MGE Alum Delivers Homecoming Keynote Speech

Mark Chalmers, a third-generation Wildcat who graduated with an MGE degree in 1980, delivered the keynote speech at this year's Engineers Breakfast, which kicked off Homecoming. Chalmers currently serves as the CEO of Energy Fuels, but began his keynote speech by reminiscing about his days as a student. He shared a nostalgic photo of himself and classmates working at the university’s San Xavier Mining Laboratory, which he called “a very important piece of the puzzle for mining engineers.”

“You have to have that connection with doing some work. The respect that I’ve gotten over my career because I understood how to mine, physically, was important,” he said.

In both his keynote and the Lacy Lecture later in the day, Chalmers spoke about the state of mining in the United States and globally.

The need for specialty materials and elements is growing quickly, he said. Rare earths and other materials are critical for electric power, electric vehicles, products such as cellphones, and processes including decarbonization. Many of these elements presently come from China and Russia, but Energy Fuels is working to bring mining of such materials to the U.S.

Chalmers sees opportunities for students to learn about and work in the burgeoning field: “They need to start looking at finding those elements, extracting them, processing them, and putting them into appliances.”

Later during the event, MGE volunteer leader Mark Baker earned the Professional Achievement Award. 

Baker is the founder of CheckMark Consulting, Inc. and an innovator in the mining industry. He has advanced autonomous haulage systems, including for Komatsu, which acquired Modular Mining Systems, a company he helped found. Baker appreciates the rational and logical problem-solving offered by the engineering profession.

“An engineering approach can be applied to problems in virtually any discipline. This opens the doors to unlimited opportunities,” he said.