College of Mines and Earth Resources
Earl H. Bennett, Dean (321 Mines Bldg.; 208/885-6195);
Cheryl Tribble, Secretary of the College Faculty.
The School of Mines was established at the University of Idaho in 1917 to
serve the needs of the Gem State's important mining industry. The name
was changed in 1952 to the College of Mines, and "Earth Resources" was
added in 1978 to reflect the growing academic diversity represented in
today's Departments of Geography, Geological Sciences, and Materials,
Metallurgical, Mining, and Geological Engineering. A separate state
agency, the Idaho Geological Survey, is an affiliated program.
Degrees offered within the college include geography (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.);
cartography (B.S.); mining engineering (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.); metallurgical
engineering (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.); geological engineering (B.S., M.S.);
geology (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.); hydrology (M.S.); and materials science
and engineering (M.S., Ph.D.). In addition, the College of Graduate
Studies offers a Master of Arts in Teaching degree (with majors in
geography and earth science) and a Master of Natural Science degree (major
in earth science). The college is home to some 35 faculty who instruct
and guide about 385 graduate and undergraduate students in these
disciplines.
Facilities and Equipment
The college is housed in the Mines Building (built in 1960) and the
state-of-the-art McClure Hall (dedicated in 1995). Both buildings contain
teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, and faculty and
administrative offices. Highlights in McClure include a fully equipped
analytical lab with the latest equipment and a new computer teaching lab
(27 PCs) and adjacent student lab (38 PCs) completed in 1998. Other
fully equipped computer facilities for teaching and research in
geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing are also housed
in this building.
Materials Engineering. Students are offered hands-on
opportunities to study both metallic and ceramic materials.
Laboratories and apparatus is available to fabricate these materials, and
to observe microstructures using standard metallographic techniques. Both
hot and cold isostatic presses are available for consolidation, as well as
annealing furnaces for densification.
The chemistry of these materials can be determined using an energy
dispersive X-ray fluorescence unit, and their structures can be calculated
using powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal techniques. The
internal structural details of these materials (at close to atomic
scale) can be examined using a transmission electron
microscope. Equipment is also available for mechanical testing,
electrochemical corrosion studies, and studying electrical, magnetic, and
structural properties.
Metallurgical Engineering. Equipment is available for a broad
range of laboratory procedures commonly used to study extractive and
physical metallurgy and materials. Students can do bench-scale tests to
crush, grind, screen, and separate minerals from ores using flotation,
magnetic separation, leaching, or other techniques. Analytical equipment
ranging from traditional fire assaying to induction-coupled-plasma (ICP)
atomic absorption spectrometry and ion chromatography are available.
Mining Engineering. The mechanical properties of rocks are
critical to mining engineers for designing surface and underground mines
as safe working environments. The college's rock mechanics laboratory
is equipped with a large capacity tension/compression testing machine and
associated strain measuring and recording equipment.
Of equal importance to rock mechanics is basic mine design. Computer
laboratories using high speed work stations and "expert" software systems
provide our mining engineers with powerful tools. These systems permit
the engineer to design the most safe, economical, and operationally
efficient plans for mine entry, ore removal, ventilation, and
transportation.
Geological Engineering. The geological engineering program
provides students with a thorough educational experience in applied
geology, the engineering sciences, and in the integration of geologic
concepts into engineering evaluation and design. The student can
specialize in geological engineering as applied to mineral exploration,
hydrology, or energy resources. Sophisticated equipment for strain
testing and determining other engineering properties is available in the
college's rock mechanics laboratory.
Geological Sciences. Extensive laboratories are maintained
for work in all of the basic earth science courses, with large study
collections of fossils, rocks, minerals, crystal models, ore suites, thin
sections, polished sections, and topographic and geologic maps.
Equipment used in advanced courses includes rock sawing and polishing
facilities, binocular microscopes, reflection and polarizing microscopes,
photomicrographic apparatus, x-ray diffraction and fluorescent
equipment, and an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Both scanning and
transmission electron microscopes are available to advanced students.
Other equipment includes computers, proton magnetometers, resistivity
survey equipment, a 12-channel seismograph, a gravity meter, an EDM survey
unit, soil drilling and sample kits, water-level recorders, and other
geophysical and hydrological equipment.
