Degree Quick Information
Core Courses
- Environmental Engineering
- Students must choose either a Water track, an Air track, or a Sustainability track.
Students pursuing the Water track must complete the following three courses:
- ECI 243A Water & Waste Treatment (4 units)
- ECI 243B Biological Treatment of Wastewater (4 units)
- ECI 140B Chemical Principles for Environmental Engineers (4 units) or equivalent
Students pursuing the Air track must complete three of the following four courses:
- ECI 241 Environmental Reactive Chemical Transport Modeling (4 units)
- ECI 242 Air Quality (4 units)
- ECI 247 Aerosols (4 units)
- ECI 149 or ECI 149N Air Pollution (4 units)
Students pursuing the Sustainability track must complete the following two courses plus one of the listed electives:
- ECI 244A Life Cycle Assessment for Sustainable Engineering (4 units)
- ECI 123 Urban Systems & Sustainability (4 units)
- Electives (choose one):
• ECI 244B Advanced Methods in Industrial Ecology (4 units)
• EGG 200 Energy Systems (4 units)
• ECI 239 Design of Materials & Systems for Sustainability (4 units)
• TTP 211 Energy & Transportation Modeling for Policy Analysis (4 units)
• ECI 252 Sustainable Transportation Systems (4 units)
• ECI 268 Infrastructure Economics (4 units)
In addition to the above required courses, students in the Environmental Engineering area must complete at least two quarters of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Seminar: ECI 296 (1 unit each quarter; 2 units). Note: this course does not count towards the letter graded unit requirement. - Geotechnical Engineering
- Students pursuing the Geotechnical Engineering track must complete the following core course:
• ECI 281A – Advanced Soil Mechanics (4 units)
and an additional two core courses from the following list:
• ECI 259 - Asphalt & Asphalt Mixes (4 units)
• ECI 280A - Nonlinear Finite Elements for Elastic-Plastic Problems (4 units)
• ECI 280B - Nonlinear Dynamic Finite Elements (4 units)
• ECI 281BN – Engineering Geology (4 units)
• ECI 281C – Integrated Site Characterization (4 units)
• ECI 282 - Pavement Design & Rehabilitation (4 units)
• ECI 283 - Physico-Chemical Aspects of Soil Behavior (4 units)
• ECI 284 - Theoretical Geomechanics (4 units)
• ECI 285 - Advanced Topics in Concrete Pavement Engineering & Materials (4 units)
• ECI 286 - Advanced Foundation Design (4 units)
• ECI 287 -Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering (4 units)
• ECI 288 - Earth & Rockfill Dams (4 units)
- Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics
- Students pursuing the Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics track must complete the following three core courses:
• ECI 211A - Advanced Matrix Structural Analysis (4 units)
• ECI 212A - Finite Element Procedures in Applied Mechanics (4 units)
• ECI 213 - Structural Dynamics (4 units)
- Transportation Engineering
- Students pursuing the Transportation Engineering track must complete the following three core courses:
• ECI 251 – Transportation Demand Analysis (4 units)
• ECI 256 – Urban Traffic Management & Control (4 units)
• ECI 254 – Exploring Data from Built Environment Using R (4 units)
• An economics course such as ECN 100, ECN 145, ECI 268, ARE 275, ARE/ESP 175, ARE 176, or a course similar in spirit as approved by the Transportation Engineering Area Advisor (econometrics courses are normally not considered similar in spirit: they are statistics-oriented, and can have relatively little economics content per se). (3-4 units)
• TTP 281 – ITS weekly seminar series: must be taken each quarter for at least the first two years. Can be waived due to a conflict with another course, after confirmation with the Transportation Engineering Area Advisor (1 unit each quarter; 6 units). Note: this course does not count towards the letter graded unit requirement.
