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.

Required Courses Heading link

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.

Elective Courses Heading link

  • CME 400 Advanced Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures (4 hours)
  • CME 401 Advanced Design of Metal Structures (4 hours)
  • CME 402 Geometric Design of Highway Facilities (4 hours)
  • CME 405 Foundation Analysis and Design (4 hours)
  • CME 406 Bridge Design (4 hours)
  • CME 407 Soil and Site Improvement Methods (4 hours)
  • CME 410 Design of Prestressed Concrete Structures (4 hours)
  • CME 413 Design of Wood Structures (4 hours)
  • CME 414 Design of Masonry Structures (4 hours)
  • CME 421 Water Treatment Design (4 hours)
  • CME 422 Wastewater Treatment Design (4 hours)
  • CME 423 Management of Solid and Hazardous Wastes (4 hours)
  • CME 596 Independent Study (4 hours)
  • CME 440 Cities and Sustainable Infrastructure (4 hours)
  • CME 501 Urban Transportation (4 hours)
  • CME 503 Advanced Transportation Demand Analysis (4 hours)
  • CME 507 Sustainable Transportation Systems (4 hours)
  • CME 514 Sustainable Engineering (4 hours)
  • CME 580 Infrastructure Management (4 hours)
  • CME 594 Value Engineering (4 hours)
  • UPP 461 Geographic Information Systems for Planning (4 hours)
  • UPP 514 Economic Analysis for Planning and Management (4 hours)
  • UPP 542 Metropolitan Housing Planning (4 hours)
  • UPP 553 Land Use Law (4 hours)
  • UPP 558 Land Use Regulation and Planning (4 hours)
  • PA 435 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Public Managers (4 hours)
  • IE 446 Quality Control and Reliability (4 hours)
  • IE 461 Safety Engineering (4 hours)
  • IE 466 Production Planning and Inventory Control (4 hours)
  • IE 552 Applied Stochastic Processes (4 hours)
  • IE 571 Statistical Quality Control and Assurance (4 hours)
  • ME 422 Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (4 hours)
  • ME 424 Energy Management Solutions for Industry: Theory and Practice (4 hours)
  • ENER 552 Design of Energy Efficient Buildings (4 hours)
  • PA 504 Principles of Financial Management and Budgeting (4 hours)
  • PA 535 Conflict Management (4 hours)
  • IDS 472 Business Data Mining (4 hours)
  • IDS 478 Regression Analysis (4 hours)
  • IDS 552 Supply Chain Management (4 hours)
  • IDS 573 Risk Management (4 hours)
  • IDS 476 Business Forecasting Using Time Series Methods (4 hours)
  • IDS 474 Quality and Productivity Improvement Using Statistical Methods (4 hours)
  • MGMT 453 Human Resource Management (4 hours)
  • COMM 416 Conflict and Communication (4 hours)
  • CME 594 Advanced Special Topics in Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Materials (4 hours)
  • CME 596 Independent Study (4 hours)

Questions? Heading link

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