Geological Engineering Degree Requirements

Required 128 credits (36 of which must be numbered 300 or above) including: 

I. Essential Studies Requirements (see University ES listing).

II. Geological Engineering required courses 

III. Program Required Electives

IV. College of Engineering and Mines requirements

V. Requirements outside of the College of Engineering and Mines  

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GEOE 410 Field Camp is a course that is completed through South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Students should take the course through them and transfer the course back to UND.

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Students may petition the Geological Engineering Curriculum Committee (GECC) to use GEOE 397 Cooperative Education for up to three credits applied towards Technical Electives, based on the following requirements:

1. Students must get approval in advance from the GECC and the Department Cooperative Coordinator.
2. The first cooperative experience may receive up to one credit of technical elective credit.
3. The second cooperative experience may receive up to two credits of technical elective credit.

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Students must ensure all appropriate pre-requisites are met prior to registering for all courses in the curriculum. 

Geotechnical Engineering Concentration

Geotechnical Engineering is a branch of geological engineering and civil engineering that deals with the behavior of soils and rocks, and the design and analysis of natural and man-made soil structures. The classes of problems related to geotechnical engineering include foundations, slope stability, soil dynamics, soil improvement, geoenvironmental problems, geosynthetics, seepage, tunneling, mining and energy geotechnics. Many construction projects are conducted on less than ideal ground conditions that need to be improved by geotechnics. Construction of infrastructures and residential buildings may encounter unstable slopes or deep excavation. The retaining structures are often used to stabilize them. In some cases, modern reinforced soil technologies are used. Geotechnical engineers are today mandated to design foundations and soil structures that ensure stability and satisfactory performance under the impact of natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The concentration in geotechnical engineering is designed to prepare students for careers in geotechnical engineering.

This concentration requires students to complete all of the courses from the list shown below. 

Petroleum Concentration

The program has a petroleum option, that is designed to prepare students for possible employment in the petroleum industry, while continuing to provide a broad geological engineering background for career flexibility. The undergraduate pursuing this emphasis will have a B.S. in Geological Engineering and their transcript will show that they have completed the Petroleum Geology Concentration. 

This concentration requires students to complete at least 16 credits from the course list shown below:

Water Resources Concentration

Freshwater is a vital resource for economic growth, global ecosystems and well-being of human lives. Recently water resources are also severely under pressure across the world due to substantial population growth and migration, climate and land-use changes, and anthropogenic pollutions. Water security and quality are increasingly also recognized as a critical national security priority. Moreover, water management is becoming increasingly complex and complicated, demanding a thorough and sound understanding of hydrologic and hydrogeologic processes and their vulnerabilities to climate, land-use changes and anthropogenic usages. These interactions require the skills in visualizing and understanding water and contaminant transport through subsurface rocks (sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic) and surface waterways. The range of typical applications is wide and the methods used are diverse. Expertise provided by this concentration includes aspects of hydrogeology, groundwater contamination and remediation, water quality and lab analyses and cold region hydrology. This expertise is highly sought after by industries and government agencies that deal with critical water resources and environmental problems. Furthermore, it has become equally important to train replacements for an aging workforce in this important technological area. The concentration in Water Resources is designed to prepare students for careers such as hydrogeologist, hydrologist, environmental geologist and environmental engineer.  

This concentration requires students to complete 16 credits from the list shown below: