MinerAlert
MinerAlert
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter!
We've had an exciting and busy fall semester, and it's been a lot of fun welcoming our new and returning students to campus.
We started the semester with an exciting announcement: the relaunch of the Mining Engineering program through a $20 million grant from The University of Texas System. We celebrated this news with several special guests, including UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife, Chancellor James Milliken, UTEP alumnus and non-executive chairman of board Peabody Energy Bob Malone, UTEP leaders and colleagues, and the original miner, Paydirt Pete!
We're proud to be the only university in Texas that is addressing the nationwide need for engineers who will mine minerals that are essential to our future. Once fully established, the new degree is projected to produce up to 100 new engineers each year. We’re grateful to the UT System for investing in this program.
UTEP is a national leader in cybersecurity research, and we are now one of only 11 universities nationwide to hold all three National Security Agency (NSA) Center of Excellence designations in Cybersecurity Defense, Cybersecurity Operations and Cybersecurity Research.
The University announced an additional collaboration with the NSA and Department of Defense (DoD) to develop the next generation of semiconductor experts. UTEP students and faculty will undertake DoD-relevant microelectronics research in the fields of physics, engineering, materials science and cybersecurity through the DoD’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) initiative.
Through these new collaborations, our students and faculty will help meet the needs of the defense industry's microelectronics workforce and develop efficient and cost-effective 3D printed microchips.
In addition to these exciting developments, we've welcomed Shery Welsh as the new Aerospace Center executive director. She brings decades of leadership in aerospace research to the role and her experience will further establish El Paso as a prominent hub of innovation.
We welcomed old friends back to campus for Homecoming, where we celebrated Distinguished Alumnus Oscar Venegas (B.S. Civil Engineering, '73); Gold Nuggets Jaswinder (Jassi) Chadha (B.S. Industrial Engineering, '92), Vikram Jayaram (M.S. Electrical Engineering, '04; Ph.D. Electrical & Computer Engineering, '09); and Punya Prakash (M.S. Electrical Engineering, '09). Picks Up to all the alumni who celebrated at our traditional Homecoming breakfast and at events all week.
Finally, a big thank you to the hard-working faculty who hosted the AMPLIFY and North American Power Symposium (NAPS) conferences. These conferences gave our researchers an opportunity to tout their leadership in topics ranging from instruction innovation to energy.
Have a successful rest of the semester, and go Miners!
Kenith E. Meissner II, Ph.D., FInstP
Dean, College of Engineering