faculty and students,” said Rudd. And that connection with alumni is something that is highly valued throughout the College of EMS. “Professor Kleit has developed an exciting window into the real world for students as seen through the eyes of successful EMS alumni,” said Dr. Bill Easterling, Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “Not only do the students get first hand glimpses of what might lie ahead for them, but our alumni become a vital part of the EMS educational community. This is a model for others to follow.” If you are interested in participating as a guest alumni speaker for the EM SC 401 class, please contact Dr. Kleit at ank1@psu.edu.
An Open Letter...
Continued from page 3
energy options (solar, wind, biomass, geothermal), as well as the technology and social science (policy and economic) aspects of energy in a comprehensive and complementary manner. 4.
A single department protects individual programs that experience periodic enrollment declines (and spikes) and other contraction/expansion problems. The economies of scale of a single department administrative structure allow more costeffective management of resources including maintaining well-equipped state-of-the-art laboratories and other spaces.
5.
The faculty of EME overwhelmingly endorse the concept of a single department now that its structure and name more closely reflect the scope of expertise and interests of its constituents. There is renewed enthusiasm and excitement among the EME faculty.
We face a generation gap in the mining and energy sector labor forces that is troubling. From the late 1980s until the end of the 20th century, price stagnation in primary industries curtailed the demand for energy, mining and mineral engineers, hence student enrollments declined. That effectively created a missing generation of workers. There are strong signs that the impending energy challenges are not likely to be short-lived as in the past. Rather, we are in a long-term “space race” for energy security that justifies long-term investment in EMS faculty, programs, and infrastructure in order to recruit and graduate the very best energy and mining engineers. EME undergraduate enrollments are on the rise. They increased by 233% during the period 2003-2007. The Department now has the highest enrollment in the College. Four of the five majors experienced growth during that time—only Industrial Health and Safety declined. Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering increased 70%, Energy Business and Finance increased 60% (since 2006, its first year in EME), Environmental Systems Engineering increased 36%, Mining Engineering increased 35%, and Industrial Health and Safety declined 54%. George H. and Anne B. Deike Professor Larry Grayson was hired this past summer to lead the mining engineering program, and a mining engineer ( Jamal Rostami) was added to the faculty. In response to industry needs and requests, we plan to change the IHS program into an Environmental Health and Safety Engineering option within the Environmental Systems Engineering degree program. Graduates will get health and safety as well as environmental training and will enjoy the benefits of an ABET accredited engineering degree. These positive trends are partly the result of strong outreach efforts by EME, including the recent hiring of a new faculty member with responsibilities for recruiting students into all of the EME programs. Connection
Reductions in Commonwealth funding to Penn State combined with escalating costs have forced the implementation of a five-year budget recycling program that requires each College to return 1% per year of its permanent dollars to the University. This has placed a great strain on programs in every EMS department. While many deans might respond to these strains by taking a “hold the line” stand, I believe that this is the time to be visionary and aggressive, to initiate bold programs, and not to sit back and hope for the best. To that end, I have planned and am now implementing a major new energy strategy for EMS, designed to propel the College into even greater international prominence in energy. We will need your help to realize this ambitious strategy. A key piece of my energy strategy has been the development of a “Clean Carbon Energy” initiative that was established through intensive discussions this past summer involving all EMS departments and institutes and the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering in the College of Engineering. To launch the initiative, College of Engineering Dean David Wormley and I jointly submitted proposals to the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment for six new positions in clean coal technology, four of which were from EMS. In addition, proposals for another three EMS positions are planned for the next two years. Clearly, with enrollments on the rise, we are moving to fortify our strengths. I have recently learned that EMS received all four positions, three of which will go into EME in clean coal technology. These three new coalfocused positions add to the two previous EME new hires in energy economics this past summer. And I assure you that as enrollments continue to rise in other areas of the Department, I will work to bring in new faculty in those areas as well. I am committed to making the investments necessary for balanced growth in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. The directions EME is heading are exciting and its leadership has my unqualified vote of confidence. The University just signed a fiveyear $17.5 million strategic alliance with Chevron Corporation to Penn State President Graham Spanier with Donald develop liquid Paul of Chevron cementing the new alliance fuels from coal. The College is the leader of the alliance and there is mutual interest to expand to other areas. EME was approached by ConocoPhillips this year to partner in the awarding of an Energy Prize to be given to pathbreaking researchers each year. Looking to the future of EME, I believe that it is essential that we proceed in close partnership with our alumni. I am grateful for the advice and funding that alumni have provided to the College and the Department of EME. While it may not always be possible or prudent for the Department to follow all of the advice offered by our alumni, we have an obligation to weigh it carefully and respond thoughtfully. Your support will be particularly important during the upcoming ABET accreditation review process. We have an excellent opportunity to transform EME into the world’s gold standard for research and education in energy and mining engineering. The best years of the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering lie just ahead. 5