Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Transportation Engineering Graduate Program

The graduate program prepares students to function effectively in engineering roles. Course electives and a creative component provide a high degree of flexibility that enables students to tailor their own programs.

Iowa State also has one of the few interdepartmental graduate degree programs in transportation (MS degrees only). The program accepts engineering and non-engineering B.S. degree holders and combines classes in engineering, economics, and geographic information systems.

Learn why you should choose our graduate program.

Program of Study

The Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering offers an MS and PhD with a specialization in transportation engineering.

Students can enhance their professional competency through focused, customized, and intense coursework and independent study of advanced topics related to transportation engineering. Learn about what transportation engineers do.

Courses

Students studying transportation engineering generally are required to take CE 550 Advanced Highway Design and CE 553 Traffic Engineering (for qualified students entering without a BS in Civil Engineering, the POS Committee establishes core requirements).

Students are urged to take Trans 691 Transportation Seminar each spring. This seminar addresses current research topics in transportation engineering (required course for Transportation Scholars). Additional transportation engineering graduate courses include the following:

  • CE 551. Urban Transportation Planning and Management
  • CE 552. Traffic Safety, Operations, and Maintenance
  • CE 555. Advanced Traffic Operations
  • Trans 555. Transportation Economics and Experimental Design
  • CE 556X. Transportation Data Analysis
  • CE 557. Transportation Systems Analysis
  • CE 558. Transportation Systems Development and Management Laboratory
  • CE 559. Transportation Asset Management
  • Trans 691. Transportation Seminar

For more information on specific courses, see the ISU catalog.

Degree Requirements

Transportation Engineering Research

Faculty researching transportation work closely with hundreds of transportation professionals at local, regional, state, and federal transportation agencies. They are active in both transportation engineering research and outreach, conducting more than $6 million of projects annually.

Learn more about transportation engineering research at Iowa State:

Research Center

Research Labs

Admission to Graduate Study

The Graduate Admissions Office handles all admissions to Iowa State graduate programs. Graduate information is available from the CCEE Admissions and Graduate College Web pages.

You may also contact the college by mail:

Graduate Admissions Office
100 Alumni Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3232

Prerequisites

The normal prerequisite to graduate work in transportation engineering is a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. However, students from other curricula (such as other engineering curricula and architecture) may enter the program on a provisional basis provided they satisfy certain additional requirements.

With provisional admission, these prerequisites may be met once the student enrolls at Iowa State University and may be met while also taking graduate-level coursework. See the specific prerequisites.

Learn More

For more information about the transportation engineering graduate program, please contact Reg Souleyrette, reg@iastate.edu, 515-294-5453.