Theory, practice, experimental, and analytical techniques, and cutting-edge ideas are integrated into our research and teaching.Academics / Master's Program / Geotechnical Engineering SpecializationCurriculum and Requirements
The total course requirement for an MS degree is 12 course units (nine core courses and three electives), in addition to the geotechnical engineering seminars for winter and spring quarters. It is strongly recommended that students in geotechnical engineering write a research or design project paper on some aspect of geotechnical engineering that demonstrates the student’s knowledge, design, and/or analytical ability and writing skills. This requirement can be satisfied by doing an independent study (Civ-Env 499) with a faculty member in the spring quarter.
All geotechnical engineering master's students must complete at least six of the following core courses:
- Civ_Env 450-1, 3– Advanced Soil Mechanics I, III
- Civ_Env 452– Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
- Civ_Env 353 – Energy Geosystems and Geostructures
- Civ_Env 357- Terramechanics
- Civ_Env 450-2 or Civ_Env 352 – Advanced Soil Mechanics II or Foundation Engineering
- Civ_Env 458 – Soil Dynamics
- Civ_Env 454–Constitutive Models for Soils
- Civ_Env 455– Plasticity and Limit Analysis
- Civ_Env 456– Computational Geotechnics
In addition, all master’s students must complete three further course credits leading to either a research thesis or a design project through a combination of 499 and 590 credit units.