A reader commented on our podcast about $100/barrel oil regarding an aging workforce in the oil patch that he called "The Big Crew" change. Workers 50+ years and older, i.e. the baby boomers are about to depart a seat by the rigs for a seat at their retirement ranches. At the same time, the reader mentioned resurgence in the use of remote sensing as onshore exploration of oil sands and shale also makes economic sense. We've noted in the past that we have lost a generation of geospatial professionals, remote sensing scientists and photo interpretation specialists. So now, with both demand increasing in the exploration business as well as other burgeoning sectors such as intelligence, we are facing a resource crunch. We are simply not training enough geospatial technologists and more concerning is that it appears that so much of the technology applications being developed are going toward fluff apps and mashups in social networking and other location-based services. It's causes me to ask, "Where's the beef?"

I would urge our educators to consider updating their listing in our Schools and Library section to support the ability of those looking for good information about educational opportunities and for those looking to hire to use our Career Center to update their job listings.