Geological Engineering course catalog
All 48 recorded UW–Madison courses in this department, including courses not offered this term. Open a course for prerequisites, historical grades and instructors.
CIVENGR/ENVIRST/GEOSCI/GLE 444: Practical Applications of GPS Surveying
Credits unavailable
Global positioning system surveying for field applications. Signals. Coordinate systems. Datums. Cartographic projections. Satellite orbits. Choosing hardware. Strategies for data collection and analysis. Assessing uncertainty. Geocoding satellite images. Integrating data with Geographic Information Systems. Emerging technologies.
CIVENGR/GEOSCI/GLE/MS&E 474: Rock Mechanics
Credits unavailable
Classification of rock masses, stress and strain in rock, linear and non-linear behavior of rock, failure mechanisms, state of stress in rock masses, lab testing, geological and engineering applications.
CIVENGR/GLE 291: Problem Solving Using Computer Tools
4 credits
Introduction to engineering computations with emphasis on computer tools and computer based measurement, data collection, and processing. Tools will include computer aided design, spreadsheets, other engineering computation tools, and hardware and software for laboratory and spatial measurements.
CIVENGR/GLE 330: Soil Mechanics
3 credits
Basic principles of soil mechanics and fundamentals of application in engineering practice; soil composition and texture; classification; permeability and seepage; consolidation; settlement; shear strength; lateral earth pressures and retaining structures, shallow and deep foundations, slope stability; subsurface exploration; laboratory characterization of physical and engineering properties of soils.
CIVENGR/GLE 421: Environmental Sustainability Engineering
3 credits
Uses the three paradigms of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) for strategic environmental initiatives in an engineering setting. Proactive environmental management opportunities, including practices of pollution prevention, industrial ecology, and design for the environment. A systems approach to manufacturing, examining the life cycle of products, incorporating total cost accounting, extended producer responsibility, and design for end-of-life.
CIVENGR/GLE 430: Introduction to Slope Stability and Earth Retention
Credits unavailable
Introduction to theory and approaches commonly used in geotechnical engineering practice for design and analysis of slopes and earth retaining structures.
CIVENGR/GLE 432: Introduction to Shallow and Deep Foundation Systems
Credits unavailable
Introduction to theory and approaches commonly used in geotechnical engineering practice for design and analysis of slopes and earth retaining structures.
CIVENGR/GLE 434: Introduction to Underground Openings Engineering
Credits unavailable
Subsurface stress; rock failure criteria; openings in competent rock; openings in layered rocks; plastic behavior around openings in weak rock; stereographic projections and stereonet; block theory; rock bolts; stabilization methods and design.
CIVENGR/GLE 511: Mixing and Transport in the Environment
Credits unavailable
Application of fluid mechanics to understand the mixing and transport of contaminants, pollutants, and other solutes in the environment. Introduction to chemical and biochemical transformation processes as well as boundary interactions at the air-water and sediment-water interfaces. Transport phenomena: diffusive processes, advective processes, turbulent diffusion, and shear flow dispersion. Introduction to both analytical and computational solutions with applications to mixing and transport in rivers, lakes, the atmosphere, and coastal waters.
CIVENGR/GLE 520: Reactive Processes for Sustainable Energy and Resource Production
Credits unavailable
Key scientific concepts related to fossil and renewable energy resources. Apply the fundamentals of thermodynamics and chemical kinetics at solid interfaces to better understand the science behind using fossil and renewable energy resources. Evaluate the impacts of existing and emerging energy technologies on the environment.
CIVENGR/GLE 530: Seepage and Slopes
Credits unavailable
Practical aspects of seepage effects and ground water flow. Stability of natural and man-made slopes under various loading conditions. Design and construction of earth dams and embankments. Flow net and its use; wells; filters; total and effective stress methods of slope analysis; selection of pertinent soil parameters.
CIVENGR/GLE 532: Foundations
3 credits
Shallow and deep foundations. Analysis and design of footings, mats, piers and piles, and related fill and excavation operations. Consolidation settlement, time rate of settlement, stress distribution, elastic (immediate) settlement, load bearing capacity; methods to reduce settlements and increase shear strength; the selection of a foundation system.
CIVENGR/GLE 534: Nondestructive Evaluation
Credits unavailable
Practical aspects of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for identifying physical properties and damage within civil and geologic materials and structures. Data analyses and data science for wave propagation, arrival picking, distributed fiber optic sensing, and visualization tools such as augmented/mixed/virtual reality.
