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Program in Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering and Computing
Florida International University, Miami, Florida
 Detailed InformationPrograms of StudyCivil engineering is the oldest of the engineering disciplines. It involves the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, highways, railways, airports, seaports, and other structures of modern society. Given the global need for rebuilding, maintaining, and further developing infrastructure, the demand for civil engineers has never been greater. Civil engineers can choose from a broad spectrum of career opportunities in industry, government, and private consulting. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU) is the prime resource for civil engineering education, training, research, and technology development in Florida.
The Master of Science degrees in civil engineering and environmental engineering–available in thesis or nonthesis programs–prepare students for the professional practice of engineering or the pursuit of a Ph.D. Students must complete a minimum of 30 graduate credits, including at least 12 credits of courses in the specialty area. The Ph.D. program in civil engineering prepares graduates for industrial or academic research in one or more of four areas of specialization: environmental engineering; structural, geotechnical, and construction engineering; transportation engineering; and water resources engineering. The Ph.D. requires a total of at least 90 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree or at least 60 hours beyond the master’s. These requirements include a minimum of 24 hours of dissertation.
The Department also offers the Graduate Certificate in Information Technology in Civil Engineering (ITCE), a set of carefully selected courses on computing and information technologies tailored to the needs of engineers in the fields of civil and environmental engineering, including structural, transportation, geotechnical, construction, and water resources engineering. This program helps professional engineers earn continuing education credits that are required to retain their registration. Research FacilitiesThe College of Engineering and Computing has numerous research institutes, centers, and laboratories that support its academic and research programs. The institutes include the AccessGrid Virtual Institute (AGVI), the Advanced Materials Research Institute (AMERI), the Institute for Technology Innovation (ITI), and the Telecommunications and Information Technology Institute (IT2).
The research centers include the Applied Research Center (ARC), the Center for Advanced Distributed System Engineering (CADSE), the Center for Advanced Technology and Education (CATE), the Center for the Study of Matter at Extreme Conditions (CeSMEC), the Center for Energy and Technology of the Americas (CETA), the Center of Emerging Technologies for Advanced Information and High-Confidence Systems (CREST), the Engineering Information Center (EIC), the Engineering Manufacturing Center (EMC), the High Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC), the Lehman Center for Transportation Research (LCTR), the IBM Latin American Supercomputing Consortium (LA GRID), and the Motorola Nanofabrication Research Facility.
Research laboratories include the Autonomic Computing Research Laboratory (ACRL), the Construction and Structures Research and Testing Laboratory, the Distributed Multimedia Information System Laboratory (DMIS), the Digital Signal Processing Laboratory (DSP), the Enterprise Information Systems Research Laboratory, the Enterprise Systems Engineering Laboratory (ESE), the Graphic Simulation Laboratory (GSL), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory, the Information Systems Research Laboratory, the Laboratory for Wind Engineering Research (LWER), the Multidisciplinary Analysis, Inverse Design, Robust Optimal Control Laboratory (MAIDROC), the Optical Imaging and Tomography Laboratory, the Plasma Forming Laboratory (PFL), and the Photonics Research Laboratory.
The Department has several laboratories that strongly support both teaching and research activities in such areas as indoor/outdoor air quality, water and soil quality, air pollution modeling, hydrology, environmental impact assessment, and hazardous and solid waste management. Research funding agencies have included the Everglades National Park, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Financial AidThe College of Engineering and Computing offers a variety of merit-based fellowships, assistantships, and scholarships to qualified domestic and international students. These awards are highly competitive, and the amounts vary depending on the type of the award. Additional financial aid information is available from the Financial Aid Office at http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/finaid. Cost of StudyFor the 2009–10 academic year, tuition is $340.68 per credit for Florida residents and $844.76 per credit for out-of-state and international students. Students pay an additional $170 per semester for student activity fees, a health fee, a photo ID, and parking. Books and supplies are estimated at $1200 per semester, and health insurance costs $1800 for two semesters. Living and Housing CostsGraduate student housing is available at University Park (305-348-4190) and the Biscayne Bay Campus (305-919-5587). On-campus housing ranges between $4900 and $6600 per semester, depending on the type of accommodation and meal plan selected. Additional information about on- and off-campus housing can be found through the Office of Housing and Residential Life Web site at http://www.fiu.edu/~housing. Student GroupThe College of Engineering and Computing has 892 graduate students, of whom 515 are full-time, 225 are women, and 431 are international students. LocationGreater Miami is noted for its cultural diversity. Greater Miami has extensive cultural amenities, such as the New World Symphony, the Florida Grand Opera, and the Miami City Ballet, in addition to a tropical climate. The area has franchises in all major sports, and the University has inaugurated intercollegiate football to round out its extensive sports offerings. Miami is a major transportation hub with easy air and sea connections throughout the Americas and Europe. The University and The CollegeFlorida International University (FIU) is Miami’s first public four-year university. With more than 39,000 students, almost 1,100 full-time faculty members, and 124,000 alumni, FIU is the largest university in South Florida and one of the most dynamic institutions in the United States. The University’s growth in enrollment and stature in the academic community are remarkable. In four decades, FIU has become nationally renowned as a doctoral-granting institution, with more than 200 degree programs. For the past five years, FIU was ranked among the top 100 public universities in U.S. News & World Report‘s “America’s Best Colleges,” and it is also is ranked as a Research University in the High Research Activity category of the Carnegie Foundation’s prestigious classification system. FIU recently graduated its first law class, and opened a medical school, attesting to the University’s growth and recognition.
