Message from the Chair
Welcome to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Rice University. Civil and environmental engineering represents the oldest of the 16 major recognized "disciplines" of engineering. In fact, the first documented engineer was a civil engineer named Imhotep, who built a famous stepped pyramid in Egypt around 2550 BC. Environmental engineers were also active near 2000 BC, as reflected in Sanskrit writings in India that tell how to purify water by boiling, exposing to sunlight, filtering through charcoal, and cooling in an earthen vessel. This brief history reflects two important points. First, civil and environmental engineers make some of the most important contributions to society. For example, we are largely responsible for increasing the life expectancy of Americans from 47 years in 1900 to 76 years in 1999. This was accomplished largely by providing the infrastructure and processes needed to treat and distribute potable water, which is arguably the most important engineering contribution to society in the 20th century. The second point is that we continue to be an umbrella group comprised of many related specialties that contribute to sustainability.
The disciplines of civil and environmental engineering are very broad, addressing just about any system or infrastructure that relates to earth, water, air or civilization and their processes. While we have expertise in most of these subjects, our department emphasizes quality over quantity, and provides four undergraduate education foci: (1) Environmental engineering, (2) Hydrology and water resources, (3) Structural engineering and mechanics, and (4) Urban infrastructure and management.
CEE at Rice is about connections, about building bridges—both figuratively and literally—. So where do our students build bridges? A few Rice undergraduate students in Engineers Without Borders (EWB) are currently building a bridge across a gorge in a small town in Nicaragua. The students have surveyed the entire project site and are now in the process of designing a bridge to span the gorge and allow for pedestrian travel during the rainy season. Many of our graduate students are building bridges into the future, using nanotechnology and biotechnology to create high-performance and cost-effective water treatment systems and create the information needed to ensure that emerging technologies evolve in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. Whereas our research and educational activities are quite diverse, they are joined by two common threads. First, we work on challenging and timely problems that are important to society. Secondly, we strive to contribute to the sustainability of urban systems that are challenged by radical change and/or extreme events, as well as towards reaching a balance between economic, environmental and social interests.
If you are considering joining our department, you should know that we provide a rigorous, coherent curriculum that enables students to gain a strong understanding of biological, physical, economic and social systems that affect engineering research and practice. To prepare students for an increasingly global workplace, we also provide opportunities for international service learning experiences focusing on complex engineering problems that occur in diverse cultural and social situations. Our curriculum is also strong in opportunities to improve students’ written, oral, visual, and interpersonal communication strategies and skills, especially in collaboration and teamwork. The strengthening of such leadership characteristics together with the integration of educational and leading-edge research in a beautiful and intellectually stimulating campus makes our department a very special educational and fun experience. I hope that you consider joining us and look forward to seeing you in some of our classes in the years ahead.
Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Ph.D., P.E., DEE., F.ASCE.
