About
Virginia Tech’s mining and minerals engineering department has been training smart, skilled, and resourceful mining engineers for more than 130 years. Our expert faculty, top-notch academic program, world-class research, and strong industry ties help our students build rewarding and challenging careers to tackle 21st century challenges.
Our Vision
We aim to provide world-class education and research while diversifying relationships and growing its areas of expertise.
Our Mission
We serve society through education and innovation to support safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible production of energy and mineral resources.
Our Values
Leadership
Technical Excellence
Adaptability
Community
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Our Graduates
The green economy of the future requires abundant, sustainable supplies of mineral and energy resources. Raw materials power critical technologies from solar panels and wind turbines to electric vehicles and digital devices. Global societal progress depends on mining engineers to find and extract these critical resources.
Our graduates are highly sought after across the industry, and comprise almost 20 percent of the engineers serving the field nationally.
Hokie mining engineers have pursued careers in a wide range of specialties, including geological exploration, mineral economics, metallurgy, processing, facility engineering and design, and environmental development. As one of the most hands-on of all the engineering fields, our graduates find themselves working outdoors, with opportunities to work in exciting locations around the globe.
The mining and minerals industries encompass a wide range of commodities and operations and have some of the best starting salaries among the engineering professions. With generous support from industry and alumni, 100% of our students with a GPAs of 2.0 and higher receive scholarships. In addition, more than 25 companies support our students through various financial awards.
Mining in action
Salaries for mining engineers rank among the highest of all the engineering disciplines. Average starting salaries for the Class of 2022 were over $70,000. We value diversity and inclusion. Women make up nearly 30% of our student body.
A low student-to-faculty ratio of 7-to-1 gives our undergraduates individual mentorship and top-notch academic and career advising. Our faculty are a diverse community of professionals dedicated to support students through teaching excellence and research innovation.
Our graduates pursue varied careers targeting unique energy, mineral and material resources including aggregates (the stone, sand and gravel for building our infrastructure), precious metals, and critical agricultural minerals.
Our program boasts a solid job placement and recruiting program, with industry reps hiring our students throughout the year for summer internships, co-ops, and permanent positions, and placement rates right at 100%. Learn more about exciting careers in mining engineering from alumni in their own words.