Professional Master's: Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering

Civil Professional Master's in Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering

The Professional Master's in Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering is offered by 鶹ѰBoulder’s Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department in partnership with the Mortenson Center. This 30-credit program prepares engineers to tackle climate adaptation, resilient infrastructure, global health, water and sanitation and other pressing and complex global challenges. Engineers gain these skills through technical coursework and a hands-on global practicum.

Hands-on learning is central to the program. The capstone global practicum places engineers with one of the Mortenson Center's 80+ partner organizations, many of them international. You will deepen your classroom knowledge, gain experience and professional contacts and contribute to meaningful missions. Learn more about the global practicum program.

Start earning your Professional Master's now! Begin your journey with the Mortenson Center's Online Certificate in Global Engineering and reduce your cost by up to 40%!

Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering Program
At-A-Glance

Program DetailInformation
DegreeProfessional Master of Science in Civil Engineering
FocusGlobal Resilience & Sustainability Engineering
University鶹Ѱ
Credits30 graduate credits
FormatOn-campus graduate program
Practicum2-3 months hands-on global practicum (typically in the summer)
Areas of studyResilient infrastructure, climate adaptations, impact evaluation, global health,
remote sensing and geospatial data analytics, development economics
Certificate Pathway9-12 credits from the Online Certificate in Global Engineering may apply toward this degree

Professional Master's in Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering

Overview Course Examples Global Practicum Who's It For? Entry Requirements Tuition & Funding
Overview

Professional Master's in Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering (Civil) Overview

  • 30 total credit hours
  • 9-12 credits from the Online Global Engineering Certificate can transfer into the Professional Master's and reduce the total program cost
  • Paid master's projects are available | 3 credits with an average of $5,000-$15,000 stipend
  • Work with world-class faculty with real-world experience

You will get:

  • Global Practicum: 2-3 month placement, often international, with one of our 80+ partner organizations across 30 countries. Partial funding is provided.
  • Career ready skill in water, sanitation & hygiene, climate adaptation, GIS, data analytics, AI tools, project management, renewable energy and more.
  • Direct relationships with Tetra Tech, AECOM, Jacobs, Arcadia, Deloitte, WSP. Our alumni network opens doors.
  • Live and study in one of America's top college towns. 300 days of sunshine, world-class outdoor recreation, local sustainability jobs abound.

Course Examples

CVEN 5919: Global Development for Engineers (required) Understand the legacy of colonization, become familiar with the stakeholders that shape the global development agenda, explore development sectors, increase awareness of global development problems and improve critical thinking in order to produce policy memos, technical briefs and present evidence-based analysis.
CVEN 5939: Global Engineering & Hazard Resilience Practicum (required) A true understanding of global engineering requires students to engage in a significant field-based experience in low- or middle-income context.
CVEN 5979/5989/5999: Method Series Take one or all three one-credit modules. Includes Community Appraisal, Study Design & Impact Evaluation & Data Analytics for Development.
CVEN 5109: Intro to Environmental & Development Economics for Engineers: Topics covered include: an understanding of the difference between growth and economic development; the meaning and measurement of economic development; major growth theories; sustainability; poverty and income distribution; inequality; significance of agriculture in developing countries; poverty and population issues; international trade; and the importance of foreign aid; the role of geography and institutions; fertility and population growth; social and environmental impacts; the role of credit markets and microfinance; health and nutrition; education; female empowerment.

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Global Practicum

The Global Practicum is an important component of our program and provides students with an opportunity to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in Mortenson Centercoursework and other learning experiences, and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice in engineering and international development. The practicum is designed to help students:

  • Understand the meaning and importance of global engineering practice
  • Understand the purpose of field methods including community-based needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation, and household surveys
  • Understand and observe common elements among planning models and be able to develop a plan for an engineering intervention addressing a global issue, e.g. water supply, housing, energy
  • Understand major implementation issues, common barriers to implementation, and strategies for minimizing barriers to implementation
  • Identify and observe strategies for scaling up and sustaining engineering solutions
  • Apply planning, monitoring and evaluation skills to real-world problem solving; and
  • Enhance practice skills of leadership, effective teamwork, and the mastery of competencies in global engineering

You will:

  • Receive funding support to travel for your Practicum
  • Be placed with an agency or organization, that is doing work you are interested in, utilizing our network of over 80+ partnerships
  • Work within an agency or organization, typically for three months over the summer
  • Build your skills with real-world experience
  • Build your network and job opportunities

Who's it For?

