CEE Certificates

Overview

The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) coordinates the administration of seven graduate certificates.  In the field of Advanced Transportation Systems, three certificates are available: Air Transportation Systems, Traffic Control and Operations, Transportation Systems Engineering.  Related to Environmental Engineering, three certificates are available:  Treatment Process Engineering, Water Quality Management, and Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management.  The certificate in Civil Infrastructure Systems encompasses a variety of CEE disciplines with emphasis in Infrastructure Engineering.  Coursework requirements for each certificate are listed in Section C.

Admission Requirements

The Graduate Certificate Program in CEE is open to both on-campus (Blacksburg) and off-campus students, full-time and part-time, who have been approved by the Virginia Tech Graduate School to take graduate coursework, including Commonwealth Campus students.  Students interested in pursuing a certificate must first complete the following steps based on their current status:

Non-degree seeking VT students or individuals currently without a graduate status at VT:

  1. Complete the electronic Virginia Tech Graduate School “certificate seeking” application available at https://graduateschool.vt.edu/admissions.html. Applicants should apply before beginning the certificate program if they are already in a non-degree status at VT, but must apply no less than six months prior to completion of coursework. The application requires students to outline the classes they plan to complete for the certificate. Students taking appropriate courses toward the certificate program prior to the application for certificate are not guaranteed admission to the certificate program. Applicants will be notified by letter if they are admitted into the certificate program.
  2. Meet with a CEE academic advisor to develop a plan for completion of coursework.  See Section D for a list of contacts.
  3. At the beginning of the semester for the final certificate course, students should submit the form called “Application for Degree for Certificate Conferral” through Hokie SPA. If students have taken different courses than outlined in the original application, they must complete the Graduate Certificate Application form to receive approval for the changes.

VT students already seeking a graduate degree:

  1. Students must complete the form called “Application for Certificate” and submits to the CEE department. The application form requires students to outline the classes they plan to complete for the certificate. Applicants should apply before beginning the certificate program, but must apply no less than six months prior to completion of coursework. Students taking appropriate courses toward the certificate program prior to the application for certificate are not guaranteed admission to the certificate program. Applicants will be notified by letter if they are admitted into the certificate program.
  2. Meet with a CEE academic advisor to develop a plan for completion of coursework.  See Section D for a list of contacts.
  3. At the beginning of the semester for the final certificate course, students should submit the form called “Application for Degree for Certificate Conferral” through Hokie SPA. If students have taken different courses than outlined in the original application, they must complete the Graduate Certificate Application form to receive approval for the changes.

Course Requirements

Students who wish to complete the Graduate Certificate Program in CEE must:

  1. Complete 12 hours from the course requirements listed below.  Note that grades for certificate courses must be a C or higher and overall certificate GPA must be 3.0 or higher. No 4000 level classes may be used as an elective course.
  2. CEE students and non-degree-seeking students must complete the Application for Certificate Conferral form online in Hokie SPA by the deadline for the semester you will complete your certificate program. You will find the ACC form under the Graduate Student Degree Menu/Application for Degree section of Hokie SPA.
  3. If the outlined courses for your planned certificate have changed from the time you originally applied for the certificate program, submit a new version of the form called “Graduate Certificate Application” to the CEE Department by the third week of class in the semester you plan to finish your certificate.

Limitations (All students, independent of major)

  1. A graduate student may only receive one graduate certificate within the completion of the degree requirements for a graduate degree within the CEE Department.
  2. No hours can be transferred from institutions other than Virginia Tech.
  3. No credits below 5000 level may be used to satisfy the requirements.
  4. Course substitutions for those not on the lists below without prior approval by the CEE Graduate Director is prohibited.
  5. On-campus, degree-seeking students may only count 6 of the 12 credit hours from the certificate course requirements toward their degree.
  6. Non-degree-seeking students in the certificate program who are later admitted to degree-seeking status may count all 12 credit hours toward both their certificate requirements and degree requirements.

