Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (Highest in US)
Funding Package: Guaranteed 100% funding for all regularly enrolled PhD students: full tuition waiver + 12-month stipend (~$50,400/yr) + comprehensive health insurance.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Optional / Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 100+ or IELTS 7.5+
MSE in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Thesis MSE Eligible for Assistantships
Funding Reality: Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) is a research thesis degree; students can receive assistantships (AR/AI) if sponsored by faculty research grants.
Application Deadline: December 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (4 Profiles)
Prof. Reed Maxwell
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and High Meadows Environmental Institute
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He builds supercomputer simulations of every drop of water moving across entire continents—from deep underground aquifers, through soils and plants, into rushing rivers and floodplains.
Core Research Topics: Continental-scale integrated hydrological modeling, surface water-groundwater interactions, ParFlow simulation platform, machine learning for transient hydrology, satellite data assimilation.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Director of the HydroGEN project (National Science Foundation convergence accelerator). Recent publications: 'A hybrid machine learning and physics-based approach to model high-resolution inundation' (Journal of Hydrology, 2026), 'Data challenges in large-scale transient groundwater modeling using machine learning' (Advances in Water Resources, 2026), and 'CONCN: A high-resolution ParFlow modeling platform' (HESS, 2025).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: ParFlow hydrological modeling code, high-performance supercomputing, hybrid physics-machine learning algorithms, GRACE/SMAP satellite data, GIS spatial raster processing.
Recruiting Context: Director of major multi-million dollar NSF initiatives. Actively recruits PhD students with spatial hydrology, GIS data processing, and programming skills.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood ModelingRemote SensingGISPython
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Referencing his 2026 Journal of Hydrology paper on hybrid machine learning and physics-based inundation modeling, connecting it to your background in GIS spatial analysis and flood hydrology."
Prof. Gabriele Villarini
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He investigates why catastrophic floods happen, how storms and hurricanes dump extreme rain, and whether aging dams across the country are at risk of collapsing from climate change.
Core Research Topics: Flood hydrology, extreme hydroclimatic events, flood frequency analysis, tropical cyclone rainfall, dam failure risk, hydroclimatology.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Recent papers: 'Tiger-HLM: A GPU-Accelerated Distributed Hydrologic Model for High-Resolution Streamflow Simulation' (Advances in Water Resources, 2026), 'Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Hydrological Whiplash Events Across the US' (Earth's Future, 2026), and 'Historical Changes in Overtopping Probability of Dams in the United States' (Nature Communications, 2025).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Tiger-HLM GPU hydrologic model, statistical extreme value theory, radar rainfall remote sensing, weather radar data, spatial GIS flood vulnerability analysis.
Recruiting Context: One of the most prominent flood hydrologists worldwide. Actively hires graduate students passionate about flood modeling and hydrological extremes.
Candidate Match:
Flood ModelingHydrologyGISClimate Hazards
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Expressing admiration for his 2026 work on GPU-accelerated Tiger-HLM distributed streamflow modeling and hydrological whiplash events, pitching your GIS and flood risk analysis background."
Prof. Amilcare Porporato
Thomas J. Wu '94 Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and HMEI
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He studies the mathematical rhythm between soil, water, and plants—discovering how plants drink water from the soil and how shifts in rain patterns trigger ecosystem collapse.
Core Research Topics: Ecohydrology, soil moisture dynamics, non-linear environmental processes, stochastic hydrology, water-plant-soil nexus, environmental thermodynamics.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Heads Porporato Ecohydrology Lab. Developing stochastic mathematical models describing how soil moisture fluctuations control plant drought stress, river baseflow, and the land-atmosphere water balance.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Analytical stochastic differential equations, soil water balance models, satellite soil moisture products, spatial ecohydrological models.
Recruiting Context: World authority in ecohydrology. Looks for students with solid quantitative foundations in environmental science, hydrology, and geography.
Candidate Match:
HydrologySoil AnalysisGISEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your environmental science lab testing background (soil and water properties) with his theoretical and applied ecohydrology frameworks."
Prof. Mark Zondlo
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He builds custom high-tech laser sensors and mounts them on drones, cars, and airplanes to sniff out invisible chemical pollutants and greenhouse gases polluting our air and waterways.
Core Research Topics: Atmospheric environmental chemistry, air & water pollution emissions, mobile sensor platforms, drone & vehicle optical sensing, satellite validation.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Leads Zondlo Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Sensing Lab. High-precision laser spectrometers deployed on mobile cars, aircraft, and towers to map ammonia, methane, and toxic emissions affecting air and water quality.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Mid-infrared laser absorption spectrometers, mobile environmental sensing, satellite remote sensing validation (TROPOMI), spatial air/water pollutant mapping in GIS.
Recruiting Context: Funded projects across atmospheric pollution, agricultural runoff emissions, and environmental monitoring.
Candidate Match:
Environmental PollutionRemote SensingLab TestingGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your wet-lab environmental testing experience and geospatial mapping skills to his mobile sensor and satellite validation research on environmental pollutants."