Pavement Track
In addition to the above core courses, students in the Pavement track will also complete:
• ECI 282 Pavement Design & Rehabilitation (4 units)
and 1 of the 3 courses below:
• ECI 285 Advanced Topics in Concrete Pavement Engineering & Materials (4 units)
• ECI 259 Asphalt & Asphalt Mixes (4 units)
• TTP 221/ECI289 Pavement sustainability and resilience (4 units) - Water Resources Engineering
- Students pursuing the Water Resources Engineering track must complete three of the following core courses:
• ECI 240 - Water Quality (4 units)
• ECI 260 – Sediment Transport (4 units)
• ECI 264A - Transport, Mixing and Water Quality in River & Lakes (4 units)
• ECI 272N – Contaminant Fate & Transport in Porous Media (4 units)
• ECI 273 – Water Resources Systems Engineering (4 units)
• ECI 274 - Introduction to Turbulence (4 units)
• ECI 276 - Watershed Hydrology (4 units)
• ECI 277A - Computational River Mechanics I (4 units)
• ECI 278 – Hydrodynamics (3 units)
• ECI 279 - Advanced Mechanics of Fluids (4 units)
- Required Background Courses for Students Without an Engineering Degree
In addition to the admission requirements stated above, applicants admitted without an engineering degree are expected to complete the following “background” UC Davis courses (or the equivalent) during the first academic year following initial enrollment. Equivalent courses taken outside of UC Davis may be used to satisfy all or some of this requirement at the discretion of the students Major Professor or Graduate Advisor.
Background courses for the CEE Graduate Program are specific to one of the five areas of specialization within Civil and Environmental Engineering: Environmental, Geotechnical, Structural, Transportation, and Water Resources. Students who complete the background courses and then change research areas are expected to consult with their Major Professor about additional required background courses.Environmental
• ECI 100 Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
• ECI 114 Probabilistic Systems Analysis for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
• ECI 115 Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering (4 units)Geotechnical
• ECI 171 Soil Mechanics (4 units)
• ENG 104 Mechanics of Materials (4 units)
• Choose 2 of the following 4:
o ECI 100 Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
o ECI 141 Engineering Hydraulics (3 units)
o ECI 114 Probabilistic Systems Analysis for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
o ECI 115 Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering (4 units)Structures
• ENG 104 Mechanics of Materials (4 units)
• ECI 115 Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering (4 units)
• ECI 130 Structural Analysis (4 units)
• ECI 132 Structural Design: Metallic Elements (4 units)
• ECI 135 Structural Design: Concrete Elements (4 units)Transportation
• ENG 104 Mechanics of Materials (4 units)
• ECI 141 Engineering Hydraulics (3 units)
• ECI 114 Probabilistic Systems Analysis for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
• ECI 115 Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering (4 units)Water Resources
• ECI 100 Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers (4 units)
• ECI 115 Computer Methods in Civil & Environmental Engineering (4 units)
• ECI 141 Engineering Hydraulics (3 units)
Special Requirements
- Public Speaking and Technical Presentation
- Students are required to acquire or demonstrate proficiency in public speaking and technical presentation. Students satisfy this requirement by completing an approved ECI course (below), by participating and presenting in an appropriate seminar series (e.g. ECI 296), or by giving an oral presentation at a conference and receiving feedback, or an equivalent speaking experience approved by the Major Professor and Graduate Advisor.
Approved Course List:
- ECI 211A
- ECI 233
- ECI 239
- ECI 243A
- ECI 243 L
- ECI 256
- ECI 262 (formerly ECI 289I)
- ECI 274 (formerly ECI 289I)
- ECI 290 (last offered Spring 2019)
- ECI 291 (MS II Capstone Course, formerly ECI 289C)
- ECI 292C (MS II Capstone Course Series, formerly ECI 289D) - ECI 390 (Teaching Assistant Training)
- ECI 390 is required for Teaching Assistants in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the same quarter as the student is serving as a TA, but does not count toward degree requirements.
- First Year English Course Requirement
- All graduate students must take an English language course during their first academic year, unless:
- The student has an undergraduate or graduate degree from an approved English-medium institution, as confirmed with the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies; or
- The student has a TOEFL (iBT) score of 105 or higher or IELTS score of 7.5 or higher; or
- The student scored 24 or higher on the TOEFL (iBT) writing and 23 or higher on the TOEFL (iBT) speaking.
More information about the requirement, and approved English language courses can be found on the International & Academic English website. - Other
- Students are responsible for meeting all Graduate Program, Departmental, College, and Graduate Studies requirements set forth in the Degree Requirements, the General Catalog, the Class Schedule, and the Graduate Studies website.
Please read the full Degree Requirements and refer to both the Civil and Environmental Engineering website and the Graduate Studies website for additional policies and requirements.
Other Program Documentation
Previous Requirements
Previously approved Degree Requirements can be found archived on the Graduate Studies Civil and Environmental Engineering Program Page.