Overview
The Petroleum and Mineral Engineering program provides a formal structure for a strong tradition of graduate education and research in energy and mineral sciences and engineering in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State. The program is a merger between existing graduate programs in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Mining Engineering, Mineral Processing, and Industrial Health and Safety under a unifying theme, and with common educational objectives and core coursework. The program's focus on the safe, sustainable, and efficient utilization of energy, fuels, and minerals and the control of health and safety hazards at the workplace is unique to Penn State and the nation.
About the Program
The de facto professional qualification for career advancement in the globalized economy of the 21st century is a graduate degree. Petroleum and Mineral Engineering graduate studies at Penn State are based on a flexible program designed to meet the diverse needs of students involved in a variety of research projects. Both M.S. and Ph.D. students are required to demonstrate competency in programmatic core areas, to undertake additional relevant cousework, and to complete a research thesis. The core requirements are kept to a minimum and the students are given a wide choice in developing their own program of study.
More specifically, participating students take common core courses in engineering project investment evaluation, occupational health and safety, and engineering multiphase systems analysis. These courses prepare the students for their research topics and more specialized courses in the broad field of Petroleum and Mineral Engineering. The research specialty option areas are petroleum and natural gas engineering, mining and mineral process engineering, and industrial health and safety.
More information about the Petroleum and Mineral Engineering program can be found in the PME Graduate Program Guide.
The Petroleum and Mineral Engineering Degree Options
Students in the PME program may choose one of three specialty option areas: Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Mining and Mineral Process Engineering, and Industrial Health and Safety after completing a set of core requirements.
The graduate program in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering was established in 1931. When Penn State granted its first Ph.D. in petroleum engineering in 1942, only two such other degrees had been granted in the United States. Penn State's contribution to graduate degrees in petroleum engineering makes around 10% of all the Ph.D. and 5% of all the M.S. degrees granted nationwide in this field. The graduating students from the program are highly sought by the petroleum industry, government agencies and academia. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering faculty currently have research programs in underground gas storage, unconventional gas reservoirs, fluid flow dynamics in porous media, gas transmission lines, porous media characterization, numerical modeling of hydrocarbon reservoirs, stripper wells, virtual intelligence applications and carbon dioxcide sequestration in geologic formations.
The Mining and Mineral Process Engineering disciplines are among some of the oldest at Penn State. The graduate program in Mining Engineering was established in 1913. The focus of current research and teaching activities is on mine valuation and design, rock mechanics, underground mining, surface mining, mine ventilation, mine equipment, health and safety, and environmental protection. Individuals with Penn State mining engineering and mineral processing graduate degrees can be found in industry, academia, and government. Current research areas in Mineral Processing include particle size and shape characterization, gravity separation, froth flotation and column flotation, dispersion and flocculation, agglomeration, hydrometallurgy, and design and analysis of flowsheets.
The graduate program in Industrial Health and Safety was established in 2002. Research interests include noise exposure assessment and control in underground coal mines, mine safety, evaluation of the performance of respirators, development of instrumentation for measuring organic vapors in breath and ambient air, work physiology and occupational biomechanics, and optimization of loss prevention and safety systems. The multidisciplinary nature of the field of Industrial Health and Safety naturally results in numerous connections between varied disciplines. The problem of protecting workers from occupational hazards which can be chemical, physical, or biological in nature, spans the divide between these different areas and provides numerous opportunities for collaboration between the faculty and students from different fields.