Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that

deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and
naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges,
canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems, pipelines, structural
components of buildings, and railways.[1][2]
Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-
disciplines. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after
military engineering,[3] and it is defined to distinguish non-military
engineering from military engineering.[4] Civil engineering takes place in the
public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the
private sector from individual homeowners through to international
companies.

History
Civil engineering as a discipline
Civil engineering is the application of physical and scientific
principles for solving the problems of society, and its history is intricately
linked to advances in the understanding of physics and mathematics
throughout history. Because civil engineering is a wide-ranging profession,
including several specialized sub-disciplines, its history is linked to
knowledge of structures, materials science, geography, geology, soils,
hydrology, environment, mechanics and other fields.
Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design
and construction was carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and
carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Knowledge was retained in
guilds and seldom supplanted by advances. Structures, roads, and
infrastructure that existed were repetitive, and increases in scale were
incremental.[5]
One of the earliest examples of a scientific approach to physical
and mathematical problems applicable to civil engineering is the work of
Archimedes in the 3rd century BC, including Archimedes Principle, which
underpins our understanding of buoyancy, and practical solutions such as
Archimedes' screw. Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, used
arithmetic in the 7th century AD, based on Hindu-Arabic numerals, for
excavation (volume) computations.[6]

Civil engineering profession

Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of
human existence. The earliest practice of civil engineering may have
commenced between 4000 and 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley
Civilization, and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) when humans started to
abandon a nomadic existence, creating a need for the construction of
shelter. During this time, transportation became increasingly important
leading to the development of the wheel and sailing.
Until modern times there was no clear distinction between civil
engineering and architecture, and the term engineer and architect were
mainly geographical variations referring to the same occupation, and often
used interchangeably.[7] The construction of pyramids in Egypt (circa 2700–
2500 BC) were some of the first instances of large structure constructions.
Other ancient historic civil engineering constructions include the Qanat
water management system (the oldest is older than 3000 years and longer
than 71 km,[8]) the Parthenon by Iktinos in Ancient Greece (447–438 BC),
the Appian Way by Roman engineers (c. 312 BC), the Great Wall of China
by General Meng T'ien under orders from Ch'in Emperor Shih Huang Ti (c.
220 BC)[9] and the stupas constructed in ancient Sri Lanka like the
Jetavanaramaya and the extensive irrigation works in Anuradhapura. The
Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including
especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams and roads.
In the 18th century, the term civil engineering was coined to incorporate all
things civilian as opposed to military engineering.[4] The first self-proclaimed
civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the Eddystone
Lighthouse.[3][9] In 1771 Smeaton and some of his colleagues formed the
Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a group of leaders of the profession
who met informally over dinner. Though there was evidence of some
technical meetings, it was little more than a social society.
In 1818 the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London,[10]
and in 1820 the eminent engineer Thomas Telford became its first
president. The institution received a Royal Charter in 1828, formally
recognising civil engineering as a profession. Its charter defined civil
engineering as:

the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use
and convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic
in states, both for external and internal trade, as applied in the
construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation
and docks for internal intercourse and exchange, and in the
construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters and
lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power for the
purposes of commerce, and in the construction and application of
machinery, and in the drainage of cities and towns.[11]

Civil engineering education

The first private college to teach civil engineering in the United
States was Norwich University, founded in 1819 by Captain Alden
Partridge.[12] The first degree in civil engineering in the United States was
awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835.[13][14] The first such
degree to be awarded to a woman was granted by Cornell University to
Nora Stanton Blatch in 1905.[15]
In the UK during the early 19th century, the division between civil
engineering and military engineering (served by the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich), coupled with the demands of the Industrial
Revolution, spawned new engineering education initiatives: the Class of
Civil Engineering and Mining was founded at King's College London in
1838, mainly as a response to the growth of the railway system and the
need for more qualified engineers, the private College for Civil Engineers
in Putney was established in 1839, and the UK's first Chair of Engineering
was established at the University of Glasgow in 1840.
Education

Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil

engineering. The length of study is three to five years, and the completed
degree is designated as a bachelor of technology, or a bachelor of
engineering. The curriculum generally includes classes in physics,
mathematics, project management, design and specific topics in civil
engineering. After taking basic courses in most sub-disciplines of civil
engineering, they move on to specialize in one or more sub-disciplines at
advanced levels. While an undergraduate degree (BEng/BSc) normally
provides successful students with industry-accredited qualification, some
academic institutions offer post-graduate degrees (MEng/MSc), which
allow students to further specialize in their particular area of interest.[16]

