The field of Civil Engineering has long been known for its breadth and ability to adapt to the new technological needs of society. The traditional areas of public works, such as highways, bridges, water supply, building design, and wastewater treatment, remain very important. In addition, the modern area of managing the environment has been included in the Civil Engineering domain. Graduates of the majors are prepared for careers with public agencies or private industry and with firms involved in planning, design, research and development, or regulation. The Department has a high bay structures laboratory, which includes an MTS 250 kip testing machine. There are also well-equipped environmental, soils, pavement and hydraulics laboratories. These laboratories include equipment such as an ion chromatograph, atomic absorption spectrometer, environmental chamber, constant rate of stress consolidometer, triaxial units, and Superpave testing equipment. The M.S.C.E. is a research-oriented degree in which the student writes, as a major part of the degree requirements, a thesis that defines, examines, and reports in depth on a subject area relevant to Civil Engineering. The purpose of the thesis is to instill in the student the ability to inspect, evaluate, and report on a subject of interest to the engineering profession.