Colorado School of Mines

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) Department of Geology and Geological Engineering offers innovative applied research programs in hydrogeology, engineering and environmental geology, and mineral and energy resource exploration and production.

The Department offers the Master of Science (MS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in geology, geological engineering and geochemistry, the Master of Engineering (ME) in geological engineering and the Professional Master's in petroleum reservoir systems, environmental geochemistry, and mineral exploration and mining geosciences. To study hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering and some environmental applications, graduate students generally follow the geological engineering degree program. Students who wish to study petroleum or mineral exploration or development sciences, geochemistry and/or geology generally pursue a science degree.

The Department also participates in a new interdisciplinary program in Hydrology. Students can pursue the Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Hydrology.

The academic program for an MS in geology or geological engineering requires a minimum of 36 semester hours of coursework and research and submission of a thesis. Seventy-two semester hours of coursework and research beyond the bachelor's degree are required for the PhD in geology or geological engineering. For breadth of background, students pursuing degrees in geology must include at least one graduate course in each of the three core areas of stratigraphy/sedimentology, structural geology/tectonics and petrology (one of these courses may be replaced with an appropriate course in a related discipline). It is expected that the course of study in geological engineering will strongly emphasize applied geology and engineering. Students pursuing these degrees must have an undergraduate engineering degree or the equivalent.

The ME (a non-thesis degree) program in geological engineering requires 30 semester hours of coursework, 6 semester hours of independent study, as well as submission of a graduate engineering report.

The geochemistry program offers both an MS and PhD degree. Master's students take 36 hours of coursework and research, including a core group of courses. PhD students must complete a minimum of 72 credit hours, of which at least 24 hours must be research credit. Normally, at least 48 hours of course credits are required, of which 24 hours of course credit may be transferred from a previous graduate degree upon approval of the dissertation committee.

The Professional Master's programs are non-thesis, one-year interdisciplinary degree programs consisting of a minimum of 36 credit hours of coursework. Up to 6 of these credit hours may be in the form of project credits done on the job as an employee or as a graduate intern.