South Dakota Mines and Tech - Dept of Mining Engineering & Management

The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (South Dakota Mines) was founded in 1885 to provide instruction in mining, the region’s primary industry at that time. Today, it is a thriving science and engineering research university, boasting sixteen academic departments. Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, South Dakota Mines offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. Challenging curriculum, personal attention from faculty, and competitive internships contribute to the university’s 97% placement rate at an average starting salary of more than $63,000 a year. Research programs at SD Mines are concentrated in four areas: energy and environment; materials and manufacturing; STEM education; and underground science. SD Mines is one of the top 10 best returns on investment for a college education in America. The university enrolls 2,600 students, both domestic and international, and now offers in-state tuition to students meeting specific requirements from Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming.   

South Dakota Mines boasts many points of excellence as reported in a Bloomberg (September 2012) feature on our graduates out-earning Harvard's and the Wall Street Journal (March 2015) naming the university as the best return on investment nationwide.  SD Mines has made the list of America's Best College Buys for nearly 20 years and is a national leader in preparing world-class engineers and scientists for over 100 years.  Mines graduates design, construct and operate the most modern technology to meet today's complex challenges and are held in the highest regard by their fellow leaders in industry, consulting, government, health, research, and education.

The Department of Mining Engineering and Management (MEM) at South Dakota Mines is one of 13 mining engineering programs in the United States. The MEM Department consists of six full-time and two adjunct faculty with an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 100 students and a graduate enrollment of nearly 40 students. The undergraduate program contains the core mining engineering curriculum along with an emphasis on business and management. The MS graduate program is offered both online (i.e., distance) and on-campus and thereby provides working professionals an opportunity to pursue a Master of Science degree while working full-time in the industry. Recently, the online graduate programs at South Dakota Mines, which includes the program in mining engineering, were ranked seventh nationally in Value Colleges 2016 ranking of the Top 50 Best Value Online Graduate Engineering Programs