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About Civil Engineering

In the Department of Civil Engineering, we are developing tomorrow’s infrastructure. We support robust research programs in the areas of geotechnical, water resources, environmental, transportation, construction and structural engineering. The Kentucky Transportation Center – the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s research and training arm – and the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute are both housed within the Pigman College of Engineering. Add it up, and we are training civil engineering students to meet the infrastructure challenges of today and tomorrow.

8 Faculty members

involved in Humanitarian Engineering

All People are affected by infrastructure

11% Annual job growth

Over the next 10 years

4 Faculty winners of UK Alumni Great Teacher Awards

of UK Alumni Great Teacher Awards

#2 Best engineering jobs (USNEWS)

$461K Department awarded scholarships

NOW OFFERING ONLINE COURSES

Are you a working professional wanting to continue your civil engineering education? The department of Civil Engineering is now offering online graduate courses !

Contact Mei Chen for more information.

Student on laptop

CLIMBS Kentucky Climate Resilience

Read about Climbs on Ky NSF Epscor.

Explore our Research Areas

Find your path in Civil Engineering! 

SEEK

Group of students standing on a bridge

The Summer Engineering Exploration Kamp (SEEK) will feature hands-on learning opportunities, guest speakers from engineering companies, and field trips to active project sites for rising high school seniors.

Learn more about the camp

News and Events

Pigman College of Engineering welcomes 7 new faculty members

This month, the University of Kentucky Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering welcomed seven new members to its faculty.  Brooks Lane, assistant professor in the  F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering Lane earned his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2019 and most recently served as a postdoctoral fellow at Drexel University.  His research interests are: 

UK Engineering receives record number of NSF CAREER awards

Six Pigman College of Engineering faculty members received National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards, the Foundation's  prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty, in the 2025 funding cycle.  This year, the Pigman College of Engineering recorded its highest number of NSF CAREER awardees in the 30-year history of the program. In addition, the college boasted a 75% success rate for CAREER awards in the 2025 funding cycle. 

The Eternal Optimist Honoring the 20th anniversary of the 2nd Lieutenant Jeffrey C. Graham Memorial Scholarship

Jeffrey C. Graham, a 2003 civil engineering and UK Army ROTC graduate, was serving as 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army when he died of injuries sustained from both an improvised explosive (IED) and small-arms fire during Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2nd Lt. Graham is credited with saving numerous lives due to the actions he took at the time of the incident and is recalled as a hero by military officials.