Health and Safety

Mining and explosives engineering faculty members, through the Mine Escape Research, Innovation and Technology (MERIT) Center, conduct research on mine safety and miner self-escape during mine emergencies. Our research on mine health and safety encompasses research on intelligent communications for efficient self escape, self-escape and human factors, refuge alternatives in self-escape, underground mine fire hazards, impact of explosions on self-escape strategies, and technology transfer and training.

 

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Dr. Lana Alagha

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Mineral Processing, Critical and Strategic Minerals, Surface Chemistry, Tailing Management, Nanotechnology, Rare Earth Extraction, Separation Science, Oil Sand Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Dr. Kwame Awuah-Offei

Union Pacific / Rocky Mountain Energy Professor and Department Chair

Research Interests

Sustainability, Mine Reclamation, Modeling, Simulation and Optimization

Personal website: https://mining-sustainability.com/ 

Dr. Samuel Frimpong

Professor and Robert H. Quenon Endowed Chair

Research Interests

Mine Automation and Intelligent Mining Systems, Formation Excavation Engineering, Synthetic and Renewable Energy, Machine Dynamics and Fatigue Modeling, Minerals and Energy Economics, and Safety, Health, and Hazards Engineering



Dr. Catherine Johnson

Robert H. Quenon Associate Professor

Research Interests

Environmental Considerations of Blasting, Fragmentation Prediction, Biological Effects of Shock Exposure, Explosibility of Dusts

Dr. Kyle Perry

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Explosion protection, Mine Blasting Effects, Dust Explosions, Ground Control

 

 

Dr. Taghi Sherizadeh

Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Computational Mechanics; Numerical Statistical, and Probabilistic Modeling in Rock Mechanics, Rock Slope Stability and Stability of Underground Excavations, Application of Numerical Modeling in Underground and Surface Mining, Reservoir Geomechanics (Wellbore Stability, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Sane Production), Geomechanical Aspects of CO2 Sequestration, Geothermal Energy Recovery, Assessment of Nuclear Waste Disposal Sites, Pore Pressure and In-Situ Stress Analysis, Compaction and Subsidence Modeling, Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic, and Genetic-Algorithms)

 

 

Dr. Guang Xu

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Mine Ventilation, Particulate Matter (PM) Monitor and Control, Fire Safety, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Personal Website: https://www.xu-guang.com