Engineering360 will turn the spotlight on a career under the engineering umbrella, breaking down information about what the job entails, its immediate outlook as well as other factors such as professional associations and educational requirements for a new ongoing series.

This month, the Engineering360 spotlight will shine on the civil engineer.

Anyone contemplating work as a civil engineer must first understand what a civil engineer is.

Who are they?

Generally, civil engineers deal in the design, maintenance and construction of public and private works, including bridges, roads, canals, subway systems, airports, sewage systems, buildings, railways and pipelines. They are often engaged in the design and maintenance of these and similar structures.

What do they do?

In addition to conceptualizing, designing, building and maintaining structures, civil engineers are responsible for a host of other tasks including analyzing plans and designs, budgeting, adhering to government regulations, ensuring that environmental hazards are avoided, compiling applications for permits, conducting soil testing to determine foundation strength before construction and conducting tests on building materials and their impact on the surrounding environment. These represent a fraction of the tasks handled by civil engineers.

Where do they work?

In addition to designing and maintaining the built environment, civil engineers can be found working in various disciplines under the engineering umbrella including designing jetliners and space stations in the aerospace industry and improving the crashworthiness of vehicle bumpers and doors or improving the load-carrying capacity of a chassis in the automotive industry. They can also be found in the maritime industry, the power and energy industry, the construction industry and any other industry that deals with constructed facilities. Similarly, civil engineers can be found working for both local and federal governments and municipalities.

When they are not in the office working on, for instance, the designs for a new bridge or high-rise building, civil engineers can often be found in the field at construction sites. This is usually in an effort to monitor site operations and to solve onsite problems.

How do they do it?

Civil engineers typically earn a four-year degree in civil engineering, completing coursework in subjects such as math, statistics, engineering mechanics and systems and fluid dynamics. While civil engineers are generally required to earn their bachelor’s degree, they are also encouraged to go on and earn a masters and, sometimes, a Ph.D.

Where do they earn their degrees?

According to the website, TopUniversities.com, the ten best universities for earning a degree in civil engineering, according to 2018 data, are:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
3. Stanford University
4. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
6. University of Texas at Austin
7. Purdue University
8. University of Michigan
9. Texas A&M University
10. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

What do they earn?

The median annual rate of pay for civil engineers in May 2018 was roughly $86,640. That amounts to roughly $41.65 an hour.

Where can they be found?

Once they have earned their degrees (either Ph.D, master’s or bachelor’s), civil engineers are encouraged to earn a professional engineer's (PE) license. Each state administers its own licensing program; the American Society of Civil Engineers' website has links to state and some foreign licensing entities. Although not absolutely required, licensing will likely make a civil engineer more competitive on the job market. In the event that a civil engineer provides services to the public, licensing is strongly encouraged and requirements will vary from state to state.

Another factor that can set civil engineers apart from other civil engineers is becoming a member of a professional civil engineering society. Examples of some of those societies include:

• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• Earthquake Engineers Research Institute (EERI)
• United States Society of Dams (USSD)
• American Concrete Institute (ACI)
• American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
• ASM International
• International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)

Job outlook

According to the latest stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth in civil engineering is poised to grow 11% between 2016 and 2026, which is faster than the expected average for other occupations. This will be due to an aging infrastructure and the need for civil engineers to manage projects that require rebuilding, repairing or upgrading structures such as bridges, levees, roads, airports, dams, buildings and a variety of other structures.

Civil engineers in the news

Erin Bell, associate professor of civil engineering and principal investigator of the Living Bridge Project, along with other University of New Hampshire (UNH) engineers, has transformed a busy vertical-lift bridge, dubbed the “living bridge” into a living laboratory that collects and communicates information about bridge health, as well as the health of the surrounding environment.