Building the skills to meet the building challenges of the 21st century
The biggest projects provide the biggest challenges.
Building bridges. Protecting cities. Keeping the water flowing. Powering a new economy.
In UMass Dartmouth’s Civil & Environmental Engineering program, students care about mastering all of the small details that create a large-scale impact.
Making a better world
Student Johnniel Gomez: It’s our duty to serve the public and solve difficult world challenges—to make the world a better place for everybody to live in.
In the classroom and lab projects, every student learns the basics of structural design, hydrology, foundation engineering, transportation systems, and environmental engineering.
Student Katrina Martel: What really interests me is the idea that someday I could look at some huge building—and I helped design that.
Student Zachary Aaronson: UMass Dartmouth’s professors really invest in the students: they want you to learn, they want you to be prepared. You can go and get individual help if you need it. They’re always available.
Hands-on experiences
As they specialize, students gain hands-on experience through internships, team projects, and study abroad opportunities.
Katrina: When you’re doing design, there’s never one right answer. There are different ways you can do a design; there are different outcomes you can have. It’s really hands-on, and that’s really good for the under-classmen: you get to learn from the upper-classmen that are in your major. I think it’s a good relationship to have. When you get into the engineering field, you’re not just sitting there crunching numbers by yourself; you’re working with other engineers on a project. So if you can learn how to collaborate with other students, you’ll know how to collaborate with other engineers.
Engineering around the world
Johnniel: I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Panama. It really opened my eyes to the needs for engineering around the world. In the community of Valle Las Perlas, not every household had water—so we needed to think about centralized tap locations, so that instead of walking a mile to get water, they could walk a couple of hundred feet to get water in a centralized location.
Zachary: It has given me greater perspective. You have to make sure a client is happy with what you’re doing, and that means you have to have really good communication, you have to understand where they’re coming from and apply your technical concepts toward their problem.
UMass Dartmouth’s Civil & Environmental Engineering program: building the skills to meet the building challenges of the 21st century.