Mines graduate student Ken Liang and alum Chris Tolten built a prototype of a lunar grid and presented it during a recent competition run by NASA. The prototype worked – and Chris and Ken won a half-million-dollar prize to continue developing their idea.

Opinion column by Molly Morgan, a Geology PhD candidate, and Mining Engineering professors Elizabeth Holley and Nicole Smith. They write that getting legislation through Congress was a critical step forward in addressing one of the nation’s longest-standing environmental challenges.

Christopher P. Higgins, university distinguished professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, is cited in this article about how the EPA obtained research from 3M in 2003 revealing that sewage sludge, the raw material for the fertilizer, carried toxic “forever chemicals.”

Elizabeth Holley, Mines associate professor of Mining Engineering, discusses the domestic mining of critical minerals in a story from Kirk Siegler for NPR's Morning Edition program.

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines, co-authored this column. It discusses how the Chinese mineral export ban could cause the U.S. defense industry to experience short-term mineral shortages and higher prices.

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Center for Public Policy at Mines, co-authors this column.

Paul Santi, Mines geology professor, is quoted in this article that was written after a Pennsylvania woman is believed to have fallen to her death in a sinkhole.

Christopher Higgins, civil and environmental engineering professor at Mines, is quoted about minor levels of PFAS, a class of chemicals that can cause serious health effects, being detected at eight testing sites in Leadville and Lake County.

At its centennial annual conference September 23-25 in New Orleans, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) named Jennifer L. Miskimins, PhD, PE incoming president for 2026.

Mines graduate students Kenneth Liang and Chris Tolton are helping NASA harvest, move and store energy sources on the moon.