Practicing engineers

In most countries, a bachelor's degree in engineering represents

the first step towards professional certification, and a professional
bodycertifies the degree program. After completing a certified degree
program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements including work
experience and exam requirements before being certified. Once certified,
the engineer is designated as a professional engineer (in the United States,
Canada and South Africa), a chartered engineer (in most Commonwealth
countries), a chartered professional engineer (in Australia and New
Zealand), or a European engineer (in most countries of the European
Union). There are international agreements between relevant professional
bodies to allow engineers to practice across national borders.
The benefits of certification vary depending upon location. For
example, in the United States and Canada, "only a licensed professional
engineer may prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and
drawings to a public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for
public and private clients."[17] This requirement is enforced under provincial
law such as the Engineers Act in Quebec.[18]No such legislation has been
enacted in other countries including the United Kingdom. In Australia, state
licensing of engineers is limited to the state of Queensland. Almost all
certifying bodies maintain a code of
ethics which all members must abide
by.[19]
Engineers must obey contract
law in their contractual relationships
with other parties. In cases where an
engineer's work fails, they may be
subject to the law of tort of negligence,
and in extreme cases, criminal
charges.[20] An engineer's work must
also comply with numerous other rules
and regulations such as building codes
and environmental law.
Surveying students with professor at the Helsinki
University of Technology in the late 19th century.
Sub-disciplines

There are a number of sub-disciplines within the broad field of civil

engineering. General civil engineers work closely with surveyors and
specialized civil engineers to design grading, drainage, pavement, water
supply, sewer service, dams, electric and communications supply. General
civil engineering is also referred to as site engineering, a branch of civil
engineering that primarily focuses on converting a tract of land from one
usage to another. Site engineers spend time visiting project sites, meeting
with stakeholders, and preparing construction plans. Civil engineers apply
the principles of geotechnical engineering, structural engineering,
environmental engineering, transportation engineering and construction
engineering to residential, commercial, industrial and public works projects
of all sizes and levels of construction.

Coastal engineering
Coastal engineering is concerned
with managing coastal areas. In some
jurisdictions, the terms sea defense and
coastal protection mean defense against
flooding and erosion, respectively. The
term coastal defense is the more
traditional term, but coastal management
has become more popular as the field has
expanded to techniques that allow erosion
to claim land.
Oosterscheldekering, a storm surge
barrier in the Netherlands.
Construction engineering
Construction engineering involves planning and execution,
transportation of materials, site development based on hydraulic,
environmental, structural and geotechnical engineering. As construction
firms tend to have higher business risk than other types of civil engineering
firms do, construction engineers often engage in more business-like
transactions, for example, drafting and reviewing contracts, evaluating
logistical operations, and monitoring prices of supplies.

Earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering
involves designing structures to
withstand hazardous earthquake
exposures. Earthquake engineering is
a sub-discipline of structural
engineering. The main objectives of
earthquake engineering are[21] to
understand interaction of structures
on the shaky ground; foresee the
consequences of possible
earthquakes; and design, construct
and maintain structures to perform at Shake-table crash testing of a regular
earthquake in compliance with building model (left) and a base-isolated
building model (right)[3]at UCSD
building codes.
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary
engineering, though sanitary engineering traditionally had not included
much of the hazardous waste management and environmental remediation
work covered by environmental engineering. Public health engineering and
environmental health engineering are other terms being used.
Environmental engineering deals with treatment of chemical,
biological, or thermal wastes, purification of water and air, and remediation
of contaminated sites after waste disposal or accidental contamination.
Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are pollutant
transport, water purification, waste water treatment, air pollution, solid
waste treatment, and hazardous waste management. Environmental
engineers administer pollution reduction, green engineering, and industrial
ecology. Environmental engineers also compile information on
environmental consequences of proposed actions.

Forensic engineering
Forensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products,
structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended,
causing personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure
are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with
retracing processes and procedures leading to accidents in operation of
vehicles or machinery. The subject is applied most commonly in civil law
cases, although it may be of use in criminal law cases. Generally the
purpose of a Forensic engineering investigation is to locate cause or
causes of failure with a view to improve performance or life of a component,
or to assist a court in determining the facts of an accident. It can also involve
investigation of intellectual property claims, especially patents.

Geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering studies rock and soil supporting civil
engineering systems. Knowledge from the field of soil science, materials
science, mechanics, and hydraulics is applied to safely and economically
design foundations, retaining walls, and other structures. Environmental
efforts to protect groundwater and safely maintain landfills have spawned a
new area of research called geoenvironmental engineering.[22][23]
Identification of soil properties presents challenges to geotechnical
engineers. Boundary conditions are often well defined in other branches of
civil engineering, but unlike steel or concrete, the material properties and
behavior of soil are difficult to predict due to its variability and limitation on
investigation. Furthermore, soil exhibits nonlinear (stress-dependent)
strength, stiffness, and dilatancy (volume change associated with
application of shear stress), making studying soil mechanics all the more
difficult.[22] Geotechnical engineers frequently work with professional
geologists and soil scientists.[24]
Materials science and engineering
Materials science is closely related to civil engineering. It studies
fundamental characteristics of materials, and deals with ceramics such as
concrete and mix asphalt concrete, strong metals such as aluminum and
steel, and thermosetting polymers including polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA) and carbon fibers.
Materials engineering involves protection and prevention (paints
and finishes). Alloying combines two types of metals to produce another
metal with desired properties. It incorporates elements of applied physics
and chemistry. With recent media attention on nanoscience and
nanotechnology, materials engineering has been at the forefront of
academic research. It is also an important part of forensic engineering and
failure analysis.

Structural engineering
Structural engineering is concerned with the structural design and
structural analysis of buildings, bridges, towers, flyovers (overpasses),
tunnels, off shore structures like oil and gas fields in the sea, aerostructure
and other structures. This involves identifying the loads which act upon a
structure and the forces and stresses which arise within that structure due
to those loads, and then designing the structure to successfully support and
resist those loads. The loads can be self weight of the structures, other
dead load, live loads, moving (wheel) load, wind
load, earthquake load, load from temperature
change etc. The structural engineer must design
structures to be safe for their users and to
successfully fulfill the function they are designed
for (to be serviceable). Due to the nature of some
loading conditions, sub-disciplines within
structural engineering have emerged, including
wind engineering and earthquake engineering.[25]
Design considerations will include
strength, stiffness, and stability of the structure
when subjected to loads which may be static,
such as furniture or self-weight, or dynamic,
such as wind, seismic, crowd or vehicle loads, or
transitory, such as temporary construction loads
or impact. Other considerations include cost,
constructability, safety, aesthetics and The Eiffel Tower in Paris is a
sustainability. historical achievement of
structural engineering.
Surveying
Surveying is the process by which a surveyor measures certain
dimensions that occur on or near the surface of the Earth. Surveying
equipment such as levels and theodolites are used for accurate
measurement of angular deviation, horizontal, vertical and slope distances.
With computerisation, electronic distance measurement (EDM), total
stations, GPS surveying and laser scanning have to a large extent
supplanted traditional instruments. Data collected by survey measurement
is converted into a graphical representation of the Earth's surface in the
form of a map. This information is then used by civil engineers, contractors
and realtors to design from, build on, and trade, respectively. Elements of
a structure must be sized and positioned in relation to each other and to
site boundaries and adjacent structures.
Although surveying is a distinct profession with separate
qualifications and licensing arrangements, civil engineers are trained in the
basics of surveying and mapping, as well as geographic information
systems. Surveyors also lay out the routes of railways, tramway tracks,
highways, roads, pipelines and streets as well as position other
infrastructure, such as harbors, before construction.

Land surveying
In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and most
Commonwealth countries land surveying is considered to be a separate
and distinct profession. Land surveyors are not considered to be engineers,
and have their own professional associations and licensing requirements.
The services of a licensed land surveyor are generally required for
boundary surveys (to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal
description) and subdivision plans (a plot or map based on a survey of a
parcel of land, with boundary lines drawn inside the larger parcel to indicate
the creation of new boundary lines and roads), both of which are generally
referred to as Cadastral surveying.

