Graduate programs

New Online Certificate: AI Engineering - Digital Twins & Analytics

Advance your career by bringing the value of AI-enabled digital twins into your workplace. This graduate-level program allows you to learn these leading-edge skills at your own pace.

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Join us at CEE, where innovation meets collaboration to shape the future of engineering. Our department stands at the forefront of cutting-edge research and education, offering a diverse range of focus areas to empower our students to become leaders in their fields.

Discover the possibilities within our graduate programs, where you’ll find a dynamic environment that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and real-world application. Our world-class faculty members are leaders in their fields, working across traditional boundaries to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges and dedicated to providing the support our students need. Consistently ranked among the U.S. News and World Report top programs in the country, CEE is your gateway to excellence in engineering education and research.

Focus areas

Any of our graudate degrees will have a specialzation in one of our primary focus areas:

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New course teaches students how to harness the potential of AI while addressing the challenges it presents for the energy system and broader climate mitigation efforts.

Presidential and graduate fellowships announced for 2024-2025 Opens in new window

College of Engineering students have been awarded fellowships for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Resilient re-designs for real-world problems

Graduate-level course teaches students to build solutions that are resilient to uncertain future conditions and conscious of the community and environment around them.

Mapping Alaska’s glaciers from above

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon, in collaboration with the National Park Service, use helicopter-borne ice penetrating radar surveys to assess the ice thickness and bedrock elevation of glaciers in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest national park in the U.S.

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Pandit joins elite cohort of GreenFin24 Emerging Leaders

Navishka Pandit (MS '22) has been selected as an emerging sustainable finance leader in North America through the competitive GreenFin24 Emerging Leaders Program, which supports BIPOC sustainability professionals dedicated to solving the climate crisis.

Two CEE students named Fulbright Scholars

Katie Hart and Ben Therrien have been awarded Fulbright scholarships for the 2024-25 cycle. Hart will pursue a master’s degree in environmental engineering and public policy in Germany, while Therrien will conduct research on agricultural nanotechnology across the European Union, focusing on risk communication and policy.

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Electrification of transit buses in the United States reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Sofia Martinez, a Ph.D. student in CEE, found that transitioning the entire U.S. transit bus fleet to battery electric buses would mitigate between 33% and 65% of existing bus emissions—even when accounting for the emissions associated with the electricity used to charge the buses and the impacts from manufacturing the batteries.

Akindele receives Fok Fellowship

Medinat Akindele, a CEE Ph.D. student, was recently awarded a Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship. Under the mentorship of Professor Peter Adams, Akindele is spearheading the development of accessible and globally applicable air quality models to evaluate the health ramifications of air pollution.

Londono awarded Miller Presidential Fellowship

Esteban Londono, a doctoral candidate, has recently earned the prestigious Ruth Furman Miller and David H. Miller Presidential Fellowship within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is currently applying his research to develop models for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in simulated wastewater data to facilitate early outbreak detection.

Kouskiya awarded Fok Presidential Fellowship

Uditnarayan Kouskiya, a Ph.D. candidate, has been awarded the Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship. Under the guidance of Professor Amit Acharya, Kouskiya is currently delving into the study of microscopic defects' motion within materials, with a keen focus on computational modeling of the equations dictating their movement by employing mathematical duality concepts.

Graff awarded K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship

CEE PhD student Lindsay Graff received the prestigious K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship for her research in optimizing mobility subsidies and network investments in multi-modal transportation. Her work aims to address inequities in transportation infrastructure, ensuring fair distribution and meeting the diverse needs of communities.

Freymiller awarded Eisenhower Fellowship

Kevin Freymiller, a CEE PhD student, has received the esteemed Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Under the mentorship of Professor Sean Qian, his research delves into the intricate relationship between energy and transportation systems, focusing on electric vehicle usage during morning commutes and aiming to develop strategic policies to alleviate the financial burdens of both systems, all while exploring the impact of solar energy.

