Peter Aaen has been named Dean of Energy and Materials Programs at Colorado School of Mines. Aaen joined Mines in 2019 to lead the Electrical Engineering Department. He began the appointment as Energy and Materials dean Dec. 1 after serving as interim dean since May.
"I feel incredibly privileged to step into this role. The strength of our energy and materials programs lies in the dedication of our faculty, the hard work of our staff and the brilliance of our students. My primary focus is to support them, remove obstacles and help this incredible community realize its ambitions,” Aaen said.
Mines’ energy and materials programs prepare students to become science and engineering leaders in the future of energy, discovering and manufacturing cutting-edge materials, advanced robotics, quantum sensing and applications of artificial intelligence
As dean, Aaen will oversee programs from the Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and Physics departments. Interdisciplinary graduate programs that fall under the Energy and Materials portfolio are Advanced Energy Systems, Additive Manufacturing, FEA Professional, Materials Science, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Operations Research with Engineering, Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering, Quantum Engineering and Robotics.
One of the newest programs in the energy and materials portfolio is quantum systems engineering, an undergraduate degree program that will begin to enroll students in Fall 2026. It joins the master’s degree in quantum engineering, which was launched in 2020.
"Quantum is a field that requires understanding multiple disciplines,” Aaen said. “It’s not only physics, but it’s also electrical and computer science, materials and chemistry and mechanical. There’s a really broad set of skills that engineers and scientists need to have to move things forward. Quantum is growing, and Mines students will be getting in at the ground level of a revolutionary field.”
Aaen previously served as head of the Electrical Engineering Department. Before joining the faculty at Mines, Aaen was on the faculty at University of Surrey (UK) and spent 16 years in industry working for Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Arizona State University and has a bachelor’s in engineering science and a master’s in electrical engineering, both from the University of Toronto.
Aaen’s research is focused on microelectronics and devices. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.
