January 29, 2016
Page 13
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The Colorado School of Mines
It is proud of its intimate relationship with industry
By RABBI HILLEL GOLDBERG & SHANA R. GOLDBERG
ment work to raise funds
for scholarships and infrastructure.
Two of the campus’
newest additions — the
Clear Creek Athletic Center and a welcome center
— were donor-sponsored,
as is a research building
just breaking ground.
“Those are costs that don’t
have to be borne by the
IJN Executive Editor & IJN Assistant Publisher
D
r. Paul C. Johnson — chemical engineer turned academic — is a man of quiet
confidence, a strong advocate for what might be the nation’s
best kept secret in academia.
The newly minted president of the
Colorado School of Mines has a
unique ability to boast of the school’s
there’s a little bit more to it than
getting good grades in high school.
There is a lot more to the education here. It’s the student who’s
had to work really hard before who
does well at Mines,” says Johnson.
One quality he looks for are applicants who are involved in high school
activities that come with significant
Use-inspired,
researchdriven
‘We produce the top scientists
and engineers in the country’
stature without a hint of ego in his
voice. Perhaps this is because he is
new at the post and well aware of
the legacy he has inherited.
Johnson’s opening parlay makes
clear his certainty in the institution he began leading in July, 2015.
Mines, he says, “produces the top
scientists and engineers in the country. That’s the starting point.”
As the conversation evolves, it
becomes clear that Johnson is equally candid about certain goals he’d
like to see the school achieve. He is
a university president who knows
exactly what his institution is about.
The school’s record speaks for itself
and his is an easy pitch to make.
Most Americans may never have
heard of the Colorado School of
Mines, but for the people it trains,
and the industries it supplies, Mines
is the mecca. This is a quiet — and
highly specialized — elite.
It’s also an elite closely tied into
the industries it feeds with fresh talent. “We have a very unique relationship with industry,” says
Johnson. “When I go to visit companies, every one of them, I’ll sit
down with CEOs and top administrators, and all of them will say,
Mines graduates are different from
any other institution.”
Why?
“Because Mines students are
ready to go.”
What exactly does that mean?
“They’re ready to work in teams,
they’re ready to tackle tough problems, they know how to deal with
situations where the answer isn’t
something they pulled out of a book,”
time demands, such as athletics or
the honor society. “And if you still
get a really good GPA, that’s a
good sign you’ll do well at Mines.”
Another indicator is an applicant’s
connection to the school, though
Johnson’s meaning isn’t nepotistic.
He’s referring to an applicant’s
understanding of what Mines offers
— and expects. “You know what
you’re getting into. There’s no doubt
in my mind that if you come to Mines
you’re going to work harder here
than at any other institution in
the country. I’m pretty sure of that.”
Academic ability is easily measured, and whether a student is hard
working can be discerned from their
extra-curricular activities. But how
does the school measure the more
abstract quality of “affinity?”
It could be, for example, if “someone in your family went to Mines
and you’ve been hearing about it
growing up and that’s your dream.
Or it could be that your father or
mother work in an industry where
people talk about Mines and Mines
producing the best students.”
T
he school, a public university founded in 1874, has a student body of 6,000 — about
half of its most obvious rival,
MIT. Its faculty numbers around
300, making for a 20:1 faculty-student ratio, what Johnson calls “a
good zone,” with more faculty per
student than a typical state institution, but fewer than an elite private institution might have.
His candor and pragmatism are
evident in his follow-up.
Mines aims to be relevant to
new technological needs in industry
answers Johnson, “and they’re really hard working,” the latter quality
seemingly
the
most
differentiating, along with what
Johnson calls “affinity for the school.”
“As a Mines student, you’ve got
to have something upstairs, the brain
power to handle the courses; you’ve
got to be ready for hard work, you’ve
got to manage stuff, and you’ve got
to really want to be here. If you
had all those, I’d say you have a really good chance of being successful
at Mines.”
Mines already attracts the top
cadre in its disciplines: the average grade point average of Mines
applicants is close to 4.0 (4.0 being
the highest). So other measures
are required to select the right 1,000
out of the 12,000 applicants for its
freshman class.
“If you talk to Mines alumni and
their experience at the institution
“I would always love to have more
faculty, but in the grand scheme of
things, for example, keeping tuition
within reason, we’re in a reasonable
zone.”
Tuition at the School of Mines is
$15,225 for Colorado residents,
$32,700 for non-residents.The tuition
fees, says Johnson, accurately represent what it costs to educate an
individual student.
The school’s main revenue streams
are tuition, investment from donors
and a contribution from the state,
which, says Johnson, reflecting general trends, has been decreasing.
“Occasionally, you’ll get a little uptick
from time to time.”
The result of the decreasing contribution is that “it places a larger
burden of the cost of education directly on the families and on the students.” In order to lessen that cost,
the school undertakes develop-
tuition, by the students.”
Mines, Johnson says,
“has been really successful and very fortunate in
raising funds for the institution.”
The school’s close relationship to industry not
only works to the benefit
of the students’ future
career paths, it also helps
to sustain the school.
“Industry is very supportive of the campus as
well,” says Johnson,
through fellowships for
graduate students, scholarships for undergraduate students, specialized
labs, software and equipment.
“That’s another way of
keeping Mines going without having [all the costs]
Dr. Paul C. Johnson, 17th president of the Colorado School of Mines
Please see CSM on Page 14
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January 29, 2016
I N T E R M O U N T A I N
J E W I S H
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Embracing energy in its widest sense
Despite the remote location, students are tuned into the real world
CSM from Page 13
go directly to the students and
families.”