Certificates in Advanced Transportation Systems

Air Transportation Systems

All students must complete CEE 5614: Analysis of Air Transportation Systems.

The remaining three courses must be selected from those listed below:

  • CEE 5660: Transportation Risk, Reliability and Security
  • CEE 5600: Civil Infrastructure Systems Analysis
  • CEE 5620: Transportation Network Analysis
  • ENGR 5014: Applied Systems Engineering
  • ISE 5484: Modeling Processes in Operations Research
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Traffic Control and Operations

Student must complete three of the following courses:

  • CEE 5640:Highway Transportation Safety
  • CEE 5604: Traffic Characteristics and Flow
  • CEE 5634: Analysis and Planning of Mass Transit Systems
  • CEE 5670: Applied Traffic Engineering Analysis
  • CEE 5694: Traffic Signal Systems Operation and Control

The fourth course may be from the above list or those listed below:

  • CEE 5624: Transportation Planning and Land Use
  • CEE 5754: Pavement and Bridge Management Systems
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Transportation Systems Engineering

Student must complete three of the following courses:

  • CEE 5624: Transportation Planning and Land Use
  • CEE 5634: Analysis and Planning of Mass Transit Systems
  • CEE 5614: Analysis of Air Transportation Systems
  • CEE 5604: Traffic Characteristics and Flow
  • CEE 5670: Applied Traffic Engineering Analysis

The fourth course may be from the above list or those listed below:

  • CEE 5640: Highway Transportation Safety
  • CEE 5694: Traffic Signal Systems Operation and Control
  • CEE 5600: Civil Infrastructure Systems Analysis
  • CEE 5754: Pavement and Bridge Management Systems
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Certificates in Environmental Engineering

Treatment Process Engineering

Students must complete four of the following courses:

  • CEE 5104: Environmental Chemistry
  • CEE 5794: Environmental Engineering Principles
  • CEE 5125: Environmental Engineering Design I
  • CEE 5126: Environmental Engineering Design II
  • CEE 5174: Industrial Waste Treatment
  • CEE 5194: Environmental Engineering Microbiology
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Water Quality Management

All students must complete CEE 5134: Engineering Aspects of Water Quality.

The remaining three courses must be selected from those listed below:

  • CEE 5104: Environmental Chemistry
  • CEE 5124: Fundamentals of Environmental Toxicology
  • CEE 5194: Environmental Engineering Microbiology
  • CEE 5714: Surface Water Quality Modeling
  • CEE 5734:Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management
  • CEE 5794: Environmental Engineering Principles
  • BSE 5404: Agricultural Non‐point Source Pollution
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management

All students must complete CEE 5734: Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management.

The remaining three courses must be selected from those listed below:

  • CEE 5204:GIS Applications in Civil Engineering
  • CEE 5304: Environmental Fluid Mechanics
  • CEE 5324: Advanced Hydrology
  • CEE 5714: Surface Water Quality Modeling
  • CEE 5794: Environmental Engineering Principles
  • CSES 5864: Advanced Wetland Soils and Mitigation
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Civil Infrastructure Systems

All students must complete either CEE 5600: Civil Infrastructure Systems Analysis or CEE 5754: Pavement and Bridge Management Information Systems.

The remaining three courses must be selected from those listed below or from the course not selected from the list above:

  • CEE 5010: Schedule Impact Analysis
  • CEE 5084: Information Technology in Construction
  • CEE 5614: Analysis of Air Transportation Systems
  • CEE 5634: Analysis and Planning of Mass Transit Systems
  • CEE 5080: Infrastructure Asset Management
  • CEE 5014: Facility Delivery and Finance Strategies
  • An Approved Technical Elective Course

Departmental Contacts

CEE Certificate contacts

Director of International & Graduate Education:
Lindy Cranwell, lindycra@vt.edu, (540) 231‐7296

Interim Associate Department Head (Graduate Director):
Bill Knocke, knocke@vt.edu, (540) 231-9050