EXPLORE GRADUATE COURSES

Looking for graduate courses for the upcoming academic year? Explore new offerings and featured courses available to Civil, Environmental, Mining, and Petroleum Engineering students.

“Scientists discover the world that exists; engineers create the world that never was.”

Theodore von Kármán
Welcome to a new academic year with the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and the School of Mining & Petroleum Engineering! We are thrilled to have you join our vibrant research and academic community as you transform complex engineering challenges into rigorous, defensible discoveries. Whether you are arriving with a clearly defined thesis topic or are just beginning to shape your research path, this year promises incredible opportunities for growth, collaboration, and innovation.

NEW COURSES

CIV E 779 – Introduction to Building Engineering

Why take this course?

Delve into the fundamentals of building engineering with a focus on how structural, envelope, mechanical, and electrical systems integrate. In this course, you will gain a working knowledge of essential Canadian compliance codes, including the NBC and NECB, and learn to navigate primary referenced industry standards such as CSA, ASTM, ANSI, and ULC.

Schedule: Tuesdays, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
(Evening course designed to accommodate students with daytime professional or research commitments.)

**Open to students from all specializations.

CIV E 709 – Infrastructure Systems and Resilience

Why take this course?

Examine the principles, methods, and real-world applications involved in building resilient physical infrastructure systems. This course covers emerging climate-related infrastructure challenges using data-driven, equity-centered, and management-informed approaches. You will integrate technical methods—including damage modeling, network analysis, geospatial analytics, and AI/ML—with socio-economic perspectives like community vulnerability and stakeholder decision-making. Through case studies and hands-on projects, you will analyze how infrastructure systems interact, respond, and recover under disruption and uncertainty, placing an emphasis on resilience-based planning and design as a foundation for long-term sustainability, equity, and risk reduction.

CIV E 709 – Embodied Intelligence for Construction Robotics

Why take this course?

Explore how robotic is transforming construction through automation, digital technologies, and advanced project delivery methods. This course is ideal for students interested in innovation, construction productivity, site automation, and the future of smart construction practices.

CIV E 719 – Transportation Network Modelling and Optimization

Why take this course?

Unlock the power of network theory and operations research to design the future of sustainable, resilient, and health-centered transit systems. This course blends cutting-edge analytical tools (including graph theory, advanced routing algorithms, traffic assignment, and network optimization) with real-world applications in accessibility, climate hazard mitigation, energy efficiency, and equity. You will gain direct, hands-on experience utilizing Python-based network analytics in Google Colab. Best of all, you will collaborate directly with community partners to engineer impactful solutions for authentic, pressing transportation challenges.

  • Winter 2027
  • Instructor: Huiying (Fizzy) Fan
  • Learn more

CIV E 779 – Performance-Based Design of Structural Systems

Why take this course?

As communities seek safer and more resilient infrastructure, performance-based seismic design is becoming an increasingly important engineering approach. Gain the knowledge and tools needed to evaluate structural performance, manage seismic risk, and design buildings that meet modern resilience and sustainability objectives.

  • Winter 2027
  • Instructor: Hossein Daneshvar
  • Learn more

PET E 540 – Unconventional Reservoir Engineering

Why take this course?

Classify and characterize the petrophysical properties of unconventional reservoirs. Analyse well testing and production data from fractured reservoir systems. Evaluate and implement advanced enhanced hydrocarbon recovery methods tailored for unconventional assets.

  • Fall 2026
  • Instructor: Hassan Dehghanpour & Amin Alinejad
  • Learn more

FEATURED COURSES

CIV E 789 – Concrete Materials: Composition, Performance, and Applications

Why take this course?

Build a strong foundational understanding of the essential components, properties, specifications, and practical applications of the materials that shape our built environment, both today and in the future.

Schedule: Thursdays, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
(Evening course designed to accommodate students with daytime professional or research commitments.)

**Open to students from all specializations.

CIV E 789 – Sensing Techniques & Data Analytics for Engineering Systems

Why take this course?

