Department Overview

Chair's Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering (CECE) at Texas Tech University.
The CECE department has played an important role in the evolution of the Whitacre College of Engineering and Texas Tech University and will continue to be a leader in the delivery of the highest quality engineering education and conducting national and international research that improves civilization. As a faculty member in the department for over 25 years, I personally know the profound impact the department has had on both the lives and careers of our graduates as well as the impact its research has made.
The department consists of three programs and multiple focus areas. We offer ABET accredited degrees in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering as well as master's and doctoral degrees in Civil Engineering with focuses on the areas of structures, geotechnical, materials, transportation, construction, water resources, and environmental engineering. In addition, the department is one of only a handful nationwide and one of the first to offer a direct freshman to masters ABET accredited environmental engineering degree (MENVE). Members of the department also founded the Wind Engineering and Science program, in which students may obtain a doctorate. We are excited to offer an increasing number of graduate courses on-line to enable professionals and non-traditional students to obtain advanced degrees while continuing to practice.
For in residence students, we are proud to support multiple student organizations including the student chapters of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Association of General Contractors, and Texas Water Environment Federation, as well as the Chi Epsilon honor society. Students in our program also participate in other interdepartmental organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, and Engineers with Borders.
Research conducted in the department includes all traditional focus areas as well as cutting edge research in many areas. Examples include: 1) natural hazards engineering that tackles problems such as performance-based design of high-rise-buildings and long-span-bridges for extreme winds; multi-hazard sustainability (earthquake engineering, climate change, and probabilistic sea-level rise hazard analysis); 2) physical-digital models and large scale statistical learning applications in water resources; 3) cutting-edge lidar application in infrastructure-based traffic and pedestrian detection to assist all-user-in-the-loop, cooperative driving automation; 4) bioinspired molecular based adsorbents and custom nano-materials for water purification, fate of PFAS (forever chemicals), and biological recovery of nutrients for fertilizer production; and 5) innovative materials for infrastructure construction and repairs, to list only a few.
The department has recently expanded hiring multiple new faculty, which has further broadened the research conducted and our ability to address the upcoming societal challenges. Other recent changes include the completion of a $2 million renovation to our undergraduate lab spaces and equipment. I invite you to look through our website and discover the impact of the education, research, and outreach efforts of the department.
My goal as chair is to continue the tradition of educational excellence and research while broadening the department’s educational opportunities and increasing the impact of its research. I welcome your input and encourage you to reach out and be a part of the exciting activities in the department.

Undergraduate Programs

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Graduate Programs

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Get Involved

The Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering at Texas Tech hosts five major student organizations, each offering unique opportunities for professional development, community engagement, and academic support within the field.