Graff awarded Eisenhower Fellowship

CEE PhD student Lindsay Graff has been awarded the prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Currently pursuing her PhD under the guidance of professors Sean Qian and Katherine Flanigan, Graff's research focuses on optimizing mobility subsidies and network investments in multi-modal transportation networks, addressing the growing need for efficient and sustainable urban transportation solutions.

CEE student team shines at WEFTEC competition with innovative wastewater solution

The CMU CEE student team, featuring Labdhi Kagdi, Megan Johnston, Victoria Kurker, and Fiza Jalees, clinched 5th place at WEFTEC by swiftly tackling a wastewater challenge in just two months, showcasing exceptional innovation and problem-solving skills.

2023 Freeman Fellowship recognizes Marissa Webber for her exceptional PhD work

Marissa Webber, a current CEE PhD student, has been awarded the 2023 Freeman Fellowship for her outstanding work in climate change adaptation for urban infrastructure, with a focus on mitigating stormwater flooding, which highlights her dedication to sustainable solutions for urban areas.

Khadka awarded IPCC Scholarship

PhD student Mira Khadka has been awarded the IPCC Scholarship for her research on remote sensing and modeling of mountain glaciers. Her work involves leveraging cloud computing to analyze satellite data, leading to valuable insights into glacier melt patterns.

Examining inequities: how rising temperatures exacerbate vulnerability in elderly and low-income groups

Andrew Jones, a PhD student, uncovered how climate change hits harder on elderly and low-income families, leading to higher cooling costs as temperatures rise. His study emphasizes the importance of air solutions to help these groups manage the increasing financial strain caused by climate shifts.

Optimizing urban mobility: Graff assesses full cost of multimodal travel

PhD candidate Lindsay Graff's research delves into quantifying the comprehensive costs of multimodal travel, exploring beyond traditional fare expenses to include considerations of time, money, reliability, safety, and comfort.

Understanding climate change risks to water system reliability

PhD candidate Zia Lyle's research examines the impact of climate change on drinking water utility systems in the United States. Her study identifies varying levels of concern and preparedness across the country, highlighting the need for more comprehensive climate adaptation plans and directed guidance to address future climate hazards in the drinking water sector.

Deep space exploration: Hwang utilizes digital twins and fault diagnosis for NASA research

PhD student Min Hwang is using digital twins to develop fault diagnosis and response systems for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) in space missions. Hwang's research for NASA looks to quickly identify and address faults, potentially saving lives during deep space exploration.

Martinez awarded prestigious DOT Fellowship

Ph.D. candidate Sofia Martinez has been awarded the prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Co-advised by professors Costa Samaras and Corey Harper, she is focused on the electrification of the U.S. public transportation sector to reduce carbon emissions.

Güner awarded 2023 CMLH Fellowship in Digital Health Innovation

PhD candidate Hatice Gökçen Güner was recently awarded the 2023 Fellowship in Digital Health Innovation from the Center for Machine Learning and Health (CMLH) at the School of Computer Science. Advised by Professors Kaushik Dayal (CEE) and Alexandra Ion (SCS/HCII), Güner’s research focuses on optimizing soft material designs to achieve desired mechanical behaviors for applications in soft robots and energy-absorbing prosthetics.

Advancing equity and sustainability: Jordan Joseph as a GEM Consortium Fellow

Jordan Joseph became an Associate Fellow of The National GEM Consortium in 2020, a program dedicated to increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in graduate engineering and science studies. Joseph's research centers on pathways for residential decarbonization and their impact on vulnerable communities.

Ghosh awarded A&WMA Scholarship

PhD candidate Pratapaditya Ghosh has been awarded the Air Quality Research and Study scholarship from the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA). Advised by Professor Hamish Gordon, Ghosh's research looks to understand how aerosol particles activate to form fog and cloud droplets.

Asch awarded National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

CEE Ph.D. student Noah Asch has been granted the 2023 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award by the US Department of Defense.

