Civil Systems Engineering

Modern dwellings, office buildings, and infrastructure form socio-technical systems with many different natural, physical, social, and cyber-physical elements that stand in complex interaction with each other. Because of the interactions between all these different elements, engineering, constructing, operating, and maintaining the built environment becomes an increasingly difficult task requiring advanced intelligent computing methods. The Civil Systems Engineering master’s program is a research-focused educational program formulated as a response to these challenges. Students will learn advanced techniques to model complex systems to support all aspects of their agile and informed design and engineering. The main focus of the Civil Systems Engineering master’s program is to prepare the next generation of civil systems engineers so that they are able to deal with the continuously increasing complexity of the built environment. To build a basic set of skills, the first year starts with predefined compulsory modules dealing with basic concepts on civil systems modeling, as well as modeling the underlying processes derived from their operation and maintenance. Building upon these basic courses, a list of compulsory elective modules is proposed from which the students can choose various advanced topics. During the second year, the students have the possibility to choose from a list of elective modules and to conduct an independent research project. In the last part of the second year, the students will work on their master’s thesis.