So when UK College of Engineering recruiter Ron Robinson showed up one spring day to talk about UK’s mining engineering program, Mallory wasn’t initially interested; however, the longer Ron talked, the more intrigued she became.

“Ron Robinson is a very convincing guy!” Mallory concedes. “He told me about the different scholarships available to mining students and demonstrated how mining engineering is closely related to civil engineering. He made a compelling case.”

With months to go before the start of her freshman year, Mallory made the switch. She enrolled at UK and immersed herself in the world of mining.

“When I began studying mining, I realized how little I knew about it,” Mallory remembers. “I had a lot to learn about the intricate processes involved in extracting minerals from the earth. We say it a lot, but it’s true—what isn’t grown must be mined.”

For Mallory, learning the mining trade involved four internships—three near her home in Madisonville, Ky., and one in Texas. After a few stints with Alliance Coal’s Hopkins County Coal operation, Mallory decided to build a career around coal mining. To further her knowledge, Mallory decided to enter the BS/MBA program, which lets students graduate with an undergraduate degree in mining and a master’s in business administration.

“My hope is to one day become a chief engineer and general manager of a mining operation. During my internship, I realized how much the chief engineer is involved in the business side of the operation. With just one extra year, I was able to complete my dual degree and become better prepared for what I want to do in my career,” explains Mallory.

Prior to graduating in December, Mallory took a full time position with Alliance Coal—this time working at their operations headquarters in Lexington. She eventually hopes to move back to western Kentucky and become chief engineer, perhaps at the same place where she had interned.

“From Dr. G.T. Lineberry, who challenged me and expected me to put forth my very best, to my involvement with the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), which allowed me to travel to Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas, I am grateful for my time in the mining engineering program at UK,” Mallory says enthusiastically. “I definitely made the right choice.”

For starters, Brett is from Chicago where coal mining was a fairly prominent industry in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries; however, coal mining operations had left the “City of the Big Shoulders” by the 1960s—long before Brett was born.

Second, Brett’s primary interest growing up was working on cars and trucks. After high school, he turned his passion into a career as a mechanic, earning certificates to work on automotive diesel, hydraulic and transport refrigeration trucks. So how did a mechanic from Chicago end up in UK’s mining engineering program?

“While I liked doing the work of a mechanic, I discovered that the saying ‘don’t make your hobby your job’ is true,” says Brett. “I needed to find a new career.”

Brett began taking classes at a community college. He knew he wanted to focus on engineering, but wasn’t sure which engineering field suited him best. That summer, he found his answer.

“I was vacationing with my family in Minnesota and the weather was awful. We found an advertisement for tours of the Soudan Mine not too far from us and decided it beat sitting around indoors. I went underground, looked around and said, “This is so cool! I could see myself getting into this.”

When his family returned home, Brett visited a career center. He wasn’t sure if mining engineering was a program offered by universities. After learning that only 13 universities in the entire nation offered mining engineering, he began applying. Over the next few months, he was accepted by the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) and the University of Kentucky. In the end, Brett chose UK largely on the basis of one individual—Dr. Braden Lusk.

“I had heard a lot of good things about Dr. Lusk, so I decided to come here,” Brett explains. “I was interested in his work with explosives and he helped me get an internship with the powder crew at Nelson Brothers based in Birmingham, Ala. I appreciate that Dr. Lusk is so easy to connect with on a personal level. He doesn’t make you feel stupid for asking questions and he doesn’t act like he’s above everyone else just because he has a Ph.D.”

Brett’s work with Nelson Brothers gave him a firsthand look at the demands of working on a blasting crew. After proving himself capable with simple tasks, Nelson Brothers gave Brett more responsibility, including letting him crunch the data with mining engineers and check blast patterns on actual surface mines in West Virginia.

“I loved it,” he recalls. “It’s hard work. I don’t think anyone realizes what those guys go through until they’ve done it.”

To continue his research in explosives engineering, Brett plans to pursue a master’s degree with Dr. Lusk after he graduates.  In the meantime, the two are working together on the University of Kentucky Explosives Research Team (UKERT). As Brett reflects on his time in the mining engineering program, he strongly recommends it to students considering an engineering degree.

“Mining engineering touches on all of the other disciplines. If you like the chemical engineering side, you can work on the leeching operation. Electrical engineers are needed because the mines have their own power grids. Civil engineers and geotechnical engineers are indispensable to mining operations. Whatever you enjoy, you can apply it to mining.”

