Lehigh’s undergraduate major in civil engineering provides a broad base of learning and research opportunities to prepare students to become leaders in their profession. Students gain skills and knowledge in designing and managing large-scale engineering projects while also learning to be leaders and innovators in a wide variety of related pursuits, including engineering management, business administration, law and medicine.
The program provides rigorous training in the fundamentals of the physical sciences, mathematics and scientific methods, coupled with complementary studies in the humanities and social sciences. Students acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills, learn fundamentals in analysis and design, learn how to communicate effectively, and work as part of a team. They graduate with broad technical knowledge and a strong sense of how best to apply it in a globalized society.
Lehigh’s civil engineering alumni build and maintain bridges, buildings, transportation facilities, coastal facilities, offshore platforms, dams, tunnels, foundations and waterways. They work in the public sector—with municipal, state and national governments—and the private sector—with individual homeowners, small businesses and international companies. Civil engineers manage large-scale projects characterized by great complexity, longevity and cost. Society relies and commerce thrives on the systems and structures they create—from buildings and the plants that power them to the roads, bridges, tunnels and waterways that connect it all.
