Scott Williams 

Alumni Spotlight - 2022 Techie of the Year, Scott Williams (1972 BS Basic Sciences,1984 Mining Engineering, & 1985 Master of Science for Teachers)

Born to a mining engineer in Ray, AZ, Scott Williams knew from a young age that he wanted to be an engineer. When it came time to choose a college, on Scott’s short list were UC Santa Barbara (a top party school), University of Arizona (Scott’s dad’s alma mater), and Texas Tech (Scott said “who knows why!”, we don’t either, Scott?!). 

Although he grew up mostly in San Jose, CA, Scott had the unique opportunity to spend the summers of his adolescent years in Taos, NM where his father worked at the Molycorp mine. Despite this exposure to New Mexico, Scott had never heard of New Mexico Tech. He found out about the little college on the Rio Grande through a tiny NMT catalog he stumbled upon in his high school library. Intrigued, he decided to add NMT to his list.

 Applying is one thing, but how did NMT beat out the oceanside campus of UC Santa Barbara and the opportunity to be a legacy student at UA?  Like so many alumni and students share with us, it was New Mexico Tech’s personal touch that got Scott here.

“Sy Gormley, New Mexico Tech’s Admissions Director at that time, personally visited my high school. He said, ‘Not only would we like you to come to New Mexico Tech, we would like to make you a co-op student.’ I was impressed by that kind of personal service. So I accepted his offer.”  

After catching a ride on a WW2 BT-13 to Albuquerque, Scott arrived with a bus full of nuns (you’ll have to ask Scott), to Socorro in the summer of 1968 to start his $1.25/hr co-op internship at TERA (now EMRTC).

Scott had the intention of following in his father’s footsteps to become a mining engineer but about halfway through the program was drawn to the idea of teaching. Scott spent the last two years at NMT working on his degree in basic sciences and his teacher certification. Upon graduation in 1972, Scott was certified to teach math and just about all the high school science disciplines. 

NMT can’t take all the credit for our alum’s success. Scott met the love of his life and his “number one supporter of chasing wild hairs,” Judy, while photographing his friend's wedding in Graham, TX in the summer of 1972. After dating long distance for three years and finishing her nursing degree, Judy was crazy enough to follow Scott to Socorro where they were married on July 5, 1975 at Gibson Lake near the NMT campus. 

Scott was just about 8 years into teaching (mostly geometry and biology) at Socorro High School when he started feeling the engineering itch again. Scott’s former NMT professor, Dr. Geoffrey Purcell, had been putting a bug in Scott’s ear to go back to school for a few years. It finally paid off. When Scott knocked on Dr. Purcell’s door in 1979 he was greeted with a prompt, “What can we sign you up for?” Mining still held his interest and heart and so Scott enrolled in NMT master’s mining engineering program on the condition that he also complete all the undergraduate mining courses. 

Scott finished his MS in Mining Engineering, and all undergraduate mining courses, in 3 semesters plus a summer and promptly took a job with Utah International in Farmington, NM.  Scott received his official degree in 1984 after completing his thesis remotely from Farmington. Scott worked for Utah International (acquired by BHP in 1983), for the duration of his nearly 30-year career.

Scott became known as an excellent project manager (a skill honed by wrangling high schoolers for 8 years, no doubt), and after 5 years in Farmington was offered the opportunity to work abroad. Scott’s international career took him to the Escondida Mine in Chile, the largest copper mine in the world, where he set up the project controls and had the opportunity to witness history as the very first truck rolled off the ship and into the mine. He took an assignment as a construction manager in Borneo to build a port for the island’s coal mine and a platinum project in Zimbabwe where he honed his diplomacy and negotiating skills working with the Zimbabwe government, then under President Robert Mugabe, to build a town to support BHP’s mining operations there. 

Zimbabwe marked Scott’s last short term assignment. BHP had bigger plans and twisted Scott’s arm (it didn’t take much!) for a more permanent position in Brazil. After four years in paradise, the Williams packed up again to chase a new adventure near Yellowknife, Canada where Scott was on the management team that opened Canada’s very first diamond mine, Ekati. 

The Ekati Diamond Mine is located just 55 miles from the Arctic Circle, making an incredible working environment. Scott describes looking at the thermometer one day and seeing -54°C (-65.2°F). All the facilities were enclosed, including the processing plant, with heated walkways between buildings. An early BPH promotional video gives a glimpse into the purity and harshness of the landscape and also the important reclamation plans that were put in place from the very beginning. 

During his six years with Ekati, Scott was responsible for engineering, environment, IT, geology and also project management. It was the project's uniqueness and complexity and the people he worked with that made it the highlight of his career. 

“Ekati was entirely unique. The mine never produced industrial diamonds, just gemstones. Also, no one had mined diamonds in that part of the world before and at that scale and in that environment. Equipment and materials just don’t act the same at that temperature.”

After his project ended in Ekati, Scott took a three year assignment in Suriname and then one last coal project in Alaska before retirement in 2009. 

Scott spent the first few years of “retirement” consulting for BHP, volunteering with Engineers Without Borders, and even returned to teaching Biology for one year. These days Scott dedicates much of his time to the Oasis of Love Foundation, a nonprofit in the Houston area dedicated to providing meals to those in need and of course, spending time with his lovely wife of 48 years. 

When asked about his biggest life accomplishment Scott said, “I am proud of all of the projects I was involved with over the course of my career but I’m most proud of my marriage.” 

Scott just celebrated his 50th graduation anniversary from New Mexico Tech. With a personal invitation from Scott, many members of the class showed up to celebrate, making the Class of 1972 50th year reunion one of the biggest in 49ers history! In celebration, the class established the Class of 1972 Endowed Scholarship to support current students at NMT and together have contributed over $200,000 to the scholarship.

Scott, New Mexico Tech is proud to call you an alum and happy to be a part of your story. Thank you for all that you do!