Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering
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
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Geological Engineering required courses | ||
| GEOE 203 & 203L | Earth Dynamics and Earth Dynamics Laboratory | 4 |
| GEOE 301 & 301L | Petrophysics and Petrophysics Laboratory | 4 |
| GEOE 323 | Engineering Geology | 2 |
| GEOE 412 | Soil Mechanics | 3 |
| GEOE 417 | Hydrogeology | 3 |
| GEOE 455 | Geomechanics | 2 |
| GEOE 455L | Geomechanics Laboratory | 1 |
| GEOE 484 | Geological Engineering Design | 3 |
| GEOE 485 | Geological Engineering Design | 3 |
| GEOE 410 Field Camp * | 6 | |
| Geology required courses | ||
| GEOL 330 | Structural Geology | 3 |
| GEOL 411 | Sedimentology and Stratigraphy | 5 |
| GEOL 414 | Applied Geophysics | 3 |
| GEOL 356 | Geoscience Lectures | 1 |
| GEOL 421 | Seminar I | 1 |
| GEOL 422 | Seminar II | 1 |
| Total Credits | 45 | |
III. Program Required Electives
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Elective course options | 8 | |
| Reclamation Engineering | ||
| Petroleum Development Engr | ||
| Hydrogeological Methods | ||
| Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation | ||
| Design Hydrology for Wetlands | ||
| Groundwater Modeling | ||
| Selected Topics in Geological Engineering | ||
| Geomorphology | ||
| Geochemistry | ||
| Petroleum Geology | ||
| Geologic Problems (only section) | ||
| Foundation Engineering | ||
| Hydrology | ||
| Principles of Water and Wastewater Treatment | ||
| Environmental Engineering Design | ||
| Petroleum Fluid Properties | ||
| Well Logging | ||
| Drilling Engineering | ||
| Production Engineering | ||
| Reservoir Engineering | ||
| Total Credits | 8 | |
IV. College of Engineering and Mines requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ENGR 200 | Computer Applications in Engineering | 2 |
| ENGR 201 | Statics | 3 |
| ENGR 203 | Mechanics of Materials | 3 |
| ENGR 206 | Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering | 3 |
| or ENGR 202 | Dynamics | |
| ENGR 340 | Professional Integrity in Engineering | 3 |
| ENGR 460 | Engineering Economy | 3 |
| CE 306 | Fluid Mechanics | 3 |
| or ME 306 | Fluid Mechanics | |
| ME 341 | Thermodynamics | 3 |
| Total Credits | 23 | |
V. Requirements outside of the College of Engineering and Mines
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CHEM 121 & 121L | General Chemistry I and General Chemistry I Laboratory | 4 |
| CHEM 122 & 122L | General Chemistry II and General Chemistry II Laboratory | 4 |
| MATH 165 | Calculus I | 4 |
| MATH 166 | Calculus II | 4 |
| MATH 265 | Calculus III | 4 |
| MATH 266 | Elementary Differential Equations | 3 |
| PHYS 251 | University Physics I | 4 |
| or PHYS 251C & 251CL | University Physics I and University Physics I Lab | |
| PHYS 252 | University Physics II | 4 |
| or PHYS 252C & 252CL | University Physics II and University Physics II Lab | |
| ECON 210 | Introduction to Business and Economic Statistics | 3 |
| or MATH 321 | Applied Statistical Methods | |
| Total Credits | 34 | |
- *
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.
- **
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:
- Students must get approval in advance from the GECC and the Department Cooperative Coordinator.
- The first cooperative experience may receive up to one credit of technical elective credit.
- The second cooperative experience may receive up to two credits of technical elective credit.
- ***
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.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOE 323 | Engineering Geology | 2 |
| GEOE 412 | Soil Mechanics | 3 |
| GEOE 454 | Unsaturated Soil Mechanics | 3 |
| GEOE 455 & 455L | Geomechanics and Geomechanics Laboratory | 3 |
| GEOE 456 | Geomaterials Stabilization | 3 |
| CE 414 | Foundation Engineering | 3 |
| Total Credits | 17 | |
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:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOE 301 & 301L | Petrophysics and Petrophysics Laboratory | 4 |
| GEOE 455 & 455L | Geomechanics and Geomechanics Laboratory | 3 |
| GEOE 420 | Geological Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Reservoirs | 3 |
| GEOE 591 | Advanced Subsurface Energy Recovery in Engineering | 3 |
| GEOL 407 | Petroleum Geology | 3 |
| GEOL 500 | Sedimentary Geology | 1-4 |
| PTRE 401 | Well Logging | 3 |
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:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOE 417 | Hydrogeology | 3 |
| GEOE 419 | Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation | 3 |
| GEOE 421 | Cold Region Hydrologic Modeling | 3 |
| or CE 421 | Hydrology | |
| GEOL 321 | Geochemistry | 3 |
| GEOL 342 | Conservation and Environmental Hydrology | 3 |
| GEOL 540 | Water Sampling and Analysis | 3 |