PhD Engineering – Resilient Infrastructure Systems Emphasis

Infrastructure systems support the basic needs and functions of modern industrialized society including energy, water and sewage, transportation, communications, and public facilities. Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities and systems to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions, recover from threats, and thrive in the future. The Resilient Infrastructure Systems program focuses on innovative solutions that help communities, businesses, and governments mitigate risks – and seize opportunities – associated with environmental change, extreme weather and climate-related events by rethinking, transforming, and adapting infrastructure systems to strengthen economic, environmental, and social resilience. The program offers students the opportunity to conduct integrative research focused on built and natural infrastructure systems related to transportation, environment and water, energy, and food, and their interconnections. Students may tailor a plan of coursework to their interests by drawing from UGA’s extensive course offerings spanning several engineering disciplines, earth and atmospheric sciences, environmental design, ecology, public health, law and policy, and the social sciences.

Admission to the Emphasis

Program of Study

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Engineering with Emphasis in Resilient Infrastructure Systems further expand on those of the Ph.D. in Engineering. These include a minimum of 72 credit hours in the student’s program of study beyond the B.S. degree. A thesis master’s degree from an approved university may be accepted for up to 30 credits hours, in which case a minimum of 42 credit hours of approved course work, research and dissertation beyond the M.S. degree would be required as follows:

  • A minimum of 16 semester hours of coursework, which must include
    • At least 15 hours of 8000- and 9000-level courses in addition to research, dissertation writing, and directed study of which 9 hours must be selected from the Resilient Infrastructure Systems Course list (below).
    • 1 hour of Graduate Seminar ENGR 8950*
  • A minimum of 23 Doctoral Research hours (Doctoral research (9000) or Doctoral project-focused research (9010)) for students with an M.S. **
  • The Program of Study must include 3 hours of ENGR 9300 Doctoral Dissertation.

* Only 3 hours of Graduate Seminar may apply on the Ph.D. Program of Study. Students are strongly encouraged to continue regular attendance of speaker series presentations even if not formally registered in the seminar.

** A typical student’s total research hours will exceed these minimums.

Emphasis Area Course List

As a requirement of the Ph.D. in Engineering with an Emphasis in Resilient Infrastructure Systems degree, students must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours selected from the list below. Students will work with their graduate advisor to select the most appropriate coursework to ensure breadth of understanding as well as mastery of knowledge in a specific subject area. In addition to completing 9 credit hours selected from the list below, students may work with their graduate advisor to develop an interdisciplinary plan of coursework drawing from the extensive graduate course offerings available at UGA.

  • CRSS(GEOL) 8710 Watershed-Scale Modeling
  • CVLE 8390 Earthquake Engineering
  • CVLE/MCHE 8350 Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (Sp – Every Other Year)
  • CVLE/MCHE 8440 Advanced Strength of Materials (Sp- Every Other Year)
  • CVLE 8550 Prestressed Concrete Design (F)
  • CVLE 8410 Inelastic Behavior of Construction Materials
  • CVLE 8420 Geomechanics (F)
  • CVLE 8460 Soil Improvement (F)
  • CVLE 8470 Advanced Pavement System Design
  • CVLE 8140 Mixing & Transport (Sp)
  • CVLE 8160 Jets & Plumes (Sp)
  • ENGR 8103 Computational Engineering (Sp)
  • ENGR 8130, Statistical Learning and Data Mining in Engineering
  • ENGR 8140, Advanced Deep Learning and Engineering Applications
  • CVLE(MCHE) 8160 Advanced Fluid Mechanics
  • ENVE 8450 Design for Rapid Change: Food, Energy, and Water
  • GEOL(WASR) 8740 Hydrologic Flow and Transport Modeling
  • MARS 8030 Physical Oceanography (Sp)
  • MARS 8100 Estuarine and Coastal Oceanography (F)
  • MARS 8150 Ocean Waves (F)
  • MARS 8510 Modeling Marine Sys (F)
  • WASR 8200 Hillslope Hydrology


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