Structural engineering utilizes theoretical and empirical knowledge of structural behavior combined with advanced computational tools and experimental methods to ensure the safe, sustainable, serviceable, and reliable performance of structures. Advanced study and research in structural engineering at CWRU is looking at the ground up at materials for construction, behavior of structural members, connections, and systems, and examining the reliability/resilience/sustainability of designs. 

The state-of-the-art Richard and Opal Vanderhoof Research and Education Infrastructure Facility and Bingham Concrete Laboratory are key resources for department faculty to perform advanced experimental testing to develop and validate more resilient structures for natural and man-made hazards, use of advanced materials for structural design and rehabilitation, new designs foundations for off-shore wind turbines, behavior of buried infrastructure, etc.