Duke Graduate School

Programs of advanced course work and research are available within the two areas of inquiry within the department: materials, structures and geo-systems; and environmental engineering. Within the latter area two tracks of study exist: hydrology and environmental fluid dynamics; and environmental process engineering. Within these broad categories, particular areas of strength exist in: new computational paradigms and experimental dynamics for complex structural systems, including research on nonlinearity; environmental geomechanics and geophysics, including chemo-mechanical couplings; control in material and structural design, including mechatronics; micro- and nano-structured materials; deterministic and stochastic water resources and contaminant hydrology; energy/environment interactions; global and regional water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles; ocean-land-atmosphere interactions, including eco-hydrology and remote sensing of the environment; biological and chemical aspects of pollution and its remediation in water, air and soil, including the application and implications of nanomaterials in the environment and molecular biotechnology. Interdisciplinary research programs are a particular interest of our faculty, especially in the areas of structural control, chemo-mechanics, eco-hydrology, remote sensing. The department also supports new multi-disciplinary research thrusts in the area of energy and the environment . Well-equipped laboratories include the Computational Mechanics Laboratory, the Seismic Response Control Laboratory, and Environmental Engineering laboratories that house a wide range of instrumentation for studying physical, chemical, and biological phenomena. Intense cross-disciplinary collaboration as well as cross-listed course offerings with Duke Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences presents additional resources for graduate students in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Program.