Program Requirements

Concrete trucks on the site of highway construction

A minimum of 36 credit hours of coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree is required for the MS in Construction Engineering and Management. The program can be completed through three pathways: a thesis option, a project option, or coursework only.

  • Thesis option: Students in this pathway take the five required courses (20 hours) and one elective course (4 hours) from one of the three elective course groups, with approval from their advisor. They also register for 12 hours of CME 598 Master’s Thesis Research.
  • Project option: Students in this pathway take the five required courses (20 hours) and three elective courses (12 hours), one from each of the three elective course groups, with approval from their advisor. They also register for 4 hours of CME 596 Independent Study with their faculty advisor.
  • Coursework only: This is the most common pathway. Coursework-only students take the five required courses (20 hours) and four elective courses (16 hours), with at least one course from each of the three elective course groups, with approval from their advisor.

GPA Graduation Requirement: A GPA of 3.0 or greater is required to graduate with an MS Degree.

Required credit hours: 36, grades of “D” will not count towards the credit hour requirement.

Note: Students in all three pathways may transfer a maximum of 4 credit hours of graduate-level coursework from an accredited institution, which may be accepted with approval from the department.

CME 485 Construction Engineering and Management (4 hours). Overview of construction engineering and project management. Construction industry, project cycles, contract administration, financing, legal management structures. Resources management; planning, quality control, productivity and safety.

CME 486 Construction Equipment and Design Methods (4 hours). Overview of the equipment and machinery that is used in construction engineering; calculating cycle times, production rates and cost; earthwork estimations; construction methods and design.

CME 585 Construction Engineering Project Controls (4 hours). Metrics and control mechanisms in construction engineering and management; control systems during construction; risk and quality control; earned‐value analysis and operational effects on cost and schedule.

CME 586 Construction Regulations and Organizational Management (4 hours). Construction laws and regulations; construction contractual agreements; professional engineering ethics; construction safety and environmental considerations; organizational management in civil and construction engineering.

CME 587 Construction Estimating and Scheduling (4 hours). Cost and schedule estimations per project specifications. Construction quantity take-offs, cost estimation, scheduling through deterministic and probabilistic methods, resource management, accelerated construction, and schedule updating.

If you have further questions about the program structure or requirements, or if you are interested in applying for the MS in Construction Engineering and Management at UIC, please contact us:

Hossein Ataei, PhD, Program Director | Sara Arevalo, Graduate Coordinator