  • Students who want career-ready skills employers are looking for in: carbon markets, climate adaptation, WASH systems, GIS, data analytics, AI tools, project management
  • Students who want access to our network of industry partners such as Tetra Tech, AECOM, Jacobs, Arcadis, WSP, Deloitte, government agencies and NGOs including. Open more doors with access to our alumni network.

Entry Requirements

  • Minimum 3.00 GPA average for all undergraduate coursework (鶹ѰGraduate School requirement for regular admission)
  • Completion of a four-year bachelor’s degree
  • Proof of English proficiency if native language is not English, as demonstrated by submission of a TOEFL score of 600 (paper-based) or 100 (internet-based) or an IELTA score of 7 or above
  • Math (four semesters) including Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations; equivalents of APPM 1350, APPM 1360, APPM 2350, and APPM 2360
  • Physics (two semesters); equivalents of PHYS 1110, PHYS 1120/1140 (laboratory)
  • Analytical Mechanics or “Statics” (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 2121
  • Fluid Mechanics (one semester); equivalent of CVEN 3313

These courses have been identified by the faculty of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering as vital to anyone who earns a graduate degree in Civil Engineering, irrelevant of specialization area. Students may be admitted with three or fewer deficiencies, but the missing undergraduate-level coursework must be completed as early as possible in the student's graduate career.

Tuition & Funding Opportunities

  • $1,699/credit (in-state) or $2,068/credit (out-of-state)
  • Reduce the total program cost: If you start with the Online Certificate you pay for less on-campus credits because 9-12 credits transfer in.
  • Paid MS project opportunity in 3rd semester
  • Fellowship opportunities
  • Practicum financial travel support
  • Assistantship opportunities
  • Conference & travel grants

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Global Resilience & Sustainability Engineering Courses

1. Core Courses

All Professional Master's in Global Engineering & Resilience students start their program with Hazard, Resilience, and Sustainability for the Natural and Built Environments or Global Development for Engineers, each of which introduces students to the complexities of global climate change and its hazards, inequalities, and opportunities, providing a survey approach to understanding major historical causes, theories, institutions, policies and emerging solutions.

The Global Practicum provides students with a field-based and/or team project-based opportunity to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in Mortenson Center courses and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates professional practice in global engineering and hazard resilience. Students typically fulfill the global practicum requirement the summer after the first academic year in the program. These two core courses fulfill six of the required 30 credits for the Professional Master's:

2. Global Sustainability Option Area
(12 - 15 credits)

Students work with their advisor to tailor a set of courses to provide breadth in skills and subject matter in areas such as geospatial data analytics, environmental change, and socially responsible enterprise.

For example:

  • ENVS 5100: Special Topics in Environmental Studies: AI for Good(3 credits)
  • ENVM 5018: The Scientific Basis of Environmental Change(3 credits)
  • MBAX 6000 Socially Responsible Enterprise(3 credits)
  • Electives (3-6 credits)

3. Global Engineering & Resilience Series(9-12 credits)

The Mortenson Center offers courses as a series of 5-week modules, witheach module worth one credit-hour.For the Professional Master's in Global Resilience and Sustainability Engineering, students are required to complete 9-12 credit-hours from the following series:

A. Principles

B. Project Management

C. Field Methods

D. Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery

E. CVEN 5969:Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)*

F. MCEN 5299:Household Energy*

*3 credit course

Learn More!

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The practicum changed my life. It gave me an opportunity to go experience something that pushed me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to a whole different world.- G. Colgan, MS EnvEng'23

What are students are saying

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“What I treasure most about the Mortenson Center is the community—both faculty and students foster an environment ripe for meaningful discussions on pressing global issues. The conversational approach to learning in the program encourages us to apply our knowledge to real-world problems, especially the integrative approach to climate change across all courses.” —D.Valdivieso, PhDCivEng'24