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RAPID CITY, S.D. (Jan. 31, 2013) – From outstanding starting salaries to highly sought-after mining engineers to technological innovations to repair B-1 bombers, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has been featured prominently in recent state, regional and international magazines.
In its
cover story dated Jan. 26, Barron’s points out that the average starting salary of School of Mines graduates is 16 percent higher than that of Yale University grads. Entitled “The Next Boom,” the story focuses on “cheap natural gas and increasingly competitive labor costs,” including a growing U.S. petroleum and natural gas production.
The School of Mines starting salary figure of $62,696, an increase of $6,000, was released just last week.
Shashi Kanth, head of the Mining Engineering Department, was featured in an international magazine, Indian Student Guide to American Higher Education. Written about the growing demand for an education in mining engineering, the story is posted to the magazine’s
website and is scheduled to appear in the February print edition.
The article tells of Kanth growing up in India and, after college, enjoying an impressive career in the mining industry before returning to revive SDSM&T’s then-floundering mining program. Also featured was SDSM&T Mining Industrial Advisory Board member Leigh Freeman of Downing Teal Inc., a Denver-based global recruitment specialist company. Freeman has served as the industry representative on a National Academy of Sciences study, whose goal is to help ensure the country will have enough minerals for the economy. He provided data showing the increased need for mining engineers, which American university programs are struggling to feed.
The School of Mines is also featured in the January cover story of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce’s
Investment Report. The story focuses on the university’s expanding efforts to highlight and increase local economic impact. Specifically, it described the process of technology transfer, which is developing research being conducted by faculty members into business start-ups. The article also highlights the nanoparticle-based ink research efforts that garnered much international attention in the fall.
In other publications, the January/February issue of South Dakota Magazine focuses on cold spray technology research by Christian Widener, Ph.D., of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The research of Widener, also director of the Repair, Refurbish and Return to Service Center, is helping to repair aging B-1 bombers at Ellsworth Air Force Base. The story was part of the 2013 Higher Education Guide, published within the magazine.
In a November story entitled “Energizing Energy,” Prairie Business Magazine highlighted a $49 million Schlumberger petroleum software gift to the university. Foster Sawyer, Ph.D., the assistant professor who authored the Schlumberger request, and Laurie Anderson, Ph.D., head of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, were featured. They discussed how the industry-grade software donation is helping to distinguish the university’s research and better prepare students for careers.