Petroleum Engineering
Geological Engineering
Geology & Geophysics

What will I be studying?

As a petroleum engineering student, you will study the technology of oil and gas drilling, production, reserves estimation, and the prediction of future production. You will also study the various techniques for evaluating the characteristics of petroleum-bearing formations and their fluid contents. Modern experimental and computational tools are used to study the technology of well logging, well testing, well stimulation, petroleum reservoir engineering, secondary and tertiary recovery and geology. Other areas of study include: economic analysis of oil and gas production, reservoir characterization, and artificial lift methods. Recent curriculum changes have been made to keep pace with rapid advances in well testing, computer simulation, environmental concerns, and advanced drilling techniques.

As a geological engineering student, you will have the opportunity to learn about the application of earth science principles to the engineering solution of critical problems facing global society such as environmental and hazardous waste issues, natural resource protection and energy sustainability, and design of geo-technical infrastructure such as tunnels, excavations, dams and waste disposal sites.

You'll study engineering mechanics, fundamental geology and geophysics, and geological engineering design including:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS
• groundwater hydrology
• subsurface exploration
• soil and rock engineering
• geologic hazards such as earthquake and landslide hazards
• hazardous waste management
• and environmental risk assessment

Students can easily select individually tailored electives from the list of earth mechanics and technical electives; therefore, a student may choose to focus on environmental coursework, or on energy coursework such as in petroleum or mining engineering, or other fields of particular interest.

As a geology and geophysics student, you'll be investigating the origin and history of the Earth, the structure of the Earth, and the materials that make up the Earth. Geophysics is the branch of geology which studies the Earth and planetary bodies using quantitative physical methods. You'll get a strong background in science including courses in chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics. In addition, you'll take courses in basic, intermediate, and advanced geology & geophysics, take numerous field trips, and take part in a 5 week summer field camp in southern Utah.

Several branches of the geological sciences that are represented in courses and research at Missouri S&T include:

• Mineralogy (the study of minerals)
• Petrology (the study of rocks and rock-fluid interactions)
• Stratigraphy & sedimentology (the study of layered sedimentary rocks)
• Structural geology and tectonics (the study of the structure and processes within the Earth)
• Paleontology (the study of past life)

Geochemistry
Students who enjoy chemistry and chemical processes should consider the emphasis area of geochemistry in the Department of Geology & Geophysics. Instead of working solely in a laboratory setting, the whole world becomes your laboratory. Geochemists determine the chemical compositions of rocks, minerals, soils and waters. They work with the major element, minor element, trace element, and isotopic compositions of earth materials and investigate the chemical and physical laws that influence the mobility of these elements in different geological environments. Such information is used to explore for deposits of metals and petroleum and is applied to environmental concerns such as providing adequate water supplies and the disposal of waste materials.

Geology & Geophysics
Students who are interested in or enjoy mathematics and computer science should consider the field of geophysics. Geophysicists use physical principles and state-of-the-art computers, tools and techniques to investigate the subsurface soils and rocks without drilling or excavating. The department offers a large number of undergraduate courses in geophysics, and we have an active program in shallow geophysics in which undergraduates can play an important role. Participation in these projects gives students great experience that strengthens their resume when it comes to the job hunt upon graduation. We would be happy to send you a brochure that discusses the areas of employment and exciting activities of the geophysicist.

Environmental
The Department of Geology & Geophysics has developed a very successful program that emphasizes the application of geology, geochemistry, and geophysics to groundwater and the environmental problems. Our recent graduates in groundwater and environmental geology have found an excellent job market, received multiple employment offers, and found their work to be very interesting and rewarding. The types of work include measurements of minor and trace elements in water, solids, rocks and minerals in order to monitor the quality and contamination of the environment by toxic metals, resolution of pollution problems, geochemical mobility of organic compounds and how they are involved in the mobility of pollutants, and the movement of man-made pollutants in soils, rocks, and water. Geophysical techniques are used to delineate groundwater reservoirs and detect buried drums, tanks, and trenches on hazardous waste sites. Recently, geophysics has been successfully applied to locating organic pollutants in the subsurface. The environmental geology program is interdisciplinary, and students may take courses in Geological Engineering, Civil Engineering, Biology, and Chemistry that strongly complement the courses in Geology & Geophysics.