BIGLab constantly welcomes applicants for full-time MS and PhD programs in the Department of Civil Engineering.

The degree requirements for the MS and PhD programs can be found here.

The application process can be found here.

Financial Assistantships: The College of Engineering normally offers newly admitted full-time PhD students Research Assistantships for the first year. The Research Assistantship includes out-of-state tuition waiver, monthly salary, medical and other benefits. The award is more than adequate to cover all the fees, living and scholarly expenses. From the second year onwards, support by means of Research Assistantship or Teaching Assistantship will depend on the student’s academic and research performance in the first year. In addition, the Graduate School and Student Government Association at UTEP also provide financial supports for students to travel to present papers in conferences.

Qualifications and skills: To be a PhD Research Assistant in BIGLab, applicants are expected to have good programming skills in at least one of the followings: Matlab, C, VC, Java. Applicants proficient in any mainstream transportation/optimization software (such as VISSIM, PARAMICS, DynaSmart, TransCAD, Synchro, ILOG/CPLEX, etc) will have the added advantage. Other than civil engineering graduates, 4-year bachelor degree and/or master degree holders from transportation, mathematics, computer science, electrical/electronic/computer engineering, industrial engineering, automation/control engineering, mechanical engineering, operations research/management science are also welcome to apply.

Contact: Potential applicants are welcome to contact Dr. Kelvin Cheu at rcheu@utep.edu. Telephone or web-cam interviews will be conducted in English for promising applicants. A list of Dr. Cheu’s former students, their research topics and current careers can be found in his full resume which can be downloaded under the PEOPLE section of this web site.

Expectation: Once admitted into the program, masters and PhD students are expected to perform research and publish scholarly articles in high-level international conferences and peer-review journals before graduation. Master and PhD students may be required to take CE4340  Transportation Engineering, English writing or skill enhancing courses that are not counted in the credit hours towards a degree. A list of student publications can be found in Dr. Kelvin Cheu's resume as well.