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Bachelor of Science in Construction Engineering and Management

The construction engineering and management bachelor of science at CU Denver is a new type of degree that offers the rigors of engineering problem-solving and design with business and management courses, coupled with construction management courses. Students receive an innovative interdisciplinary education that combines coursework in engineering, construction management, business and architecture. Graduates will find exciting, well-paid careers in the expanding and interconnected industry of architecture, engineering and construction as it embraces dynamic new concepts like smart cities, connected infrastructure and evolving value propositions.

The construction engineering and management bachelor of science degree supports the new construction knowledge area within the fundamentals of engineering exam. The program includes a solid foundation of construction engineering and management courses, an engineering focus/specialty area, and select courses from business, architecture and engineering. All students will complete a construction capstone design course, and students are required to complete at least 12 weeks of a full-time internship within the architecture, engineering or construction industry or government agency.

Curriculum

The construction engineering and management bachelor of science is comprised of 128 credit hours. Students are required to complete the following minimum program requirements:

24 credit hours CU Denver core curriculum coursework
30 credit hours math and science courses
35 credit hours construction engineering and management coursework
11 credit hours engineering coursework
6 credit hours architecture coursework
3 credit hours business coursework
15 credit hours engineering science and design coursework (civil, computer science, electrical, or mechanical track)
3 credit hours technical electives
1 credit hour internship

You may also reference the construction engineering and management bachelor of science curriculum flow chart for a visual guide to the curriculum.

Please see the attached list of technical electives:

Technical Electives

Here are curriculum examples for the engineering science and design specialty areas:

In Civil Engineering any course listed as a hybrid will meet the following criteria:

Meet on campus at least once per week
Exams are in person
At least 51% of the total course content will be in person

Construction Engineering and Management program FAQs

Construction engineering and management program FAQs

Course descriptions

CEMT 1000 - Introduction to Construction Management

Course provides an introduction to the construction industry and project management. Student will learn basic CM terminology, roles and responsibilities associated with a construction project, and construction documents.

CEMT 2100 - Construction Management Fundamentals

This course focuses on introducing the field of construction engineering and management. Topics will include introduction to construction management and work process; drawings; cost estimating; project planning and control; construction operations and job site management; quality and safety management; and building information modeling. Course participants will gain knowledge about construction engineering and management through lectures, exercises, class presentations, projects and group activities. Course includes a field trip to a construction site and guest speakers from the construction industry as the course time allows.

CEMT 2300 - Heavy Civil Construction and Equipment

Course includes an introduction to heavy civil construction equipment, materials, labor and methods. Students will learn to perform comparative cost analysis for owning and operating heavy equipment; and perform the proper selection, applications, utilization and productivity of heavy equipment with the associated labor and logistics.

CEMT 3100 - Field Engineering and Management

Includes an overview of field engineering and management. Students will assess basic design of temporary structures, quality assurance and quality control, and materials testing and processing. Students will learn the fundamentals of soils engineering. Students will be able to apply surveying concepts and generate site layout. Students will learn the basics of safety, accident prevention, risk management, and regulatory compliance on construction sites.

CEMT 4067 - Construction Senior Capstone

Students will work in teams to formulate or design a construction project requiring the synthesis of material learned in previous courses. The student teams will establish goals, plan and accomplish tasks, meet deadlines, analyze risk and uncertainty, and demonstrate leadership and management skills. Teams will coordinate and communicate with a range of stakeholders and give final presentations.

CEMT 4231 - Construction Materials and Methods

This course serves as an introduction to the primary materials and methods used to construct buildings and infrastructure across the United States, including concrete, wood and steel. Students explore processes related to specifying and installing materials, as well as analyze various material performance characteristics. Students are required to complete lectures, videos and class activities. Students also research and present information on a wide range of materials and construction processes.

CEMT 4232 - Construction Planning and Control

This course presents knowledge on planning and controlling of construction projects. Students will learn the basics of construction planning to develop work breakdown structure and activity list, estimate activity cost and duration, and identify job logic and precedence relationships. Several scheduling techniques will be presented in this class, including bar chart, network scheduling, uncertainty in scheduling (PERT), limited resources scheduling, resource leveling, line of balance, and time-cost tradeoff analysis. Furthermore, this class will provide knowledge on cash flow analysis and construction control techniques such as Earned Value method. Students will acquire skills on the use of currently available computer scheduling and planning software such as Primavera 6 and Navisworks Manage to create 5D models to visualize sequence of the construction activities. In addition, students will forms teams and work on a project throughout the semester to apply the skills that they learn in class. Cross-listed with CVEN 5232.

CEMT 4233 - Construction Cost Estimating

This course presents the application of scientific principles to rough and detailed cost estimating for construction. The course starts with an introduction to estimating and how it fits in bid/proposal process and construction management. Quantity take offs, putting costs to those quantities, overhead costs, cost markups and profits; and computerized estimating will be explored. The project includes quantity take and cost estimate for the concrete and metals portion of an actual project.

