CET: Civil Engineering Technology

Browse Courses in the Course Catalog

The courses listed below are part of Hawkeye's course catalog. The course cost is subject to change, and the listing does not confirm that the course is currently available. To see currently available courses and sections, visit the course search.

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CET-123 Constr Drawings and Cont

3 credits—The course examines typical building and civil construction (highway) plans and introduces the methods of bidding and contracting for various types of building projects.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): Non-majors may enroll with instructor consent.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $767.00

CET-133 Construction Methods and Resources

3 credits—Methods of and problems related to construction of highways and buildings are covered. Examination is done of the commonly utilized resources - money, materials, equipment, personnel - and their management. Production and handling costs are discussed. Productivity, construction scheduling and construction safety are also covered briefly.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Pre/Co-requisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in MAT-741 or MAT-121.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00

CET-142 PC Concrete, HMA, and Testing

3 credits—This course covers types, production, and physical properties of asphalt and portland cements, testing and selection of mineral aggregates and concrete mix designs, laboratory testing procedures of mix evaluation and quality control methods for asphalt and portland cement concretes.

Instructor consent if not in program major.

Lecture Hours: 16 Lab Hours: 64

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $732.00

CET-160 Surveying

3 credits—Surveying includes the use of surveying instruments and note-keeping for level circuits, topographic surveys, traversing, and construction surveys. Computations to determine errors, distances, azimuths, bearings, angles, areas, volumes, and topics in photogrammetry are included.

Lecture Hours: 16 Lab Hours: 64

Pre/Co-requisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in MAT-741 or MAT-121 or instructor consent.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $732.00

CET-183 Structural Detailing and Civil Drafting

3 credits—Structural Detailing uses computer-aided drafting (CAD) techniques to prepare drawings for sites and highway structures which include structural steel, reinforced concrete and structural timber. Course introduces the preparation of bar bend details, reinforcing bar lists, and quantity calculations for various types of projects. Topics from the Department of Transportation Highway and Bridge Standard Specifications are also covered.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in CAD-118 or instructor consent.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $862.00

CET-213 Route Surveying/Roadway Design

3 credits—Route surveying covers horizontal and vertical curves (circular, parabolic, and spiral), earthwork, and elements of safety and photogrammetric applications. Fieldwork includes surveying for a grading project and drafting the plan and profile, cross-sections, and calculating and balancing earth volumes. Roadway design incorporates the use of a computer-aided roadway design software package and includes topographic mapping, highway design, and plotting project drawings.

Lecture Hours: 16 Lab Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in CET-160.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00

CET-223 Soils, Testing, and Foundations

3 credits—Students study the origin, structure, identification, and engineering classification of soils, moisture-density relationships, standard laboratory testing procedures, compressive and shearing strength of soil and bearing capacity of soils and piling.

Lecture Hours: 16 Lab Hours: 64

Pre/Co-requisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in MAT-741 or MAT-121.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $727.00

CET-233 Fundamentals of GPS and GIS

3 credits—This course will introduce fundamental processes of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) including technical aspects of GPS satellites, differential corrections and hardware. The specific application for mapping and data collection will be discussed and demonstrated. Fundamental processes and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will also be introduced, including file formats, data base management, spatial analysis and manipulation of data.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in MAT-741 or MAT-121.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00

CET-253 Fundamentals of Construction Estimating

3 credits—Students learn the fundamental principles of construction estimating. The course stresses the organization of the estimate, the procedure of estimating costs in different divisions of the project and determining the critical quantities of materials obtained from a set of plans.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Pre/Co-requisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in MAT-063 or MAT-060. Or equivalent placement score.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $722.00

CET-256 Land Surveying

3 credits—This course covers topics of the U.S. Public Land Survey System, Iowa laws regarding surveying and the preparation and recording of plats. Fieldwork is required to collect boundary measurements and field astronomy for a North azimuth. Calculations include astronomical bearings, traverse adjustment, area and partition of land. Computer drafting is used in the preparation of the plat.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in CET-160.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00

CET-262 Environmental Technology

3 credits—Topics covered include hydraulics, hydrology, water quality, water and sewer systems, storm water control, solid and hazardous waste, and air and noise pollution.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in MAT-121 or MAT-741.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $717.00

CET-285 Structural Steel/Reinforced Concrete Design

3 credits—Structural Steel Design covers the design of beams, columns, bolted and welded connections, base and bearing plates, and tension members. Reinforced Concrete Design covers the strength and behavior of reinforced concrete in the design of such structural members as beams, slabs, walls, columns, and footings.

Lecture Hours: 16 Lab Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): EGT-243

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00

CET-296 Site Planning and Development

3 credits—The course will examine procedures for developing site plans for main types of construction projects. Various aspects of the development of a job site will be examined by considering feasibility studies, zoning requirements, site survey and design, required permits and other pertinent information. The general outline of the policies used by local municipalities will be used as examples.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): Minimum grade of D- in CAD-118, and EGT-460, and CET-123.

Pre/Co-requisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in CET-213 and CET-262.

Course Type: Technical

2025–2026 Course Cost: $702.00