Construction surveying
Construction surveying is generally performed by specialised
technicians. Unlike land surveyors, the resulting plan does not have legal
status. Construction surveyors perform the following tasks:
 Surveying existing conditions of the future work site, including
topography, existing buildings and infrastructure, and underground
infrastructure when possible;
 "lay-out" or "setting-out": placing reference points and markers that will
guide the construction of new structures such as roads or buildings;
 Verifying the location of structures during construction;
 As-Built surveying: a survey conducted at the end of the construction
project to verify that the work authorized was completed to the
specifications set on plans.
Transportation engineering
Transportation engineering is concerned with moving people and
goods efficiently, safely, and in a manner conducive to a vibrant community.
This involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining
transportation infrastructure which includes streets, canals, highways, rail
systems, airports, ports, and mass transit. It includes areas such as
transportation design, transportation planning, traffic engineering, some
aspects of urban engineering, queueing theory, pavement engineering,
Intelligent Transportation System(ITS), and infrastructure management.

Municipal or urban engineering

Municipal engineering is concerned with municipal infrastructure.
This involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining streets,
sidewalks, water supply networks, sewers, street lighting, municipal solid
waste management and disposal, storage depots for various bulk materials
used for maintenance and public works (salt, sand, etc.), public parks and
cycling infrastructure. In the case of underground utility networks, it may
also include the civil portion (conduits and access chambers) of the local
distribution networks of electrical and telecommunications services. It can
also include the optimizing of waste collection and bus service networks.
Some of these disciplines overlap with other civil engineering specialties,
however municipal engineering focuses on the coordination of these
infrastructure networks and services, as they are often built simultaneously,
and managed by the same municipal authority. Municipal engineers may
also design the site civil works for large buildings, industrial plants or
campuses (i.e. access roads, parking lots, potable water supply, treatment
or pretreatment of waste water, site drainage, etc.)

The engineering of this roundabout in Bristol,

England, attempts to make traffic flow free-moving
Water resources engineering
Water resources engineering is
concerned with the collection and
management of water (as a natural
resource). As a discipline it therefore
combines elements of hydrology,
environmental science, meteorology,
conservation, and resource
management. This area of civil
engineering relates to the prediction
and management of both the quality
and the quantity of water in both
underground (aquifers) and above The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland
ground (lakes, rivers, and streams) resources. Water resource engineers
analyze and model very small to very large areas of the earth to predict the
amount and content of water as it flows into, through, or out of a facility.
Although the actual design of the facility may be left to other engineers.
Hydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids,
principally water. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the
design of pipelines, water supply network, drainage facilities (including
bridges, dams, channels, culverts, levees, storm sewers), and canals.
Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid
pressure, fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and hydraulics, among others.

Civil engineering systems

Civil engineering systems is a discipline that promotes the use of
systems thinking to manage complexity and change in civil engineering
within its wider public context. It posits that the proper development of civil
engineering infrastructure requires a holistic, coherent understanding of the
relationships between all of the important factors that contribute to
successful projects while at the same time emphasizing the importance of
attention to technical detail. Its purpose is to help integrate the entire civil
engineering project life cycle from conception, through planning, designing,
making, operating to decommissioning.[26][27]
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the
application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating
infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well
as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.
Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines
because it deals with constructed environment[1] including planning,
designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building
structures, and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges,
harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and
water and sewage systems.[2]
The term "civil engineer" was established by John Smeaton in 1750
to contrast engineers working on civil projects with the military engineers,[3][4]
who worked on armaments and defenses. Over time, various sub-
disciplines of civil engineering have become recognized[5] and much of
military engineering has been absorbed by civil engineering.[6] Other
engineering practices became recognized as independent engineering
disciplines, including chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and
electrical engineering.
In some places, a civil engineer may perform land surveying; in
others, surveying is limited to construction surveying, unless an additional
qualification is obtained.

