Continuing its support of education initiatives to develop the next generation of innovators, oilfield service company Baker Hughes has donated $1.9 million worth of technical software and computers to the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Baker Hughes’ JewelSuite reservoir modeling software, MFrac hydraulic fracture design and simulation software and Completion ArchiTEX 3D completion design software will enhance teaching, learning and research in both the Department of Geosciences and the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering.

What are the odds that two Penn State professors married to each other are able to both receive Fulbright awards for consecutive semesters in the same country? For Luis Ayala and Zuleima Karpyn, luck seemed to be on their side. Ayala, William A. Fustos Family Professor in Energy and Mineral Engineering, and Karpyn, professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, both received the Fulbright-Colciencias Innovation and Technology Award from the Fulbright Program to conduct research in Colombia for the fall 2016 and spring 2017 semesters.

Six weeks of hard work paid off for Miguel Santana and Cintia Vasquez, two high school students who participated in the Upward Bound Math and Science Summer Residential Program through the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS). They were awarded first place at the program’s awards ceremony, held July 2, at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus. But the students achieved much more than just an award, like learning how to conduct research in a lab and deliver a presentation to their peers.

Shimin Liu, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering, has been named the inaugural Joseph Kreutzbeger Early Career Professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, effective July 1.

On Oct. 4, 1890, Penn State’s Board of Trustees approved the establishment of a mining engineering degree program. In the 125 years since then, Penn State’s mining engineering program has become one of the most influential in the country, helping to educate future engineers and providing leadership and ideas to help shape the industry.

Shelby Miller just can’t get enough of Boeing. In high school, Miller was selected to participate in the company’s “School-to-Work” program, which sends students to visit Boeing six times. Through that experience, she knew she wanted to be an engineer and work for a large, interdisciplinary company like Boeing. Now a Penn State senior majoring in environmental systems engineering in the health and safety engineering option, Miller has had the chance to get a more in-depth view of the company’s operations through two summer internships.

On Nov. 9, 2015, Penn State mining engineering student Sam Baker had a pleasant surprise. After Baker mailed a letter to his local congressman, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, about the congressman’s efforts to address job security in the mining industry, Thompson visited the University Park campus to answer Baker’s questions in person and meet with a select group of mining engineering student leaders.

Tyler Stom and Adam Larson had a vision: to unite students interested in energy-industry careers around the idea of giving back to the community through environmental activities. The duo, both petroleum and natural gas engineering students in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, took the first step in making their dream a reality by forming a campus organization called Positive Energy. On Earth Day, the club made its first positive impact by planting 201 trees in Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania.