The University of at Buffalo is New York State's major public research university. Founded as a private university in 1846, it became part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system in 1962. The University has 16 faculties and schools which include: Architecture, Arts and Letters, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Law and Jurisprudence, Management, Educational Studies, Social Work Information and Library Studies, Medicine, Dental Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions, and Roswell Park Memorial Institute.

Within the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the University at Buffalo has five departments and 12 centers (including the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research) dedicated to research in a variety of engineering disciplines. Within the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, several of these laboratories and centers are used by Civil Engineering Department and MCEER researchers involved in structural engineering, geotechnical engineering and earthquake engineering studies.

The department has experimental facilities for environmental, geotechnical, geoenvironmental, structural, earthquake, and hydraulics research.