A watermelon explodes during an Explosives Camp demonstration at Missouri S&T.

Missouri University of Science and Technology is offering the nation’s first Ph.D. in explosives engineering beginning this fall. The new doctorate will help the university fill critical shortfalls in government and industry. In the mining industry alone, more than 5,000 engineers will retire in the next decade.

“This will give our graduates a more specific designation in the workforce,” says Dr. Jason Baird, associate professor of mining engineering at Missouri S&T. “This in-depth course of study will give them very detailed knowledge. Several of our students have already been hired based on the availability of this advanced explosives engineering degree.”

Explosives engineers work in the mining, construction, demolition and pyrotechnics fields, among others.

Missouri S&T was also the first in the nation to offer a master’s degree in explosives engineering in 2010.

The Missouri S&T explosives engineering program is a part of the university’s mining and nuclear engineering department. The 72-hour Ph.D. program requires a dissertation and explosives engineering core courses and electives. Much of the field work and research will be conducted on the property of the university’s Experimental Mine Facility in Rolla and some of the course work is available online.

Information about the explosives engineering program at Missouri S&T can be found online at explosives.mst.edu.