Lead Story
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Are Women the Mining Industry’s Most Underdeveloped Resource?

By Lisa Marshall

In 1969, Betty Gibbs ’69, MS ’72 graduated from Mines armed with the third mining engineering degree the school had ever granted a woman. As she began to show up for job interviews, she was greeted with superstition and hostility. Fast-forward to today when the mining industry not only is more accepting of women, but—in the face of mounting research showing that companies with more gender diversity enjoy greater profitability, improved safety records and higher social and environmental responsibility ratings—is also actively courting them.

Women and Mining

Mining Coal, Undermining Gender

By Lisa Marshall

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As a miner’s daughter growing up near Wyoming’s coal-rich Powder River Basin, Jessica Rolston had no intention of following her father into mining. Fast-forward to 2014 and 33-year-old Rolston, Hennebach Assistant Professor of Energy Policy in the Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies, is unveiling her first book, “Mining Coal and Undermining Gender: Rhythms of Work and Family in the American West.”

Feature Stories

Fathers of the New Science: Paving the Way for the Modern Age of Oil and Gas Exploration

By Lisa Marshall

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They were born 5,000 miles apart, just missed each other at Colorado School of Mines and worked independently in distant parts of the world for most of their careers. But Gerard Demaison MS ’55 and Fred Meissner ’53, MS ’54 belong to a small group of pioneers who fundamentally changed oil and gas exploration, vastly improving the odds of finding hydrocarbons.

Editor's Take

Making Connections

By Nick Sutcliffe

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Within our sphere, this organization exists to build connections and community, to help weave and reinforce a sense of association, and to promote the idea that we are not separate. We are connected.

Alumni Profiles

George Saunders ’81 Receives Folio Prize for Best in English Fiction

By Mines magazine

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George Saunders ’81 was selected for the inaugural Folio Prize, the first major literary award singling out “the best English-language fiction” in the world. Sponsored by the London-based Folio Society, the $67,000 prize went to Saunders for his collection of short stories “Tenth of December.”

Inbox

Technology Management

By Mines magazine

As an alumnus of the Engineering and Technology Management program and a Coast Guard officer, I enjoyed reading the article “Coast Guard Officers Find Unlikely Fit” by Doug McPherson [fall/winter 2013]. However, I was surprised and disappointed to find that my name was left off the list of Coast Guard ETM Program alumni.

Inside Mines

Virtual Chemistry Unlocks Powerful Toolbox

By Rob Neilley

As is the case with many Nobel Prizes, when news broke on the morning of October 9, 2013, that the chemistry award was going to three distinguished scientists for their respective contributions to the field of computational chemistry, most people didn’t have a clue what this meant. Not so for Mines students, where computational chemistry is integrated into the curriculum to an unusual degree.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Spring 2014

By Amie Chitwood

R. Bruce Allison
Albert H. Brookes ’36
Carl M. Brown ’87
Kenneth W. Carlson ’42
Anthony F. Corbetta ’48
Terry P. Evans ’77
Virgil R. Friebel PhD ’72
Donald N. Haines ’78
John D. Haley ’48
Walter E. Heinrichs Jr. ’40
Ben H. King ’47
David J. Larson ’78
Michael E. McNamara ’71
Joseph M. Peery ’43
Alexander S. Sabitay ’53
Franklin D. Schowengerdt
James F. Simons ’58
Joseph R. Soper ’44
E. Keith Staley ’35
Charles W. Starks ’42, MS ’47
Albert F. Trites Jr. ’46
Jasper N. Warren ’50

Alumni Network

Going the Distance for Mines

By Amie Chitwood

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If you made the transition from high school to Mines in the last 25 years, you may have met Ray Priestley ’79, who regularly travels around the U.S.—usually paying his own way—to speak with high school students about Mines.

Alumni Profiles

Presidential Advice Sends Hoover to Mines

By Larry Borowsky

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Andy Hoover ’69 fought to save his home from the Lower North Fork fire until the very last second. By the time he was forced to flee, the heat had grown so intense that he couldn’t even raise his garage door, so Hoover drove his truck straight through it as flames engulfed the building.

Inside Mines

Overhaul to Academic Advising Aims to Improve Student Retention

By Amie Chitwood

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In her first year at Mines, Taylor Helbig was struggling. A guard on the women’s basketball team, she played in all 29 games of the season and was ranked fourth in points scored, but academically she was falling behind. Determined to turn this around, she made an appointment with the Center for Academic Services & Advising at the beginning of the following semester.