The questions are important because not every mining-related accident is the same. “Unfortunately, when most people see ‘mining fatality’ on the news, they recall past mining tragedies that receiving national attention; but some accidents are truly unforeseeable and not all accidents have easy explanations or should give the impression that mining in inherently unsafe,” says Dr. Perry.

This past fall, Dr. Kyle Perry, along with other co-investigators, received a $1.25M grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). While the goals of the grant cover two different areas of research, both are aimed at improving safety at surface and underground mines.

One aspect of the grant involves researching high wall stability and the effects of ground vibrations upon it—typically due to blasting. The team, led by Dr. Perry, plans to monitor high walls (any vertical face at a mine) for displacement and correlate it with ground vibrations that might have caused the movement. Aided by seismographs, blast records and a laser scanning able to create a point cloud of the wall, Dr. Perry will be able to create a model able to inform mining engineers about the vulnerability of their high walls relative to their blasting amplitude.

The other part of the grant is intended to investigate the benefit of LED lighting technology in underground coal mines. LED lights have the potential to give engineers a different picture of what they see compared to normal incandescent or halogen lighting. The team will incorporate a bank of LED lights onto roof bolting machines and determine if the different quality of light allows technicians to identify places where extra roof bolts are needed.

“Both parts of the grant are designed to increase the level of safety at underground and surface mines,” says Dr. Perry. “We hope our findings on high wall stability and LED lighting can prevent any unfortunate and unnecessary accidents.”

Although trained as a civil engineer at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Dr. Perry’s gravitation toward explosives engineering began when he observed the kind of work his brother-in-law, Braden Lusk, was doing in explosives engineering as a graduate student at Missouri-Rolla. He took fifteen credit hours at Missouri-Rolla and earned a minor in explosives engineering. Enthusiastic about blasting and facing a scant civil engineering job market, Dr. Perry followed Dr. Lusk to the University of Kentucky’s Department of Mining Engineering, where the latter had just accepted a faculty position. Three years later, Dr. Perry received his Ph.D. and was hired onto the mining engineering faculty. “I really enjoyed the research and getting involved in blasting related projects,” he explains. “I was able to teach an advanced blasting class while a graduate student and loved it. I also saw taking a faculty position as a way to interact with industry while also engaging in research.”

One of Dr. Perry’s responsibilities is to operate the rock mechanics lab and teach a course on rock mechanics—both formerly conducted by retired professor Kot Unrug. “Dr. Unrug is an amazing person,” Dr. Perry reflects. “I have taken trips with him and learned so many tips and tricks that would have taken me years to discover. He is an incredibly practical and knowledgeable person and my hope is to take his material and utilize newer learning methods and technologies to help students understand it.”

Mine safety is a serious concern and in only his second year on the mining engineering faculty, his work through the NIOSH grant offers hope that high walls and mine roofs will be safer for miners and their families. “Every mine is different, and I can’t throw a blanket over the whole U.S. and say what I’m doing will work for every single mine,” he admit, “ but there is a wide spectrum of things I can do and I’m glad to have the opportunity to do them.”

Kyle Perry

“There’s really no such thing as long-range planning,” chuckles Dr. Tom Novak as he reviews his diverse professional experience. “If, when I was in high school, you would have told me I would be a university professor for over 30 years, I would have said you were nuts! But I took advantage of opportunities when they were there.”

Seizing opportunities is a defining characteristic of Dr. Novak’s extensive and lauded career in mining engineering, a trend which began as a high school student in southwestern Pennsylvania. “I never planned to work in the mining industry. I was interested in electrical engineering, and a steel company representative whose company operated several coal mines came to my high school to talk about their co-op program. It was set up at Penn State University and students went to school for six months and then worked for six months. I applied and was awarded a spot in the co-op doing electrical engineering while attending Penn State.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Dr. Novak was recruited by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh, where he first began to research mine safety. While with the Bureau, another unforeseen opening emerged. “The Bureau of Mines offered a program where I could earn a graduate degree while working for them. I already had an electrical engineering background, so I got a master’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Pittsburgh,” he recalls.

