Thank you, President Scoggins. Congratulations to you Doctoral, Masters and Baccalaureate graduates, and your families, and faculty in the great Class of 2007. I am honored to be invited to join you in celebrating this important occasion. You graduates have reached an important milestone in your lives, but it marks only the beginning of an exciting professional journey. You should take great pride in the professional path which you have chosen. Engineering and science int he United States have been pivotal in shaping this nation's industrial capabilities and have made us the world's premier economy.

More speciifcally, the technological accomplishments that we have achieved over the past century have transformed the world. Recently, the National Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with the major professional engineering societies, selected the most important technological developments of the 20th Century and published a book about them. It is called A Century of Innovation. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. I have brought with me several copies as a gift for the Arthur Lakes Library.

It is a wonderful review of the most important technological accomplishments of the past 100 years, the most prolific and remarkable period of technological advance in mankind's history

These achievements extend fromt he more notable today - computers and the internet, to was is now commonplace: electrification, the automobile, the airplane, water supply and distribution, household appliances, space travle and those innovations that don't readily come to mind - agricultural mechanization, health technologies, and high performance materials.

Unfortunately, because we have experienced such widespread and rapid technological change, these innovations and achievements have become commonplace: They are taken for granted, and regrettably, the engineers and scientists that made these things happen are not appreciated and are little recognized by our society relative to many other professions. But it is engineering and applied science that turn ideas and new technologies into reality. Through basic research, pure science opens up the realm of new possibilities and gives us a glimpse of what might be. It is engineering and applied science that connect these discoveries of science to real life in pracital, useable ways.

As Herbert Hoover, engineer, humanitarian, and 31st U.S. President said, "It is a great profession. THere is a fascination of watching a figment of imagination emerge through the aide of science to a plan on paper. Then it... elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege." These words were spoken nearly a century ago - think about how much more appropriate they are today.

Hopefully one of your roles as you go forward will be to increase the public's awareness and appreciation of this crucial role played by engineers and scientists in substantially improving our everyday lives. But this is not the only role you'll have beyond your day-to-day activities of being an engineer or scientist. You have, obviously, a fundamental role to play in advancing your own career.

To that end, you must engage in continual learning. Perhaps that statement is not something you want to hear after four or more years of intensive studying, but your journey requires continual learning if you are not to fall behind. Science and engineering are changing and will continue to do so in the years ahead, perhaps even more dramatically than in the recent past. It is only through continual learning that you will be able to participate in and benefit from this on-going evolution.

Also, you must actively seek out new challenges and opportunities and eagerly embrace those that come to you. And, you must be willing to take on leadership responsibilities. You can also play a role in advancing and supporting your profession through active involvement in professional societies and active engagement with the communities in which you will live and work.

I hope you all have heard of the National Academy's recent report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," that raises a big warning of the long term technical, and thus the economic, challenge to the United States from China and India where they are currently annually graduating about 400,000 and 200,000 respectfully in engineering compared to the United States currently grduating about 70,000.

I think it's obvious that we cannot top them in quantity, but we have been topping them in quality, particularly in creative and innovative capabilities. I believe we have the ability to continue that leading position if we as a nation, address this challenge. You hopefully will play a vital role in attracting more bright young people to careers in science and engineering, by reaching out to the communities in which you live and work, and by serving as role models.

This role should include involvement in organizations that actively encourage young members to embrace such a career - from the Girl Scouts to bhe Boys Clubs, to the Junior Engineering Technical Society.

Our economic leadership, our standard of living, our way of life, our innovative edge depends upon your help in ensuring that there will be many more boys and girls following in your footsteps here at Mines and in other engineering and science educational programs across this country.

Now, let's take a moment to look at the future which you face: There is no question the future for engineering and science is bright. There remain many exciting and demanding challenges that call for technological solutions, with new ones being identified every day.

We are familiar with many of them: There is a rapidly increasing demand for energy in our country which is currently importing more than half the oil it uses, in a world growing increasingly concerned about global warming and other environmental impacts.

