Civil engineers are responsible for creating and building projects such as bridges, roads, and skyscrapers.

People that are engineers help to make a difference in the world and are essential to everyone's health, happiness, and safety. Engineers are creative individuals that help shape the future by designing, creating, building, improving, and inventing things such as faster computers, smaller MP3 players, longer bridges, and taller skyscrapers.

What Is a Civil Engineer?
A civil engineer is a type of engineer that designs and builds public infrastructure projects—things like airports, bridges, buildings, canals, dams, landfills, levees, pipelines, roads, sewers, subways, tunnels, and water supply systems.

Civil engineers work with the general public more than any other type of engineer—and affect our daily lives in almost everything they do. If you stop to think about it, you use things created by civil engineers every day, such as each time you turn on the faucet to get some water, flush the toilet, or travel to school on a bus or a subway.

What is Civil Engineering?
Civil engineering is the oldest and most diverse field of engineering. Thousands of years ago, ancient civil engineers built pyramids in Egypt, aqueducts in the Roman Empire, and the Great Wall of China—objects that still remain standing to this very day! Since then, civil engineering has evolved into a specialized profession so there are many different types of civil engineers:

Structural engineers are responsible for designing long suspension bridges such as the Manhattan Bridge and tall skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building.

• Structural Engineers design structures such as buildings and bridges to withstand forces from gravity, people, equipment, wind, and earthquakes.
• Geotechnical Engineers evaluate rock and soil conditions to design tunnels, foundations, embankments, slopes, and excavations.
• Transportation Engineers plan and design streets, highways, railroads, airports, canals, ports, and subways. They make sure transportation facilities can handle increased volumes of vehicles and passengers in the future.
• Environmental Engineers help protect our health and safety by purifying drinking water, treating wastewater, and designing landfills for the disposal of solid waste.
• Water Resource Engineers are responsible for the flow of water through canals, and aqueducts. The also design dams and levees that provide hydroelectric power, flood control, and reservoirs for water supply.
• Construction Engineers develop schedules and cost estimates to complete projects on time and within budget and inspect the quality of constructed materials. They get to create the designs of architects and engineers!

Where do Civil Engineers Work?
Civil engineers can work in office buildings, in the field at construction and project sites, or split their time between working indoors and outdoors. You've probably seen civil engineers at work near construction sites because engineers that work in the field wear special clothes and safety equipment including hard hats, steel-toed boots, and safety vests. Some civil engineers may get a chance to travel to work on projects in foreign countries across the globe.

Transportation engineers make sure that the streets, subways, and railroads at Grand Central Terminal can handle lots of vehicles and passengers during the morning and evening rush hours.

Who do Civil Engineers Work For?
Civil engineers can work for:

• Government Agencies are the owners and maintainers of public infrastructure projects including federal, state, city, and county organizations.
• Public Utilities include electric, gas, and water providers.
• Contractors include construction companies that build new projects or make repairs to existing infrastructure.
• Private Consultants are companies that help government agencies and private companies to design and inspect projects.
• Colleges and Universities have professors and engineers that do research or teach classes to students that want to become civil engineers.

Civil engineers work for companies of all sizes—from firms with thousands of engineers in offices across the globe to small companies that serve local markets. Some civil engineers even own their own companies!