Welcome to Mining and Materials Engineering
History
In 1871, the Department of Mining Engineering was founded with Bernard J. Harrington (BA 1869, MA 1895, LLD 1899) as lecturer. Harrington, who had just received the new PhD designation from Yale University, would become a professor in the department in 1874, at which point Metallurgy, the study of metals, was introduced as part of the program in Mining Engineering. It took another 24 years before the name of the department was changed to Mining and Metallurgy. More than a century later, in 2007, the name was changed to Mining and Materials Engineering reflecting the evolution and expansion of the metallurgy program beyond metals encompassing all advanced materials.
Programs
The department is distinguished in the World, as it covers the entire material value chain. Indeed, the department covers mining, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, and all aspects of materials development, processing and characterization, as well as recycling and life cycle assessment. Two undergraduate programs are offered: a) Mining Engineering and b) Materials Engineering. These programs are cooperative, meaning that students complete 12-16 months of compulsory work experience prior to graduation. Moreover, the department is one of the most research-intensive units within McGill’s Faculty of Engineering, offering Masters and PhD degrees in both Mining and Materials, typically on industrially sponsored topics. In particular, Mining and Mineral Processing has consistently been McGill’s highest rated category within the QS World University Raking, attaining 4th place in the World in 2021. The cooperative education and industrially sponsored research is founded on partnerships with numerous companies and agencies, including Rio Tinto, Barrick, BHP Billiton, Teck, Glencore, Vale, Pratt and Whitney, Novelis, ArcelorMittal, Hitachi, Hydro-Quebec, the Canadian Space Agency, Natural Resources Canada and the National Research Council, among others.
Mission and Objectives
- To educate and train high-quality engineers for the mining and materials industries through two competitive undergraduate programs.
- To educate and train graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in advanced research in fundamental and applied topics in mining and materials engineering.
- To promote strong interaction with industry, and other academic institutions and research centres, through both cooperative education and industrial partnership in research.
- To foster economically competitive and sustainable supplies of critical and foundational materials for integration within North American and global markets.
