Structural Engineering

If you’ve ever wondered about how bridges can withstand extreme loads, how buildings can remain stable during earthquakes or how structures that can perform reliably for decades, you're already thinking about structural engineering.

Structural engineering is at the heart of the built environment. It’s used to understand how forces move through systems, how materials respond under stress and how designs can be optimized for safety, efficiency and resilience. It provides the framework engineers use to predict performance, prevent failure and ensure that critical infrastructure performs exactly as intended.

At Colorado School of Mines, the Structural Engineering minor helps you move from studying structures to thinking like a structural engineer. You will learn how design choices affect performance and safety, how materials behave under real conditions and take a systems-level approach to infrastructure challenges. This minor equips you with the skills and perspective to tackle real-world engineering challenges and make the structures of tomorrow safer, smarter and stronger.

Program Overview

The Structural Engineering minor gives you the tools to understand how structures actually work—from how forces move through a system to how materials respond to stress and strain. You’ll learn how to model forces, evaluate material performance and design structures that meet real-world demands.

At Mines, you’ll take an applied, problem-solving approach grounded in real scenarios, analytical rigor and solid engineering judgment. You’ll explore topics like structural analysis, finite-element methods, and design with steel, concrete, timber, and masonry, along with the fundamentals of seismic design.

Built for students interested in solid mechanics and real-world impact, this minor adds technical depth and systems-level thinking to your degree. And with structural expertise in demand across industries—from construction to aerospace—you’ll graduate ready to contribute wherever engineering happens.

Program Options

The Structural Engineering minor is offered through the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.

Topics covered in this minor include various methods and theories for structural analysis and design; finite element methods; design with steel, concrete, timber, and masonry; and an introduction to the seismic design of structures.