Sustainable Environment and Climate

The GEFI framework and collaborative mindset are having big impacts at Mines, leading to major grants, collaborative research, student innovation and industry support.

The Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining is exploring mineralogy across scales to better understand deposits of critical materials within the subsurface.

PFAS@Mines will focus on the development of treatment strategies for most challenging PFAS sites, improved methods to characterize human exposure, and improved tools for assessing sites that have been impacted by PFAS.

"This is a critical effort, as it provides us with confidence that self-collected blood samples provide just as good – if not, in some cases, better – data on human exposure,” said Chris Higgins, University Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

In May 2021, the United States and the United Kingdom launched the G7 Industrial Decarbonization Agenda (IDA) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industries like steel, cement and chemicals

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is melting rapidly, raising concerns it could cross a tipping point of irreversible retreat in the next few decades if global temperatures rise 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius

Shiling Pei, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, will simulate a series of large earthquakes on a full-scale, 10-story mass timber building this spring – the world’s tallest full-scale building ever tested on an earthquake simulator, or shake table.

Developed by Mines researchers, HALT-PFAS is widely regarded as one of most promising solutions for tackling “forever chemicals."

Civil and environmental engineering researchers at Colorado School of Mines have developed a mobile system for reclaiming the cyanide used in gold processing by small-scale and artisanal miners in Peru.

“As scientists, we need to lead the way for society to have a better understanding of how climate change is affecting our water resources," said Adrienne Marshall, assistant professor of geology and geological engineering at Mines.