Special Programs
The Institute and the School offer a number of programs designed to expand educational and access opportunities for students.
Engineering Communications Program - the CEE/MSE communications program implements a new model of engineering education, one that directly links communication skills with course content. It does so by meaningfully integrating instruction on written, visual and oral communication into the engineering curriculum.
Cooperative Education Program (COOP) - Undergraduates in Civil and Environmental Engineering may participate in Georgia Tech's Cooperative Education Program. This coop program is a five-year academic program in which students alternate semesters of full-time student and semesters of full-time work. Georgia Tech's program is currently the largest totally optional program in the United States, with about 3,000 students participating and has been listed in U S News & World Report as a "Top Ten" program for three consecutive years. As an integral part of students' overall education, co-op allows students to take on increasing levels of responsibilities and to use their job knowledge and classroom learning to make meaningful contributions to an organization. These students alternate work and study on a semester basis with over 700 employers throughout the United States, as well as with several overseas employers.
International Plan - The International Plan is a challenging and coherent academic program for undergraduates that develops global competence within the context of a student's major. It is a degree-long program that integrates international studies and experiences into any participating major at Georgia Tech. It helps to prepare Georgia Tech graduates professionally and personally for successful lives in the twenty-first century. The International Plan is not intended to replace current international programs; it supplements them. Existing study abroad opportunities continue to be offered. It is also not intended to be an add-on to the current degree programs. It is intended to be another curriculum path to earn a degree in which international competence is integrated into the program of study. The Plan can be completed within the normal timeframe of four years of undergraduate study.
Research Option – The Research Option is intended for students who seek a concentrated research experience, culminating in an undergraduate thesis, integrated into their undergraduate studies. The purpose of this program is to prepare students who plan to go on to graduate research after their BS degree. This option includes three or four semesters of focused research in the student’s junior and senior years. For an undergraduate to fulfill the Research Option, the student must fulfill the following requirements: 1. Complete 9 credit hours of Undergraduate Research CEE 4698 or CEE 4699; 2. Complete LCC 4700 “Writing an Undergraduate Thesis”; 3. Write and submit an undergraduate research thesis that is approved two faculty members. Completing this program gives students a "Research Option" designation on their transcripts.
Georgia Tech Environmental Engineering Research Internship Program (GTEERIP) - GTEERIP is an outreach program developed in 2005 by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Institute of Technology and Laurus Educational Consulting (LEC) in Korea to provide prospective college students with hands-on research experience in the field of environmental science and engineering. Students perform relatively independent research projects, write technical reports, and present their study outcomes at the end of this five-week program. The program is co-directed by Dr. Jaehong Kim at School of CEE and Jimi Jung at LEC. In 2005 and 2006, Drs. Joseph Hughes and Ching-Hua Huang along with Dr. Kim participated in the program as faculty advisors, educating total twelve high school students. For more information about GTEERIP, contact Dr. Jaehong Kim.
Regional Engineering Transfer Program (RETP) - The RETP is a cooperative program between Georgia Tech and thirteen other colleges within the University System of Georgia. For the first two years, students in this program attend one of the participating institutions, where they take all of the mathematics and science and many of the engineering courses required in the first two years of the Georgia Tech engineering curricula. Upon successful completion of the RETP requirements at the RETP institution, students are admitted to Georgia Tech to work toward completion of a bachelor of science in engineering degree. By enrolling in RETP, students may attend a college close to home, thereby decreasing the cost of their education and easing the adjustment to college life. At the same time, RETP students enjoy many of the following advantages of Tech students: they have equal access to engineering majors at Tech, they can participate in the co-op program, and they are invited to the Tech campus once a year for campus tours, information sessions, and meetings with advisors in their engineering major.
Joint BS-MS Degree Program - The American Society of Civil Engineers has adopted a policy of urging students to obtain a master’s degree as the entry-level degree in the profession. The faculty of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering has concluded that in many civil engineering program areas, a master’s degree is necessary for students to have sufficient background to be professionally successful.
The joint five-year B.S.-M.S. program is designed to attract the best-of-the-best undergraduate students and is especially intended for students who demonstrate an interest in, and ability for, additional education beyond the bachelor’s degree.
Students are eligible to apply for the program after they have completed thirty semester credit hours at Georgia Tech, typically at the end of the freshman year, and they have shown appropriate progress in their degree program. A grade point average of 3.5 or higher is needed for admission to the five-year B.S.-M.S. honors program. Students must apply to the program before the completion of seventy-five semester credit hours, including transfer and advanced placement credits, typically at the mid-point of the junior year.
The key components of this program are intense interaction among students and faculty, including mentoring and undergraduate research, and careful advising and course planning to enable students to begin challenging course work in their fourth year of study.
Students in the joint B.S.-M.S. program remain undergraduates until they meet the requirements for the bachelor’s degree, at which point they will receive the BSCE degree. They will then be changed to graduate status. Graduate school application fees and the GRE requirements are waived.
Once admitted, a GPA of at least 3.0 must be maintained to remain in the program. Additionally, students in the B.S.-M.S. program are eligible to use the Graduate Course Option even if their cumulative grade point average is below 3.5 at the time they complete their bachelor’s degree.
Georgia Tech Lorraine Summer Program - The School is an active partner in the Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) Summer Program. GTL offers undergraduate students the opportunity to spend a full summer in a culturally rich environment at the heart of Europe. The program offers a combination of engineering, management, humanities, social science, and French and German language courses taught by faculty from the Georgia Institute of Technology. All instruction is in English. GTL is the European platform of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Launched in 1990 within the framework of the sistership agreement between the Region of Lorraine and the State of Georgia, Georgia Tech Lorraine is located at the Metz Technopôle, in the city of Metz, which is the capital of Lorraine, France. Metz is located at the heart of Europe in the Saar-Lor-Lux Region, which extends into France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.