Welcome to the graduate program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University! Thank you for choosing our department for your graduate studies. You are part of an exciting program that is producing top-quality graduates and innovative research. We hope that you will find this handbook helpful as you navigate through the program. If you are a new graduate student, please complete the following as soon as you can:
We wish you success in your graduate program. Based on observations of many students, the successful graduate student demonstrates most, if not all, of the following characteristics:
- Has a positive attitude about the Department, courses, and research activities.
- Shows respect and courtesy to departmental staff, fellow students, faculty, research sponsors, and collaborators.
- Takes an interest in the work of fellow students.
- Demonstrates a sense of responsibility about the CEE graduate program and attends events, seminars, and social activities to build a sense of collegiality and pride.
- Takes an interest in improving all aspects of their surroundings by helping keep work areas, labs, and other space clean and neat.
- Shows a sincere desire to learn.
- Develops awareness of research literature by seeking out, reading, sharing articles and discussing papers with their adviser, faculty, and fellow students.
- Is proactive in managing course and research tasks and meeting deadlines—does not wait for direction but pursues ideas independently and efficiently.
- Learns to communicate efficiently and takes notes when meeting with their adviser and at research meetings.
Please note that this handbook is intended as a quick reference tool for graduate students in the CEE Department and is not meant to provide comprehensive information on University policy. The PSU Bulletin provides more comprehensive information, as does the Graduate School, which oversees all graduate programs at PSU.
Click on the links below to go to specific sections of the CEE Graduate Handbook.