Specialization
Civil engineers usually practice in a particular specialty, such as
construction engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering,
land development, transportation engineering, hydraulic engineering, and
environmental engineering. A civil engineer is concerned with determining
the right design for these structures and looking after the construction
process so that the longevity of these structures is guaranteed after
completion. These structures should also be satisfactory for the public in
terms of comfort.[7] Some civil engineers, particularly those working for
government agencies, may practice across multiple specializations,
particularly when involved in critical infrastructure development or
maintenance.
Work environment
Civil engineers generally work in a variety of locations and
conditions. Much of a civil engineer’s work is dealing with non-engineers or
other from different technical disciplines, so training should give skills
preparing future civil engineers in organizational relationships between
parties to projects, cost and time.[8] Many spend time outdoors at
construction sites so that they can monitor operations or solve problems
onsite.[2] The job is typically a blend of in-office and on-location work. Most
work full-time.
Education and licensing
In most countries, a civil engineer will have graduated from a post-
secondary school with a degree in civil engineering, which requires a
strong background in mathematics and the physical sciences; this degree
is typically a bachelor's degree, though many civil engineers study further
to obtain master's, engineer, doctoral and post doctoral degrees. In many
countries, civil engineers are subject to licensure. In some jurisdictions
with mandatory licensing, people who do not obtain a license may not call
themselves "civil engineers".

Belgium
In Belgium, Civil Engineer (abbreviated Ir.) (French: Ingénieur Civil,
Dutch: Civiel Ingenieur) is a legally protected title applicable to graduates
of the five-year engineering course of one of the six universities and the
Royal Military Academy. Their speciality can be all fields of engineering:
civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, chemical, physics and even
computer science.[9] This use of the title may cause confusion to the English
speaker as the Belgian "civil" engineer can have a speciality other than civil
engineering. In fact, Belgians use the adjective "civil" in the sense of
"civilian", as opposed to military engineers.
The formation of the civil engineer has a strong mathematical and
scientific base and is more theoretical in approach than the practical
oriented industrial engineer (Ing.) educated in a five-year program at a
polytechnic. Traditionally, students were required to pass an entrance exam
on mathematics to start civil engineering studies. This exam was abolished
in 2004 for the Flemish Community, but is still organised in the French
Community.

