Letters to the editor

I read with interest the article entitled “Industry facing critical shortage of engineers, other professionals” in the October issue of Oil & Gas Financial Journal.

Dec. 1, 2005

I read with interest the article entitled “Industry facing critical shortage of engineers, other professionals” in the October issue of Oil & Gas Financial Journal. We at Colorado School of Mines share the energy industry’s workforce concerns and have made significant investments to address the problem. Mikaila Adams’ article affirmed the importance of our efforts to draw more students to study in energy-related fields.

Our efforts are proving successful. In particular, according to our records, from 1999 to 2005, undergraduate enrollments in geology, geophysics, and petroleum engineering have increased by 49 percent. These figures stand in contrast to Ms. Adams’ report that enrollment in these disciplines at Mines has declined in the same period.

I hope you will have an opportunity to clarify these statistics for your readers. I would be happy to provide any additional information that you require.

John U. Trefny
President
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colo.

Editor’s response: Duly noted. The published information regarding the Colorado School of Mines’ enrollment that we used for the article was in error. We are pleased to offer this correction of those statistics.