Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Department of Geosciences
PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Water Resources / Hydrology) / PhD in Geosciences
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition waiver + 9-12 month living stipend (~$27,000–$32,000/yr) + health insurance covered for all admitted doctoral students through departmental GTA/GRA appointments.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 15 (Fall Priority)
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 80 or IELTS 6.5
MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Water Resources Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding Available for Thesis MS (Tuition Waiver + Stipend)
Funding Reality: CSU Civil & Environmental Engineering is world-renowned in water resources and routinely funds thesis MS students on research assistantships (GRA).
Application Deadline: January 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 (2 Profiles)
Prof. Jeffrey D. Niemann
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He combines satellite soil moisture measurements from space with laser elevation maps to zoom in and calculate soil water content meter-by-meter, predicting which fields will turn into raging flash flood streams during heavy rain.
Core Research Topics: Hydrological modeling, digital terrain analysis, soil moisture spatial variability, downscaling satellite soil moisture, catchment runoff.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Developing empirical and physics-based downscaling models combining high-resolution digital elevation models (LiDAR DEMs) with NASA SMAP satellite radar/radiometer data to predict 30-meter root-zone soil moisture and flash flood runoff (NASA / NSF 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Equilibrium soil moisture models, LiDAR terrain analysis (TauDEM), satellite soil moisture (SMAP), Python, GIS.
Recruiting Context: Leader in digital terrain hydrological analysis and satellite soil moisture spatial downscaling.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyFlood StudiesRemote SensingGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in high-resolution soil moisture downscaling, LiDAR digital terrain analysis, and flash flood prediction in the Niemann Lab."
Prof. Peter A. Nelson
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He operates massive indoor river flume tanks with rushing water and gravel to study how wildfire ashes and loose mountain rocks turn rainstorms into deadly mud and gravel avalanches.
Core Research Topics: River mechanics, gravel-bed sediment transport, post-wildfire debris flows, flood channel morphodynamics, flume experiments.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Investigating how severe forest fires alter river sediment grain size distributions and trigger catastrophic debris flows and gravel pulses during post-fire flash floods, using the CSU flume facilities and field drone photogrammetry (NSF Geomorphology / USFS 2024–2026).
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Large-scale tilting flumes, acoustic bedload impact sensors, drone photogrammetry, sediment grain size image processing, 2D hydrodynamic flow modeling.
Recruiting Context: CSU is internationally renowned for river mechanics and flume hydraulics; continuous NSF and federal funding.
Candidate Match:
GeomorphologyHydrologyFlood StudiesRemote Sensing
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in river mechanics, post-wildfire sediment transport, and flume hydraulic experiments in the Nelson Group."