Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a Concentration in Construction Engineering and Management
Department:
Civil Engineering
Transcript Designation:
Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a Concentration in Construction Engineering and Management
Program Advisor(s):
e-mail: advisor@cvn.columbia.edu
Program Description:
The MS Program in Construction Engineering & Management is designed to prepare its graduates to effectively
deliver and manage the capital facilities and infrastructure that are critical to worldwide productivity. The
curriculum builds upon a student’s technical background to develop managerial and financial expertise through a
mix of fundamental and advanced areas of study. The courses expose students to the activities and issues of
planning, financing, procuring, constructing and managing the built environment.
The program is particularly attractive for architects and engineers without formal education in project
leadership, management and finance who now find themselves confronting these challenges. Plus, the flexibility
provided by distance learning allows a student to make progress toward the MS degree regardless of location.
Thus, work commitments that require travel or temporary or permanent relocation will not affect a student’s ability
to start or complete the program. This is a tremendous advantage.
Admission Requirements:
Degree required for admission: Students admitted to the program must possess an undergraduate degree in civil
engineering or a related field from an accredited academic institution. Applicants should have a strong
undergraduate record to be competitive for admission.
GPA required: Minimum of 3.0
GRE requirements: General test required (more information about the GRE’s can be accessed here:
Other application requirements: Two recommendation letters, transcripts, resume, and a personal-professional
statement are required. TOEFL test scores are required of all students who received their bachelor's degree in
a country where English is not the official and spoken language. All application requirements in the Graduate
Application must be completed as specified in the application.
Breadth requirement: None
Degree Requirements:
Students must complete all core courses (described below) and selected electives (described below) for a
total of 30 graduate points of academic work with an academic average of 2.5 or better. Up to 6 credit hours
(points) of acceptable graduate-level academic work from an accredited academic institution earned prior to
enrolling at Columbia may be transferred as elective credit, subject to advisor approval.
Core Courses:
The core courses provide a student with a solid foundation in the fundamentals of project & organizational
leadership, project management & finance, contracting strategies & conditions and decision-making under
uncertainty. The core courses contribute 18 points of graduate credit toward the degree. Students may choose any 6 courses from the list below to meet the core requirement.
CIEN E4129: Managing Engineering and Construction Processes (3 credits)
CIEN E4130: Design of Construction Systems (3 credits)
CIEN E4131: Principles of Construction Techniques (3 credits)
CIEN E4132: Prevention and Resolution of Construction Disputes (3 credits)
CIEN E4133: Capital Facility Planning & Financing (3 credits)
CIEN E4134: Construction Industry Law (3 credits)
CIEN E4135: Strategic Management in Design and Construction (3 credits)
CIEN E4136: Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
CIEN E6131: Managing Civil Infrastructure Systems (3 credits)
CIEN E6132: Advanced Systems and Technologies in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
Elective Courses:
A student must select elective courses from those listed below for a total of 12 points of graduate credit.
Students may select courses not listed with the approval of a program advisor. All of the courses shown are
currently available through CVN. These courses allow the student to pick subjects from a variety of areas to
complement the core program. A student may choose to receive additional technical knowledge by selecting civil
engineering electives or to explore theories and concepts from the fields of industrial engineering and operations
research & management. The concepts from these fields are at the root of trends within the construction industry
toward lean engineering and construction – a paradigm that conceives a construction project as a temporary
production system dedicated to the three goals of delivering the product while maximizing value and minimizing
waste.
Civil Engineering Electives:
CIEN E4021: Elastic and Plastic Analysis of Structures
CIEN E4111: Uncertainty and Risk in Infrastructure Systems
CIEN E4232: Advanced Design of Concrete Structures
CIEN E4242: Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
Quantitative Methods Electives
IEOR E4003: Industrial Economics
IEOR E4004: Intro to Operations Research: Deterministic Models
IEOR E4007: Optimization: Models and Methods
IEOR E4106: Intro to Operations research: Stochastic Models
SIEO W4606: Elementary Stochastic Processes
Production Management Electives:
BUSI B6801 Operations Management (from Graduate School of Business)
IEME E4310 Technology & Strategic Issues in Manufacturing Enterprises
IEOR E4000 Production Management
IEOR E4405 Production Scheduling
IEOR E4418: Logistics and Transportation Management
Transfer of credit: Up to 6 credit hours (points) of acceptable graduate-level academic work from an accredited academic institution earned prior to enrolling at Columbia may be transferred to Columbia, subject to the CVN program advisor's approval. The Transfer Credit request form can be accessed via this link. Please note that students must request the transfer of credit upon acceptance into the MS program, that credit will only be considered for transfer if the grades earned were at least 3.0 on the 4.0 scale, and that an official college transcript and copy of the class syllabus and/or course description from the school's bulletin must accompany the "Transfer of Credit Request" form.