T
he campus, nestled at the
foothills within Golden, is
unassuming, comprised
mostly of blonde brick buildings. There is a newly built student center, as well as a new athletic
center, but the feeling one comes
away with is that this is a university where people come to study.
To outsiders, Mines can come off
as a bubble, and indeed, it has
been referred to as the “invisible”
Decreasing state
contributions place
a heavier burden
on families
school.Yet the students here, despite
the small, remote location, are far
more tuned into the real world than
many college students.
One way the school achieves
this is by bringing in seminar speakers from economic sectors directly
and indirectly related to the school’s
fields of study. A recent example is
former Gov. Bill Ritter, who spoke
at length about the regulatory, political and legal aspects of engineering, key topics in today’s energy
sector, given recent environmental
disasters such as the Animas River spill this past summer.
“Our students learn the implications of the technical decisions
they’re going to make in their
careers,” says Johnson.
More than speakers, the school
has strong ties to industry, and
students come to Mines knowing the
kinds of careers they will pursue
and the types of businesses that will
employ them. There’s an applied
aspect to Mines that doesn’t make
it a vocational school, but does make
it eminently practical.
Going by the name, and Colorado’s
Colorado School of Mines, from the roof of the George R. Brown Hall.
history, one might assume that
Colorado School of Mines is about,
well, mines. One would be wrong.
This is an institution that is “engaged
in energy in the broadest sense
possible,” says Johnson.
“If you look at the history of Colorado, certainly oil and gas are
very important in Colorado, min-
Lori
Aron
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Larry
Hankin
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Rabbi
Hillel
Goldberg
[email protected]
ing is very important in Colorado.”
That is the school’s historical legacy, but it hasn’t shied away from
embracing the evolution of energy
and engineering technologies. “The
aerospace industry is very important here,” says Johnson, mentioning that the leaders of the Orion
project at Lockheed Martin are
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March 4,
2016
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Mines alumni.
The IJN asks whether the emphasis on green is a challenge for Mines,
or just another industry the institution will train people to work in?
“It’s an opportunity for us,” says
Johnson. “We actually have a lot
going on in all those areas.” The
school has “a very strong partner-
Photos: Colorado School of Mines
ship” with the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, conveniently also
located in Golden.
On the campus itself, “We have
a lot of really interesting research
going on [such as] fuel cells and other new energy storage devices. We
have folks here who work on the
power grid. We’ve got folks in mate-
January 29, 2016
Page 15
I N T E R M O U N T A I N
rials and characterization that work
on solar cells.”
P
aul Johnson’s background
exemplifies what Mines is all
about: solid academics and
industry experience. He began
his career at Shell Oil and Chemical as an environmental engineer,
holds a Master’s and PhD from
lot just from talking with all those
folks, what their thoughts are on the
economy, on the demands for new
employees in certain industries, what
the technical content of the degree
programs ought to be.”
Johnson knows Mines has a good
thing going, but that doesn’t mean
the school is resting on its laurels.
This is an institution that is defined
J E W I S H
32% female, up from 27% last year.
The school’s female demographic is
25-26%. His goal is to get the number to around 40%. Women at Mines
Princeton and served as dean of
the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.
Like Johnson, many Mines professors have industry experience,
which helps the school “have those
relations with industry.”
“We’re a very use-inspired,
research-driven kind of [institution].
We want to be relevant. The relationship with industry helps you
to identify what the technological
challenges are that need to be
addressed. Otherwise you’d be working in a kind of vacuum and thinking about problems to be solved
but it might not be relevant.”
It is obvious that relevancy is of
great importance to the 17th president of this venerable Colorado institution.
Yes, he answers, he pays close
attention to global trends in energy and economy, such as the price
of oil, “because we want to be relevant in the future. We want our
students to have long successful
careers. We want to be relevant to
Colorado, the nation, the industry
well into the future.”
A state is only as good as it workforce he says, and the school’s job
is to produce the talent for that workforce.
“You always have to be in line with
what disruptions are likely to come
along. Sometimes they’re economic, sometimes they’re technological, sometimes they’re other reasons.”
To keep track of developments,
Johnson has the added advantage
of insider insight: “We’re fortunate
to have people engaged with Mines,
whether they’re alums or just people in the industry . . . You learn a
by its adaptability — to changes in
energy, economy, technology and society. And Johnson is ready to undertake change when needed.
One such area is student demography. The school is interested in
“a number of diversity dimensions,”
says Johnson.
Its freshman class this year was
couraging students from families
that are less well off from coming
here.”
He wants Mines’ population to
en life, participating in the school’s
tradition of carrying rocks up to
Mt. Zion to form the M of the school’s
acronym visible to anyone heading
‘There’s no doubt in my mind that if you come to Mines
you’re going to work harder here
than at any other institution’
have a higher retention rate than
men.
Another aspect of student population that Mines is “very concerned
about,” says Johnson, is “what I
would call economic diversity and
making sure that we’re not dis-
The iconic ‘M’ atop Golden’s Mt. Zion
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mirror that of the state of Colorado. “We’re not close to that at
the moment, but that would be really great if we could get to that
point in the future.”
As he works toward these goals,
Johnson is settling well into Gold-
to the Rockies via Sixth Avenue.
“I’ve noticed the M is brighter”
since it was repaired earlier this
month, says Johnson.
It’s a testament to the school’s
past, and a harbinger for its undoubtedly bright future.