The educational opportunities continued to present themselves. “After I got my master’s degree, Penn State contacted me about being an instructor of their mining technology courses. In return, I got time off to pursue my Ph.D. coursework and research. I jumped at that chance.” After obtaining his Ph.D in 1983, Dr. Novak visited the University of Alabama, where he—and his wife, Debbie—were offered assistant professorships. “The College of Nursing offered her a job on the spot,” Dr. Novak laughs. “They took a little longer with me.” The couple spent the next 18 years in Tuscaloosa, teaching at the university and raising their two sons.

After Alabama’s mining engineering program closed in 1995, Dr. Novak held a variety of positions including Professor of Electrical Engineering, Interim Department Head of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics and Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Although Alabama had become home, Dr. Novak wanted to return to mining engineering, a decision which led him to Virginia Tech where he was Department Head of Mining and Minerals Engineering for seven years.

Dr. Novak’s career took another unexpected turn in 2006 when he was asked to serve as an investigator of the Sago Mine Disaster. Increased concerns for mine safety led the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to recruit Dr. Novak to serve as Division Director of the Mining Science and Technology’s Office of Mine Safety and Health Research. Describing the decision to leave a profession he had enjoyed for 30 years, Dr. Novak says, “I had been in academia for a long time. Sometimes you ask yourself, ‘Should I try something different?’ So I decided to do it. But my time at NIOSH reinforced what I already knew—I love being a professor.”

When UK announced an opening for its Alliance Coal Academic Chair, Dr. Novak saw a chance to move back to the university and into a mining engineering program he believes is one of the best in the nation. “When I was considering leaving NIOSH, there were only a couple of schools I’d consider leaving for and UK was one of them.” He joined the mining engineering faculty in November of 2010.

Dr. Novak’s broad and varied experience makes him a valuable resource to UK mining engineering students on subjects ranging from mine valuation to systems analysis to automation and control. In addition, his understanding of the mining industry allows him to connect what he teaches in the classroom to what students will experience in the workplace. “You’re always going to have strong theoretical components as an engineer, but I always try to relate those aspects to real world experiences I’ve had and describe how the techniques and methodologies students are learning will someday apply to real-world situations. And this is a great time to get into mining. There is incredible opportunity out there for the motivated young employee.”

For starters, though only two years into the program, Katie has been able to embark on travel experiences not available to most students. Participation in two SME conferences enabled her to visit Denver and Phoenix and, in March, she went to Reno for the International Mining Competition. Next year’s schedule promises to be just as busy: New Orleans in the fall, followed by Seattle in the spring as well as a trip to England. “We try to take a lot of field trips because our major is very hands-on,” says Katie.

In addition to traveling for conferences, Katie also interned last summer at a surface phosphate mine in the Tampa/Orlando, Florida area. Soon, she will head to Elko, Nevada for another internship, this time working in the engineering department at an underground gold mine. Such internships are common among mining students and offer wages well above those of other internships. “Last summer, I didn’t pay a dime,” says Katie enthusiastically. “They paid for me to travel down there and they paid for my housing.” Having at least two internships on her resume will increase her chances of landing a high-paying job enormously when interviewing during her senior year.

Speaking of interviews, one aspect of the mining engineering program which attracted Katie is that students have companies come to them! During the fall semester, mining companies visit the UK campus and conduct interviews for summer internships as well as post-graduation employment (in fact, Katie’s summer internship in Elko was secured during the fall semester). Katie is more than impressed by the interviewing opportunities. “A lot of mining people don’t have to go to career fairs because there’s no need. We get everything within our own in-house department. We don’t have to look for jobs—they’re thrown at us and if you don’t take advantage of it, you’re crazy!”

Enrollment in the mining engineering program has also broadened Katie’s outlets for student involvement and leadership development. Aware that there are few female students pursuing mining engineering degrees, Katie recently founded a UK chapter of Women in Mining—becoming only the third student chapter in the nation. Her goal is to offer community service and educational outreach through the chapter. “I would also like to contact the other chapters and do some joint field trips,” she says. “There aren’t a lot of women in mining. It’s a nice way to connect.”

As Katie surveys the future, she sees many attractive choices for a career, whether she pursues an MBA in order to focus on the international business side of mining or takes a job immediately after graduation. “Long-term, I can pretty much do anything I want to. It’s nice to know I’m always going to have job security because we can’t have anything without mining.” She agrees that her access as a mining student to high-paying job offers, interesting travel and captivating work is unparalleled among college programs—even other engineering programs. “There’s almost no limit to what this major can give me.”

