Vladislav Kecojevic, Massey Foundation Professor of Mining Engineering at West Virginia University, has been selected to serve as a member of the Safety and Occupational Health Study Section of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a four-year period. The appointment was made in late March by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.
The 20 members that make up the section provide advice and recommendations on scientific, research and training areas related to occupational safety and health. Members are selected from authorities knowledgeable in the fields of occupational medicine and nursing, industrial hygiene, occupational safety and engineering, toxicology, chemistry, safety and health education, ergonomics, epidemiology, economic science, psychology, pulmonary pathology/physiology and social science. Kecojevic has served as an ad hoc member of the section since 2009.
“I am privileged to be appointed as a regular member of the section,” he said. “It is a great professional privilege to be selected and to get the opportunity to work with world-renowned scientists in the field of safety and occupational health.”
Kecojevic has done extensive research in the areas of surface mining, mine safety, information technology and environmental issues in surface mining. His research work has been funded by the mining industry, equipment manufacturers and governmental agencies and it has been published in leading mining- and safety-related peer-reviewed journals. Kecojevic has served as a member of review boards for the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In 2013, Kecojevic and a team of researchers from WVU were one of several groups selected by the Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health to receive inaugural grants to conduct research related to the safety, training and health management of miners. The team, which includes faculty from the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, is working to design and deploy an integrated safety system to help reduce equipment-related fatal and non-fatal injuries in surface mining operations.
-WVU-
mcd/04/02/14
CONTACT: Mary Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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