Materials Engineering as a sub-discipline of Civil Engineering is primarily concerned with the development of new or improved materials for constructing Civil Engineering structures such as buildings, bridges, roads, sewers, dams, airports, etc. Materials engineers are also involved in design of materials and methods to repair existing structures that may be damaged due to, for example, attack by our aggressive environment, structural overload, earthquakes, storms, etc.

The role of the materials engineers spans across all of the disciplines within engineering, because all of these disciplines (transportation, structures, water resources, geotechnical, environmental) use materials in their designs. Accordingly, a materials engineer's job is highly varied: from choosing among a host of suitable materials to re-surface a road on one day, to designing a concrete mix for a large building on another, to participating in a research project to develop strengthening techniques for a damaged building column on a third.