Civil Engineering and Urban Sustainability (Ph.D. Dual-Title)
Students admitted to the Ph.D. program in Civil and Environmental Engineering can apply to earn a Ph.D. with a major in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a dual-title in Urban Sustainability. This dual-title degree is designed to prepare professionals to solve challenging urban problems that require working across disciplines. Students enrolled in the dual-title program take courses in topics and develop specific skills relating to urban sustainability. Students in Civil and Environmental Engineering will also conduct an internship or science exchange in Urban Sustainability, help develop and participate in colloquia and seminars, perform community service, and write funding proposals. The dual-title coursework follows competencies outlined by the Transformative Research in Urban Sustainability Training program.
Coursework for the Civil and Environmental Engineering-Urban Sustainability Degree is currently offered in ten departments across campus. To earn the urban sustainability dual title, students first must be admitted into the doctoral programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Coursework must include five of six core courses shown in Table 1 (BIO 7310/CE 7311 and GS 0900 are required) plus 8 credits of urban sustainability coursework selected from Table 2 with the approval of their doctoral advisor, who will review the courses for adequate interdisciplinary representation. Alternative elective courses can be substituted for those shown in Table 2 with the approval of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Urban Sustainability Leader, Dr. Carol Miller. Of the core courses, a seminar course, “Sustainability of Urban Environmental Systems,” is suitable for cross-listing in all departments that offer the urban sustainability dual title degree (currently listed as BIO 7310/CE 7311).
Table 1. Core Courses for all Urban Sustainability Dual Title Degrees
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CE 7311 | Sustainability of Urban Environmental Systems | 2 |
| CE 7995 | Special Topics in Civil Engineering II (Environmental Systems, Economics, and Society) | 3 |
| ANT 5060 | Urban Anthropology | 3 |
| COM 7170 | Health and Risk Communication | 3 |
| GS 0900 | Essential Research Practices: Responsible Conduct of Research | 0 |
| UP 6470 | Environmental Planning | 3 |
Table 2. Elective Coursework Eligible for Civil and Environmental Engineering-Urban Sustainability Degree
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ANT 5565 | Urban Archaeology | 3 |
| ANT 6570 | Archaeological Laboratory Analysis | 4 |
| BIO 5040 | Biometry | 4 |
| BIO 5180 | Field Investigations in Biological Sciences | 0-12 |
| BIO 7540 | Landscape Ecology | 3 |
| BIO 6420 | Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment | 3 |
| CE 6160 | Principles of Atmospheric Chemistry and Applications | 3 |
| CE 6270 | Sustainability Assessment and Management | 3 |
| CE 7160 | Advanced Principles of Atmospheric Chemistry and Applications | 3 |
| CE 7240 | Advanced Air Pollution Engineering | 3 |
| CE 7280 | Applied Environmental Microbiology | 3 |
| CE 7995 | Special Topics in Civil Engineering II (River Assessment and Restoration) | 3 |
| COM 7160 | Crisis Communication | 3 |
| ECO 6200 | Advanced Regulation and Regulated Industries | 4 |
| ECO 6520 | Advanced State and Local Public Finance | 4 |
| ECO 6800 | Advanced Urban and Regional Economics | 4 |
| ESG 5000 | Geological Site Assessment | 4 |
| ESG 5510 | Environmental Fate and Transport of Pollutants | 4 |
| ESG 5610 | Special Topics in Environmental Science and Geology | 1 |
| ESG 5650 | Applied Geologic Mapping | 4 |
| FPH 7420 | Principles of Environmental Health | 3 |
| LEX 7231 | Environmental Law | 2-3 |
| PHC 7410 | Principles of Toxicology | 3 |
| or BIO 7011 | Principles of Toxicology | |
| PSC 6910 | Pharmaceutical Waste: Environmental Impact and Management | 2-3 |
| or CE 6910 | Pharmaceutical Waste: Environmental Impact and Management | |
| UP 5110 | Urban Planning Process | 3 |
| UP 5430 | Cities and Food | 3 |
| UP 6120 | Planning Studies and Methods | 4 |
| UP 6260 | Land Use Policy and Planning | 3 |
| UP 6700 | Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
Other activities required for the Civil and Environmental Engineering-Urban Sustainability Degree are the following:
- Community service: participate in two events per year or an equivalent commitment to citizen science, stewardship or outreach/education projects with community group partners.
- Participate in Colloquium: help develop and attend an annual series of talks given by visiting lecturers across disciplines.
- Prepare and submit an external proposal to a funding agency.
These requirements will be satisfied in the core courses. Specifically, participation in colloquia and seminars is a requirement in Sustainability of Urban Environmental Systems and Urban Anthropology, partaking in community service is an activity in the Environmental Planning and Urban Ecology class, and writing funding proposals is a course assignment in Sustainability of Urban Environmental Systems and Environmental Systems, Economics and Society. In addition, the requirement of community service will also be part of the course requirement for Essential Research Practices: Responsible Conduct of Research (GS 0900).
In addition, doctoral students will be strongly encouraged to:
- Participate in an internship in an applied setting with a partner organization in urban sustainability. Example eligible organizations with which the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department has previously partnered include Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, Macomb County, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Great Lakes Water Authority, but participation is not limited to these.
- Produce a video documentary with their doctoral research team about the interdisciplinary sustainability problem their research is addressing, translating scientific content for a wide audience.
- Participate in the WSU Research and Academic Development Seminar Series, which provides graduate training and career development workshops, to help prepare students to complete the required funding proposal and to envision perspectives to consider during documentary and publication preparation.
- Produce a collaborative publication with a doctoral research team.
- Develop a 2 credit capstone seminar course in collaboration with other students pursuing the Urban Sustainability Dual Title Degree that they will co-teach with the guidance of faculty. The capstone course will tie together and demonstrate the interconnected nature of urban sustainability topics and will be available to fellow Dual Title Degree students and other graduate and undergraduate students.
- Include undergraduate students in field work, laboratory analysis and report-writing, both to foster greater participation in later graduate studies by those students, and also to develop the mentoring skills of the doctoral students.