Department of Energy visits Penn State to tour facilities, meet mining students

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kat Hogan is a senior majoring in energy engineering, and she found her home as an undergraduate researcher in Penn State’s Center for Critical Minerals. She’s interested in sustainability — particularly in the energy sector — and said critical minerals sourcing is essential to a sustainable future for the energy industry.

Triveni Gangadari, a doctoral candidate in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME), came to Penn State for its world-renowned mining and mineral processing programs. She said she wants to become an expert in sourcing critical minerals and rare earth elements from secondary sources such as mining waste.

“What really sparked my interest was realizing how important minerals are to the technologies we use every day,” Gangadari said. “I became particularly interested in the separation challenge: how you take a complex material containing many different elements and selectively recover the ones that are valuable.”

These are a few of the stories students shared with Audrey Robertson, U.S. assistant secretary of energy for critical minerals and energy innovation in the Department of Energy (DOE), during her Aug. 18 visit to Penn State.

In a press release issued Aug. 7, the DOE announced a notice of intent to nationally invest up to $100 million “to strengthen America’s critical minerals workforce.”

Robertson’s visit to Penn State — the second ranked ABET-accredited mining engineering undergraduate program nationwide, sixth globally by QS World University rankings — was a chance to tour Penn State’s Mineral Processing Laboratory, the Critical Minerals Extraction Facility and the Materials Characterization Lab.

The tour, which included a visit with Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi and John Mauro, interim John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, concluded with a roundtable discussion with Penn State students.

“It was truly an honor to host assistant secretary Robertson and welcome her to Penn State,” Mauro said. “Spending time with her in our labs and hearing our students speak so knowledgeably and passionately about their work was a proud moment for me. They represent the very best of what our college has to offer, and they are exactly the kind of talent our nation needs to secure its critical minerals future. I’m excited about the prospect of federal funding through the Department of Energy, which would allow us to build on the strength of our mining engineering program and prepare even more students to meet this critical workforce need.”

According to the DOE, the nation is facing significant workforce shortages in critical minerals, limiting resources essential to energy, advanced manufacturing and national defense.

“We know that we’re going to lose a significant number of mining engineers to retirement in the next few years,” said Barbara Arnold, undergraduate program chair and professor of practice in mining engineering. “The potential for students to graduate and make a significant contribution to the mining engineering profession is vast. We need more students in the program so we can help supply the next generation of mining professionals.”

DOE estimates the United States will need approximately 6,000 new engineers in the mining sector alone over the next decade, while shortages in materials science, processing and recycling continue to challenge efforts to strengthen domestic supply chains. The DOE’s Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT) initiative aims to “address these workforce gaps by supporting scholarships, financial assistance, and other initiatives that strengthen higher education programs focused on critical minerals and related technologies,” according to the press release.

Penn State and the other ABET-accredited mining schools will be able to apply for funding through PROSPECT.

During a roundtable discussion with students, Robertson spoke to students about what drew them to the field.

“We are at a crisis in our supply chain,” Robertson told WPSU, pointing to the number of mining engineers as one example. She said 126 graduated in the United States last year compared to about 6,000 in China. “We are at a place where we have a significant need for talented, educated students to come out of these great American universities with the skills necessary, not just to mine critical resources, but to process, to qualify and then to create new materials.”

For Hogan, what drew her to the field was its impact on sustainable energy. She said Robertson was eager to hear from faculty and students, which she found exciting.

“It is greatly affirming to know that there are members of our federal government who are invested in supporting the procurement of critical minerals for the security and longevity of our energy industry,” Hogan said. “I hope to work with renewable energy innovation and policy in my career.”

Gangadari was drawn to mining engineering because of its interdisciplinary nature. The tour featured experts in geosciences, the environment, minerals, mining and materials. Her background is in chemical engineering, and she wants to work at the intersection between research and real-world implementation to solve societal challenges.

“This visit was a great opportunity to highlight how closely the field is connected to the technologies we use every day: clean energy, national security and the future of our economy,” Gangadari said. “I’m encouraged by the attention being given to this area at the federal level. Conversations like this can help increase awareness of the field, highlight the many opportunities within mining and minerals, and inspire more students to pursue careers in this important area.”

Additional student attendees in the roundtable discussion included Shakshi Sekar, doctoral candidate in EME; Kaleah Moran, integrated undergraduate-graduate student in EME; Parker Mokry, senior majoring in mining engineering who in August attended the DOE announcement at the White House with Arnold and Mauro; Connor Caswell, senior majoring in mining engineering; Emily Ream, senior majoring in mining engineering and industrial engineering; Thomas Rohan, senior majoring in mining engineering; Tuvshinbayar Khosbayar, junior majoring in mining engineering; and Nicolas Stiehler, junior majoring in mining engineering.