Columbia Engineering Receives DOE Funding to Train Critical Minerals Workforce

Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering has been selected as one of the winners of the Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT) Planning Prize, a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The PROSPECT Planning Prize is funded by DOE's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) and managed by the National Laboratory of the Rockies under the American-Made program.

Columbia's winning plan is CODEX, Columbia Ore To Device Education Excellence. CODEX’s education pipeline starts from one idea: a single curriculum in a single department can train engineers for the entire chain, from ore to device. Students build a foundation in mining fundamentals, strengthened by Columbia’s expertise in mineral processing, electrochemistry, data and AI, and mineral economics and policy. Graduates leave ready to lead across mining, metallurgy, automation, materials and recycling, and finance.

"America has abundant natural resources, but we need the skilled workforce to turn those resources into economic drivers that will grow our economy and create new jobs," said Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson. "For decades, we have allowed our mining and critical minerals workforce to decline and our domestic supply chains of critical minerals to weaken. PROSPECT is about reversing that trend by challenging universities to rapidly grow the number of graduates ready to build and sustain the American critical minerals supply chains, from mines to materials."

"As the oldest mining program in the country, we are proud to join this cohort of incredible education partners, and advance our mission to train the next generation of engineers," said Dan Steingart, Stanley-Thompson Professor of Chemical Metallurgy and chair of Columbia's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia Engineering, and CODEX's principal investigator. "CODEX will provide Columbia students a comprehensive education that they can then use to advance extraction, processing, refining, and manufacturing excellence with our industrial and DOE national partners."