ESTABLISHING MONTANA TECH AS A NATIONAL ENERGY LEADER

By Bob Morris

“Enhance Tech’s prominence as a national energy leader”— that’s my job description. Punch above our weight—that’s what it will take to get the job done. As Orediggers, we welcome the challenge.

My strategy as the first-ever Lance Energy Chair at Montana Tech is to leverage private funding and deepen our relationships with industry, trade organizations, national labs, and State and Federal agencies. The position is funded by a thoughtful donation from Ryan and Lisa Lance. Although my work is funded by a private source, I am an employee of the State of Montana and a member of the Montana Tech faculty. Being on the faculty keeps me connected with the University. The private funding allows me to think long term for the success of Montana Tech.

The purpose of the Lance College of Mines and Engineering is to develop engineering leaders to benefit humanity. With today’s emphasis on sustainable energy, the need for Montana Tech’s graduates has never been more acute. World energy consumption continues to rise as our population increases. Only one in five people on the planet enjoys abundant energy. Four out of five (six billion people) live in energy poverty and are working hard to lift
standards of living. This takes energy—a lot of energy. Every form of energy conversion has negative environmental impacts. Fossil fuels emit carbon. Wind, solar, and batteries require six times as much minerals and thousands of times the land as fossil fuels. Our job as energy engineers is to use our training and creativity to deliver reliable, economical, and sustainable energy. Montana Tech’s job is to provide our students with the fundamentals necessary to become skilled in the art of energy production.

Montana Tech is perfectly positioned to lead the world’s energy evolution. With Petroleum Engineering, Mining Engineering, Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geological Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Occupational Safety and Health, Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, and more, we provide the fundamentals to develop and deliver energy. We have the expertise to design reliable, economical, and sustainable energy systems.

We have all the energy we need to punch above our weight.

While world energy consumption will continue to increase, the demand in any one industry will ebb and flow. We certainly see this with commodity prices and hiring trends. We also see this on the Montana Tech campus as our energy field enrollments can be cyclical. In today’s market, we see strong demand for any energy-related field. Materials demands for wind, solar, battery storage, electric vehicles, gas turbines, diesel engines, transmission lines, power transformers, protection and control electronics, and communications networks mean we need more
geologists, mining engineers, metallurgists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, and more. Large-scale wind (onshore and offshore), solar farms, and pumped hydro storage facilities need more civil engineers. Converting U.S. electric power generation from coal to natural gas turbines has reduced carbon emissions by 40%—the largest reduction in the world. We need more cleanburning natural gas, and more petroleum engineers. Our electrical supply systems could see unprecedented demand for electric vehicle charging, space heating, and data centers. With increased penetration of intermittent generation sources, maintaining electric network stability will take more electrical engineers.