Research laboratories are equipped for work in applied geochemistry,
economic geology, paleontology, photogeologic analysis, remote sensing,
engineering geology, hydrology, and soil testing. Facilities for research
in hydrology are also available in other divisions of the university.
Through the Glaciological and Arctic Sciences Institute, cooperative
facilities for field training and research in British Columbia and Alaska
are available in the disciplines of mining and exploration geology,
geophysics, terrestrial photogrammetry, field surveys and mappings,
geomorphology, and glaciology.
Geography. The department's main laboratories are the
surrounding regions, including the Palouse, the Inland Empire, and the
Pacific Northwest. Three separate laboratories are maintained in the
department for teaching and research in cartography, geographic
information systems (GIS), and remote sensing. The GIS laboratory has
ARC-INFO running on both HP work stations and IBM-compatible PCs. ERDAS,
a digital image analysis package, is available on 10 PCs in the remote
sensing laboratory. Additional PC-based and mainframe computing are
provided through the university's Computer Services facilities. Another
resource is the approximately 124,000 maps, numerous atlases, 40,000
aerial photographs, and a growing collection of digital data files in the
University Library's collection.
Cart-O-Graphics, the Department of Geography's graphics laboratory,
offers design, drafting, and reproduction services for maps and
other graphics to illustrate research reports and other publications
while providing work experience for students. Although this laboratory
primarily serves the university's needs, it also serves other
agencies in the state and region.
Scholarship and Loan Funds
Students interested in scholarships, and who have been admitted to UI with
a declared major in one of the College of Mines and Earth Resources'
programs, should refer to the
Financial Aid section in part 2 of this
catalog. Individual scholarships are awarded each year totalling
approximately half a million dollars. Details on specific requirements to
apply for one of these awards can be obtained by writing to: Dean,
College of Mines and Earth Resources, PO Box 443025, University of Idaho,
Moscow, ID 83844-3025 or e-mail mines@uidaho.edu.
Idaho Geological Survey
Earl H. Bennett, Director (321 Mines Bldg.;
208/885-6195).
Established in 1919, the Idaho Geological Survey is the lead state agency
for collecting, interpreting, and disseminating all scientific information
on the geology and mineral resources of Idaho. In addition to its main
office at the University of Idaho's Moscow campus, the Survey has branch
offices in Boise at Boise State University and in Pocatello at Idaho State
University. A staff of geologists conducts applied research with a strong
emphasis on producing geologic maps and providing technical and general
information to the public.
Cooperative projects between the Survey, state universities, and other
academic, state, and federal institutions, including the U.S. Geological
Survey, enhance research productivity and educational outreach. At the
Moscow office, the Survey provides a sales service for publications and
maps and maintains reference collections of statewide research. The
Survey directs its activities at the broad interests of the state's
citizens, teachers and students of earth science, the mineral industry,
land developers, land-use planners, scientific researchers, and city,
county, state, and federal agencies.
Glaciological and Arctic Sciences Institute
Maynard M. Miller, Director (318 Mines Bldg.;
208/885-6382).
The institute was established at the university in 1975 by the Board of
Regents to promote a learning and research experience for undergraduate
and graduate students, as well as cooperative field research with senior
scientists in the arctic and mountain geosciences and allied environmental
field sciences. Both formal and directed study field courses are given on
the Juneau Icefield on the Alaska-B.C.-Yukon border, operating out of a
series of field stations provided by the Foundation for Glacier and
Environmental Research at the Pacific Science Center, Seattle,
Washington. Areas of interest are field and exploration geology,
exploration geophysics, glaciology, Pleistocene stratigraphy, glacial and
periglacial geomorphology, arctic geobotany, remote sensing, and allied
areas of atmospheric sciences and survey and mapping. The summer field
session runs for eight consecutive weeks during July and August. Upwards
of 50 students participate, including undergraduate and graduate students,
and a select number of high ability high school junior and senior advance
placements.
General Requirements and Undergraduate Curricula
University Requirements. See
regulation J in part 3 for the all-university
requirements for graduation.
Electives. A list of acceptable electives may be consulted
in the office of each head of department and adviser in the college.
Electives must be approved by the head of department or the adviser
involved.
Major Curricula. As specified in Part 5, the programs of study
in this college require 128 to 136 credits. The curricula include
the departmental and general requirements as set forth above.
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