Ph.D. in Civil Engineering

The Ph.D. program in Civil Engineering requires relevant coursework to help students access foundational knowledge in their discipline while striking a balance between depth and breadth. A minimum of 24 credits of graduate engineering coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree is required for all the Ph.D. students in Engineering School at UVA. Students with graduate study at other institutions may apply engineering credits from that study towards their 24 hours, but all CEE Ph.D. students must complete at least six credits of coursework from CEE at UVA. Students who earn an ME or MS degree at UVA enroute to a PhD in CEE may use CEE credits from their master’s degree to meet this requirement.

Students must complete the PhD Plan of Study Form and submit it to the CEE Student Services Coordinator before the student takes their Ph.D. Qualifying Exam. The Plan of Study is for departmental use only. Students should maintain a copy for themselves to access it whenever they convene their committee and/or complete a requirement. Official tracking for Engineering School and CEE requirements is done using the academic requirements report.

A Ph.D. degree at CEE at UVA has three key milestones:

• Ph.D. Qualifying Exam: The purpose of the Qualifying Exam is to assess the student’s research aptitude and confirm that they have the skills and knowledge base necessary to conduct original research and to make a substantive contribution in their field.
• Ph.D. Proposal Defense: This milestone allows the student’s committee to make three important determinations:
  • To assess whether the student’s knowledge of their chosen area and their understanding of relevant literature is adequate to complete a Ph.D.
  • To recommend coursework, approaches/techniques and other resources that would facilitate or enhance the proposed work.
  • To evaluate whether or not the proposed work, if completed, would constitute an acceptable basis for a doctoral dissertation.
• Ph.D. Dissertation Defense: The Ph.D. dissertation defense is the culminating step of the Ph.D. process. The purpose of the dissertation defense is to confirm that the completed research constitutes a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering and to demonstrate competence in the field of the dissertation research and to ensure that the written quality of the final document is adequate to highlight the value of the work. After successful completion of the dissertation defense, the candidate must submit the dissertation via Libra. For more information on LIBRA and instruction of how to upload, please visit the Dissertation Submission Checklist.

Please review the CEE Graduate Handbook for more information about the timing, format, and committee composition requirements for each exam. 

CEE Ph.D. students must serve as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) for at least one semester. GTAs will enroll for three credits (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, or S/U, basis) of CE 8001 in a section corresponding to their supervising instructor. A GTA assignment will not count toward the teaching requirement if the student does not receive an S grade.

All GTAs whose first language is one other than English are required to take the oral section of the UVELPE Test. A score of at least 55 is required for permission to begin teaching without completion of appropriate oral language training. Please refer to CAELC website for more information about the UVELPE test as well as the testing times and registration.

As an essential component of the graduate program in CEE, Ph.D. students are required to enroll in CE 7001 (with zero credit hours) and attend the CEE seminars during the academic year.

CEE Seminar Series is a weekly event during the academic year that brings together CEE faculty and students to learn about new research and practices in different areas of civil and environmental engineering. Research presentations are given by Distinguished Speakers from within the university community as well as nationally and internationally recognized researchers and engineers in academia and industry. The weekly seminars also include talks and presentations from CEE graduate students as well as presentations geared towards professional development.

• Publication: Ph.D. students are expected to generate peer-reviewed publications from each technical chapter of their dissertation. Publications must be peer-reviewed, co-authored with advisor and with the student as first author. Typically, one or more first-authored peer-reviewed publications will have already been accepted by the time of the Ph.D. defense. Sufficiency of the publication record is determined by the student's Ph.D. Committee.
• Conference/Seminar Presentation: Ph.D. students are required to present their research at least once at a conference, CEE Seminar Series or other public venue approved by the student's Ph.D. Committee.