Colorado School of Mines

The Mining and Earth Systems Engineering graduate program at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) offers two distinct but closely related specialties in mining engineering and earth systems engineering.

The mining engineering specialization is predominantly for mining engineers and is directed towards traditional mining engineering fields. Graduate work centers around subject areas such as mine planning and development, computer-aided mine design, rock mechanics, operations research applied to the mineral industry, mine mechanization, mine evaluation, finance and management, and similar mining engineering topics.

The interdisciplinary earth systems engineering specialization combines mining engineering fundamentals with civil, geotechnical, environmental and other engineering areas into advanced study tracks in earth (rock) systems, rock mechanics and earth (rock) structural systems, underground excavation, and construction systems. This specialization is designed for engineers with different subdisciplinary backgrounds who are interested in working and/or performing research in tunneling, excavation and underground construction. Graduate work focuses on subjects such as site characterization, environmental aspects, underground construction and tunneling (including microtunneling), excavation methods and equipment, mechanization of mines and underground construction, management aspects, as well as modeling and design in geoengineering.

The Master of Science (MS) degree in mining and earth systems engineering offers thesis and nonthesis options. The thesis option requires a minimum of 21 credit hours of coursework approved by the student's graduate committee, 9 credit hours of research and submission of a master's thesis. Students in the nonthesis option must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of coursework, six of which may be applied to the writing of an analytical report, if required.

The Master of Engineering (ME) degree in mining and earth systems engineering includes all the requirements for the MS degree, with the exception of the thesis, which is replaced by an engineering report.

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in mining and earth systems engineering requires a total of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, including no fewer than 24 credit hours of thesis research. The usual departmental requirement is a minimum of 48 credit hours of coursework and 24 credit hours of thesis work. A thesis must be submitted and successfully defended before a doctoral committee.