This course received the Alberta Course (Re)Design Award and follows the full structural health monitoring workflow, from designing a sensing plan to turning raw sensor data into engineering decisions. It connects core engineering fundamentals in mathematics, statistics, and dynamics with modern, data-driven methods: time- and frequency-domain analysis, feature engineering, statistical and machine-learning anomaly detection, and finite element model updating. The work is hands-on and built around a Python project, and although the examples come from bridge monitoring, the skills transfer to any field that relies on sensor data.

  • Fall 2026
  • Instructor: Mohamed Talebi Kalaleh
  • Learn more

**Open to students from all specializations.

CIV E 719 – Advanced Pavement Management Systems

Why take this course?

Master the data-driven strategies shaping the future of roadway infrastructure. This course delivers an advanced, in-depth dive into modern pavement management systems (PMS), focusing on the lifecycle optimization, maintenance planning, and sustainable rehabilitation of asphalt pavement networks. You will bridge the gap between office-based analytics and field-based engineering by working with real-world datasets and practical case studies to evaluate pavement condition, predict performance and design cost-effective rehabilitation and maintenance strategies. Cap off the semester by choosing your own advanced research topic and delivering a professional term presentation, sharpening the high-level analytical, decision-making and communication skills required to solve real-world infrastructure challenges.

OPEN TO STUDENTS ACROSS MULTIPLE SPECIALIZATIONS

CIV E 668 – Fundamentals of Building Physics

Why take this course?

Master advanced building physics and energy-efficient design. This course covers steady-state and transient heat/mass transfer, solar engineering, thermal processes, psychrometrics, air conditioning, and coupled heat/moisture transfer. Gain hands-on skills in whole-building dynamic simulations using thermal networks and explicit finite difference methods. Learn to analyse indoor thermal comfort, and select high-performance materials to design sustainable spaces.

CIV E 779 – Machine Learning for Engineers

Why take this course?

Unlock the fundamentals of machine learning and learn to implement powerful algorithms using Python. Designed specifically for engineers, this course teaches you how to directly apply machine learning techniques to solve complex engineering problems. Beyond the core foundations, you will build the skills needed to independently explore, evaluate, and adapt to the latest advancements in this rapidly evolving field.

CIV E 789 – Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Career Development in the AEC Industry

Why take this course?

Learn how innovation becomes real-world impact in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This course equips future leaders with the skills to identify opportunities, evaluate emerging technologies, develop business and commercialization strategies, and lead innovation within startups, established organizations, and the broader construction ecosystem. Learn from real-world case studies and industry leaders while building the skills needed to drive innovation throughout your career.

Schedule: Tuesdays, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
(Evening course designed to accommodate students with daytime professional or research commitments.)

CIV E 789 – Risk Management Principles and Tools

Why take this course?

Master the essentials of risk management and safety engineering in industrial and organizational settings. This course bridges the gap between technical and occupational safety, equipping you with hands-on risk assessment methodologies and insights into organizational safety cultures.

  • Fall 2026
  • Instructor: Renato Macciotta & Lisa White
  • Learn more

Schedule: Thursdays, 5:00-8:00 p.m.
(Evening course designed to accommodate students with daytime professional or research commitments.)

CIV E 789 – Research Methods

Why take this course?

Whether you already have a defined thesis topic or are starting completely from scratch, this project-based course provides a structured roadmap to mastering research in Civil Engineering disciplines. You will be guided step-by-step through the entire research lifecycle: from identifying knowledge gaps and formulating defensible questions to designing robust methodologies and effectively communicating your findings.

CIV E 789 – GIS Applications in Engineering

Why take this course?

Discover how to leverage Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to solve complex, real-world challenges in natural resources management, engineering, urban planning, and environmental sciences. Equip yourself with the spatial analysis skills needed to drive sustainable resource management across diverse industries.

Looking for additional courses?

View the Full 2026 – 2027 Graduate Course Offerings

Contact us:

Associate Dean
Graduate Studies:
ad.ceegrad@ualberta.ca


Graduate Program Advisors:
crgradvis@ualberta.ca


Reception phone number:
780-492-4235