CEE-PHD - Civil and Environmental Engineering (PhD)

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Stanford conducts fundamental and applied research to advance the civil and environmental engineering professions, educate future academic and industry leaders, and prepare students for careers in professional practice. Civil and environmental engineers work to protect and sustain the natural environment while creating and maintaining a resilient, sustainable built environment. Civil and environmental engineers are essential to providing the necessities of human life, including water, air, shelter, the infrastructure, and energy, in increasingly more efficient and renewable ways.

Research and teaching in the department focus on the theme of engineering for sustainability, including three core areas: built environment, environmental and water studies, and atmosphere/energy. In the area of sustainable built environments, the focus is on processes, techniques, materials, and monitoring technologies for planning, design, construction and operation of environmentally sensitive, economically efficient, performance-based buildings and infrastructure, and managing associated risks from natural and man-made hazards. In the area of environmental and water studies, the focus is on creating plans, policies, science-based assessment models and engineered systems to manage water in ways that protect human health, promote human welfare, and provide freshwater and coastal ecosystem services. In the atmosphere/energy area, research and teaching focus on fundamental energy and atmospheric engineering and science, assessment of energy-use effects on atmospheric processes and air quality, and analysis and design energy-efficient generation and use systems with minimal environmental impact.

Faculty advisers serve as intellectual and professional mentors to their graduate students. They are expected to provide knowledgeable support concerning policies for graduate studies, help prepare their students to be competitive for employment, maintain a high level of professionalism, and establish expectations concerning adviser/advisee relationship consistent with University and department standards. General University policies on advising and the conduct of research can be found at VPGE's Advising and Mentoring website.

It is important to distinguish between master's and doctoral advising. Master's students are assigned academic program advisers randomly, unless they explicitly request a specific faculty to advise them. The process by which a master's student can change advisers is flexible and can be done without any paperwork, provided that the change of adviser is made within the same program. The student, however, is expected to inform their old and new academic advisers, as well as the department's students services office, of such a change. Doctoral students, on the other hand, are expected to be advised by the faculty who admitted them throughout the duration of their doctoral studies. Any change in adviser requires a formal admit letter from the new adviser that includes an explicit commitment to support the student financially throughout the duration of their doctoral studies.

Doctoral students and their faculty advisers are expected to discuss and agree on how regular meetings will be set up within a day or two of the student's start as a Ph.D. student. The discussion should include meeting frequency and deliverables associated with any of those meetings. They should discuss and agree on how the degree progress will be monitored, for example, through a department annual review process or regular meetings with adviser and thesis committees. They should also discuss all the requirements of the Ph.D. degree, including expectations for the General Qualifying Examination, how and when to select and convene the dissertation reading or thesis committee, when and how to decide when a student is ready to graduate, and when to take the University Oral Examination.

For a statement of University policy on graduate advising, see the Graduate Advising section of this bulletin.

The Ph.D. is offered under the general regulations of the University as set forth in the Graduate Degrees section of this bulletin. This degree is recommended for those who expect to engage in a professional career in research, teaching, or technical work of an advanced nature.