Research and graduate education in EME includes strength in petroleum engineering and reservoir characterization, electricity market design, grid integration of diverse fuels and technology, mining engineering and mineral processing, fuel chemistry and processing, energy conversion engineering, environmental safety and health related issues associated with the energy and mineral resource sector, among many others.
Methodologies span experimental laboratory science, computational modeling and simulation, and advanced data analytics. The graduate program in EME reflects this diversity by providing a flexible program for M.S. and Ph.D. degrees that facilitates the specialization in one area to become a leading-edge researcher while at the same time developing the complementary breadth across scientific disciplines and engineering technologies necessary to become a next generation leader in academia or industry. If you are looking for a graduate education grounded in rigorous science, engineering, and economics, not limited by historical boundaries around disciplines, and want to emerge as a leader equipped with tools and skills to tackle big energy and resource challenges in the 21st Century, the EME graduate program may be the place for you.
EME offers two graduate degrees:
Ph.D. in Energy and Mineral Engineering
EME offers a doctoral degree program that is training the leading researchers, innovators and thinkers for tomorrow's energy and resource system. Grounded in rigorous mathematics, the EME Ph.D. program enables students to build their focused engineering, science, or economics expertise within a multi-disciplinary research environment that recognizes that some of the most important innovations may come at the interface between fields.
Learn more about Ph.D. program >>
M.S. in Energy and Mineral Engineering
The M.S. degree program in EME is designed to prepare you for an exciting career in the energy and mineral resource industries. The masters curriculum provides a foundation in state-of-the-art engineering, science, economics, or computational methods that are in high demand in the fast-evolving energy sectors. Whether you want to be a petroleum engineer developing new reservoirs, an energy engineer integrating renewable energy sources into the electric grid, a mining engineer improving operations and systems, or an economist designing the energy markets of the future, our rigorous yet flexible masters program may be what you are looking for.
Both degrees allow you to specialize in one of the options below:
The Base Option for the M.S. and Ph.D. in Energy and Mineral Engineering provides the most flexibility to design the program of study that best suits your academic and professional goals, while still providing the same rigor as the other options. The Base Option consists of the same core course requirements as all the other options, but allows electives to be chosen from across the many courses offered by EME and other relevant graduate programs. This program is ideal for those whose area of research and study that entail the synthesis of traditional disciplines. Click here for more information.
This option is focused on computational and data-analytic methods applied to the design and analysis of energy systems and infrastructures. The additional courses in this option provide critical foundations in optimization, simulation, statistical analysis, and systems-based approaches. The option will provide a consistent and rigorous track for graduate students whose research focuses on methodological innovations at the interface of energy science/engineering, energy economics, operations research methods, and statistical and data-analytic methods. View more information about the ESysE option.
The Fuel Science option provides advanced instruction and research in the characterization and utilization of fuels, with special emphasis on coal, petroleum and carbon-based materials. Graduates will be at the forefront of society's search for environmentally acceptable solutions to the ever-increasing energy problems of today. The training will prepare students for work in safeguarding the environment and providing society with energy technology choices to meet the ever-growing needs in areas such as fuel processing and use, and technology development. The research focus in the Fuel Science option is the effective conversion and utilization of energy resources and carbon materials. Faculty have a wide variety of interests spanning coal science and technology, fuel conversion, hydrocarbon combustion, air pollution control and carbon materials. View more information on the FSc option.
The Mining and Mineral Process Engineering option focuses on the aspects of geological, civil, mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineering, together with business and management skills, that are integrated in the challenge of extracting minerals from the Earth. Mining engineers are involved in all stages of the process: from exploring for new mineral deposits and deciding if they can be mined economically, through designing and constructing mines at and below the ground, to managing and operating mines, to preparing raw mineral products for manufacturing or energy industries. In order to prepare students for this profession, course work and research opportunities specific to mining engineering include: computer applications, environmental control, geomechanics and rock mechanics, health and safety, innovative mining systems, materials handling, mine equipment maintenance, mine management, mine planning and reclamation, monitoring and control, operations research, surface mining, underground mining, and ventilation. Interests cover coal, metal, and nonmetal mining. View more info on the MMPE option.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering option is concerned with the extraction of the two largest sources of energy for industrialized societies: oil and natural gas. As such, petroleum and natural gas engineers work in interdisciplinary teams with other professionals - geologists, geophysicists, environmental/regulatory specialists, safety engineers - and the combined expertise is applied to increasing oil and gas recovery. Our participation in the Petroleum GeoSystems initiative within the College of Earth and Mineral Science is another mark of our determination and desire to provide the oil industry with much needed broader skills and expertise.
Some of the current research topics our EME faculty are engaged in include:underground gas storage, unconventional gas reservoirs, fluid flow dynamics in porous media, gas transmission lines, porous media characterization, numerical simulation of hydrocarbon reservoirs, stripper wells and virtual intelligence applications. View more information on the PNG option.
Online Programs
The Penn State Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems (RESS) program presented by the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and delivered online by Penn State World Campus, provides a world-class interdisciplinary education to empower professionals in diverse fields to lead the transformation of the world's energy economy to a sustainable basis of operation.
Graduate Program in Energy and Environmental Economics
Looking for a graduate program more focused on energy economics and environmental economics? EME has joined with the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education to offer an intercollege graduate program in economics applied to energy, environmental, and natural resources. The Energy, Environmental, and Food Economics graduate program combines the expertise from energy economists in EME with environmental economists in AESE for an exciting and innovative research environment.
