根据美国土木工程师学会的定义，土木工程专业是通过学习，经验和实践获得的数学和物理科学知识，并通过判断来开发经济利用材料和力量的方法在创造，改善和保护环境，为社区生活，工业和交通提供设施以及为人类使用提供结构方面为人类的福祉服务。
Civil Engineering, as defined by the American Society of Civil Engineers, is a profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the progressive well-being of humanity in creating, improving and protecting the environment, in providing facilities for community living, industry and transportation, and in providing structures for the use of humanity.