Scandinavia
In Scandinavian countries, civil engineer (civilingenjör (Swedish),
sivilingeniør (Norwegian), civilingeniør (Danish)) is a first professional
degree, approximately equivalent to Master of Science in Engineering, and
a protected title granted to students by selected institutes of technology. As
in English the word has its origin in the distinction between civilian and
military engineers, as in before the start of the 19th century only military
engineers existed and the prefix "civil" was a way to separate those who
had studied engineering in a regular University from their military
counterparts. Today the degree spans over all fields within engineering, like
civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, electronics
engineering, etc.
There is generally a slight difference between a Master of Science
in Engineering degree and the Scandinavian civil engineer degree, the
latter's programme having closer ties with the industry's demands. A civil
engineer is the most well-known of the two; still, the area of expertise
remains obfuscated for most of the public. A noteworthy difference is the
mandatory courses in mathematics and physics, regardless of the
equivalent master's degree, e.g. computer science.
Although a 'college engineer' (högskoleingenjör,
diplomingenjör/mellaningenjör (Swedish), høgskoleingeniør (Norwegian),
diplomingeniør (Danish)) is roughly equivalent to a Bachelor of Science in
Scandinavia, to become a 'civil engineer' one often has had to do up to one
extra year of overlapping studies compared to attaining a B.Sc./M.Sc.
combination. This is because the higher educational system is not fully
adopted to the international standard graduation system, since it is treated
as a professional degree. Today (2009) this is starting to change due to the
Bologna process.
 A Scandinavian "civilingenjör" will in international contexts
commonly call himself "Master of Science in Engineering" and will
occasionally wear an engineering class ring. At the Norwegian Institute of
Technology (now the Norwegian University of Science and Technology),
the tradition with an NTH Ring goes back to 1914, before the Canadian iron
ring.
In Norway, the title "Sivilingeniør" is no longer issued after 2007,
and has been replaced with "Master i teknologi". In the English translation
of the diploma, the title will be "Master of Science", since "Master of
Technology" is not an established title in the English-speaking world. The
extra overlapping year of studies have also been abolished with this change
to make Norwegian degrees more equal to their international counterparts.
Spain
In Spain, a civil engineering degree can be obtained after four years
of study in the various branches of mathematics, physics, mechanics, etc.
The earned degree is called Grado en Ingeniería Civil. Further studies at a
graduate school include master's and doctoral degrees.
Before the current situation, that is, before the implementation of
Bologna Process in 2010, a degree in civil engineering in Spain could be
obtained after three to six years of study and was divided into two main
degrees. In the first case, the earned degree was called Ingeniero Técnico
de Obras Públicas (ITOP), literally translated as "Public Works Engineer"
obtained after three years of study and equivalent to a Bachelor of Civil
Engineering. In the second case, the academic degree was called
Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos(often shortened to Ingeniero de
Caminos or ICCP), that literally means "Highways, Canals and Harbors
Engineer", though civil engineers in Spain practice in the same fields as
civil engineers do elsewhere. This degree is equivalent to a Master of Civil
Engineering and is obtained after five or six years of study depending on
the school granting the title.
The first Spanish Civil Engineering School was the Escuela
Especial de Ingenieros de Caminos y Canales (now called Escuela
Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos),
established in 1802 in Madrid, followed by the Escuela Especial de
Ayudantes de Obras Públicas (now called Escuela Universitaria de
Ingeniería Técnica de Obras Públicas de la Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid), founded in 1854 in Madrid. Both schools now belong to the
Technical University of Madrid.
In Spain, a civil engineer has the technical and legal ability to
design projects of any branch, so any Spanish civil engineer can oversee
projects about structures, buildings (except residential structures which
are reserved for architects), foundations, hydraulics, the environment,
transportation, urbanism, etc.
In Spain, Mechanical and Electrical engineering tasks are included
under the Industrial engineering degree.
United Kingdom
A chartered civil engineer (known as certified or professional
engineer in other countries) is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
and has also passed membership exams. However a non-chartered civil
engineer may be a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers or the
Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. The description "Civil Engineer"
is not restricted to members of any particular professional organisation
although "Chartered Civil Engineer" is.
Eastern Europe
In many Eastern European countries, civil engineering does not
exist as a distinct degree or profession but its various sub-professions are
often studied in separate university faculties and performed as separate
professions, whether they are taught in civilian universities or military
engineering academies. Even many polytechnic tertiary schools give out
separate degrees for each field of study. Typically study in geology,
geodesy, structural engineering and urban engineering allows a person to
obtain a degree in construction engineering. Mechanical engineering,
automotive engineering, hydraulics and even sometimes metallurgy are
fields in a degree in "Machinery Engineering". Computer sciences, control
engineering and electrical engineering are fields in a degree in electrical
engineering, while security, safety, environmental engineering,
transportation, hydrology and meteorology are in a category of their own,
typically each with their own degrees, either in separate university faculties
or at polytechnic schools.
United States
In the United States, civil engineers are typically employed by
municipalities, construction firms, consulting engineering firms,
architect/engineer firms, the military, state governments, and the federal
government. Each state requires engineers who offer their services to the
public to be licensed by the state.[10] Licensure is obtained by meeting
specified education, examination, and work experience requirements.
Specific requirements vary by state.
Typically licensed engineers must graduate from an ABET-
accredited university or college engineering program with a minimum of
bachelor's degree,[11] pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, obtain
several years of engineering experience under the supervision of a licensed
engineer, then pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam. After
completing these steps and the granting of licensure by a state board,
engineers may use the title "Professional Engineer" or PE in advertising
and documents. Most states have implemented mandatory continuing
education requirements to maintain a license.[11]
Professional associations

ASCE
The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) represents more
than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide.
Official members of the ASCE must hold a bachelor's degree from an
accredited civil engineering program and be a licensed professional
engineer or have five years responsible charge of engineering
experience.[12] Most civil engineers join this organization to be updated of
current news, projects, and methods (such as sustainability) related to civil
engineering; as well as contribute their expertise and knowledge to other
civil engineers and students obtaining their civil engineering degree.

ICE
The ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) founded in 1818, represents,
as of 2008, more than 80,000 members of the civil engineering profession
worldwide. Its commercial arm, Thomas Telford Ltd, provides training,
recruitment, publishing and contract services.

CSCE
Founded in 1887, the CSCE (Canadian Society for Civil
Engineering) represents members of the Canadian civil engineering
profession. Official members of the CSCE must hold a bachelor's degree
from an accredited civil engineering program. Most civil engineers join this
organization to be updated of current news, projects, and methods (such
as sustainability) related to civil engineering; as well as contribute their
expertise and knowledge to other civil engineers and students obtaining
their civil engineering degree. Local sections frequently host events such
as seminars, tours, and courses.