Dear Friends,
As I write, the campus is thinning out, reflecting the beginning of our spring break-somewhat misnamed this year given the possibility of snow this weekend. Nonetheless, the week provides a much needed break from the busy routine, marking the halfway point to the end of the semester, and argues that all things spring-like are just around the corner.
The following are a few of the campus items you may have missed.
Cargill executives were recently on campus to present the School of Mines with a generous gift of $500,000. The gift will be received over a five-year period and will go toward building and equipping a bio-refinery lab in the new Chemical and Biological Engineering building, funding lab operations and maintenance, student field trips and other educational needs. We appreciate the partnership we have with Cargill and look forward to many more years of collaboration.
The School of Mines has long been recognized as a leader in science and engineering education, with faculty who are known for their pedagogical excellence and leading research. There are many research projects being conducted on campus-one of the amazing outcomes from a research team on campus is self-healing concrete. The team consists of Civil Engineering Professor, Dr. M.R. Hansen, and recent graduates of the master's program in Civil Engineering, Rebecca Vandine and Cassy West.
Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Surovek, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, on being selected to receive the 2008 Ferdinand P. Beer and E. Russell Johnston, Jr. Outstanding New Mechanics Educator Award on behalf of the Mechanics Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). For information on this award, please visit: http://comp.uark.edu/~jjrencis/aseemechanics/awards/beer&johnston.htm.
The School of Mines and National American University are teaming together to host the annual Cultural Expo on campus in the Surbeck Center ballroom on Thursday, March 27 from 9 am-3 pm, and Saturday, March 29 from 10:30 am-2:30 pm. There will be display booths, cultural dancers, and a variety of food from around the world. The public is invited--admission is free, and there is a nominal charge of $6.00 for food sample tasting on Saturday between 11:30 am-1:30 pm.
The SDSM&T Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing and Production (CAMP) will hold an unveiling of this years competition projects on Thursday, March 27th at 11:30 am in the Quad. For more information on CAMP, please visit: http://sdmines.sdsmt.edu/sdsmt/department/camp or http://camp.sdsmt.edu/ .
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. I can be reached at charles.ruch@sdsmt.edu.
Charles Ruch