Graduate Program FAQs

Students can be admitted into the Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate program without having an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering. These students are usually admitted under provisional status, given that they do not have a background within the intended field of graduate study. Applicants admitted under provisional status must meet specific criteria. Generally, this criteria includes the completion of undergraduate civil engineering coursework, stated at the time of admission. Provisional admission can be changed to regular graduate student status once all requirements have been fulfilled.

Students should contact faculty members in their area of interest to determine what coursework would be required based on their individual background.

CEE does not waive application fees. Applications are not processed until the application fee has been received.

The GRE is not required for admission. However, individual faculty members may request GRE scores for funding decisions. 

TOEFL/IELTS (and/or) Duolingo official test scores are required. 

Minimum TOEFL scores

If you have a special circumstance (i.e., come from an english speaking country) you may submit a test waiver request form through the UNH Graduate School.  https://gradschool.unh.edu/academics/forms-policies

In lieu, of your test score, you may be asked to provide a 2 minute video explaining your interest in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program.

There is no minimum GPA requirement. 

 

Please Note: The Pre-Application is currently NOT required by the department.

Full applications are submitted online through the UNH Graduate School.https://gradschool.unh.edu/admissions/apply 

Once all your application materials have been received by the graduate school, your application is forwarded to the department for review. The department facuty will review your application and make a recommendation on admission to the graduate school. The graduate school makes the final decision and notifies the applicant.

UNH Graduate School

You may check the current status of your application materials online.  If you have questions regarding status once the application is under review by the department, contact the department: CEE.Graduate@unh.edu  Please allow 2- 3 weeks for department review. 

* Please note: more time may be required for department review, due to the increase of applications
 

Typically, applications take 2-3 weeks for review in the department.  Additional time may be needed at this time due to the increase of applications the department has been receiving.

We appreciate your patience.

Funding is determined by the faculty of the department. It is recommended you reach out directly to the faculty in your area of study. Please refer to our faculty page on our website.

The deadline for full financial aid consideration for applicants applying for the Fall semester is February 15th. Students applying for the Spring semester should have their applications completed by October 15th for full financial aid consideration.

 

Teaching Assistant (TA) assignments are made by faculty groups and Research Assistantships are offered by individual faculty members. Therefore, if you want to be considered for financial aid, you are strongly encouraged to contact faculty members in your area of interest. 

The number of teaching assistant (TA) and research assistant (RA) positions varies from year to year, as does the number of applicants, so there is not a fixed percentage of students that are funded every year. 

You should contact the faculty members in your area of interest as you are in the process of applying. 

 

Please do not forward documents to the department, these should be included with your application. The department can not review and make a decision from your emailed documents.

Official transcripts and test scores are required.

Areas of study in Civil & Environmental Engineering

 

Structures - Structural engineering research at UNH ranges from Structural Health Monitoring of in-service bridges to Performance–based Structural Design, Earthquake Engineering, Structural Dynamics and Structural Risk Assessment of buildings and spent fuel transportation casks. With a state-of-the-art uniaxial shake table with a 1-ton payload capacity, a 110-kip fatigue-rated actuator mounted in structural testing frame, the structural laboratory facilities allow for a broad range of experimental research. The Structures group also performs field work using a wide range of sensors and data collection tools including wireless accelerometers, high-speed, high-resolution cameras for digital image correlation as well as traditional strain transducers and tiltmeters.

Materials - Materials research at UNH focuses on asphalt and portland cement concrete pavements, specifically with material characterization and testing in the laboratory. The Materials group performs work with recycled materials, including reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and recycled portland cement concrete. These include laboratory performance evaluation as well as performance of pavements in service. Research opportunities include: Asphalt concrete characterization and modeling, Portland cement concrete, Pavement performance and modeling, Infrastructure resiliency to climate change and extreme events.

Geotechnical - The Geotechnical Engineering Program at UNH offer a variety of courses and research areas from field to laboratory testing and from numerical to physical modeling. Exceptional equipment and facilities provide unique opportunities for learning and research for undergraduate and graduate students. Research opportunities include: Static and Dynamic laboratory characterization of soils and geo-materials, In situ measurements and applications, Centrifuge physical modelling of geotechnical systems, Smart Sensors, Geo-environmental Engineering. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Landslide hazard prediction and mitigation techniques, Unsaturated Soils, Soil-Structure Interaction.

Environmental - There are diverse research opportunities in the environmental engineering area at UNH. Three major areas are drinking water treatment, sustainability science and engineering for coastal and natural system pollution assessment and remediation. Drinking water treatment includes processes targeted for small and developing communities, slow sand, gravel roughing, riverbank, diatomaceous earth and membrane filtration systems, photolysis and advanced oxidation processes as a total water solution. Within sustainability science and engineering, current research focuses on infrastructure optimization (particularly for renewable and distributed technologies for water and energy), and interdisciplinary social-ecological-technological system analysis and decision support. In natural and coastal systems, research focuses on oil spill response strategies and contaminated sediment management in rivers, harbors, estuaries and in dam removal projects. 

Water Resources - The Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering group focuses efforts on field monitoring of systems and their representation in numerical and/or spatial models. Research lins span a spectrum from fudamental hydrologic processes to watershed-scale issues. Research opportunities include; hydrologic analysis using remote sensing, watershed responses to future climate change scenarios, flood modeling, snow hydrology, climate change and water resources, decision-making in water resources, stormwater management, stream restoration, and living shorelines.

**We DO NOT offer Construction or Construction Management

The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) should be contacted if you have any questions regarding your J1 visa, forms or required paperwork.

 https://www.unh.edu/global/international-students

If you wish to defer email, grad.school@unh.edu with the new term that you would like to defer your application for. After your application is deferred, it will be sent back to the department for another review.