The Department of Geology is one of the earliest established departments at China University of Mining and Technology, with the strongest faculty and academic strength. The department is based on the Resource Exploration Engineering major, which originated from the "Coal Geology and Exploration" major established in 1953. It is a traditional advantageous major of our university. Over the years, it has cultivated a large number of outstanding professional leaders and management talents for the coal, petroleum and other industries, leading the development, reform and innovation of coal geology, and making outstanding contributions and strong support to the discipline construction and development of the School of Resources and Earth Sciences. In 1996, when the Ministry of Education implemented the adjustment of the professional directory, the "Coal Geology and Exploration" major was used as the core professional direction to establish the new Geology Engineering major (guiding professional directory). In 2015, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the Resource Exploration Engineering major was restored and began to recruit students.

The Department of Geology has a strong faculty, a reasonable academic team, a complete range of discipline directions, and is full of innovative vitality. Under the leadership of the senior geologists such as Academician Han Dexin, Professor He Xilin, Professor Liu Huanjie, and Professor Wang Guiliang, after several generations of geologists' hard work, persistence, inheritance and progress, the Department of Geology has a strong faculty, a reasonable academic team, a complete range of discipline directions, and is full of innovative vitality. Currently, there are 37 faculty members, 95% of whom have doctoral degrees. Among the full-time teachers, there are 13 professors and 16 associate professors. Especially in the field of coal and coalbed methane geology, the faculty team has strong strength and influence among similar universities and disciplines in the country.

The discipline has a deep historical accumulation, outstanding achievements in the construction of science and engineering disciplines, and remarkable results in the construction of high-level talent training platforms. The Department of Geology has also played an important role in the discipline construction of our university, achieving significant results in both engineering and science degree points. "Mineral Exploration and Evaluation" obtained the right to confer master's and doctoral degrees in 1981, and was listed as the first batch of national key disciplines in 1988. In 2000, the first-level discipline of "Geological Resources and Geological Engineering" obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees as a whole, and is currently a key discipline of Jiangsu Province, a national first-level key discipline cultivation point, and a construction discipline of Jiangsu Province's advantageous discipline. In the fourth round of discipline evaluation at the end of 2017, "Geological Resources and Geological Engineering" was rated as A-, ranking third in the country. At the same time, in 2002, the "Geochemistry" doctoral degree point in science was obtained, which was the first doctoral degree point in science of our university. In 2006, the "Geology" first-level discipline obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees as a whole, and a postdoctoral research station was established. Relying on the Department of Geology, the first and only Ministry of Education Key Laboratory in the field of coalbed methane in the country - the "Coalbed Methane Resources and Accumulation Process" Ministry of Education Key Laboratory was approved. This has laid an important foundation for the training of high-level talents in this department. With the establishment of the "International Coal Geology Center", the platform for training high-level talents will be even stronger.

The research directions are prominent and distinctive, with a focus on both fundamental and innovative aspects, and outstanding achievements in energy geology research. The Department of Geology has significant advantages and characteristics in coal geology and clean coal geology, mine geology, coalbed gas geology, petroleum and natural gas geology, mineral exploration and evaluation, shale gas and shale oil theory and exploration evaluation, coal geochemistry and environmental health, mathematical geology and quantitative prediction of resources, etc. Many teams have been rated as innovation teams of the Ministry of Education and China University of Mining and Technology, and have achieved fruitful and influential research results. In the past five years, it has won 3 second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, 12 first and second prizes of provincial and ministerial level, published more than 120 SCI and EI indexed papers as the first or corresponding author, and hosted 82 vertical projects including national major projects, National 973 projects, National Natural Science Foundation key funds, and National Natural Science Foundation major instrument development projects, with a total funding of over 200 million yuan. It has also hosted more than 70 enterprise and institution entrusted projects, with a total funding of over 30 million yuan. The number and funding of vertical projects rank among the top in the university, with a significant advantage.

International exchanges and cooperation are extensive and in-depth, focusing on cultivating world-class faculty and students. The Department of Geology attaches great importance to international exchanges and cooperation. Relying on the National Natural Science Foundation of China's major international (regional) cooperative research projects, and the two "111 Program" bases of "Geological Theory and Development Technology of Coalbed Methane" and "Coal-type Rare Metal Deposits", it has established good cooperative relationships with more than 20 universities and research institutions in countries and regions such as Australia, Russia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In the past five years, over 40 teachers and postgraduate students from our department have gone abroad for academic visits, joint training, or to attend international conferences, and we have successfully held one international conference on organic petrology. Since 2018, the Department of Geology has selected outstanding undergraduate students to go to Australia, the United States, and other countries for joint field practice or overseas research training every year.

Looking to the future, our department will firmly seize the historical opportunity of the country's "Double First-Class" construction, uphold the geological spirit of inheritance, perseverance, progress, and innovation, take the cultivation of high-level compound innovative talents in the field of energy geology as its mission, deepen teaching and research reforms, optimize the talent cultivation model, expand new academic and research directions, strengthen international cooperation and exchanges, and strive to build the Department of Geology into an important talent cultivation base and scientific research innovation center in the field of energy geology at home and abroad.