A Message from the Chair - Vision for the Future

Much has happened this past year, some bad and much good.First the bad: Fiscal crises in higher education continue in most states, including Missouri, and each institution is challenged to overcome adverse impacts to its students, faculty and staff without an inordinate burden on either constituency.Now the good: In spite of the budget cuts, Mining Engineering thrived again last year with enrollment increases, re-accreditation, more student awards and scholarships, increased research funding, and good support from our alums.We thank everyone for their role in that support - in time of great need!

In response to the great fiscal challenge, the School of Mines & Metallurgy prepared its Strategic Plan during the summer of 2002, which embraced the new themes of materials, energy, and earth resources.These were themes that we believed could resonate with the public, and most importantly with student prospects.Missouri S&T administration approved the Strategic Plan, and believed the intellectual content of the plan, focusing on the themes, was excellent.

In January 2005 Mariesa Crow became Dean of the School of Materials, Energy, and Earth Resources.The Provost noted that the new school will be "the first interdisciplinary school on campus, and is poised to focus our research and academic expertise in those three areas.This move is an opportunity to accentuate the strengths of the school in a very positive way."

What does this mean to you, our alums, the current students, the faculty and the staff? First of all, the Mining Engineering degree programs will not change at all, and any subsequent actions of the reorganized department will work to enhance and not degrade these programs.On the other hand, the combined Mining and Nuclear Engineering Department will allow us to pursue energy related degree programs and forge strong faculty collaborations on complex issues like cradle-to-grave planning of the use of nuclear energy materials.Other areas make sense as well: For example, coal and nuclear energy comprise about 75% of electric power generation, and material flows analysis of targeted materials will play an ever-increasing role in public policy making that must embrace not only the environmental impact of materials, but impacts on the economy, quality of life, public health, and future generations.

Our students will have the same robust support from the faculty and staff of the Mining Engineering programs that they have had in the past. The scholarship monies will be dedicated to them.We will work with them to achieve the same types of awards they have been receiving year after year, for example, the SME Outstanding Student Chapter Award, the Government, Education, and Mining Award, the NSSGA-SME Student Design Competition, and the International Intercollegiate Mining Competitions (men's and women's)..Your donations of effort and money will continue to support student activities and scholarships, helping the student chapters of ISEE, NSSGA, and WIM to stay strong and vibrant.And "... importantly, the new theme areas, when marketed well, will help the public and prospective students better understand the role that mining plays in sustaining society, thereby allowing us to attract even more students.

So you see, we have a good vision for the future: Proactive, optimistic, and practical; but you also see that our primary programmatic goal continues to be the #1 Mining Engineering Program in the U.S.We will remain a program of excellence, and the largest supplier of high quality mining engineers to the country.

Samuel Frimpong
Chair, Department of Mining Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology
226 McNutt Hall
Rolla, Missouri 65409-0450
Phone: 573-341-4753
FAX: 573-341-6934
Email: frimpong@mst.edu