SME, foundation award students, professors with grants

By |  June 15, 2016

SME_Foundation_logoThe Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME) and the SME Foundation named five recipients of 2016 Ph.D. fellowship and academic career development grants. The grants support Ph.D. fellowships and faculty career development.

“The challenges associated with faculty scarcity extend from the ability of students with industry experience to successfully complete a Ph.D. degree, to newly employed faculty who are facing the difficult process of achieving tenure,” says David Kanagy, SME’s executive director. “To address these challenges, SME and the SME Foundation are proud to award Ph.D. fellowship and academic career development grants to ensure the future viability of U.S. mining schools.”

Through SME’s academic career development grants, SME offers $100,000 per year for a maximum of three years to provide assistant or associate professors with support as they work toward achieving tenure or promotion. Through SME’s Ph.D. fellowship grants, SME offers $60,000 per year for a maximum of four years to provide support to students with industry experience and a desire to pursue a doctoral degree.

SME awarded the following five individuals with grants:

  • The Freeport-McMoRan Career Development Grant: Dr. Andrea J. Brickey, an associate professor in mining engineering and management at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
  • The Freeport-McMoRan Career Development Grant: Dr. Charles K. Kocsis, associate professor in mining and metallurgical engineering at the University of Nevada-Reno
  • The Robert S. Shoemaker Ph.D. Fellowship Grant: Gail L. Heath, a mining engineering student at the University of Arizona
  • Ph.D. Fellowship Grant: Richard M. LaDouceur, a metallurgical and materials engineering student at Montana Tech
  • Ph.D. Fellowship Grant: Penny L. Padgett, a mining engineering student at the University of Kentucky

SME adds that the 2017 grant application period runs Dec. 1, 2016, through Jan. 31, 2017. The society offers more information on its mining academic grant programs online.


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