Major Mondays: Civil Engineering
The Sonny Astani department of Civil & Environmental Engineering within the USC Viterbi School of Engineering is home to the Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. The civil engineering program provides students the opportunity to pursue one of five different tracks: Building Science, Structural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management, and Water Resource Engineering. If a student wants to keep their Civil Engineering major as broad as possible, they can also opt-in for the General Track. This major is open to first-year and transfer students.
Overview: If you ever stepped into a building, driven on a freeway or bridge, or turned on your faucet to drink water, then you have been exposed to the work that a civil engineer is responsible for creating. Civil engineers design, uphold, and enhance our civil infrastructures to not only sustain, but improve the quality of life of society (CEE Website).
Student Perspective:
Community in Viterbi: Kenda Finch shares her experience after graduating with a Civil Engineering (Environmental Engineering) degree in 2021. She says, “I enjoyed being in a small program because I really formed bonds with my classmates; we really felt like a civil family at the end of it. My post-grad life has been good, I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do and having so many connections in my field already due to the closeness of my major, which has been incredibly helpful.”
Favorite Course: Finch shared that while she enjoyed all her courses that had a lab component, one of her favorites was “CE 467L: Geotechnical Engineering.” She says, “Geotech was my favorite because the professor made the topic really clear and it felt like it was the most applicable to a real job, which was actually the case. I use what I learned in that class a lot.”
Research: The ability for Viterbi to provide program and community centered around the theoretical and practical is shown through the countless research opportunities that the School offers.
Research within the Sonny Astani Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering focuses its research efforts within four areas: Sustainable Development, Water Quality, Access, and Distribution, Disasters and Extreme Events, and Coupling of Complex Systems (CEE Research).
The McCurry Lab studies the identification, formation, and remediation of chemical contaminants in engineered water sources, especially recycled wastewater. This lab uses tools from analytical and organic chemistry to characterize the formation and transformation pathways of these chemical contaminates. These pathways help to develop engineering solutions to water quality challenges for protection of public health, membrane process, and wastewater treatment and reuse (CEE Research Labs and Centers ).
Additional Application Requirements: If you are looking to apply to Civil Engineering (or any major in Viterbi), you will need to complete two additional short essay responses located directly on the Common Application. Once you select your major, the prompts will automatically appear.
Want to Learn More?
You can learn more about Civil Engineering at USC by checking out the resources below:
Viterbi Voices – you can check out their blog post and their podcast series
Follow Viterbi Student Ambassadors and Viterbi Admission on Instagram
Register for a virtual information session with USC Viterbi
Written by: Kevin Fregoso, Senior Assistant Director – USC Office of Admission