By Cate Foley
It’s been four years since the release of ChatGPT, and we’re far past the question of whether or not we can trust AI in our day-to-day lives, let alone our work. The efficiency it delivers is undeniable and has resulted in its proliferation in everyday workflows, whether it be in compiling meeting notes or verifying a complicated calculation.
The civil and environmental engineering industries are especially well suited to adopt artificial intelligence. From the use of digital twins to monitor the details of a construction site to the design of deep learning models to aggregate mass amounts of data, modern engineering is drastically changing shape, and AI is leading the way. Per UC Berkeley Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) professor Dr. Adda Athanasopoulos-Zekkos,
We are entering a period where an engineer can ask questions of data and models in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. AI has the potential to dramatically accelerate innovation in areas like infrastructure, climate resilience and environmental protection.”
The demand for AI across industries has only generated a greater need for civil and environmental engineers. Increasing data center construction emphasizes the need for engineers who can think across disciplines — those who can assess weather patterns, construction sites, and socioeconomic factors that determine the feasibility of a project. In the face of a perpetually changing natural and built environment, CEE increasingly calls for engineers who can provide not only technical knowledge but practical experience in the field, collaborating across disciplines.
The Master of Engineering (MEng) concentrations in Transportation and Systems Engineering allow students to do exactly that. Bringing together a cohort of assorted engineers to study, research, and design together, the Fung Institute is an interdisciplinary environment for engineers to add depth and breadth to their technical expertise, while enhancing their ability to lead and communicate in an evolving field.
With research and coursework housed with the Institute of Transportation Studies, the Transportation Engineering concentration enables students to analyze and pioneer modern transportation systems. The cross-section of disciplines that comprise the Institute naturally bleeds into the research projects MEng students tackle, enabling them to work with electrical and industrial engineers, for example, in the completion of a year-long research and design project.
In the Capstone project, interdisciplinary research meets leadership development, as groups of three to four students tackle a nine-month-long project focused on sustainable innovation. Due to its increased prevalence in industry and research, many Capstone projects in 2026 leveraged AI models, oftentimes designing their own for specialized data collection. Not only are students exposed to how leading researchers are leveraging AI, but they develop an understanding of what can safely be automated and where manual intervention is preferred. To Professor Athanasopoulos-Zekkos,
The most exciting part is not the technology itself — it is what our students will be able to accomplish when they combine these new tools with engineering judgment, critical thinking and creativity.”
The systems engineering concentration similarly positions students to develop their technical and soft skills in coursework and research and design that analyzes the inner workings of the built environment. If not advised by faculty, Capstone projects are sponsored by industry partnerships, offering students the chance to advance their skill set in a corporate setting with a variety of stakeholders and deliverables.
As Dr. Athanasopoulos-Zekkos describes, “The capstone project is where students move from being students who solve problems to engineers who define them.” In projects, “there is no single correct answer and often no clear path forward, [so students] have to make decisions, work as a team, deal with uncertainty, and ultimately take ownership of the solution.” This serves as valuable preparation for industry where challenges are similarly cross-sectional and may require a number of collaborators, each with different solutions.
The Capstone experience is shaped by leadership and communication courses throughout the nine months, ranging from the Business of Engineering to the Ethics of Innovation. The range of courses challenges engineers to think beyond the technical details of their project and focus more on the nuances that affect a project’s success, such as task delegation and work and communication style. Whether it be how to leverage rhetoric in the face of competing solutions or circumvent conflict in corporate settings, Fung Institute and Haas School of Business professors position MEng graduates to sell their ideas and even scale them into businesses. With the option to earn a technical certification or even a joint-MBA, Fung graduates are poised to be innovators, whether it be leading engineers or consulting on projects.
Engineering is all about perspective. In what ways will a construction influence its environment — physically, economically? What materials are obtainable and sustainable to use? Engineering is fundamentally about making precise decisions based on complex data. Not only are the Fung Institute’s students positioned to lead the future but adapt to it as well, whether it be to emerging technologies or unfamiliar work cultures. An engineer’s conviction is shaped by their breadth of experience, and there is none like that of the Fung engineer.