Xing awarded Robert E. Uhrig Graduate Scholarship

Jinding Xing, a Ph.D. candidate in CEE, has been awarded the prestigious Robert E. Uhrig Graduate Scholarship by the Human Factors, Instrumentation, and Controls Division (HFICD) of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

Frederick's UN internship focused on preservation, sustainability

Frederick’s main internship responsibility was maintaining and planning restorations for all of the artwork located across the U.N. campus—both inside of buildings and outdoors. The U.N.’s 300+ pieces include works by famous artists as well as historical artifacts such as moon rocks.

Kulkarni and Karve marry education, life at CEE

Kulkarni and Karve chose to attend CEE because they knew it would provide an education that went beyond classroom learning. CEE’s rigorous professional preparation, hands-on training, and mentorship have allowed to couple to grow and create innovative solutions to problems—especially those involving data science, AI applications, and cutting-edge infrastructure technologies.

Li spins success in engineering, table tennis

“If you want to improve your game, you must work very hard on the drills and strokes and repeat the basic training many, many times. That is also the mindset used when I try to solve a hard engineering problem,” Li says.

DEI Hackathon challenges students to develop solutions

In all, 33 students signed up for the Hackathon, including eight undergrad and three graduate teams. Their projects tackled issues that included creating plans for bridge construction to connect communities, diverting CSO through green infrastructure projects, building early education STEM curriculums for nearby elementary and middle schools, and introducing plans for annual CEE igloo building competitions.

Kagdi named HECC Fellow

Kagdi is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and received her BE in Environmental Engineering from Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering, India. She is currently being advised by Professor Greg Lowry.

Wells named Steinbrenner Institute and Heinz Presidential Fellow

His research investigates how glaciers in Alaska are responding to climate change by developing robust approaches rooted in field measurements to improve large-scale systematic remote sensing and modeled data products of glaciers.

Rodrigues and Samaras suggest drones for efficient last-mile deliveries

Rodrigues concluded that for last-mile deliveries, adopting quadcopter drones for small package deliveries could result in substantial energy savings while lessening greenhouse gas emissions.

Choi awarded Smith Graduate Fellowship

Choi has developed probabilistic models to describe near-surface temperature to assess the heat-induced risk of an urban area.

Guarda awarded TCS Presidential Fellowship

Currently Guarda is working with professor Sean Qian where his research is bridging travel behavior and transportation network models with modern data-driven approaches and machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques.

Naghibzadeh awarded Bushnell Fellowship

Naghibzadeh’s research focuses on multi-scale mathematical and computational modeling of the growth and evolution of materials. The phenomena of interest are electrode-electrolyte interface evolution in electrochemical devices, material accretion in additive manufacturing, microstructure evolution in polycrystalline materials, and solidification of water in glaciers.

Lee awarded Miller Presidential Fellowship

Currently Lee is working with professor Costa Samaras where she is focused on leveraging real-time vehicle data to improve analysis of accessibility and reliability of public transportation systems.

Lyle awarded Fok Presidential Fellowship

Lyle is assessing climate risk to water distribution systems, including quantifying changes to infrastructure reliability, analyzing effects on water utility operations and finances, and developing general climate adaptation strategies.

Xiong awarded Smith Graduate Fellowship

Xiong's research focuses on developing intelligent human-automation collaboration for supporting reliable and adaptive civil infrastructure management systems, such as buildings, bridges, and air traffic systems.

Wang awarded Liang Ji-Dan Fellowship

This fellowship is created to honor Liang Ji-Dang, a Chinese classic scholar. Liang devoted himself to education and he always stressed the importance of retaining the fundamentals of Chinese culture but at the same time diligently pursuing the best of Western science and technology.

Dildine/Pindine's paper predicts benefits of phosphorous recovery

Dildine says that he hopes his research will motivate investment in wastewater remediation because it effectively demonstrates the benefits of phosphorus recovery in a way that’s easily understandable.

