Program Overview

Program Overview

The Master of Engineering (Engineer of Mines) program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in mining engineering. The program has two distinctive specialties: Mining Engineering and Earth Systems Engineering.

Program Description

The Mining Engineering specialty is predominantly for mining engineers and is directed towards traditional mining engineering fields. Graduate work is normally centered around subject areas such as mine planning and development, computer-aided mine design, rock mechanics, operations research applied to the mineral industry, environment and sustainability considerations, mine mechanization, mine evaluation, finance, and management.

The Earth Systems Engineering specialty is designed to be distinctly interdisciplinary by merging mining engineering fundamentals with civil, geotechnical, environmental, or other engineering into advanced study tracks in earth systems, rock mechanics, and earth structural systems, underground excavation, and construction systems. This specialty is open to engineers with different sub-disciplinary backgrounds, but interested in working and/or considering performing research in mining, tunneling, excavation, and underground construction areas.

Faculty

• Priscilla P. Nelson, Department Head
• Professors:
  • Kadri Dagdelen
  • Priscilla P. Nelson
  • M. Ugur Ozbay
• Associate Professors:
  • Mark Kuchta
  • Hugh B. Miller
  • Masami Nakagawa
  • Jamal Rostami
• Assistant Professors:
  • Elizabeth A. Holley
  • Rennie Kaunda
  • Eunhye Kim
  • Nicole Smith
• Professors of Practice:
  • Jürgen Brune
  • Wm. Mark Hart
• Research Professor:
  • Karl Zipf
• Research Associate Professor:
  • Vilem Petr
• Adjunct Faculty:
  • John W. Grubb
  • Wm. Mark Hart
  • Raymond Henn
  • Paul Jones
  • David Kweitnewski
  • Matt Morris
  • Andy Schissler
  • D. Erik Spiller
  • William R. Wilson

Program Requirements

The Master of Science degree in Mining and Earth Systems Engineering has two options available:

• Master of Science - Thesis
• Master of Science - Non-Thesis

Thesis Option

• Course work (minimum): 21.0 credits
• Research, approved by the graduate committee: 9.0 credits
• Master's Thesis
• Total Semester Hrs: 30.0

Non-Thesis Option

• Course work (minimum): 30.0 credits
  • Six (6) credit hours may be applied towards the analytical report writing, if required.

The Master of Engineering degree (Engineer of Mines) in Mining Engineering includes all the requirements for the M.S. degree, with the sole exception that an "engineering report" is required rather than a Master's Thesis.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mining and Earth Systems Engineering requires a total of 72 credit hours, beyond the bachelor's degree.

• Course work (maximum): 48.0 credits
• Research (minimum): 24.0 credits
• Total Semester Hrs: 72.0 Those with an MSc in an appropriate field may transfer a maximum of 30 credit hours of course work towards the 48 credit hour requirement upon the approval of the advisor and thesis committee. The thesis must be successfully defended before a doctoral committee.

Prerequisites

Students entering a graduate program for the master's or doctor's degree are expected to have had much the same undergraduate training as that required at Colorado School of Mines in mining, if they are interested in the traditional mining specialty. Students interested in the Earth Systems engineering specialty with different engineering sub-disciplinary background may also require special mining engineering subjects depending upon their graduate program. Deficiencies, if any, will be determined by the Department of Mining Engineering on the basis of students' education, experience, and graduate study.

Required Curriculum

Graduate students, depending upon their specialty and background, may be required to complete two of the three core courses listed below during their program of study at CSM. These courses are:

• MNGN508: Advanced Rock Mechanics (3.0 credits)
• MNGN512: Surface Mine Design (3.0 credits)
• MNGN516: Underground Mine Design (3.0 credits) In addition, all full-time graduate students are required to register for and attend MNGN625 - Graduate Mining Seminar each semester while in residence, except in the case of extreme circumstances. For these circumstances, consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis by the coordinator or the Department Head. It is expected that part-time students participate in MNGN625 as determined by the course coordinator or the Department Head. Although it is mandatory to enroll in MNGN625 each semester, this course will only count as one credit hour for the total program.

Fields of Research

The Mining Engineering Department focuses on the following fundamental areas:

• Geomechanics
• Rock Mechanics and Stability of Underground and Surface Excavations
• Computerized Mine Design and Related Applications (including Geostatistical Modeling)
• Advanced Integrated Mining Systems Incorporating Mine Mechanization and Mechanical Mining Systems
• Underground Excavation (Tunneling) and Construction
• Site Characterization and Geotechnical Investigations, Modeling and Design in Geoengineering
• Rock Fragmentation
• Mineral Processing, Communition, Separation Technology
• Bulk Material Handling