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Readership Survey
An online readership survey was conducted prior to the distribution of the Winter 07/08 issue. It was sent by email to about 9,000 alumni, of whom 1,750 responded—an excellent response rate in the world of online surveys.

A hearty thank you goes out to all who participated. We received several comments along the lines of Warren Hildebrand's '59: "I felt that your Dec 2007 survey was well-designed and courteously brief." His second point was particularly good to hear, as we worked hard on brevity and will continue to do so with future surveys. Highlights of the results follow, although a link to a more comprehensive report is posted in Web Extras.

Results Summary

The magazine appears to be quite well-read. Over 73% of respondents report that they read "some of it," and 23% report they read "all of it." Not including feature stories, the most popular section of the magazine is Fast Forward/Class Notes (no surprise). Runners up (in order of popularity) were Inside Mines, The Last Word, New Frontiers and The Network. To the statement, "Feature stories are well-written," 47% of respondents said they "strongly agree" and 50% "somewhat agree." And to the statement, "Feature stories cover subjects that interest me," 24% "strongly agree" and 73% "somewhat agree."

One of the most positive responses in the survey concerned the new look of the magazine—in all categories respondents were pleased with recent changes in design. In a question aimed at identifying which subjects were of the greatest interest to readers, the top three were, "Mines' accomplishments/successes," "interesting or prominent alumni" and "alternative energy research." A total of 128 respondents submitted subjects they would like Mines to cover—a sampling is provided below.

In addition to providing some valuable pointers for the future, the survey also raised awareness about the magazine website. The month following the survey was its busiest to date. On that subject, we are grateful to those who pointed out errors in the earliest version of the website. We apologize for the oversight, but thanks to your vigilance, corrections were made promptly.

Responses to: "Please detail anything else you would be interested in
reading about."

• New buildings, architectural improvements around the campus. I liked the article on the new recreation center.
• Water (conservation, recovery, treatment, etc.) and nanotechnology
• Research that Mines graduates and alumni are currently working on
• History of the school: especially stories not well known. Stories of significant engineering and scientific breakthroughs that have come from CSM.
• Statistics on placement rates after graduation, average starting salaries
• Environmental issues
• Hydrogeological research
• Mines Geology Museum
• Articles written by alumni on subjects other than those taught at CSM… An intelligently selected and well-crafted story by an alumnus can be just as interesting as one about an alumnus
• Traditional, core strengths of the university in oil, gas and mining
• Alternative energy issues
• A "Where are they now?" section on past alumni who may have not remained in their CSM study field.
• Very interested in hearing about theories which might alleviate our country's dependence on foreign oil imports
• The current curriculum
• More articles on the economic benefits of mining (and related natural resources development in general) to underdeveloped and developing countries
• Stories about female students and their accomplishments
• Interesting career paths or hobbies of alumni
• Athletes who try to go pro
• Alumni working and/or living in different parts of the world
• Startup companies of alumni
• Petroleum engineering related stories
• Nanotechnology and fabrication of energy-related products
• Alumni who are no longer working in the minerals industry—some of us found great success in other career areas.
• Current academic news and info on the students, demographics, program info, etc.
• I would like to see a list of published papers from graduate students/profs
• I am very interested in sustainability and want to see more of that. More on green building and the environment.
• I wish there were more articles about what alumni are doing to support the
school. Also, more on career opportunities on and off campus.
• Current science topics such as the science behind global warming
• What my classmates are up to in addition their careers
• Stories about geoscience activities in countries receiving little coverage in mass media, such as Russia, India and China
• Professor profiles

Responses to: "Please list any stories that particularly interested you."

• "Messengers from Distant Galaxies, Oil from Stone"
• Mines students inventing how to use tablet laptops in teaching. I like to hear stories of how Mines students/graduates have applied their knowledge and in turn have innovated new products or technologies.
• Iraq's nuclear program
• Oil Shale
• Last Word is awesome! Please keep that! I love it!
• Article on nuclear energy
• Environmental protection activities
• I loved the one on the closing of Foss. I was so sad to hear about that and loved all the readers' memories.
• Fuel cell research
• Bioplastics, biofuels
• Dave Coolbaugh's article on Burma
• The Last Word article discussing cracking concrete on the TRex Project
• Renewable Energy, Energy Transmission, Oil Shale, Alternative Fuels, Biomass
• The story on the "EPICS" students in Hawaii… the Mines team probably had the better answer with lava tubes.
• The one on the brothers that wrote software for telescopes

Editor's Note: A handful of comments pointed out that we did not detail the affiliations of the author of the oil shale article in the Winter issue, "Oil From Stone." The author, Paul Roberts, is a freelance writer and researcher with no professional affiliations to the energy industry. Had he any, they would certainly have been mentioned.