CEMT 4234 - Sustainable Construction

This course will serve as an introduction to major components and technologies used in sustainable design and construction to create healthy, environmentally-sensitive built environments. Content focuses on construction processes, renewable energy systems, healthy buildings, natural and cultural resources, and traditional as well as cutting-edge building techniques. Course participants will gain knowledge about effective sustainable practices through active learning by engaging in case studies, class presentations, and group activities. Numerous guest speakers will share first-hand experience regarding implementation and professional practice of sustainable principles in the real-world.

CEMT 4236 - Project Management Systems

Address the basic nature of managing projects and the advantages and disadvantages to this approach. Introduce the characteristics, techniques, and problems associated with initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closeout of projects. Learn about the International Standards of PM and how to use them. Develop a management perspective about projects to help develop future project managers.

CEMT 4240 - Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Building Information Modeling is an advanced approach to facility design and construction using object-oriented 3-D models. It can be integrated in the design and construction for analytical purposes, including design, visualization, quantity takeoff, cost estimating, planning, and facility management.

CEMT 4242 - Construction Safety

This course is a study of safety practices in the construction industry and the specific safety procedures used in safety management of a construction project. Topics include safety risks inherent in construction projects, the roles of government, the judicial system, the insurance industry, designers and project owners in safety management and the economic impact of injures. Advanced topics include safety risk quantification and analysis, design for safety and emerging technologies.

CEMT 4939 - Internship

Construction Engineering and Management Internship.

See internship info below.

Hiring students and graduates

Hiring students and graduates – for employeers

The CU Denver CEM program has undergraduate and graduate level students and soon to be graduates looking for work experience, formal internships, and careers. The easiest way to find the new employee that you are looking for is to go to the CU Denver Career Center. Set up an account in Handshake.

The Career Center also offers several career fairs each year. The easiest way to find out when the next one is to Google “CU Denver career fair”.

The CU Denver Experiential Center offers information structured internships.

The CEM program offers focused career fairs for our Industry Advisory Board (IAB) members. If you are interested in joining our IAB or are on our IAB and want additional information please email Heidi Brothers. Heidi.brothers@ucdenver.edu.

Work experience and internships

Student information

The CEM program highly encourages all students to gain work experience in the industry. Work experience affords you the opportunity to apply concepts studied in the classroom, explore other aspects of the industry, and gain profession experience. The CEM program provides the CEM career fairs, information on networking, preparing resumes, finding opportunities, and interview prep.

Work experience. Work experience is defined as working in the construction related industry. That can include working for a general contractor, specialty contractor, a design firm, a related supply or technology company, a company providing CM services, or the project management/ construction management part of a government or municipal agency. The work can be during breaks or part time during the school semesters.

Internship. Students working towards a BS degree in CM or CEM are required to complete an internship within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The internship must be at least 3 months (12 weeks, 480 hours of work) of fulltime internship with an AEC industry or government agency. Typically, the internships would occur during the summer months of the junior to senior year.

This internship is worth 1 credit hour and will be listed as CEMT 4939 on your transcript. Internships are to be completed within the last 2 years (or 4 semesters) before graduation.

See additional information

International Graduate Student Internship. The CEM program can accommodate internships for international graduate students on some types of visas to allow them to gain work experience.

How to find a job

This webpage is designed to help you land a job, work experience opportunity, internship, and/or career in construction management and related areas. Employers could potentially be general contractors, specialty contractors, design firms, government agencies, and others.

Please start by working with the CU Denver Career Center. https://www.ucdenver.edu/lynxconnect/career-center

The information available on this webpage includes 3 videos, some example resumes, and other information. Start by watching video 1 and the resume review video. Then look at the example resumes and write, revise, update, etc your resume. Video 2 focuses on networking, finding opportunities and interview prep. Note also the files on LinkedIn and Federal Resumes.

After you have written, revised, updated etc, your resume you may send it to me for additional help. I will also help you with interview preparation. Heidi Brothers - Heidi.brothers@ucdenver.edu

Couple of clarifications for the “How to find a job video 1”.? In this video, I had issues with screen sharing of the resume examples.? So, there is another video that goes over the resume examples. In the video, I talk about internships from the perspective of the required CEMT 4939 for the BS in CEM and CM.? Internships is a broad term that the design/construction industry uses for short, focused introductions to the work and the company.? Typically, they are about 3 months in the summer and some companies have a very structured program.? For example, GE Johnson brings all new interns in about the last week in May for a week or orientation and networking among the interns before being sent to their respective work locations.? In general, all internships are paid.?

Example resumes

Videos

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Admission requirements

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Department of Civil Engineering
civilengineering@ucdenver.edu
303-315-7160

CEM Program