With the economy slowing, many states are forced to cut higher-education budgets. But a handful of mineral-rich states are still booming, and their engineering schools benefit. Texas is one. Last August, Mark W. Spong, an esteemed electrical engineer and roboticist, was considering retirement after 24 years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. But then came the offer to be dean of engineering and computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, overseeing 90 faculty members and 2,600 students. Spong took it, not wanting to miss the chance of leading a school in"a growth mode," as he told the Chronideof Higher Education. After UT Dallas President David E. Daniel, the former dean of engineering at Illinois, came onboard in 2005, the school opened an $85 million science and engineering research building and has been on a hiring spree. Daniel hopes to draw an additional $210 million from Texas's expected surplus.

Meanwhile, North Dakota State University at Fargo plans to recruit dozens of new faculty and build a supercomputer, thanks in part to the state's estimated $1 billion surplus. And Wyoming, with a surplus that may hit $100 million, is hiring faculty, funding scholarships, and erecting new buildings. It's an academic gold rush out West. -TG

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