What is Civil Engineering?
U.S. Department of Labor – http://www.bls.gov Civil engineers design and supervise the construction of roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and water supply and sewage systems. Civil engineering, considered one of the oldest engineering disciplines, encompasses many specialties. The major specialties within civil engineering are structural, water resources, environmental, construction, transportation, and geotechnical engineering. Engineers use computers to produce and analyze designs; to simulate and test how a machine, structure, or system operates; and to generate specifications for parts. New communications technologies using computers are changing the way engineers work on designs. Engineers can collaborate on designs with other engineers around the country or even abroad, using the Internet or related communications systems. Many engineers also use computers to monitor product quality and control process efficiency. They spend a great deal of time writing reports a
U.S. Department of Labor – http://www.bls.gov Civil engineers design and supervise the construction of roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and water supply and sewage systems. Civil engineering, considered one of the oldest engineering disciplines, encompasses many specialties. The major specialties within civil engineering are structural, water resources, environmental, construction, transportation, and geotechnical engineering. Engineers use computers to produce and analyze designs; to simulate and test how a machine, structure, or system operates; and to generate specifications for parts.
Civil engineering covers a broad range of engineering disciplines, and a civil engineer may choose to work in a private practice, in a public practice, or within the academic department to conduct research in civil engineering. A civil engineer who works in a private practice is usually involved with planning, designing, and construction of physical facilities used in the public sector. Civil and construction engineering employees who work in a public practice are often involved in city or regional planning. This often includes the layout and construction of highways, pipelines, and other industrial elements within a citys plans. A civil engineer who works in academia is involved with teaching the fundamentals of civil engineering, and this may take place at the graduate or doctorate level. Research in this area is commonly used to make advances in the fields of civil and construction engineering, and helps with both city planning and regional developments.
Civil engineering is just one of many types of engineering, which includes chemical, computer/software, mechanical, electrical, agricultural, aerospace, biomedical/bioengineering, mining, systems, engineering management, nuclear, and industrial. Unlike other forms of engineering, civil engineering deals with the practical aspects of everyday life. Because there are a range of design and technology issues within the civil field, programs of study in civil engineering tend to incorporate information from other areas to develop engineering solutions. In this sense, programs of study in civil engineering tend to be more comprehensive than those of other engineering fields. As defined by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), “Civil engineering is about community service, development, and improvement. It involves the conception, planning, design, construction, and operation of facilities essential to modern life, ranging from transit systems to offshore structures to space satellit
