Keith Heasley and Vladislav Kecojevic from West Virginia University’s Department of Mining Engineering have been named to distinguished professorships, effective Aug. 16.
Heasley has been named the Charles T. Holland Professor of Mining Engineering. The award was created in honor of the former dean of WVU’s School of Mines, who served from 1961-1970. Holland was also an alumnus of WVU, having graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mining engineering in 1928 and 1932, respectively.
Kecojevic has been named the Massey Foundation Professor of Mining Engineering. The foundation, started in 1957 by William E. and Evan Massey, is dedicated to providing financial support in medical and engineering research.
“We are delighted to appoint these two faculty members to these prestigious professorships,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the College. “We look forward to their contributions to developing technology that will continue to advance this vital energy industry that is important to the state and nation.”
Heasley started his career as a project engineer for the underground coal mines in the Midwestern region of Consolidation Coal Company. After earning both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in mining engineering from Penn State University, he spent more than a decade at the former U.S. Bureau of Mines and then the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, performing safety research in coal mine ground control. He earned his doctorate in mining engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in 1998.
His research interests are numerical modeling in rock mechanics, computer applications in mining, multiple-seam mine design and ground control, and he has published over 90 articles in these areas. He is probably best known as the originator and promoter of the LaModel program for coal mine pillar design.
On the faculty at WVU since 2001, Heasley was named the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Outstanding Teacher in 2008. He also won the Stephan McCann Educational Excellence Award from the Pittsburgh Coal Mining Institute of America and the Syd S. Peng Ground Control in Mining Award from the Society in Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration in 2011.
Kecojevic joined the faculty at WVU in January 2010, after having served on the staff at Penn State University from 2001-2009. He held the Centennial Career Development Professorship in Mining Engineering at PSU from 2005-2009. Prior to starting his teaching career, Kecojevic worked with Krupp Canada, where he was responsible for the design of mining equipment.
Kecojevic serves on a number of professional committees, including as chair-elect of SME’s Coal and Energy Division. He is the associate editor of the SME Mining Engineering Journal and SME Transactions, and is a member of the editorial board of Mining Technology. He was named the department’s outstanding faculty member by the University’s SME student chapter in 2011 and a 2008-2009 SME Henry Krub Lecturer based on his research work on risk assessment of equipment-related fatalities in the surface mining industry.
His research interests are in the areas of surface mining, the development of mining equipment, mine safety and information technology usage in mining. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mining engineering from the University of Belgrade in Serbia.
—WVU—
mcd/05/04/12
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