Samuel Barnes, a high school
student, spent the summer of 2022 doing research at Mines on the manufacturing
of nanofiber filaments thanks to funding from the US Army Education Outreach
Program. Barnes is just one example of Mines outreach to high school students
in an effort to build the future STEM workforce of the United States.
South Dakota Mines is one of the institutions of
higher education in the state featured on a new website launched by the South
Dakota Board of Regents (BOR) and the South Dakota Department of Education
(DOE). The site, OurDakotaDreams.com, offers
resources to help students planning to pursue higher education.
The long-term effort will help Mines meet a need for
skilled workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM). These workers play a vital role in the economic and social wellbeing of
everyone.
“Our state and nation are facing STEM workforce shortages
in coming years,” says Mines president Jim Rankin. “This means everyone – from
skilled medical professionals who take care of our seniors to mining engineers
who help ensure the supply of critical minerals needed for renewable energy to computer
scientists and engineers who are advancing areas like cybersecurity and
artificial intelligence and robotics. Mines is proud to train the next
generation of innovators across these fields and many more.”
The comprehensive goal of the new site OurDakotaDreams.com is to provide
information and opportunities for students, parents and educators.
South Dakota
Mines plays an active role in supporting high school students in their college
exploration and readiness journey. The university hosts seasonal Go to Mines open house
events alongside on-campus learning opportunities throughout the year,
including events like Engineers Week, Women in
Science Day, the West River
Math Contest, a wide range of STEM summer
camps, the Arts and
Engineering Program with weekly events in the campus foundry and
glassblowing laboratory, and much more.
Mines also offers a range of dual credit
courses that help high school students get a jump start on their college career,
and a summer Research and
Engineering Apprenticeship (REAP) program that gives high school students a chance to
do real laboratory research on campus with the support of the Army Education Outreach Program (AEOP). The Mines
Makerspace also hosts a number of community events on campus that are open to
high school students like the Techstars Startup Weekend Rapid
City. This event runs alongside the annual CEO Business
Plan
Competition, which is open to high school students to inspire high-tech innovation
and business creation.
South Dakota Mines is providing the workforce that
makes up the backbone of the high-tech
economy in the state. The most recent data shows 39% of 2022 Mines graduates
stayed in South Dakota, either attending graduate school or working at 58
different companies located in 15 cities. This includes 47 graduates working
for 39 companies in the Black Hills region.
Mines graduates also receive the best return on investment
(ROI) in the state and one of the best in the country. The average starting
salary for recent graduates of South Dakota Mines is now $70,036. Mines
graduates also enjoy a 98% placement rate in their field of study or graduate
school. A study by
Georgetown University in 2022 ranked South Dakota Mines as the top four-year public university
in the state with 40-year lifetime average earnings of over $1.52 million. This number is nearly half a million
dollars more than the second South Dakota school on the list. The Georgetown
study also ranks Mines in the top 27 out of 4,500 colleges in the nation for a
lifetime return on investment. South Dakota Mines topped other public schools
on the list such as Rutgers, Purdue, Texas A&M and the University of
Minnesota.
To see more on the new website, OurDakotaDreams.com, view this press
release from the BOR.