News

Electrical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines

Omid Beik interviewed by 9News regarding Power Shutoff

Dr. Omid Beik being interviewed in labDr. Omid Beik, one of our EE faculty members, was interviewed by 9News about the logistics of the Xcel Energy shutoff last week that caused 55,000 people to lose power due to dangerous wind conditions.

For additional information, please check out the following LinkedIn post.

Viviana Arrunategui Norvick is awarded the Clare Booth Luce Fellowship!

Huge congratulations to Viviana Arrunategui Norvick on being awarded the Clare Booth Luce Fellowship, with funding for 5 years to pursue her PhD in EE here at Mines!

Viviana, originally from the desert valley of California, completed her undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at Brown University. She continued her academic journey at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned a Master’s degree with a focus in optoelectronics. Fascinated by the realm of optics and photonics, she found herself drawn to Mines due to its pioneering research in the field and dedicated, hands-on faculty. Alongside her academic pursuits, Viviana is actively involved in outreach initiatives aimed at encouraging diversity and inclusion in STEM. In her free time, Viviana enjoys hiking, cooking with friends, and playing soccer with her dog.

Please visit the LinkedIn post for more information.

Opening for Our Newly Renovated Lab Spaces, Faculty Offices, and Graduate Spaces

EE faculty and Mines President talkingLast week we officially celebrated the opening for our newly renovated lab spaces, faculty offices, and graduate spaces! We had the honor of having Paul C. Johnson, Ph.D. and several executive members join us.

Since our early days, Mines has proudly integrated electrical engineering into our academic legacy. In 1924, Mines took on a curriculum revision aiming to focus solely on “engineering related to the mineral industries” to make it unique to the nation, with courses on electrical engineering under review. Fast forward to the present day, and electrical engineering is one of our highest enrolled departments.

At Mines, electrical engineering isn’t just a part of our history—it’s a cornerstone of our future. Thank you to everyone who attended to celebrate this amazing milestone, from our wonderful faculty to our amazing student body.

Please visit the LinkedIn post for more pictures.

The Next Big Thing in Energy: Two Mines Faculty Members Working on Energy Earthshots

Dr. Kathryn Johnson, one of our Electrical Engineering professors, was featured in a Mines News article featuring her work contributing to the U.S. Department of Energy program’s clean energy transition. Dr. Johnson has been working with her colleagues to expand the capacity for offshore windfarms in the United States! Currently only two offshore windfarms are being run in the U.S. – one in Rhode Island and one in Virginia. Dr. Johnson’s team has been focusing of a few different themes: metocean (understanding the atmosphere and the environment), turbine and farm (for which Johnson is co-leading with the PNNL-based lead), grid (how to transmit and distribute the electricity generated) and SciML (scientific machine learning) Digital Energy, a cross-cutting team compiling the science and engineering work from the other teams to better understand how the different themes intersect.

Read the entire article in Mines Newsroom.

Jamie Regan Presented her MURF Research at the CoNECD Conference

Jamie Regan in front of one the slides in her presentationOur very own Jamie Regan presented her MURF research at the CoNECD conference, which is centered around research and practices that enhance diversity and inclusivity in engineering and computing professions. This conference and trip was supported by Chevron donating to the department which allowed us to get Jamie to fly out to DC and present! Jamie’s research has been focused on enhancing accessibility of STEM education for students with disabilities, particularly students transitioning from high school to university or high education. Jamie has been one of the biggest supporters within the EE student population that has been pushing all things DI&A (Diversity, Inclusion, and Access).

For more pictures, pease visit the LinkedIn post.

In 2024, the year of our 150th anniversary, we will celebrate Colorado School of Mines’ past, present and possibilities. By celebrating and supporting the Campaign for MINES@150 you will help elevate Mines to be an accessible, top-of-mind and first-choice for students, faculty, staff, recruiters and other external partners. When you give, you are ensuring Mines becomes even more distinctive and highly sought-after by future students, alumni, industry, and government partners over the next 150 years. We look forward to celebrating Mines’ sesquicentennial with you and recognizing the key role you play in making the MINES@150 vision a reality through your investments of time, talent and treasure.

Mines Newsroom