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HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech University will be offering students in the area a chance to focus their bacholer of science in mining engineering.

MTU will now allow students to have a technical emphasis on mining engineering, the first step to returning a program that was once very popular with students. The emphasis stresses environmental impact and ways to utilize technological advances in mining.

"Many people at Michigan Tech and elsewhere were saying to themselves 'Who's training these engineers, who is it that's protecting the environment while this is being done? Shouldn't we be doing that here?' And the conclusion was yes, we should," said Dr. Wayne Pennington of MTU.

Demand for mining engineers is global, and MTU students have had no trouble finding work immediately after graduation. The program will be available this fall.