Montana Technological University awarded $6.5 million via the Defense Production Act Investments office to create online stackable certificate programs to meet demands for critical minerals, rare earth elements

Montana Technological University has been selected to receive an educational workforce award from the Department of Defense using Defense Production Act (DPA) authorities. The $6.5 million project will address critical workforce development needs in metallurgical, geological, mining, and environmental engineering. The University will deploy a suite of innovative online programs that will allow engineers to upskill in mineral extraction industries from anywhere in the world that has internet access.

There will be seven stackable certificates in Extractive Metallurgy; Mineral Processing; Mineral Deposit Exploration; Hydrogeology of Mines; Mining Engineering; Mineral Project Management & Evaluation, and Environmental Management for Mining Operations. The new educational pipeline at Montana Tech is meant to fill the human capital needs essential to supply the critical minerals and rare earth elements necessary to facilitate the advanced manufacturing of modern technology, ensure the national defense, and secure a clean energy economy. Currently, these materials are only available from foreign sources.

While demands for critical minerals have soared as the world becomes increasingly electrified and digital, educational opportunities in the field have dwindled. In the last generation, 26 ABET accredited programs have been lost in these disciplines. There are currently 21 universities in the U.S. with ABET-accredited programs in these fields, but only less than eight offer remote delivery of coursework. Montana Tech aims to draw on its historical strengths, pair them with modern technology, and reach learners around the globe.

“Over Montana Tech's 125-year history, generations of faculty have grown educational programs that draw from the active mines, repurposed abandoned mines, and ore bodies in our community and region,” Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Angela Lueking said. “Our faculty and staff have also worked diligently to monitor and restore generational damage from past extraction practices. It is these experiences that will be drawn from to create the new online curriculum. I am incredibly honored that Montana Tech has been selected to work with the Defense Production Act Investments (DPAI) office on this effort, as it will extend the hands-on learning that distinguishes a Montana Tech education to students across the globe. This collaboration will ensure that the Montana Tech legacy in extractive engineering is preserved and disseminated to the next generation, when a critical workforce gap has been identified as a national security need.”  Dr. Lueking will serve as principal investigator of the award, leading a collaborative team of faculty, instructors, staff, and graduate students drawn from six units on campus.

Each track will equip students to lead an engineering process/division to support the entire life cycle of mineral recovery, from exploration to analysis and permitting, to construction, to extraction, to processing, and finally to the closure of an operation. Each track will include both an asynchronous online learning component and a summer practicum to provide hands-on learning. To ensure high quality and incorporation of national best practices, the online learning will be developed in collaboration with Montana Tech’s Center for Academic Innovation.

“Montana Tech produces the best, hands-on, practical engineers for the mining and natural resource industries in the United States, and I’m excited to be a part of this program,” Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering Chris Roos said. “Working with DPAI, we will be able to take what we know works in preparing our on-campus undergraduate students and share it using best practices in distance learning to help fill a huge void in the U.S. mining industry talent pipeline. As we continue to recruit more students into our historical programs, these stackable certificates will provide a transformational experience for engineers from ‘traditional’ engineering disciplines like mechanical, civil, and chemical the opportunity to upskill their knowledge and be prepared for roles that would be typically filled by mining, metallurgical, environmental, and geological engineers or mining geologists. While most of the course content will be delivered online, the summer practicum will ensure these cohorts receive the same quality experiential learning as our on-campus students.”

The grant is awarded from $500 million appropriated to the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III fund through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The funds are earmarked to expand the domestic capacity of strategic and critical materials critical to national defense and economic security.

Montana Tech has become a hub of research and development for critical mineral and rare earth element supply chain development in recent years, as emerging geopolitics and the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of building domestic sources. More than a dozen individual projects are currently underway on campus in conjunction with the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory that aim to use Montana as a "model" for identifying, mapping, exploring, extracting, and processing rare earth elements in the United States in innovative and environmentally responsible ways.

“The work that faculty, staff, and students do at Montana Tech is leading the way in the technology, manufacturing, and natural resource industries, and those folks deserve state-of-the-art tools to match their top-flight research,” said U.S. Senator Jon Tester.“I’m proud to see this funding go to such a deserving Montana school – and I look forward to seeing the work these students do to strengthen our domestic capacity for critical materials and keep Montana on the front lines of innovation.”

Montana Tech plans to open enrollment in the program in Fall 2025. To speak with an admissions representative visit https://www.mtech.edu/admissions-aid/graduate-admissions/index.html, call (406) 496-4781 or email GradSchool@mtech.edu.