Civil Engineering: Research Opportunities

Clarkson combines two distinctive strengths that benefit students: Personalized teaching and high-powered research. Many of our faculty members conduct world-class research in areas of vital importance — and involve undergraduates in the process.

Many students take advantage of our team competitions in the SPEED program (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design). They get real-world research experience while collaborating with students from many other fields of study.

When you become involved in a research project, you will have access to some of the 70 state-of-the-art labs in our Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) building, as well as the environmental labs in the adjoining William J. Rowley Laboratories. Professors work closely with industry and government on a number of important research projects involving such areas as:

• applied limnology and aquatic systems
• hydraulics and hydrology
• cold regions engineering
• environmental engineering
• geotechnical engineering
• flood forecasting and control
• surface and groundwater contamination
• hazardous waste engineering
• structural engineering and design
• structural damage tolerance
• water treatment
• earthquake engineering

Undergraduate Research
Civil engineering majors participate in a wide range of research projects funded by the National Science Foundation and other government and corporate sources. A special program called Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), for example, funds research at Clarkson or in China for periods that range from 10 intensive weeks in the summer to several semesters. Recent student projects include:

• ice force on offshore structures
• composite concrete reinforcement
• ethanol spills and groundwater contamination
• impact of waves on coastal structures
• measuring dry deposition of acidic particles