The major funding announced yesterday for the Institute for Mineral Resources at the UA is going to build on the schools already national leadership position in mining engineering and economic geology.
Just look at the size of the Arizona programs compared to others in the U.S. in the maps above [credit, IMR-UA]. What's so important about the Science Foundation Arizona and industry support of the IMR is that nationwide we have lost 5 of 13 mining engineering programs and 14 of 31 economic geology programs in our universities. That increasingly puts the nation at risk in dealing with the exploration, development, and impacts of mineral resources.