The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics focuses on two broad areas of instruction and research.
The first, the classical field of civil engineering, deals with the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of structures and the infrastructure. These include buildings, foundations, bridges, transportation facilities, nuclear and conventional power plants, hydraulic structures, and other facilities essential to society. The BS program in Civil Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org/.
The second is the science of mechanics and its applications to various engineering disciplines. Frequently referred to as applied mechanics, it includes the study of the mechanical properties of materials, stress analysis of stationary and movable structures, the dynamics and vibrations of complex structures, aero- and hydrodynamics, micro- and nanomechanics, and the mechanics of biological and energy systems.
The Department aims to provide students with a technical foundation anchored in theory together with the breadth needed to follow diverse career paths, whether in the profession via advanced study or apprenticeship, or as a base for other pursuits.
The built environment encompasses much of what defines modern civilization. Buildings and bridges are often the first constructions that come to mind, as they are the most conspicuous creations of structural engineering, one of civil engineering's major sub-disciplines. Roads, railroads, subway systems, and airports are designed by transportation engineers, another category of civil engineering. And then there are the less visible creations of civil engineers. Every time you open a water faucet, you expect water to come out, without thinking that civil engineers made it possible. New York City has one of the world’s most impressive water supply systems, receiving billions of gallons of high-quality water from the Catskills over one hundred miles away. Similarly, not many people seem to worry about what happens to the water after it has served its purposes. The old civil engineering discipline of sanitary engineering has evolved into modern environmental engineering of such significance that most academic departments have changed their names to civil and environmental engineering.
These few examples illustrate that civil engineers do a lot more than design buildings and bridges. They can be found in the aerospace industry, designing jetliners and space stations; in the automotive industry, perfecting the load-carrying capacity of a chassis and improving the crashworthiness of bumpers and doors; and they can be found in the ship building industry, the power industry, and many other industries wherever constructed facilities are involved. And they plan and oversee the construction of these facilities as construction managers.
Civil engineering is an exciting profession because at the end of the day you can see the results of your work, whether this is a completed bridge, a high-rise building, a subway station, or a hydroelectric dam.
Please look at the Web pages of our individual faculty members to learn more about their special interests as examples of what civil engineering and engineering mechanics is and can be about.
Columbia University was founded as King’s College in 1754 and thus it is older than the United States of America. In fact, it is the fifth oldest university in the country.
The development of the School of Engineering was initiated in 1864 when the School of Mines, the first school of its kind in the United States, was established. Civil engineering was added to the curriculum in 1868, making our department one of the oldest in the country. Courses in metallurgical, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and industrial engineering and in mineral dressing were established later.
The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics has supplied faculty for many of the world’s leading engineering schools. At the same time, it has produced successful alumni who have held executive and technical positions of the highest responsibility. To name just a few:
- William Barclay Parsons received his civil engineering degree in 1882 and later founded the world-renown company that bears his name and was responsible for major construction projects all over the world.
- David Steinman received a doctorate in 1911 and submitted as his project for a professional degree a design for what later became the Henry Hudson Bridge, spanning the Harlem River at the northern tip of Manhattan. He also founded the well-known firm of Steinman Engineers and was the lead designer of many landmark bridges in New York City and throughout the Untied States.
- Colonel K. Chilton earned his M.S. degree in our department and later became known as one of the first astronauts to pilot the space shuttle.
- Jeff Bleustein received his doctorate in Engineering Mechanics and has been credited for saving the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company from bankruptcy and as president and CEO turning it into one of the success stories of modern American business.
The golden age of the department was the period from the 1950s to the 1970s, during which it was ranked as one of the country’s top, if not the top, department in engineering mechanics. Among its faculty were Maciej Bieniek, Hans Bleich, Donald Burmister, Richard Freudenthal, Raymond Mindlin, Mario Salvadori, and Richard Skalak, to name only some of them. Each one of these professors was a giant in his field, who determined the directions that entire areas of study and research would take in the years to come. Today, their students can be found as faculty in many of the top universities in the world.
