Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering

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Russell Fields, Director
305 Mackay Mines Building
(775) 784-6987
Website: www.unr.edu/Mackay/

The primary mission of the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering is to provide a comprehensive education for geoscientists and geoengineers seeking professional careers in earth sciences, extractive resource industries, and geotechnical fields. The school also has a mission to develop highly competent research scientists and engineers who will provide new insights into mineral and energy resources, natural hazards, and geologic processes and to produce outstanding geoscientists, who will make major contributions to understanding the origin and evolution of the solid earth. The School seeks to include the latest in high technology for its academic programs. The curricula of the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering are rigorous and demanding. Students who plan to begin studies in the School should be well-prepared in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Although the School’s emphasis is on preparation for professional fields, well-rounded general education courses are included in the course of study.

Student Services and Auxiliary Organizations

The Arentz Student Center, located in Laxalt Mineral Engineering room 313, houses the Undergraduate Student Lounge and the offices of the Career Development Coordinator and the Recruitment Coordinator. Students who are interested in pursuing careers in earth sciences, extractive resource industries and geotechnical fields, are encouraged to visit the center. Tours of the various departments and laboratories and meetings with faculty are available by appointment. For more information, call 775-327-2056.

The Historic Mackay School of Mines building houses the expanded G.W. DeLaMare Earth Sciences and Engineering Library, the W.M. Keck Earth Science and Mineral Engineering Museum and administrative offices of the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering. The DeLaMare Earth Sciences and Engineering Library supports undergraduate studies and graduate research in all disciplines. The W.M. Keck Museum displays rare collections of minerals, Nevada ores and fossils that are used extensively in teaching and research.

The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Nevada Seismological Laboratory and Nevada State Climate Office are three statewide programs that share facilities with the academic departments and the U.S. Geological Survey Western Mineral Resources Field Office. The School also has several centers of excellence; Ralph J. Roberts Center for Research in Economic Geology, Strategic Materials Research, Education and Policy Center, Center for Neotectonics Research, and Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy. Teaching programs are supplemented with expertise from the Desert Research Institute, which has a large research center near the campus. The School also maintains close contact with other county, state and federal agencies, as well as more than 100 geological, geophysical, exploration, engineering, environmental, mining, and petroleum companies.

Professional Engineer Degrees

The professional engineer degrees, Geological Engineer (GEOL. E.) and Engineer of Mines (E.M.), may be conferred upon graduates of the College of Science or upon graduates of other institutions who have obtained the university’s bachelor of science or master of science degree with a major in an engineering discipline. Degree candidates must have held responsible positions in engineering for a period of at least five years (for those with bachelor of science degrees) or four years (for those who hold the master of science degree). Candidates must submit theses, displaying their ability to conduct advanced engineering work. Investigations in literature, compilations of routine laboratory tests, or presentations of the work of others are not considered.

Professional engineer degrees may also be conferred upon graduates of the College of Science and upon graduates of other colleges of equal standing that offer degrees in engineering when the graduate has met the following conditions:

1. Been actively involved, for a period of at least a year, in successful engineering work with a responsible position;
2. Have successfully completed one year of graduate work in engineering, including thesis, at the university.

Students must formally apply for graduation with a professional engineer degree no later than the beginning of the second semester of their year of graduation. The application must be approved by the faculty of the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and by the dean of the graduate school. The application must be accompanied by detailed evidence of the applicant’s professional work. The thesis or publication in final form must be approved by a committee appointed by the graduate dean, and must be presented to the faculty of the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and to the dean of the graduate school at least eight weeks before the date of graduation.

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