Columbia University Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department

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Columbia University Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department

The CEEM department focuses on two broad areas of instruction and research: the classical field of civil engineering and the science of mechanics.

Columbia University was founded as King’s College in 1754 and thus it is older than the United States of America. In fact, it is the fifth oldest university in the country. The development of the School of Engineering was initiated in 1864 when the School of Mines, the first school of its kind in the United States, was established. Civil engineering was added to the curriculum in 1868, making our

department one of the oldest in the country. Courses in metallurgical, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and industrial engineering and in mineral dressing were established later. The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics has supplied faculty for many of the world’s leading engineering schools. At the same time, it has produced successful alumni who have held executive and technical positions of the highest responsibility. The golden age of the department was the period from the 1950s to the 1970s, during which it was ranked as one of the country’s top, if not the top, department in engineering mechanics. Among its faculty were Maciej Bieniek, Hans Bleich, Donald Burmister, Richard Freudenthal, Raymond Mindlin, Mario Salvadori, and Richard Skalak, to name only some of them. Each one of these professors was a giant in his field, who determined the directions that entire areas of study and research would take in the years to come. Today, their students can be found as faculty in many of the top universities in the world.

08/11/2026

How would you describe engineering? See what our current (and aspiring!) engineers have to say about it 📣 🦁

07/24/2026

✨Student spotlight! ✨
Meet Joel, class of 27, and Kurt, class of 28!

Both are researchers in professors Addis Kidane’s lab doing soft material testing or as Joel says “fun things”.

For the World Cup, Joel was rooting for Spain and Kurt wanted to see Messi win - Congrats to Joel/Spain and better luck next World Cup, Kurt! 😂

07/17/2026

Engineers hard at work! (or hardly working? you decide!)

07/02/2026

Shakeira is feeling very patriotic this afternoon and wants to congratulate the US Men’s Soccer Team on their World Cup win and wish everyone a happy 4th of July!

05/21/2026

✨ CONGRATS 2026 CEEM GRADUATES ✨
We are so excited to see what you all do next - keep making ceem department the PROUDEST 🩵🦁🌟

04/23/2026

Join us for the next CEEM seminar on Tuesday, April 28. We’ll be hosting Professor Dan Frangopol from so come on over!

04/17/2026

Join us for our next CEEM seminar with Professor Nick Vlassis from on April 21! He’s also a CEEM alumni so come on by!

04/15/2026

Join us this Thursday on Zoom for CEEM’s yearly Burmister Lecture presented by Professor Ikuo Towhata from Kanto Gakuin University. Link in bio!

04/13/2026

Join us for our next seminar with Professor Ali Mostafavi from who will be discussing how AI can help with disaster prediction.

Address

500 W 120th St
New York, NY
10027

Website

http://civil.columbia.edu/

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