Dr. Mandar M. Dewoolkar, P.E., Professor and Chair

This is an exciting time to become a civil or environmental engineer.

Welcome to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Vermont. The 21st century has brought great advances in science, engineering, and technology, but with it also significant challenges — environmental concerns, energy sustainability, aging infrastructure, accessibility to clean water, adaptation to climate change, among others. All create unique challenges and opportunities for civil and environmental engineers of every specialty. Civil and environmental engineers will be in great demand in the coming decades to solve these problems and doing so will reap significant professional rewards.

Undergraduate work

Both of our undergraduate degrees in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering are accredited and deeply rooted in environmental stewardship, and have UVM’s Sustainability degree designation. Our students are actively involved in local and international communities through service-learning projects, enjoy numerous courses with hands-on, project-based components, and routinely engage in off-campus internships and student clubs. Many undergraduate students also participate in faculty-led research experiences.

Graduate work

At the graduate level, individualized M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs concentrated around one or more sub-disciplines of environmental, geotechnical, water resources, structural, materials, and transportation engineering.  Our dedicated faculty members work together with highly motivated graduate students to address critical issues facing our world related to sustainability and energy; infrastructure systems; climate change, hazard mitigation, and adaptation; and environmental and public health. Our emphasis is interdisciplinary education with research collaborations and opportunities across campus including not only other engineering and science departments but also social science, policy, and medicine. Our students cherish the integrated learning atmosphere we offer and many employ the watersheds, landscapes and strong communities of Vermont as laboratories for their research.

Long history at UVM

Civil Engineering has a long history at the University of Vermont. As early as 1829, the first professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering was appointed at UVM, and many of the earliest graduates made their way into civil engineering jobs related to the railroad industry. The passage of the Morrill Act in 1865 led the way for a B.S. in Civil Engineering at UVM with the first graduates of Civil Engineering in 1870. In 1936, the Civil Engineering degree was accredited and has received continued accreditation ever since. The addition of the Environmental Engineering degree was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2003, accreditation was granted in 2005 and has received continued accreditation ever since.

Our Mission

To promote and cultivate excellence in engineering innovation and leadership to serve and benefit the local and global community.

We aspire to take pride in:

  • the personal, experiential, professional learning we provide to our students;
  • our excellence in research and education that address critical engineering challenges; and
  • being a technical resource for the state of Vermont and beyond.

Our History

Civil and environmental engineering (CEE) has a long and significant history at the University of Vermont. The first civil engineering professor (George Russell Huntington – Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering) was hired in 1829. This was at a time when there was a common university core, and civil engineering was indeed part of that core. For over 180 years, UVM has been graduating civil engineers who have been critical for the economic and social well being of the State and beyond. At the undergraduate level, the civil engineering program has been continually accredited since 1936 and the environmental engineering program has been continually accredited since 2005. The first MS degree awarded at UVM in any area was in 1874 to civil engineer, Charles Simeon Denison, who later became a professor of mechanical drawing at the University of Michigan. CEE doctoral program was implemented in 1992, and the first Ph.D. student graduated in 1994.

CEE Accreditation

Our B.S. degrees in civil engineering and environmental engineering are both accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012.