About Us

Welcome

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at UNC Charlotte. Please take a closer look at what happens when the right people coalesce in the right place at the right time around the right issues. Our unprecedented growth in students, faculty, staff, and facilities mirrors what you might expect in the fastest-growing city in the fastest-growing region of the US, enabling us to leapfrog rankings and expectations.

With the first departmental faculty hired in 1967, our department has quickly accumulated numerous awards thanks to the success of our alumni and world-recognized faculty which hail from here and other great institutions, including Carnegie-Mellon, Clarkson, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Institute National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA, Lyon, France), Lehigh, MIT, Michigan State, NC State, Rutgers, California-Berkeley, Massachusetts-Lowell, Nevada-Las Vegas, Texas-Austin, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. We offer a teaching, learning, and research-intensive environment that supports the growth of character, technical skills, critical thinking, and preparation for the profession. Collectively, our 24 faculty, 8 staff, and more than 500 undergraduate and graduate students provide robust yet personalized experiences in the classroom, within award-winning student organizations, and in internationally-recognized research. Students can earn their B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees.

Charlotte has steadily consolidated its claim as the energy capital of the U.S. in terms of corporate headquarters and presence. There are more than 100 firms with energy-focused services and another 550+ which provide energy-sector services. With leadership from these firms and in partnership with the State of North Carolina, we have moved to the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC). The EPIC building is a $76 million, 200,000 ft2 (18,580 m2) facility that features collaborative laboratory spaces and a high bay with a 1 million pound (4,450 kN), 30 ft (9.1 m) high reaction wall. EPIC complements other cross-disciplinary research centers with which CEE is directly connected, including the Infrastructure, Design, Environment, and Sustainability (IDEAS) Center.

Needless to say, there is no shortage of opportunities for CEE faculty, staff, and students. But while our size and resources have grown dramatically, our core values remain constant. We are committed to an environment in which everyone thrives. Students frequently cite personal attention as well as the approachable faculty and staff as reasons for choosing CEE at UNC Charlotte. We all learn in different ways and there are multiple pathways to professional competency. Our program provides these pathways because we see the future engineer, leader, and colleague within all students