Energy and minerals make life happen. Penn State's Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME) educates students to embrace the challenges of bringing these natural resources into our daily lives. EME's team of faculty, staff, and students strive for excellence in devising ways to ensure an affordable supply of energy and minerals, while protecting the environment and the health and safety of the workforce. From generating heat and electricity to transportation and recreation, all our activities depend on fuels and minerals extracted from the earth. EME offers several engineering degree programs, which address the effective production, conversion, and management of energy and mineral resources. EME is also well endowed in terms of scholarship money for qualified candidates. Summer internships provide an excellent opportunity for professional development of our students.
Undergraduate Programs of Study
Energy Business and Finance: combines training in business, economics, finance, and the physical sciences with a core of classes focusing on the energy and related industries. The major helps students prepare for careers in the energy and resource industries, as well as financial institutions, non-profit groups, and international organizations dealing with energy and environmental issues.
Energy Engineering: prepares students to be successful leaders in advancing the technology and management of energy; innovators and entrepreneurs in the energy sector; and educators, practicing engineers, and national leaders in the energy and associated environmental health and safety, policy and economic fields. The major focuses on the fundamental engineering principles of material and energy balances, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer operations, and physical and chemical processing as applied to energy industries. In addition to these engineering principles, students enroll in required courses in renewable/sustainable energy principles.
Environmental Systems Engineering: provides education in the prevention of pollution, and in the monitoring, control, and remediation of pollution sources on the Earth. The major provides a flexible environment for the study of geo-environmental engineering processes with core courses in physical and chemical behavior, in quantification, and in the integration of these skills into the design process.
Mining Engineering: prepares students to perform in the various steps of mineral extraction, including exploration, evaluation, development, recovery, and processing. The major integrates the fundamentals of mathematics, earth, and engineering sciences into traditional mining engineering topics. Design projects, culminating in the capstone design project, are required throughout the curriculum.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering: provides an up-to-date understanding of all phases of the petroleum and natural gas industry built on a strong foundation of basic science and engineering theory and practice. The major is arranged in two parallel sequences: the first emphasizing reservoir engineering, and the second focusing on drilling and production. The program culminates in a course on the economic realities of engineering design and the implication of decision making.
Graduate Program of Study
Energy and Mineral Engineering: designed to combine the sometimes competing but equally essential goals of flexible education and in-depth study, the EME graduate program offers students the integrated learning experience needed to meet the challenges of the rapidly evolving energy and minerals industries. The program’s focus on the safe, sustainable, and efficient utilization of energy and minerals is unique to both Penn State and the United States. Although students are not obligated to choose an option, the program provides research concentration options for students who desire disciplinary identity of their specific area of research. The five options available for students to choose from include: petroleum and natural gas engineering, mining and mineral process engineering, environmental health and safety engineering, fuel science, and energy management and policy.