CIVENGR/GLE 535: Wind Energy Balance-of-plant Design
Credits unavailable
Wind Energy Development and Balance-of-Plant Design. Up-front coverage includes the science and mechanics of wind energy including turbine basics, wind resource assessment, energy production, and economic return. Balance-of-plant design aspects include site layout and micro-siting, foundation systems, collector systems and interconnection, site civil and electrical infrastructure, and structural tower analysis. Development includes environmental due diligence and permitting, stakeholder engagement, energy policy and markets, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE).
CIVENGR/GLE 612: Ecohydrology
Credits unavailable
Mutual interactions between the hydrologic cycle and ecosystems, including hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecological patterns and processes, movement of water and energy through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, application and development of models for simulating ecohydrologic processes, and case studies on ecohydrologic function and ecosystem services of varied environments.
CIVENGR/GLE 635: Remediation Geotechnics
Credits unavailable
Geotechnical practice for remediation of sites containing contaminated soil and groundwater is discussed. Topics include non-invasive and invasive subsurface exploration techniques, methods to monitor for the presence of contaminants in the saturated and unsaturated zones, and geotechnically-oriented remedial action technologies.
CIVENGR/GLE 730: Engineering Properties of Soils
Credits unavailable
Determination and interpretation of soil properties for engineering purposes; physio-chemical properties of soil-water systems, permeability and capillarity, compression characteristics of soils, measurement of soil properties in the triaxial test, properties of frozen soils and permafrost.
CIVENGR/GLE 732: Unsaturated Soil Geoengineering
Credits unavailable
Engineering principles of unsaturated soils as they apply to geotechnical and geoenvironmental systems. Effect of soil water suction and stress on hydraulic conductivity, shear strength, and compressibility of soils in the context of geoengineering problems of flow and stability. Knowledge of Soil Mechanics [such asCIV ENGR/G L E 330] is required.
CIVENGR/GLE 733: Physicochemical Basis of Soil Behavior
Credits unavailable
Applications of physiochemical, mineralogical and environmental considerations to the engineering behavior of soils. Soil composition, formation, fabric, pore fluid chemistry and interaction of phases. The particulate nature of soils and the fabric-engineering property (volume change, strength, deformation and conduction) relationships. Knowledge of Soil Mechanics [such asCIV ENGR/G L E 330] is required.
ENVIRST/GEOG/GEOSCI/GLE/LANDARC 371: Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing
Credits unavailable
Introduction to the Earth as viewed from above, focusing on use of aerial photography and satellite imagery to study the environment. Includes physical processes of electromagnetic radiation, data types and sensing capabilities, methods for interpretation, analysis and mapping, and applications.
GEOSCI/GLE 314: Introduction to Applied Hydrogeology
Credits unavailable
Introduction to concepts relevant to studying water and its movement in Earth's shallow subsurface. Examines geologic materials through the lens of groundwater and solutes in groundwater to build an understanding of how water is stored, flows through, and reacts with geological materials. Beyond groundwater (the largest available store of freshwater on Earth), the porous crust of the Earth also provides numerous resources, such as hydrocarbons, geothermal energy, and waste storage. Emphasizes understanding fundamental concepts for studying these fluid reservoirs. Discuss hydrogeologic basics, work with hydrogeologic methods and instrumentation, conduct data analysis with real-world data, and have an introduction to groundwater quality.
GEOSCI/GLE 350: Introduction to Geophysics: the Dynamic Earth
Credits unavailable
Methods of geophysics applied to earth structure and plate tectonics. Principles of seismology, gravity, geodesy, magnetism and heat flow.
GEOSCI/GLE 360: Principles of Mineralogy
3 credits
Minerals, their physical and chemical properties, crystallography, and geologic significance.
GEOSCI/GLE 370: Elementary Petrology
Credits unavailable
Igneous and metamorphic rocks, studied in hand sample and thin section.
GEOSCI/GLE 431: Sedimentology & Stratigraphy Lab
1 credits
Covers Sedimentology and Stratigraphy; emphasizes qualitative and quantitative description and interpretation of sediments and sedimentary deposits.
GEOSCI/GLE 455: Structural Geology
Credits unavailable
Principles of rock deformation, structures in layered rocks, structural analysis, intrusive structures. Lab: three-dimensional problems involving structural concepts; field trip.
GEOSCI/GLE 537: Quantitative Methods for Geoscience
Credits unavailable
MATLAB is a powerful, high-level programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) that is used across a broad variety of scientific disciplines for tasks including data visualization, modeling, and application development. Focus on the active use of MATLAB for developing practical programming and data analysis skills that can be applied across a range of geoscience- relevant problems. Applications will include: data visualization and publishable figure development; automation of data processing; statistical and time-series analysis; image processing and mapping; and optimization. Additional topics may be guided by student interest.
