BS in Civil Engineering

What is a Civil Engineering Degree?

Civil engineering at Florida Tech is a rigorous, accredited curriculum that prepares students to enter the workforce with a minimum of additional training and a maximum of opportunity, or for admission to top graduate schools. The program has six areas of engineering specialization available:

• Construction Management
• Environmental
• Geotechnical
• Structural
• Transportation
• Water Resources

Whether you want to engage in land development or design your dream house, bridges, foundations, water distribution systems, water, and wastewater treatment plants, canals, highways, or transportation systems, a civil engineering degree from Florida Tech will help you develop a strong background in engineering with hands-on experience in computer-aided design and construction management.

Why Pursue a Civil Engineering Degree at Florida Tech?

The ABET-accredited civil engineering program at Florida Tech offers a small student-to-faculty ratio, with an average of 18 students per class within the department. The supportive community of teachers and peers at Florida Tech is conducive to academic success even in the face of a challenging academic environment. Qualified students are encouraged by professors to get involved in research projects. About 80% of our students have at least some internship experience before they graduate; 90% are offered jobs at their place of internship, further supporting our reputation for being one of the best civil engineering schools.

Internationally Recognized Faculty of Professional Engineers

Florida Tech’s civil engineering department is staffed with experienced instructors who are professional engineers—another reason that students consider us one of the best civil engineering schools. All the faculty members have experience in real-world design and conduct research. Many hold several awards such as the College of Engineering (COE) Teacher of the Year Award, Florida Tech Researcher of the Year Award, COE Research Award, and Florida Tech Service Award.

Located in the Heart of Florida’s High-Tech Corridor

Florida Tech is the perfect place for a civil engineering degree. The 130-acre campus is located on the Space Coast (so named because of the presence of NASA and the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us), minutes away from the Indian River Lagoon, the most diverse estuary in North America.

The area has the fifth-largest high-tech workforce in the country, with more than 5,000 high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby. This workforce also provides an abundance of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech is just over the causeway from the Atlantic Ocean with its 72 miles of beautiful beaches and is a short trip to the Florida Keys or the Orlando theme parks. We also have a rich campus life that includes a wide range of intramural and collegiate sports, clubs, and social activities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Beyond the classroom, civil engineering degree students build leadership and professional experience through exciting internships and participation in academic organizations like Tau Beta Pi (the oldest engineering honor society in the US, student government, and over 100 other campus-wide student organizations.

Florida Tech’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is among the most active organizations on campus. ASCE takes part in several national competitions to test their engineering skills, including concrete canoe and steel bridges. Our concrete canoe team has reached the national level several times and receives sponsorships from a variety of local businesses.

Chi Epsilon is a civil engineering honor society dedicated to honoring engineering students who have exemplified the principles of scholarship, character, practicality, and sociability in the civil engineering profession.

These organizations allow for networking opportunities for future civil engineering internships and careers.

It All Started With 37 Cents

Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as "Brevard Engineering College." It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper, a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral.

As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said, “There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”

So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.

Core Values

• Research for the Benefit of All Humankind
• Education for a Lifetime of Success
• Global Citizenship for a Better World

Mission Statement

Florida Institute of Technology’s mission is to provide high-quality education to a culturally diverse student body in order to prepare students for entering the global workforce, seeking higher-education opportunities, and serving within their communities. The university also seeks to expand knowledge through basic and applied research and to serve the diverse economic, cultural, and societal needs of our local, state, national and international constituencies.

In support of this mission, we are committed to:

• Promoting student development by fostering and sustaining a productive institutional culture of assessment that leads to the continuous improvement of academic and administrative programs
• Developing an organizational culture that values and encourages intellectual curiosity, a sense of belonging and shared purpose among faculty, students, and staff, and the pursuit of excellence in all endeavors
• Recruiting and developing excellent faculty to become leaders in their respective fields and internationally recognized scholars
• Achieving recognition as an effective, innovative, technology-focused educational and research institution
• Recruiting and retaining an excellent, highly select, and culturally diverse student body
• Continually improving the quality of campus life for all members of the university community
• Providing personal and career growth opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students and members of the faculty and staff
• Securing and maintaining professional accreditation for all appropriate programs

We Are Florida Tech

What we are is a private, coeducational, residential, research-intensive, doctoral-granting university located in Melbourne on Florida’s sunny “Space Coast.” But who we are is so much more. We are a community of researchers, scholars, and learners hailing from all around the world. We are engineers, aviators, innovators, leaders, educators, athletes, and astronauts. We have the brains of rocket scientists and the hearts of Panthers. We are Florida Tech.

We Are Relentless

Florida Tech is a university of leaders and learners—a diverse community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are united in the relentless pursuit of greatness.

We Are International

Students from more than 90 countries worldwide choose to live and learn at Florida Tech, making us a truly global university. When we say #YouAreWelcomeHere, we mean it.

We Create The Future

One of the primary tenets of Florida Tech’s mission is advancing science and technology for the benefit of Earth and all of its inhabitants. So, that’s what we do.

We Have Panther Pride

You may feel it the first time you visit the campus, the day you graduate, or at some point in between. But when you do, you’ll see that Panther Pride is more than school spirit. It’s a family.

We Make Connections

Florida Tech is proud to be part of the Brevard County community and welcomes its neighbors to explore the many personal, professional, corporate, and cultural opportunities we have to offer.

We Are STEM

There's a reason Florida Tech is known as Florida's STEM University™. To put it simply: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are in our DNA. This makes STEM a driving force behind who we are, what we do, and why we exist.