Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Heads of the course and department
| John Henck | 1865-1881 |
| George Vose | 1882-1887 |
| George Swain | 1887-1911 |
| Charles M. Spofford | 1911-1935 |
| Charles Breed | 1935-1943 |
| John Wilbur | 1944-1960 |
| Rolf Eliassen | 1960-1962, Acting Head |
| Charles L. Miller | 1962-1969 |
| Peter Eagleson | 1970-1975 |
| Frank Perkins | 1975-1980 |
| Joseph M. Sussman | 1980-1985 |
| David Hunter Marks | 1985-1992 |
| Rafael L. Bras | 1992-2001 |
| Chiang Mei | 2001-2002, Acting Head |
| Patrick Jaillet | 2002-2009 |
| Andrew Whittle | 2009-2013 |
| Markus Buehler | 2013- |
Classes in civil engineering were offered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when students were first admitted in 1865. First designated Course II, it exchanged positions with Mechanical Engineering in 1873 to become Course I. In 1889 Civil Engineering merged with Course XI, Sanitary Engineering, and in 1892 the name of the department was changed to Civil and Sanitary Engineering. In 1934 Course XVII, Building and Engineering, was added to Course I and in 1961 or 1962 Sanitary Engineering was dropped from the name of the department. In 1992, reflecting further changes in the department’s focus, Course I was renamed the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
In 1911 the department, seeking to provide its students with field experience, purchased 700 acres of land in East Machias, Maine, where it established a summer surveying camp known as “Camp Technology.” The camp operated until 1953.
Prepared by the Department of Distinctive Collections, MIT Libraries
November 1995; updated October 2002