GEOSCI/GLE 594: Introduction to Applied Geophysics
3 credits
Survey of applied geophysics, including seismic refraction, seismic reflection, electrical resistivity, gravity, and magnetics methods. Basic physics of each method and modeling techniques and field procedures.
GEOSCI/GLE 595: Field Methods in Applied and Engineering Geophysics
1 credits
The application of geophysical field methods for delineating near-surface features and/or structures as applied to engineering, environmental and exploration problems.
GEOSCI/GLE 596: Geomechanics
3 credits
Observation, description, and prediction of deformation of geomechanical systems at depth, and the forces (stress) causing those deformations, relevant for petroleum/geothermal reservoirs and studies of earthquake mechanics. Emphasis on computational exercises using datasets from the petroleum industry and earthquake catalogues, as well as prediction of ground deformation.
GEOSCI/GLE 627: Hydrogeology
3–4 credits
Mathematical treatment of the physical principles governing the flow of groundwater; emphasis on well hydraulics and flow system analysis.
GEOSCI/GLE 629: Contaminant Hydrogeology
Credits unavailable
Physical and chemical processes governing the transport of solutes in groundwater; application of hydrogeologic and geochemical theory and practice to the protection of aquifers from contamination.
GEOSCI/GLE 724: Groundwater Flow Modeling
Credits unavailable
An introduction to the principles of modeling groundwater flow systems, with emphasis on regional flow system analysis. Conceptual understanding of governing equations, and the use of finite difference techniques to solve such equations are stressed. Develop codes and become introduced to packaged models, including those developed by the U. S. Geological Survey. Knowledge of hydrogeology [such asG L E/GEOSCI 627or629] required.
GEOSCI/GLE 747: Tectonophysics
Credits unavailable
Elasticity and flexure of the earth's lithosphere, heat conduction, mantle convection, earthquake mechanisms, rock rheology, and fluid migration in the earth's crust; integration of geophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical models.
GEOSCI/GLE 757: Advanced Rock Mechanics
Credits unavailable
Experimental rock mechanics, rock mechanics apparatus design, static and dynamic rock friction, rate and state friction, crack phenomena and rock fracture mechanics, earthquake energy budget, elastic/viscoelastic/plastic behavior of rocks, engineering and geological applications. Knowledge of introductory rock mechanics [such as M S E/GEOSCI/CIV ENGR/G L E/M S & E 474] required.
GEOSCI/GLE 780: Geodynamic Modeling
Credits unavailable
Introduction to modeling in geoscience, focusing on the process of turning geoscientific observations into numerical models, and the interpretation and characterization of these results. Sample problems from geoscientific topics will be used to illustrate the formulation, simplification, solution, and analysis of typical problems encountered in modeling in geosciences. Different techniques that arise in the solution of these problems will be introduced and practiced on typical geodynamic problems, with particular focus on problems arising in modeling of the Earth's interior and surface.
GLE 1: Cooperative Education Program
1 credits
Apply classroom theory and practical knowledge of engineering-related operations and functions in a professional setting. Full-time workplace experience.
GLE 171: Introduction to Geological Engineering
Credits unavailable
Comprehensive introduction to engineering applications of earth sciences. Exploitation and management of geologic resources; mitigation of geologic hazards such as landslides and earthquakes; abatement of environmental problems such as land and water pollution; design of surface and underground excavations; principal methods of geological engineering.
GLE 401: Special Topics in Geological Engineering
1–3 credits
Various topics in the field of geological engineering.
GLE 479: Geological Engineering Design
4 credits
A practical problem in an area of geological engineering (such as development of a geologic resource or design of a structure in soil and/or rock) is selected, and then the principles and processes of design and analysis are applied to the solution of the problem.
GLE 489: Honors in Research
1–3 credits
Undergraduate honors research projects supervised by faculty members.
GLE 699: Independent Study
1–3 credits
GLE 790: Master's Research or Thesis
1–9 credits
Under faculty supervision.
GLE 801: Special Topics in Geological Engineering
Credits unavailable
Topics vary.
GLE 890: Pre-dissertator's Research
1–9 credits
Under faculty supervision.
GLE 900: Seminar
Credits unavailable
Topics vary.
GLE 990: Research and Thesis
1–9 credits
Under faculty supervision.
GLE 999: Independent Work
1–3 credits
Under faculty supervision.