Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering was founded in 1983, formerly known as the Drilling Teaching and Research Section of Changchun Geological College established in 1954, which was the earlier established drilling engineering major in China. At the beginning of the establishment of the drilling engineering major, academician Liu Guangzhi, a famous drilling engineering expert in China, and Professor Popov, a Soviet drilling engineering expert, were teaching here. Then the section grew up into the Department of Exploration Engineering of Changchun Geological College (1983-1995), Department of Exploration Engineering of Changchun Geological College (1995-1997) and Department of Exploration Engineering of Changchun University of Science and Technology (1997-2000). The Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering of the College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University has a brilliant history in scientific research and teaching. The first department director was Professor Zhang Zupei, a foreign academician of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and a famous Drilling engineering educator. Prof. Yin Kun and Prof. Sun Youhong, drilling experts well-known at home and abroad, have been teaching in the Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering.
There are 21 faculty members in the Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering, including 9 professors (8 doctoral supervisors) and 8 associate professors. Among them, one is a member of the Discipline Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, one is a first- and second-level candidate of the National "Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project", one is a national candidate of the New Century Hundred, Thousand and Ten Thousand Talents Project, one is an expert obtaining the State Council Special Allowance, one was honored as Excellent Young Teacher in Colleges and Universities by the Ministry of Education, one is Trans-century Outstanding Talent of the Ministry of Education, one is a Trans-century Outstanding Talent of the Ministry of Land and Resources, one is honored as a Scientific and Technological Leader of the High-level Innovative Sci-tech Talent Training Project of the Ministry of Land and Resources, one is a Leading Talent in Science and Technology of the High Level Innovative Sci-tech Personnel Training Project initiated by the Ministry of Land and Resources, one is an Outstanding Expert Directly Subordinate to the Organization Department of the Central Commission, one is a National Excellent Teacher, one is a Young/Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contribution in Jilin Province, one is an Excellent Young/Middle-aged Professional and Technical Talent with Outstanding Contribution of Jilin Province, two of them are honored as Excellent Experts of Jilin Province, one is a Special Professor of "Changbai Mountain Scholar" of Jilin Province, one won the Golden Hammer Award for Young Professionals of Geological Science and Technology by The Geological Society of China, one won Jilin Province Science and Technology Award for Youth, and one won Huang Jiqing Geological Science and Technology Award for Youth.
The Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering has a complete cultivation system of "Bachelor-Master-PhD" and mainly cultivates senior professionals in geological engineering. The Department of Geological Engineering was awarded as a national first-class major in 2019; passed the national engineering education certification, is a national Category 1 specialty major construction point and was one of the first batch to implement the excellent engineer training program of the Ministry of Education, and is a pilot major of national comprehensive major reform. It has a post-doctoral center for the first-level discipline of geological resources and geological engineering, a doctoral program in the first-level discipline of geological engineering, a doctoral program in resources and environment engineering (energy and environmental protection field), a master's program for the second-level discipline of geological engineering, and a master's program in resources and environment engineering (geological engineering field). The Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering has many national and provincial laboratories, including the National Geological Engineering Practice Education Center, the National Experimental Teaching Center for Geological Resources 3D Virtual Simulation, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Drilling Technology under Complex Conditions, the Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education on Geothermal Resources Development Technology and Equipment, the National/Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Oil Shale Underground In-situ Conversion and Drilling Technology, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education on Geographic Information Detection Instruments, etc.
After nearly 70 years of development, the Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering has formed a research cluster featuring deep drilling equipment and technology, multi-process percussive rotary drilling technology, polar scientific drilling technology and unconventional energy drilling technology. The department has developed Crust One-the first 10,000-meter continental scientific drilling rig of China, world-leading drilling equipment for deep subglacial bedrock without drill pipes and pollution-free drilling equipment for Antarctic subglacial lakes. It has achieved a series of landmark results, for example, it drilled and obtained the rock samples under the Antarctic ice for the first time, drilled for the first time the hydrate from China's land area, and pioneered underground in-situ conversion and drilling of oil shale. In recent years, the department has undertaken more than 80 national, provincial and ministry-level research projects, including the National Leapfrog Program, National Deep Exploration Program, National Key Research and Development Program, and the Major Instrument Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, with special fund totaling about RMB 300 million yuan. Two scientific research achievements won respectively the second prize of National Technology Invention Award in 2019 and 2016. In addition, the department was awarded a First Prize of Technical Invention of the Ministry of Education, two First Prizes of Scientific and Technological Progress of Land and Resources, and a First Prize of Technical Invention of Jilin Province. It won a Second Prize of National Teaching Achievement Award, a First Prize and a Second Prize of Jilin Provincial Teaching Achievement. The department has published more than 20 textbooks and monographs, more than 100 SCI and EI papers, and been granted 100 invention patents.
The Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering has been focusing on the goal of cultivating "realistic, innovative, ambitious and self-improvement" elites for geological engineering field. With the support of the basic science talent training, scientific research bases and experimental platforms of Jilin University, the main goal of undergraduate education is to cultivate fully developed, practical and research-oriented talents with a comprehensive, internationalized and academized view underlining basic geological engineering education and widening international horizon. It has cooperated with famous universities and research institutions in more than 20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. The department enhances the practical training and scientific research ability of students, constantly enriches the teaching content and social practices, and advances the field practice ability of students step by step. At present, more than 50% of graduates from our department choose further education, who are a reserve force to meet the country’s requirement for high-level academic talents. Countless distinguished alumni of the Department of Drilling and Exploration Engineering have been contributing their strength to the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized country, such as Ye Dongsong, the former Vice Minister of Land and Resources, Sun Youhong, the President of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Ye Jianliang, the Chief Commander of Gas Hydrate Testing and Extraction in China's sea.
In the new era Jilin University is pursuing new development of striving for "Double First Class", the staff and students of the department are working together to approaching the forefront of international geoscience and technology research. Centering the edge-cutting research of earth science and technology, national strategic needs and layout of local economic construction, the department focuses on providing the most advanced engineering solutions to solve the frontier scientific problems of earth and national energy and resource strategy, national marine strategy and national polar strategy, in order to achieve leapfrog development in the fields of deep geophysical survey, deep sea exploration, polar exploration, resource and energy exploration and extraction, geological disaster prevention and underground space utilization, etc.