Inside Mines

Engineers Week Draws Middle and High Schoolers to Mines

By Kathleen Morton

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More than 100 area middle and high school students visited Mines on February 20 to learn about STEM careers during DiscoverE Engineers Week, a national initiative aimed at promoting understanding of, and interest in, engineering and technology careers.

Inside Mines

President’s Corner: Celebrating 140 Years of Innovation

By Mines magazine

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One hundred and forty years ago, on February 9, 1874, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Colorado passed the bill that would establish the School of Mines as a public institution.

Inside Mines

Just Published

By Mines magazine

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• Winning While Losing: Civil Rights, the Conservative Movement and the Presidency from Nixon to Obama
• The Future Belongs to the Digital Engineer
• Remote Sensing for Geoscientists: Image Analysis and Integration, Third Ed.

Inside Mines

The ‘School of Mines’ Before 1874

By Nick Sutcliffe

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Since most of us peg 1874 as the year Mines was founded, this 1873 prospectus for the “School of Mines” may provoke some head-scratching. Like every institution, Mines wasn’t created overnight.

Inside Mines

Major League Soccer’s #6 Draft Pick

By Colin Bonnicksen

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Tesho Akindele, a senior from Thornton, Colo., who played soccer for Mines for four years, caught U.S. soccer fans’ attention when he became the sixth pick overall in the 2014 Adidas Major League Soccer SuperDraft in January.

Inside Mines

Classes Blending Science and Art Promote Divergent Thinking

By Carol Chapman

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Engineering is an inherently creative profession. But at most engineering schools the density of the technical curriculum leaves little room for classes designed to foster creativity. However, this year students enrolled in the McBride Honors Program in Public Affairs had the opportunity to choose from two different courses that fall distinctly outside the box.

Web Extras

CSMAA Board of Directors Announce Two New Appointments

By Mines magazine

The Board of Directors of the Colorado School of Mines Alumni Association has appointed Nancy Blank as the organization’s director of alumni relations and Emily Milian ’08 as deputy director of alumni relations.

Web Extras

Six Months, Many Countries, Countless Memories

By Alex Truby

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There is nothing that makes you feel quite so German as renting a car, driving the Autobahn, admiring castles in the distance and ending the day at a traditional Bavarian restaurant.

Web Extras

Farewell to Sisautiya

By Scott Harper

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It’s a good thing that back wheels come in pairs. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be giving this update. Somewhere on the winding highway between Mugling and Kathmandu, the outer left rear wheel dislodged itself and spun off into the darkness towards the Trisuli River far below.

Web Extras

Running in Circles

By Lexi Humann

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After four weeks, I can appreciate why no one has ever been able to design a rover to clean the world’s largest telescope reflector without damaging the sensitive panel material, using harmful chemicals or weighing more than 100 pounds.

Web Extras

Woodson, Humphrey Honored with 2014 Alumni Teaching Awards

By Mines magazine

Each year, select members of Mines’ faculty are recognized at the university’s Faculty Forum for their accomplishments in teaching. As part of this recognition, the alumni association honored two individuals in late April with its Alumni Teaching Award, a $2,500 award that recognizes superior teaching at the undergraduate level over an extended period and provides encouragement and incentive for teaching achievement. Here are this year’s awardees.

Web Extras

In Brief: Spring 2014

By Mines magazine

Moises Carreon and Gavin Hayes each receive a PECASE, Corinne Packard and Keith Neeves receive CAREER awards, Mines ranks #1 public university for ROI and more.

Alumni Network

Houston-Area Alumni’s Scholarship Golf Tournament a Solid Success

By Rob Neilley

MAKING A DIFFERENCE At the 2011 golf tournament in Houston, (left to right) Mines football coach Bob Stitt, Dean Stoughton ‘75, MS ‘78, Jaime Bromley ‘10 (a 2006 scholarship recipient), Rod McNeill (CSM Foundation) and George Puls ‘75 enjoyed a day on the links while supporting Texas-based Mines students.

The Colorado School of Mines Houston Endowed Scholarship Golf Tournament that teed off on April 4, 2014, was the 14th edition of an event that by the end of the year will have created an endowment of nearly $500,000 that has already generated 23 scholarships totaling $76,000. “We just wanted a golf tournament that would give something back, and it has developed into so much more,” says George Puls ’75, the tournament organizer since its inception.

Alumni Network

Student’s Ingenuity Creates Clever Mines Message

By Mines magazine

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Not that Miners are competitive, but when senior Jacob Chadwick spotted a Massachusetts Institute of Technology t-shirt that used a series of formulas to spell out “MIT,” he knew he could do something better for Mines.