• Civil Infrastructure
  • Research
    • Structural Engineering
    • Civil Infrastructure Systems
    • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Faculty
  • Laboratories
    • Bovay Laboratory Complex
    • Mogami Geotechnical Laboratory
  • Environment
  • Systems and Management

Civil Infrastructure

Great dams, bridges, highways, levees, and skyscrapers are the most outstanding and widely recognized examples of civil engineering applied to civil infrastructure. The design, construction, and renewal of such vital assets comprise the classical context of the field of civil infrastructure.

However, it is important to realize also that Civil Engineers, classically trained in civil infrastructure engineering disciplines, have been critical players in such non-traditional application domains as the design of: the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), the Sea Wolf fast attack submarine, the Arecibo radio telescope (http://www.naic.edu/), the Boeing 787, just to name a few.

Civil engineers educated in the fundamentals of structural and geotechnical engineering, engineering mechanics, physics, and mathematics are able to make enormous impacts on society through the classical practice of Civil Engineering, as well as practice in the arena of non-traditional applications.

Cornell is very proud of it rich history related to civil infrastructure engineering. Cornell graduates have been extremely successful in their careers as a result of the rigorous education, emphasizing the fundamentals of structural and geotechnical engineering, that they have received in our School. It is no surprise, then, that many of our graduates have gone on to pioneering roles in the traditional domains of civil infrastructure engineering, and equally importantly, to non-traditional application domains such aerospace, naval, and bio-mechanical themes.

Testing the design efficiency (strength to weight ratio) with the Forney tester in ENGRI 116, Modern Structural Systems and Materials.