Learning Beyond the Classroom

We emphasize experiential education which offers you unique hands-on experiences, including co-ops, internships, special projects, practicums, study abroad and research with faculty. 

Co-Op Program and Internships

Our co-op and internship program allows you to gain “real world” experience through employment in a professional setting.

Advantages of doing a co-op or internship include:

  • exploring what specialties of civil engineering you may want to pursue after graduation
  • networking with alumni and professional firms for post-grad employment
  • earning money while in school

We offer either a four-year program working in the summer only or a five-year program working spring/summer or summer/fall. For more information, please contact the Cooperative Education Office at 978- 837-5447 or go to Advantage job opportunities

Senior Design Project

In your senior year, you will complete a capstone design project to graduate in civil engineering. Our faculty selects projects that will bring our students together with the community and alumni.

Recent projects include:

  • Rehabilitating a Lawrence, Massachusetts mill building 
  • Developing a site for community housing
  • Designing a three-story classroom/dormitory facility in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Working on a new residential high-rise in Boston’s Prudential Center 
  • Redesigning the Longfellow Bridge and assessing its community impact

Community Projects

Our students have worked on a variety of community projects, including:

  • Redesigning a problem intersection in the town of North Andover
  • Completing a downtown parking project for the town of Andover
  • Developing a structural model and innovative design for the city of Lawrence’s riverfront revitalization
  • Traveling to Nepal to help replace a bridge destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake

Through a directed study course funded by the Davis Educational Foundation, our students traveled to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic over spring break to perform field research. They created a housing design that could replace dilapidated structures in low-income neighborhoods.

Steel Bridge Competition

Through the Merrimack student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, our steel bridge team conceptualizes and designs a steel bridge for competition against other colleges/universities every year.

Research

One of the goals of our program is to provide our civil engineering students with the opportunity to participate in scientific research. The research is usually guided by a member of the faculty who has an interest in a particular topic.