About South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university circles in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees.

Rapid City (Lakota: Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; “Swift Water City”) is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the treaty developed, it is in western South Dakota, on the Black Hills’ eastern slope. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census.

Known as the “Gateway to the Black Hills” and the “City of Presidents” because of the life-size bronze president statues downtown, Rapid City is split by a low mountain ridge that divides the city’s western and eastern parts. Ellsworth Air Force Base is upon the city’s outskirts. Camp Rapid, part of the South Dakota Army National Guard, is in the city’s western part.

Rapid City is house to such attractions as Art Alley, Dinosaur Park, the City of Presidents walking tour, Chapel in the Hills, Storybook Island, and Main Street Square. The historic “Old West” town of Deadwood is nearby. In the next to Black Hills are the tourist attractions of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and the museum at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, and to the city’s east is Badlands National Park.