The College of Engineering and Computing is South Florida’s leading engineering education resource. The College offers a full range of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in engineering, construction, management, and computer sciences. Research is an integral part of the College’s mission and its success, with more than $90 million in external research funding over the last five years from a variety of governmental and corporate sources. ApplyingApplicants for all programs should submit the completed application, the application fee, an official transcript from each accredited institution attended, three letters of recommendation (preferably from professors), proof of degree, and a curriculum vitae or resume. In addition, doctoral students should submit GRE scores. International students must also submit an evaluation of foreign academic credentials by an authorized agency and TOEFL scores. Completed applications and supporting documents should be received at least 120 days prior to the beginning of the academic session intended for enrollment. The Faculty and Their Research
- Girma Bitsuamlak, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Concordia, 2004. Wind engineering, finite elements analysis, structural analyses.
- Arindam Gan Chowdhury, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Iowa State. Design of structures subjected to high velocity hurricane-zone wind loads.
- Hector R. Fuentes, Professor; Ph.D., Vanderbilt, 1982; PE, DEE. Environmental and sanitary engineering; water resources and quality engineering; solid, hazardous, and radioactive waste engineering; green engineering and pollution prevention and control; environmental policy and legislation.
- Albert Gan, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Florida, 1996. Transportation information systems, traffic and transit operations, traffic simulation and control, highway safety, intelligent transportation systems.
- Mohammed Hadi, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Florida, 1990; PE. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) hardware and software, vehicle-infrastructure integration (VII), traffic control systems, freeway operations, simulation/dynamic traffic assignment, decision analysis, artificial intelligence, safety.
- Sylvan C. Jolibois Jr., Associate Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1993. Transportation technology, policy, planning, transportation and economic development at both the national and international levels.
- Shonali Laha, Associate Professor and Fellow, Honors College; Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon, 1992; PE. Physicochemical and microbial processes affecting fate of organic and inorganic contaminants in natural soil and water systems, hazardous-waste treatment technologies, environmental protection in developing countries.
- Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, Associate Professor; Ph.D., MIT, 1992; PE. Environmental and water resources engineering.
- Amir Mirmiran, Professor and Dean; Ph.D., Maryland, 1991; PE. Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites for infrastructure, concrete bridges, nondestructive testing of concrete and composites, nonlinear finite elements for concrete and composite structures, bridge engineering and software development.
- Luis A. Prieto-Portar, Professor; Ph.D., Princeton, 1972; PE. Geotechnical and construction engineering.
- Caesar Abi Shdid, Undergraduate Advisor and Director, Center for Technology Transfer and Training (CT3); Ph.D., Florida, 2004. Construction and structural engineering.
- L. David Shen, Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, and Director, Lehman Center for Transportation Research; Ph.D., Clemson, 1982; PE, TE. Guideway transit and transportation facility planning and design, with special emphasis on intermodal guideway public transit systems.
- Nakin Suksawang, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers. Development of live load distribution factors for girder bridges, effect of pozzolans and curing methods on the durability of concrete.
- Walter Z. Tang, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Delaware, 1993; PE. Environmental and water resources engineering, oxidation kinetics and mechanisms of chlorinated organic pollutants by Fenton’s reagent, molecular structure and reactivity correlations in photocatalytic oxidation of priority organic pollutants by Ti02, advanced oxidation processes for chemical warfare agents and explosive compounds.
- Berrin Tansel, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Center for Diversity in Engineering; Ph.D., Wisconsin–Madison, 1985; PE. Analysis of settling characteristics of colloidal particles by laser particle dynamics analyzer; microscopic characterization of flocculation and coagulation mechanisms of aromatic hydrocarbons with polyelectrolytes; binding mechanisms of fuel oils on polyelectrolyte, surfactant-enhanced coagulation for removing oil from water; formation and stability of haloacetonitriles in chlorinated water; dynamic aspects of metal speciation in Miami River sediments in relation to particle-size distribution and chemical heterogeneity.
- Ton-Lo Wang, Professor and Undergraduate Program Director; Ph.D., IIT, 1984. Railway- and highway-bridge vibration, impact, reliability, load distribution, fatigue-damage analyses.
- Fang Zhao, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director; Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon, 1991; PE. Geographic information systems for transportation travel demand modeling, public transit, transportation and land-use interactions, temporal geographic information systems, artificial intelligence.
Correspondence and InformationFlorida International University College of Engineering and Computing 10555 West Flagler Street, EC2430 Miami, Florida 33174-1630 Telephone:
305-348-1890 Fax:
305-348-6142
Email:
grad_eng@fiu.edu
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