Transportation and Geodetic Engineering

Transportation Engineering

Transportation engineers track, analyze and design all modes of (land, sea, and air) transportation systems, and they study the various ways operators and end-users decide within the nation's transportation enterprise.  The challenge of transportation engineers is to plan, design, operate, and manage the nation's transportation systems such that the various modes will provide safe, security, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical and seamless movement of people, ideas, goods, and things.  Highways and streets, mass transit systems, railroads, airports, waterways, and pipelines are all part of the nation's transportation system.  Problems addressed by transportation engineers include traffic congestion, transportation decision-making of operators and end-users, economical transportation planning and design, high-speed rail systems, and efficient maintenance of highway and airport pavements.  Modern transportation engineers must understand the latest advances in information and communications technologies in order to develop and advance the nation's intelligent transportation system and transportation security priorities. In achieving this, transportation engineers must understand economic, political, and social factors of these national transportation priorities. 

Geodetic Engineering

Geodetic engineers use technologies to measure or inventory land and water resources.  It embodies traditional civil engineering disciplines of data analysis, photogrammetry, and surveying, as well as newer areas such as multi-spectral sensor measurements, image processing, and geographic information systems (GIS).  Geoinformation is used in a variety of civil engineering applications, including site selection, resource mapping, water quality and quantity monitoring, geotechnical measurements, and non-destructive testing.  Geodetic studies provide additional background in newer technologies to enable the student to pursue civil engineering projects and complement more traditional major/minor options.