WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS? 

Our student population is quite diverse.  You may want to read the Student Profiles section for a few sample biographies of our students. Our three graduate programs appeal to different populations.

Students in our Master Program in Construction Management attend classes at UW's Seattle campus.  Close to 60% of our students take advantage of our evening classes as they work during the day for federal, state, and local agencies; general contractors, construction management firms, real estate developers, consulting firms, and multi-national corporations.  This population of part-time students bring day-to-day experiences to our classes and years of field experience.  The other 40% of our students are full-time students and are more or less equally divided among domestic and international.  About half of our students in the program have a B.S. in civil engineering, construction management, or similar field.  Close to 30% have undergraduate degrees in architecture or business.  The remaining 20% come from a variety of backgrounds and represent students who are switching careers and embracing the exciting world of construction.

Students in our Distance Learning Master Program in Construction Engineering do not have to attend classes at UW as the entire educational experience occurs on-line.  Therefore, this group of students lives all around the U.S. and the world.  Because of its emphasis on heavy construction, the great majority of our students hold B.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. A good number of students in this program have work commitments that require them to travel or relocate often from project to project or from base to base in the case of the military.  These students tend to be older and have more experience than those in the Master Program in Construction Management.

Students in our Ph.D. Program in the Built Environment attend classes at UW's Seattle campus.  These are full-time students exclusively because of the nature of the program.  They have already earned a Master's degree before enrolling in the Ph.D. program.  These students are highly independent, motivated and academically inclined.  They are interested in future careers in academia or research institutions.  In the academy, there is an increased demand for people who can teach the professional core curriculum and also direct advanced research; in the non-academic research sector, there is increasing interest in sophisticated researchers who understand the concerns and speak the languages of professional practice.  Students who attend will want to focus on sustainability or computational research within the context of the Built Environment.