CE-BS - Civil Engineering (BS)
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Program Overview
Stanfordʼs Civil Engineering major prepares students to plan, design, construct, and sustain the built environment, manage our air, energy, and water resources, protect our natural environment, and protect society from natural and climate-related hazards.
The work of civil engineers is crucial to the day-to-day lives of people around the world. The civil engineering field is both technical and people-oriented, requiring an ability to manage large, multi-faceted projects as well as diverse groups of people and having excellent communication skills. Students in the major learn to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and the primary areas of civil engineering to design systems to solve engineering problems, conduct hands-on and computational experiments, and communicate their ideas effectively.
The Curriculum
The undergraduate civil engineering curriculum includes a core to be taken by all declared majors that provides a broad introduction to the major areas of civil engineering. Subsequent coursework is grouped into 7 focus areas, allowing students to tailor their studies to align with their interests. Undergraduates potentially interested in the Civil Engineering major should also consider the Environmental Systems Engineering major as a possible alternative; a comparison of these two alternative majors is presented in the Environmental Systems Engineering page.
The Civil Engineering degree is ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accredited, which is a first step toward a professional engineering license. If you envision a career providing, supervising, or managing professional engineering services (e.g., engineering investigations or design), you may wish to become a licensed professional engineer and should aim, via your BS and/or coterm (MS) degrees, to earn ABET credit for four to five years of work experience.
For more information on civil engineering, students are encouraged to visit the CEE website, talk to a CEE faculty member, or contact the CEE Undergraduate Student Services Officer.
Research Experience for Undergraduates
The department of Civil and Environmental Engineering welcomes student participation in the VPUE Undergraduate Research Programs. Interested students should check the VPUE website and the CEE website for announcements regarding the application procedures. Annual program announcements appear in January with application due dates in February.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Students must complete a minimum of 45 units of Math and Science coursework.
Math 19, 20, and 21 present single variable calculus. Students who have 10 units of AP BC calculus credit and placement into MATH 51/CME 100 may skip these. Students who score 4 on the BC test are eligible to petition to waive out of MATH 21 once they have successfully completed MATH 53 or CME 102 with a grade of C or better. If you took AB-level AP or IB calculus, take Math 21 before proceeding to multivariable calculus.
CE majors may not waive units in any category but may use more advanced courses to make up for bypassing any portion of the Math 20 series.
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Students may also use AP credit to fulfill this requirement. Please consult with the School of Engineering and see the Stanford External Test Credit Equivalency Charts for additional information.
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Students may satisfy this requirement with AP credit, but should consult with their faculty advisor beforehand.
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Students may also use AP credit to fulfill this requirement. Please consult with the School of Engineering and see the Stanford External Test Credit Equivalency Charts for additional information.
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Complete additional courses from the SoE pre-approved Math & Stats and/or Science course lists found at https://ughb.stanford.edu/approvedcourses to reach the 36-unit minimum.
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Students must complete at least 68 units of Engineering Fundamentals and Engineering Depth coursework in order to satisfy ABET and departmental requirements to graduate.
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Students must complete at least 68 units of Engineering Fundamentals and Engineering Depth coursework in order to satisfy ABET and departmental requirements to graduate.
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CEE 100 also satisfies the Writing in the Major (WiM) requirement.
CEE 183 also satisfies the Capstone requirement.
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Complete a minimum of 30 units of Focus Area coursework. To reach the 30 unit minimum, students must take at least 12 units in one of the following focus areas as their Depth area. And, students must also take at least 6 units each in 3 other focus areas for Breadth.
Students that choose the Construction Engineering Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Construction Engineering Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Important for professional licensing: CEE 101C.
Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 101C, 141A.
Students that choose the Engineering & Climate Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Engineering & Climate Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Important for professional licensing: CEE 172.
Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 64, 107A, 156.
Students that choose the Environmental Fluid Mechanics & Hydrology Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Environmental Fluid Mechanics & Hydrology Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Important for professional licensing: CEE 101B, 166A.
Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 101B, 166A.
Students that choose the Environmental Quality Engineering Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Environmental Quality Engineering Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Important for professional licensing: CEE 172, 179E.
Students that choose the Environmental Quality Engineering Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Environmental Quality Engineering Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 155, 156.
Students that choose the Structural Engineering & Mechanics Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Structural Engineering & Mechanics Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Important for professional licensing: CEE 101C, 180, 182.
Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 101C, 180, 182.
Students that choose the Urban Systems Focus for Depth must complete at least 12 units from the following courses.
Students that choose the Urban Systems Focus as one of their three Breadth areas must complete at least 6 units from the following courses.
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Courses needed as preparation for CEE coterm studies: CEE 120A, 156.
At least 68 units of engineering science and design courses (Engineering Fundamentals, Depth, and Electives) must be completed in order to satisfy ABET and departmental requirements to graduate.
For the remaining engineering elective units: Additional electives may be selected from the 7 focus areas listed in the Depth in Discipline section, or from the following.
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Up to 4 units of CEE 199/199L may be used in this category.
Students seeking to count an engineering elective course not listed must petition the CEE Undergraduate Curriculum Committee by emailing the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Degree Progress, requesting confirmation that the course will satisfy ABET requirements. Some CEE courses (CEE 31, 102W, 151) do not satisfy ABET requirements.
To satisfy ABET criteria, students MUST choose at least TWO of the following 4 classes: CEE 101A, 101B, 101C, and 101D. CEE 101A, 101B, and/or 101C will count as Focus Area Electives. CEE 101D may count either as a Focus Area Elective, or as a Required Core Course (replacing CS 106A).
The first step towards professional licensing is the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam. To prepare for a career as a practicing civil or environmental engineer, your elective choices should prepare you for at least one of these choices of FE exam:
Civil FE: CEE 101A, 101C, 180, 182
Environmental FE: CEE 101B, 166B, 172, 174B, 177 (or 170)
General FE: Physics 43, CEE 101A, 101B; ENGR 15 (which may count under Other Electives)
If you are aiming to apply to a CEE coterm program, your elective choices should include, at minimum:
Atmosphere/Energy: CEE 64, 107A
Environmental Engineering: CEE 101B, 177 (or 170)
Structural Engineering & Mechanics: CEE 101A, 101C, 180, 182
SDC (Sustainable Design & Construction) – Energy: CEE 120A, 156, 176A
SDC – Management or SDC – Structures: CEE 101A, 101C, 180
SDC – Urban Systems: CEE 120A, 141A, 155
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The capstone course must be at least 3 units.
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The Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Program involves an in-depth research study in an area proposed to and agreed to by a Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty adviser and completion of a thesis of high quality.
A written proposal for the research to be undertaken must be submitted and approved by the faculty advisor in the fourth quarter prior to graduation. At the time of application, the student must have an overall grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.3 for course work at Stanford; this GPA must be maintained to graduation.
The written thesis must be approved by the thesis adviser.
Students are encouraged to present their results in a seminar for faculty and students.
The thesis is supervised by a CEE faculty adviser and must involve input from the School of Engineering’s Technical Communication Program (Huang 049) by means of ENGR 202S: Directed Writing Projects or its equivalent.
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Up to 10 units of CEE 199H Undergraduate Honors Thesis may be taken to support the research and writing (not to duplicate ENGR 202S).
These units are beyond the normal Civil Engineering or Environmental Systems Engineering major program requirements.
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