In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, rising global tensions, escalating environmental concerns and the quest for sustainable energy, our nation’s future hinges on strategic investments in the energy sector. Petroleum engineering enrollment and other disciplines related to subsurface energy resources like petroleum geology and the resulting degrees granted are greatly affected by oil and gas prices, and the changes lag prices by 2.5 years. But the academic timeline to produce new engineers is 4 to 5 years long. When industry petroleum engineering requirements increase, it will take several years to increase the supply of engineers to take advantage of the new opportunities. How does the industry deal with this time lag? Our topic for this episode is the next generation of energy workforce. We understand that you have recently prepared a paper on this topic for a Western Region SPE conference. What were your conclusions? What are the major challenges in recruiting, training, and retaining the next generation workers? Our topic for this episode is the next generation of energy workforce. Mike Hauser, working with researchers at USC recently prepared a paper on this topic for a Western Region SPE conference. We talk about his conclusions and the major challenges in recruiting, training, and retaining the next generation workers?