Professor Makes Her Mark in Mining: Rojas is the First Peruvian to Win the Outstanding Young Professional Award [Women to Watch]

Rosa Maria Rojas was studying industrial engineering at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, when she took an introductory course on mining engineering. She wasn't a big fan of the industry at the beginning: Barrick Gold, a mining company where her parents worked in accounting and community relations, moved Rojas and her family to a small town when she was a teenager. The move to a different part of the country meant a drastic change in lifestyle, and Rojas resented it at the time. The course not only surprised her but also changed the trajectory of her life. "I took an elective course in mining because I wanted to learn more about the subject," she says. "I fell in love with mining there."