Dear Readers:

This is the first edition of Mines magazine I’ve overseen from start to finish since taking over as editor, and I’d like to take this opportunity to say how excited and honored I am to be serving in this position. During the five years I’ve spent working at Mines—initially as a writing instructor and later as a writer—I developed immense admiration and respect for Mines’ students, faculty and alumni. Such a great school deserves a great magazine, and in the years ahead I will be doing my best to make sure this continues to be the case.

One way you can help us succeed in this is to provide feedback. If you read something you like, we’d love to hear about it. If you read something you don’t like, we need to hear about it. This is your magazine, and a dialogue between staff and readers can help us shape a publication you look forward to receiving each quarter.
One easy way to give us feedback is by clicking on the "contact us" button at the top of this page. You can use it to share your thoughts on a story, provide updates for Fast Forward or suggest a story we might want to cover.

Regarding this current issue, several of the stories relate to the growing national and international debate on energy. With concerns about U.S. dependence on foreign oil being compounded by growing evidence of climate change, many are looking to Mines for solutions. Given our historical leadership in the energy industry, this is to be expected. Nevertheless, it speaks well of our adaptability and intellectual depth that we are helping lead the quest for solutions, while continuing to enhance our traditional portfolio of energy-related programs.

Along with our expertise in energy, Mines is a leader in engineering education. In the last issue we included a speech delivered at Winter Convocation by Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After publishing her concerns about the state of engineering education in the U.S., it seemed appropriate to highlight how well Mines performs in this area. We could have pulled together statistics and charts to build the case, but instead we chose to write a story about EPICS—a course sequence that has become a centerpiece of the Mines undergraduate experience. The specific project we chronicle is just one of many success stories, but it gets to the heart of the program and to the heart of a Mines education.

Thank you for reading and thanks for your loyalty to Mines. I look forward to hearing from many of you in the form of a “letter to the editor,” a Last Word submission or an informal email.

Best wishes for these precious summer months,



Nick Sutcliffe
Editor and Director of Communications, CSMAA

P.S. This is being called the “spring/summer” issue because the production cycle has shifted forward one month. The next publication will be titled the “Fall” issue.