In a mini-symposium, the University of Arizona and industry looked at the benefits of hyperspectral sensing and decided to found an R&D consortium.

The Mineral Resources Research and Innovation Initiative is set to fund a number of projects starting in January. The reviewing committee received over a dozen requests for funding after putting out a request for proposals in October.

The funding is geared to building a highly educated workforce prepared to meet some of the world’s most pressing technological needs around mineral resources.

Jointly housed in the College of Engineering and the College of Science, the school aims to break down disciplinary silos to educate the next generation of mining engineers and mineral resource professionals.

Let’s have a look at the world at the mid-21st century, when today's newborns are about to finish graduate school. The world population has surpassed 9 billion, maybe even 10 billion people. Everybody needs housing and the infrastructure to get from one place to another, be it by rail in trams and trains or on the road, in hybrid or electric cars or even e-scooters.

University of Arizona then-graduate student Jinping was able to further work on an alternate process of mapping physical details of mining sites while getting real-world experience.

The family of two University of Arizona alumni have donated $2 million to help the university expand its highly ranked mining and geosciences programs and set the stage for an interdisciplinary school of engineering and mineral resources.