Faculty Directory

Biography

On the Mines faculty since 1986, Roderick G. Eggert specializes in mineral economics and public policy. In recent years, his research and teaching have focused on critical minerals and materials. Between 2013 and 2026, he was deputy director of the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (initially known as the Critical Materials Institute), a research consortium established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2013 to accelerate innovation in energy materials. He chaired the U.S. National Research Council committee that wrote the 2008 book, Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy (National Academies Press).  He has testified on critical minerals and materials at committee hearings of the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Canadian House of Commons, and European Parliament.    

He co-chaired the National Academies committee that wrote the 2025 book Meeting Future U.S. Mineral Resource Needs: The Role of the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program (National Academies Press).

Between 2016 and 2024, he held the Viola Vestal Coulter Foundation Chair in Mineral Economics. Between 1998 and 2013, he was Director of the Division (now Department) of Economics and Business. Between 1988 and 2006, he was editor of Resources Policy, an international journal of mineral economics and policy.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• PhD, Mineral Economics, Pennsylvania State University, 1983
• MS, Geochemistry and Mineralogy, Pennsylvania State University, 1980
• BA, Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, 1978

Research

Areas of Specialization

• Natural resource and environmental economics
• Applied microeconomics

Areas of Application

• Mineral exploration
• Mining, minerals, and sustainable development
• Mineral policy
• Mineral and metal markets