Student Opportunities

The Transportation Systems Engineering is committed to providing educational and research opportunities to interested students.

Graduate Students: Currently TSE employs five doctoral research assistants and eight masters research assistants who work on various research projects. The majority of our research students are enrolled in the Civil Engineering Department. However, we have also employed graduate students from other UNL departments and other NU campuses. We make every effort to match research projects to student interest. Typically the research project forms the basis of the students’ thesis or dissertation. Meet and learn about our current graduate students.

Undergraduate Students: TSE hires a number of undergraduate students every semester to help out with research projects. It allows the students to gain an appreciation for transportation engineering while earning money for their education. TSE also supports an annual internship program which places interested undergraduate students in government and private firms. As part of the intern program the students write formal reports, take technical tours as a group, and make technical presentations on their work.

The following is a list of frequently asked questions and answers related to graduate work at TSE and UNL. We would be glad to answer any additional questions that you have. Please contact Dr. Laurence Rilett by e-mail or phone (402-472-1992).

Because there are many factors that go into admission decisions, and not simply GRE scores and grade point average, it is our policy not to comment on admittance possibilities and/or financial support until an applicant has applied to the program and all their documentation is complete.

Admission decisions are typically made within three weeks of the transportation group receiving the application. However, it sometimes takes longer than five weeks for the application to reach us once the university receives it – therefore we ask for your patience when applying and to try and get your application in early. If you do choose to apply please contact Dr. Rilett directly as that will allow us to better track your application.

Financial aid decisions are dependent on the amount of research funding available. Currently we have approximately 15 full time graduate students enrolled in Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering and all 15 of them are receiving some type of financial support. While this high level of support has been maintained over the last five years there is no guarantee that this will continue into the future.

Complete degree plan requirements and course descriptions may be found in the UNL Graduate Catalog (see below or Education Graduate Student Information Page.)

You may find instructions on how to apply to graduate school on the UNL Office of Admissions and Records web site: UNL Grad Studies

Please contact the UNL Office of Graduate Studies regarding specific inquiries regarding the application process (including GRE, TOEFL, etc.). You can apply online (and check the status of an application) at: UNL Grad Student Application

Please note that TSE focuses on such areas as traffic flow, signal timing, transportation planning, geometric design, etc.

Besides the TSE website the two we most often recommend are:

1) the UNL Department of Civil Engineering website which provides information on courses and requirements. UNL Engineering.

2) the UNL Office of Graduate Studies website. It has information on degree requirements, information on living expenses in Lincoln and Omaha, etc. UNL Grad Studies