Civil Engineering

The course focuses on the performance of structural systems in relation to seismic forces. It encompasses basic concepts of seismology, seismic threat, and characterization of earthquakes and analyzes the seismic response of structures on elastic and inelastic performance. This course presents the scopes and limitations of the seismic design codes as well as the foundations for performance-based seismic analysis and design.

Rail transportation requires infrastructure, vehicles, motive power and energy to move goods and people. Each of these factors interact to affect the efficiency, energy requirements and economics of railroad operation. This course covers the principles of railroad transportation efficiency; economics, energy, and engineering. Topics include: Introduction to railroad infrastructure; rolling stocks; signal systems, and operations. The course is designed to establish the basic understanding and skills for conducting railway research and industrial projects. 

The course provides understanding and knowledge about the behavior of advanced timber structures, tools for modeling and design, and the ability to weigh the pros and cons of different structural systems. The course includes the following parts: timber structures multi-story buildings and structures with a long span; instability of members (lateral torsional buckling of beams); straight and curved members; holes and notches in beams; cross-laminated timber; bracing of structures; design of details; connections for timber structures including dowel-type joints and glued joints; learning from failures; frames, arches, and cable structures; and the ability to independently approach, solve, and present one's work. 

The course provides an introduction to transportation engineering, including the functions and design of various transportation facilities. Topics include logistics management, transportation issues, linear programming, rail transportation, rail operation and management, road transportation, pavement design, traffic flow characteristics and facilities, and the air transportation system.

The global challenge of sustainable development requires solutions and mindset that bridge traditional divisions between nature and culture, and the technical and social sciences. Sustainable development requires that engineers and other professionals are able to include social and ecological considerations alongside technical and economic requirements in managing projects and infrastructure. This course outlines the challenges of sustainability, introduces some theories which can help think through these challenges more clearly, and applies them to city and infrastructure systems. As each topic, such as ecological modernization, and sustainable consumption, is introduced, students learn about the theories behind the topic, they discuss relevant papers that shed light on the topic, and they discover the practical examples of relevance of the topic. 

Cities around the world face rapid changes in their transportation systems with the advances in ICTs. Recent trends include on-demand and shared mobility modes and automation in public and private transportation systems; these new solutions impact the transport industry, infrastructures management, as well as political agenda. Focusing on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), a new “Smart Mobility” system and real-time network management have been developed as potential solutions to mitigate congestion issues and improve network efficiency.
This course brings a general overview of sustainable and smart transportation in the future smart cities in terms of i) industry trends, business models, technical, and urban design aspects. Based on different European case studies especially in Germany, this program explores innovative methods which Smart cities are currently dealing with as well as future solutions. The course combines theoretical and practical learning materials for transportation modeling and simulation techniques, with a focus on Smart Mobility and ITS solutions and real-world applications. Students review the most well-known traffic simulation models, learn about demand forecasting methods, business, social, and political issues and related analytical techniques. The course examines the concept of smart mobilities and how their business models could grow by analyzing case studies and companies. The course requires students to have basic knowledge of the fundamentals of mathematics and statistics as a prerequisite.

Surveying is fundamental in civil and environmental engineering. This course covers geo-spatial measurements of common civil and environmental engineering projects; the types of instruments, techniques and detailed procedures used for making geospatial measurements in a field environment; the techniques involved in collecting, processing and plotting the types of geospatial data necessary for constructing engineering-scale maps; spatial reference frameworks; and effective approaches to setting up and presenting solutions of positioning/location problems.