Mining development, underground constructions (mine openings, fuel storage farms, tunnels in metropolitan cities, etc.) as well as the rising scales of mining industry highlight the importance of theoretical foundation of deep works and their technical supply. Rock mechanics is a science studying physico-mechanical nature of rocks, stress pattern, deformation and destruction processes arising under the influence of natural and technological forces. The basic specialty students get at the Department is Geophysics, their main specialization is Rock Mechanics. This unique combination provides graduates with academic and practical knowledge which give them an opportunity to work at any mining company (as a production engineer or engineer for monitoring state of rock mass) or oil company (as a geophysicist), but also do research in academic and industrial research institutes.

Level of theoretical and practical training in Mechanics and Mathematics, Geology, Geophysics and Rock Mechanics is quite high that allows the chair graduates to teach the relevant disciplines at institutions of higher education. The chair is equipped with modern instruments and facilities for determining physical and mechanical properties of rocks, detecting and monitoring the stress-strain state of rock masses. Test benches for studying the behavior of geomaterials and block structures under loading are also available at the Multiple Access Center of the Siberian Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences.

Starting with the third year students majoring at the chair work at the Institute of Mining of The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on specific tasks that have scientific and practical importance. Here you can see the list of the chair members – research workers of the Institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Mining named after N. A. Chinakal of The Siberian Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as the disciplines taught.