Mining Engineering, M.S.

The department of mining and metallurgical engineering offers a graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Science in mining engineering. The students can elect to pursue in one of the following specialization fields, such as, mine automation and robotics, artifical intelligence (AI) application in mines, mine design, rock mechanics, mine ventilation, computer applications, material handling, mine management, operations research, and mineral economics and mine sustainability.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

explain mine design, mine ventilation, rock mechanics, and mineral reserve estimation, as well as more specialized areas of mining engineering practice.
conduct basic or applied research projects impacting mining engineering practice.
communicate results through written and oral presentation.

Contact Information

Raj R. Kallu, Graduate Program Director
(775) 682-6448
rkallu@unr.edu
http://www.unr.edu/degrees/mining-engineering/ms

Admissions Requirement

Please consult the Graduate School section of the catalog for general admission requirements. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required, as well as three letters of recommendation. The deadline for completed applications (online) for fall semester is March 15; for spring semester, the deadline is September 15.

I. Program Requirements

Unless equivalent courses were completed at the upper-division undergraduate level, the program of study should include:

MINE 615 - Surface Mine Design (3 units)
MINE 648 - Rock Mechanics (4 units)
MINE 790 - Graduate Seminar (1 to 3 units) (1 unit required)

A. Plan A Thesis Option

For the thesis option (Plan A), additional courses will include:

MINE 797 - Thesis (1 to 6 units) (6 units required)
Approved 700-level Technical Electives (16 units)

B. Plan B Non-thesis Option

For the non-thesis option (Plan B), additional courses will include:

MINE 795 - Comprehensive Examination (1 unit)
Approved 700-level Technical Electives (15 units)
Approved Technical Electives (6 units)

C. Approved Technical Electives

Approved Technical Electives are chosen in consultation with the student’s Advisory Committee. The following is a list of commonly recommended 700-level electives:

CEE 704 - Applied Finite Element Analysis (3 units)
ME 720 - Continuum Mechanics (3 units)
ME 751 - Computational Structural Analysis (3 units)
MINE 701A - Advanced Mining-General Mining (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701E - Advanced Mining-Equipment (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701F - Advanced Mining-Transportation (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701H - Advanced Mining-Surface Mining (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701M - Advanced Mining Engineering (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701N - Advanced Mining-Mining Economics (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701S - Advanced Mining-Mineral Economics (1 to 5 units)
MINE 701V - Advanced Mining Engineering Rock Mechani (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702G - Advanced Mining-Design (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702J - Advanced Mining-Underground Mining (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702K - Advanced Mining-Safety (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702M - Advanced Mining-Ventilation (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702P - Advanced Mining-Mine Administration (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702R - Advanced Mining-Mining Law (1 to 5 units)
MINE 702V - Advanced Mining Engineering Rock Mechani (1 to 5 units)
MINE 705 - Experimental Design and Process Optimization (3 units)
MINE 725 - Heat Mass Transport (3 units)
MINE 794 - Special Problems (1 to 3 units) PENDING APPROVAL
MINE 796 - Professional Paper (1 to 3 units)
STAT 755 - Multivariate Data Analysis (3 units)

II. Program Total Hours (30 units)

Plan A - Thesis Option: 30 units

Plan B - Non-thesis Option: 30 units

Undergraduate Prerequisites

A B.S. in an engineering discipline is recommended. Applicants without an undergraduate engineering degree are required to either pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, or complete a minimum of 12 credits of basic engineering courses (e.g., statics, dynamics, strength of materials, thermodynamics, circuits, fluid mechanics) with a grade of B or better. All students must have a minimum of two undergraduate geology courses and a mining methods course. While these restrictions do not preclude acceptance into the graduate program, they may necessitate taking undergraduate courses that do not carry graduate credit.