Scope and Objectives
Transportation serves society’s basic needs for personal travel and transfer of goods. Transportation engineering applies scientific and technical knowledge to provide economical and efficient transportation service that meets societal needs while maintaining compatibility with environmental, energy, and safety goals.
Oregon State University offers a graduate concentration in Transportation Engineering leading to the degrees of Master of Engineering, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy. The program provides the student with skills in planning, construction, design, operation, and maintenance of transportation systems and facilities. The course offerings provide both a broad awareness of transportation concepts and an understanding of scientific and technical knowledge to address transportation problems.
Program of Study
The program of study for the M.S. and M.Eng. degrees consists of a minimum of 45 credit hours. For the M.S. degree, a student with major professor approval may elect a thesis or non-thesis (technical report) option; a maximum of 12 credit hours is allowed for the thesis and 6 for a non-thesis option. Students who are supported with a Graduate Teaching or Research Assistant ship (GTA or GRA) position much produce a research thesis.
Alternatively, the M.Eng. degree requires coursework only; students pursuing the M.Eng. degree are generally not supported with GTA or GRA positions.
For the Ph.D. degree, students are required to take 108 credit hours. Up to 45 credit hours from a previous M.S. degree may be counted. A maximum of 36 credit hours are allowed for thesis research.
The courses offered in the transportation engineering graduate curriculum are listed below (number of credit hours in parentheses). These courses assume that the student has a relevant undergraduate degree, particularly with courses equivalent to CE 392 Introduction to Highway Engineering and CE 491 Transportation Engineering. Should the students not have these basic courses, they would be expected to complete them as they begin their graduate studies.
Core Classes
| Course | Credit Hours |
| CE 591 – Transportation Systems Analysis, Planning, and Policy | (3) |
| CE 594 – Transportation Facilities Design | (4) |
| CE 595 – Traffic Operations and Design | (3) |
| STATS 511 – Methods of Data Analysis I | (4) |
| STATS 512 – Methods of Data Analysis II | (4) |
| CE 507 – Graduate Seminar | (1) |
Elective Graduate Classes
| Course | Credit Hours |
| CE 552 - Isolated Signalized Intersections | (3) |
| CCE 520 - Pavement Design and Sustainability | (3) |
| CE 553 - Railroad Engineering | (3) |
| CE 554 - Driving Simulation | (3) |
| CE 592 - Pavement Structures | (3) |
| CE 593 - Traffic Flow Analysis and Control | (4) |
| CE 596 - Pavement Evaluation and Management | (3) |
| CE 597 - Public Transportation | (3) |
| CE 598 - Airport Planning and Design | (3) |
| CE 599 - Intelligent Transportation Systems | (3) |
|
CE 590 - Selected Topics in Transportation Engineering
|
(3) |
Additional courses may be selected at the discretion of the major professor.