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Degree Requirements

Masters of Science Program

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers an M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a special field designation on the transcript of Atmosphere/Energy.

Students admitted to graduate study in the department can satisfy the requirements for the M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering by completing a minimum of three quarters of full tuition registration and a minimum of 45 u of study beyond the B.S. degree. All 45 u must be taken at Stanford. A minimum 2.75 grade point average (GPA) is required for candidates to be recommended for the M.S. degree. No thesis is required.

The M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering requires at least 30 u at the graduate level (courses numbered 200 or above) and at least 24 u from the School of Engineering). Courses numbered below 100 may not be used to fulfill the 45-unit degree requirement.

Additional requirements for the MS degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on Atmosphere/Energy include the completion of

  • A minimum of 30 units in combined atmosphere- and energy-related courses
  • Of these 30 units, a minimum of 4 energy-core courses taken for letter grades.
  • Of these 30 units, a minimum of 4 atmosphere-core courses taken for letter grades.
  • The remainder of the 30 units may be from either atmosphere- or energy-related courses
  • 15 additional units to fulfill the 45-unit M.S. degree requirement

These units must be in engineering, science, mathematics, or related fields or pertinent to the student's degree objective and must be approved by the advisor. Physical education and language courses, for example, cannot count toward the MS degree. Students may take up to 6 out of the 45 units required for the M.S. degree on a pass/no credit basis (instead of receiving a letter grade), but these pass/no credit courses cannot count towards the minimum requirement of 4 atmosphere-related plus 4 energy-related courses.

These requirements allow students the flexibility to select courses closest to their interest while maintaining the goal of giving students a background in both energy and atmosphere.

Courses available

(For a description of courses listed below, please click here.)

Atmosphere Core (select four of the following)

AA 210A Fundamentals of Compressible Flow (3u, Aut)
CEE 172 Air Quality Management (3 u, Win)
CEE 263A Air Pollution Modeling (3-4 u, Spr)
CEE 263B Numerical Weather Prediction (3-4 u, Spr, not given '09-'10)
CEE 263C Weather and Storms (3 u, Aut)
CEE 263D Air Pollution: Urb Smog to Glob Change (3 u, Win)
CEE 276 Introduction to Human Exposure Analysis (3 u, Sum)
CEE 278A Air Pollution Physics and Chemistry (3 u, Aut)
CEE 278B Atmospheric Aerosols (3 u, Spr, not given '09-'10)
CEE 278C Indoor Air Quality (2-3 u, Spr, not given '09-'10)
EarthSys 247 Control. Climate Change in 21st Cent. (3u, Win, not given '09-'10)
Earthsys 284 Climate and Agriculture (3 u, Spr)
EESS246A Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics: Atmospheric Circ. (3 u, Win, not given '09-'10)
ME131B Fluid Mechanics: Compressible Flow and Turbomachinery (4u, Win)
MS&E 296 Sust. Mobility: Improv.En.Eff and Red CO2 Emis from Trans. (3u Spr)

Atmosphere Electives (may be taken beyond the four required atmosphere courses)

AA 214A Numerical Methods in Fluid Mechanics (3u, Aut)
AA 214B Numerical Computation of Compressible Flow (3 u, Win)
Bio 264 Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions (4u, Win)
CEE 171 Environmental Planning Methods (3 u, Win)
CEE 299 Independent Study in CEE (1-3 u, Aut, Win, ,Spr)
EarthSys 111 Biology and Global Change (3 u, Win)
EarthSys 112 Environmental Economics and Policy (5 u, Win)
EarthSys 144 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Science (4 u, Aut)
EarthSys 248 Copenhagen Climate Protocol (1-2u, Aut, 2009-10 only)
ME 352A Radiative Heat Transfer (3u, Aut, not given '09-'10)
ME 361 Turbulence (3u, Spr)
ME 362A Physical Gas Dynamics (3u, Aut)
MS&E 294 Climate Policy Analysis (3 u, Win)

Energy Core (select four of the following)

CEE 176A Energy Efficient Buildings (3-4 u, Win)
CEE 176B Electric Power: Renewables and Efficiency (3-4 u, Spr)
CEE 207A Energy Resources (4-5 u, Aut)
CEE 215 Goals and Methods of Sustainable Building Projects (3u, Spr)
CEE 256 Building Systems (4 u, Spr)
CEE272P Distributed Generation and Grid Integration of Renewables(3-4 u, Win)
EE 293A Fundamentals of Energy Processes (3 u, Aut)
EE 293B Fundamentals of Energy Processes (3 u, Win)
Energy 269 Geothermal Reservoir Engineering (3 u, Spr, not given '09-'10)
MatSci 156 Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, and Batteries (3-4 u, Aut)
MatSci 302 Solar Cells (3u, Spr)
ME 260 Fuel Cell Science Technology (3 u, Spr)
MS&E 243 Energy and Environmental Policy Analysis (3 u, Spr)
MS&E 295 Energy Policy Analysis (3u, Win, not given '09-'10)

Energy Electives (may be taken beyond the four required energy courses)

CEE 226E Advanced Energy Efficient Building Design (2 u, Spr)
CEE 242A Creating Sustainable Development (3 u, Win)
CEE 243 Predicting and Measuring Building Energy Use (2-3 u, Spr)
CEE 248G Certifying Green Buildings (1u, Spr)
CEE 276F Energy Systems Field Trips (1-2 u, Win)
CEE 277S Design for a Sustainable World (1-5 u Aut)
CEE 299 Independent Study in CEE (1-3 u, Aut, Win, Spr)
CEE 301 Energy Seminar (1 u, Aut, Win, Spr)
EarthSys 101 Energy and the Environment (3 u, Win)
EarthSys 102 Renewable Energy Sources and Greener Energy Procs (3 u, Spr)
EarthSys 232 Energy Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere (4 u, Spr, not given '09-'10)
EarthSys 233 California Climate Change Law and Policy (3 u, Spr)
Energy 104 Technology in the Greenhouse (3 u, Spr)
Energy 253 Carbon Capture and Sequestration (3 u Aut)
Law 227 The Political Economy of Energy policy (2.5 u, Win)
MatSci 316 Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (3u, Spr)
MS&E 248 Economics of Natural Resources (3-4 u Aut)
ME 222 Design for Sustainability (2-3 u, Spr)