to be a civil engineer or an environmental engineer! Through research and education, civil and environmental engineers at Vanderbilt are creating solutions to the most pressing problems facing our society including climate change and sustainability. We are also leveraging the novel technological innovations to imagine the future of built and environmental infrastructure in our country and the world – call it Infrastructure 2.0!

Our faculty are recognized world leaders in civil infrastructure systems engineering; materials, structures and mechanics; water resources, quality and treatment; nuclear environmental engineering; and environmental materials and durability. Our research strengths in risk, reliability and resilience; cyber-physical systems; nanoscale sciences and engineering; and computational engineering allows us to perform high impact and multidisciplinary research to answer the most important and contemporary scientific questions in engineering.

Our department offers an educational experience that is in many ways unique and different from other departments across the country. At both graduate and undergraduate levels, we provide highly individualized and tailored education opportunity for each student to meet their future career goals, with emphasis on multidisciplinary experiences, innovation and leadership. Through immersion experiences, a strong engineering foundation and theoretical understanding, and personalized educational program, our students are well prepared to innovate engineering solutions for Infrastructure 2.0 and become leaders and entrepreneurs in their profession.