The drilling industry often wrestles with filling jobs, whether it’s water well contractors trying to keep good mud techs on staff or oil and gas companies trying to find talent trained in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, S.D., has worked to produce quality STEM students for decades. Now, they’re stepping up efforts to fit those STEM students into oil and gas fields with the naming of a new director for their Energy Resources Initiative (ERI). Dan Soeder joins the college this spring from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
SD Mines’ ERI started a few years ago, but Soeder’s placement solidifies its place in the university’s array of offerings for students and its mission to serve the industry.