What Do Civil & Environmental Engineers Do?

Our standard of living depends on our civil infrastructure, a sophisticated system of buildings, bridges, dams, airports, transportation networks, water and power distribution systems, and environmental protection systems.

Civil and environmental engineers are responsible for designing, maintaining and enhancing our civil infrastructure. They help to sustain the living standards and quality of life of the population. Civil engineers are also master builders. They create structures that stand as timeless symbols of our civilization. Environmental engineers identify and design solutions for problems involving the environment. To do so, they have to be broadly educated and technically trained to address a wide spectrum of issues.

Lily Shi

Lily Shi, a doctoral candidate in the USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is using the tools of environmental organic chemistry to conduct research devoted to mitigating human health risks caused by emerging contaminants in drinking water.

“My early Ph.D. research focused on understanding the formation pathway of halonitromethanes, a class of extremely potent carcinogen, which are often detected in reuse water and drinking water,” Shi says. “Subsequently, I studied the nitromethane removal mechanism during the wastewater recycling process. My future research will be devoted to uncovering the toxic drivers in wastewater reuse and developing new ways to treat water safely.”

Shi is a recipient of the Teh Fu “Dave” Yen Fellowship in Environmental Engineering and a USC TA/RA fellowship. Prior to coming to USC, she earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering and science from Tongji
University in Shanghai, China.

Sustainable Development

Sustainability in the context of civil engineering targets long-term viability of natural resources and engineered civil systems.

Water Quality, Access, and Distribution

Providing an adequate supply of potable water, considering population growth and climate variability.

Disasters and Extreme Events

All aspects of an event, from a fundamental understanding of the physical processes controlling its evolution to the resulting environmental and social reaction.

Coupling of Complex Systems

Efforts aim to integrate research across the Sonny Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, as well with all outside disciplines that interact with civil systems.