Ariss awarded Ellegood Fellowship

Ariss’ research looks to identify opportunities to improve controls and planning decisions that are complicated by interdependencies between civil systems.

Karimi awarded Dowd Fellowship

The Philip and Marsha Dowd Engineering Seed Fund is intended to provide support for graduate students proposing work on cutting edge research projects.

Saudi awarded D'Appolonia Fellowship

Dr. D'Appolonia helped to define and develop the multidisciplinary, creative nature of civil and environmental engineering at CMU.

Joseph awarded Cohon Graduate Fellowship

Joseph researches pathways for residential decarbonization and their impacts on vulnerable communities.

Hakimzadeh named Steinbrenner Institute Fellow

The Ph.D. student will work on interdisciplinary projects that relate back to environmental research.

Li discusses role of fin structures in heat transfer

Li, a Ph.D. student in the department, says that his research will have potential applications in nanoscale energy storage and conversion.

Ariss looks at environmental impacts of electric delivery fleets

Ariss, a Ph.D. candidate, believes his research will contribute to the ongoing narrative of whether electric fleets can be cost competitive with traditional fleets.

Drone package delivery study published by Scientific Data

Researchers Rodrigues and Samaras believe that the study will advance the physical understanding of in-flight operations for package delivery drones.

Congratulations to our graduate student CEE Commencement Award winners

Seven grad students received the honors.

Ibekwe awarded David A. Long Scholarship

Ibekwe will use the award to continue her research in evaluating the dynamic between climate change and water quality.

Shi awarded Smith Graduate Fellowship

Ph.D. candidate Ying Shi received the award in support of her research on how falsified or missing data mislead multiple levels of bridge inspection and maintenance planning.

Li awarded Bushnell Fellowship

Ph.D. candidate Yuanhao Li received the fellowship for his research on topics like understanding nanoscale fluid flow and heat transfer physics.

Lai builds location-specific climate forecasting tools for engineers

Yuchuan Lai recently completed his Ph.D. studies and published his second paper, co-written with his advisor Professor Dave Dzombak.

Ken-Opurum awarded Business Case Award

Ken-Opurum was enlisted to develop a decision support tool for assigning monetary values to the benefits of resilient design practices.

Jones named Steinbrenner Institute and Heinz Presidential Fellow

Jones is a dual degree Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Engineering and Public Policy (EPP).

LoGrande named DoD SMART Scholar

The program was created to enhance the DoD workforce with “talented, innovative and brilliant scientists, engineers and researchers,” according to the program website. Awardees spend summers in paid internships working for the DoD inside labs and agencies of the Army, Navy, or Air Force.

Wang awarded Smith Fellowship

Ph.D. candidate Yanyu Wang has been awarded the Bradford and Diane Smith Graduate Fellowship.

Martinez awarded Fok Presidential Fellowship

Through a generous gift from the Fok estate, the department was endowed with fellowship and scholarship funds to support CEE students.

Wei awarded the Liang Ji-Dian Graduate Fellowship

This fellowship was created through the generosity of Liang Ji-Dian and it was established to help support the graduate studies of highly deserving CIT PhD students of Chinese heritage.

Sainarayanan awarded the Parnika ACS Legacy Fellowship

This fellowship was created through the generosity of Parnika ACS Legacy and it was established to help support the graduate studies of highly deserving CIT Master’s students whose primary residence is in India.

Ibekwe awarded Miller Presidential Fellowship

This award was made possible through a generous gift in 2016 from the estate of Ruth Furman Miller.

Katti awarded Miller Presidential Fellowship

This award was made possible through a generous gift in 2016 from the estate of Ruth Furman Miller.

Modeling excellence, Chatterjee brings skills and collaboration to engineering solutions

As a project environmental engineer, Chatterjee’s work involves using high-resolution tools and creating three-dimensional conceptual site models, using geology, hydrogeology and groundwater contamination data.