Civil engineering is one of the oldest and broadest fields of engineering. Students at the graduate level typically specialize in one of the following specialty areas. At the undergraduate level, students typically take courses in all of the specialty areas in order to get a broad exposure of the different civil engineering disciplines. The areas of specialty at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at FIU are as follows:

Structural

This field covers the use of construction materials, the analysis and design of structures and foundations, and the fabrication of components and of entire structures. Study and research range from the use of computers in analysis and design, experimental testing procedures, to sophisticated basic structural mechanics. Structural engineers are involved with the design and construction of buildings, bridges, vehicles, airframes, manufactured products, public facilities, and transportation structures.

Environmental

Environmental engineering is concerned with the protection of the human population from the effects of adverse environmental factors; natural and urban environments both local and global, potentially deleterious effects of human activity; and the improvement of environmental quality for people's health and well-being within sustainable development schemes. Environmental engineers play a major part in the design of systems to provide safe drinking water, pollution control of surface and groundwater, air pollution management, pollution prevention, the recovery and containment of solid, hazardous and radioactive wastes, contamination characterization, impact analysis, and clean-up.

Transportation

Transportation engineering deals with the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. Transportation engineers design and maintain all types of transportation facilities, including highways, streets, mass transit systems, railroads, airfields, ports, and harbors. They apply technological knowledge as well as an understanding of the economic factors in their projects. They work closely with urban planners since the quality of the community is directly related to the quality of the transportation system.

Water Resources

This field involves the analysis of qualitative and quantitative water issues and the search for appropriate solutions. Both pure and applied research in the fields of water management, hydrology, and hydraulics of surface, ground and atmospheric waters, benefit water managers and engineers in their decisions from international to local levels. Water resources engineers also play a vital role in providing technical expertise on many policy issues of this increasingly scarce resource.

Geotechnical

This field involves the study of the physical behavior of soils and rock and their application to the design of safe and economical foundations. The subject area covers shallow footing and deep foundations for tall buildings, dams, tunnels, canals, ports, roadway pavements, runways, deep excavations, retaining walls, and the effects of earthquakes and other vibrational forces upon structures. Geotechnical specialists are also interested in environmental issues, such as the containment of hazardous wastes through the use of geotextiles.

Construction

The construction industry represents 10% of the U.S. gross national product. This huge sector of our economy is supported by civil engineering expertise such as designers, construction managers, inspectors, designers of equipment and methods, and forensic analysts. This field employs more civil engineers worldwide than any other engineering field.

Civil engineering is also becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, with many new areas combining the theories and methodologies from different fields. Examples of such interdisciplinary fields include computer-aided engineering, which employs advanced computing technologies to solve various civil engineering problems, infrastructure systems, which involves the development of analysis, evaluation, and management methods and policies for infrastructure management, and planning of urban environmental systems, which deals with policy planning, environmental planning, land use/design, and infrastructure.