Mining Engineering Pre-College Camp Scholarships

2014 President of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) John Marsden summed up key mining-related workforce issues in an introduction to an Mining Engineering article (October 2014, 66(10), p. 21) outlining, “The state of mining education: What does the future hold for the next generation?” In his piece, he reported statistics such as that two-thirds of the professionals who entered the mineral industry over the past 4 decades graduated before 1985.  Making average age in the workforce approaching 50, higher than the national average according to Bloomberg¹. Marsden wrote, “Since 1985, we have been living off the legacy of graduation classes from the mid-1970s and early 1980s. It is estimated that we have been producing graduates at approximately 40 to 50 percent of the sustaining rate since about 1985.” Bloomberg reported news from SME: “Fourteen U.S. schools offer mining-engineering degrees, compared with 30 in 1982. In 2011, there were only 178 graduates who majored in mining engineering, down from 700 in 1982.” Forbes magazine cited² a January 2012 report by SME which estimates the mining industry will need 78,000 new U.S. workers to replace retirees and feed an industry that has been surging after a decade of a bull market in commodities. James Steel, Chief Commodities Analyst for HSBC, summed it up in an August 2014 article³: "The world’s precious-metals producers face a growing problem in recruiting and retaining a skilled and professional workforce.  Declining enrollment in higher education in mining and fields such as engineering, geology, geophysics and metallurgy in the 1990s has produced a demographic dip in younger recruits.  This shortage is aggravated by an aging workforce. Retired mining engineers and geophysicists are increasingly being asked to return." 

Industry needs are obvious and with time should help attract new students into mining engineering programs and careers. In the short term, however, meeting the needs with new graduates will be challenging due to the rather low-volume pipeline in university programs. Re-opening the mining engineering program at Michigan Technological University will contribute to the industry workforce needs only if the program can attract students. The academic program will be designed by faculty with input from industry to meet current and future needs. Michigan Tech's Summer Youth Programs Mining Exploration will be designed to help fill the pipeline with young people who may choose to pursue education and careers in mining. Excitement among the students who will be the next generation of mining engineers will be fostered through hands-on activities and field trips and contact with mining professionals.  

1. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-17/harvard-losing-out-to-south-dak...
2. http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/09/20/a-career-with-a-big-fu...
3. https://globalconnections.hsbc.com/united-kingdom/en/articles/skills-sho...