There is a much greater potential for natural disasters in a world made increasingly fragile by our increasing dependence upon technology and complex systems. There is a Third World that wants to move toward a First World standard of living. As in the past, engineers will hopefully exploit new science to develop the technological solutions to meeting these and other important challenges.

In nearly all cases, the dramatic expansion of knowledge is expected to continue. Science and engineering will continue working as an integrated team in applying this knowledge, in developing new technologies for the benefit of humanity. But while this fundamental paradigm will not change the way engineers and scientists work, it will create an on-going evoultion in the global economy that will produce an increasingly global marketplace for engineering and scientific services, a growing need for interdisciplinary and integrated system-based approaches, and an increasingly diverse talent pool.

So, what impact do these changes have on you as new graduates? Despite globalization, with increased overseas competition, I believe there will be more than enough work to keep "good" U.S. engineers and scientists fully engaged here in the United States and around the world.

By "good," I mean those not only capable of working hard but also capable of abstract thinking and high level problem solving, using scientific knowledge - and those analytical and critical thinking skills you learned here at the School of Mines.

With reference to globalization, I would like to give some personal observations. First, for background, I have grown up around and worked for an American engineering-construction company all my life. Bechtel Group is currently in its 109th year of activity. Our first overseas project was in 1939. Currently about half of our work is outside the United States. We have major engineering and execution offices in Canada, Chile, England, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Taiwan and Australia.

Most of the engineers in these foreign offices are local nationals, or at least non U.S. citizens. But the ingredients that Bechtel brings to our foreign assignments are, first, the best and latest technologies. Second, the ability to mobilize and field a team of experts in worldwide procurement of the equipment and materials and the technical and construction services needed to design and build a reliable, globally competetive facility for our customers. Of interest, Bechtel just completed a $4 billion petrochemical plant in China. We were teamed with a British and a Chinese firm, for a customer who was a Dutch-Chinese consortium.

The project involved a total of 23 companies from 12 countries supplying equipment, materials and services. The third ingredient we bring to our foreign assignment is an attitude that we recognize and live with the culture and customs prevalent in the host countries. I site these Bechtel references to support my contention that Americans should not fear globalization, off-shoring or foreign competition.

I strongly believe we should embrace globalization and low cost foreign sourcing. We should take advantage of it, and utilize our competitive strengths: i.e. The ability to effectively apply the best technologies; the ability to manage complexity; and the ability to live and work in foreign countries.

Concerning the Bechtel example, our foreign activities in each office were instituted and developed, and are still managed by American engineers and constructors, who have learned how to work with foreign nationals in many places around the world.

To maintain this dominant position, we Americans must continue the technological and operational imporvements that make us more productive and will lead to our continued economic preeminence. The demand for engieers and scientists, I believe, wil continually grow as the rest of the world looks to technology to transform the global economy the way it transformed the U.S. economy in the 20th century. American educated engineers and scientists can continue to play a dominant role in this global transformation by continuing to provide the innovative leadership that is our hallmark.

But even if you do not choose to pursue a career in engineering or science, your technical education positions you to play an important role in this social and economic transformation. The steady integration of technology into the fabric of our lives demands involvement by those who understand technology in the setting of public policy. A technical education also provides an excellent basis for effecting economic transformation through a career in the business world. Twenty three percent of the CEO's of S&P 500 were educated as engineers.

Future conditions require engineers and scientists be broadly educated and see themselves as global citizens. I believe this means that the engineering curricula must change. I noted that your School's current Strategic Plan that has a gola that states: "Continue to develop curricula in ways that support the versatility and relevance of engineering education in its societal context and its international scope." Colorado School of Mines is to be congratulated on this vision.

You graduates have now had the benefit of this forward looking education. You now face a very exciting future in putting your education to good use. America's ability to retain its technological and economic preeminance in large measure rests with you and others like you. Your engineering and scientific education leaves you well prepared to take up this challenge. In meeting this challenge, I believe you will have the benefit of a very satisfying and rewarding career. Best of luck!