Brandy has felt this sense of community through her interactions with professors, fellow classmates and tutors. “The teacher aid and student support have given me every chance to succeed,” shares Brandy. “Professors have reached out and helped me, I got incredible tutoring in my calculus classes and the faculty cares. Dr. Lineberry would ask me how I was feeling when I had been sick—and I’ve never even had a class with him!”

Like so many mining engineering students, Brandy has taken advantage of the unique opportunities available through student organizations such as the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME), where she is the Secretary, and the newly founded chapter of Women in Mining, where she is the vice-president. Mine tours, trips to national conferences and visits to high schools to talk about mining engineering are a few ways in which Brandy has studied and promoted mining outside the classroom. But no experience has been able to match her summer employment at CONSOL Energy, located in southwest Virginia. “CONSOL has been very good to me and I’ve been making a lot of money during the summer. It’s made it possible to not have to work during the school year so I can concentrate on my grades.”

Soon, Brandy will be returning to CONSOL Energy for a second summer. “I’m really looking forward to working with the safety department and also spending time with the lawyers, learning about litigation in mining.” Safety and law are just two options among many for Brandy to consider when she graduates in 2013. “There are so many opportunities to choose from…but, fortunately, I don’t have to choose right now!” When the time comes, Brandy will be ready for the on-campus interviews conducted by leading companies in the mining industry every fall semester. “Especially in this economy, when it’s difficult to find jobs, it’s astounding to not have to look for jobs but have companies come to you!”

Based on his recent research projects, as well as his recurring role as a demolition expert on a Discovery Channel television show, it could be easy to get the wrong idea about Dr. Braden Lusk.

Currently, a large chunk of Dr. Lusk’s active research projects deal with blast mitigation. Working with the Department of Homeland Security, Dr. Lusk is identifying structures—such as power transformers—which could be potential terrorist targets, and figuring out ways to increase their resiliency if they were to be attacked. His work in this area stems from prior research on blast-resistant windows, meaning about 75% of Dr. Lusk’s present research portfolio has to do with blast mitigation.

Also, in 2009, Dr. Lusk played a leading role on The Detonators, a Discovery Channel show built around the demolition of buildings and other large, public structures. Each show followed Dr. Lusk and other blast experts as they oversaw the implosion of banks, hotels and bridges, some of which stood disconcertingly close to other structures. Dr. Lusk looks back on the show as an incredible experience which provided national exposure for UK’s Department of Mining Engineering.

However, despite his recent study of blast mitigation and his fame as a “Doctor of Demolition,” Dr. Lusk first and foremost considers himself a mining engineer who specializes in blasting. “I got started in mining and would rather do mining projects,” he says. “Most of the explosives used in the U.S. are geared toward mining applications. I love demolition, but as far as real-world application, improving demolition wouldn’t have near the impact that improving mining blasts would.”

Like most young boys, Dr. Lusk enjoyed setting off fireworks and creating small explosions, but never planned on becoming a professional blaster until he sat in Dr. Worsey’s blasting seminar while an  undergraduate student at Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T). Dr. Lusk recalls: “Paul came in and played a video called ‘Dance of the Detonators.’ It was nothing but mine blasts set to classical music. The whole time, he was in the back of the room, laughing like he had never seen it before, and I thought, ‘Man, this is crazy…I’ve got to do this!’” Dr. Lusk began taking as many of Dr. Worsey’s classes as he could.

After graduating with a B.S. in Mining Engineering in 2000, Dr. Lusk began working in an underground salt mine in Cleveland, Ohio. The experience continues to strongly influence how he sees the entire mining operation. “There is so much to be said for having to make a profit. You have to make money or you’re not there. The experience was invaluable. I couldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t spend those years working in the salt mine.” He later transferred to an evaporation mine where he supervised 30-40 people across three departments, and while he says it was a great job with a great company, something was missing. “I wasn’t using any explosives, and I didn’t like that,” he explains. Eventually, Dr. Lusk returned to Missouri-Rolla and obtained his Ph.D. in Mining Engineering.

As he was completing his Ph.D, he had the opportunity to deliver a paper at an International Society of Explosives Engineers conference. After the question and answer session, UK mining professor G.T. Lineberry notified him of an opening in the Department of Mining Engineering at UK and encouraged him to apply. Convinced that the department was determined to become the number one mining program in the country, Dr. Lusk joined the faculty in 2006 and began teaching its blasting courses. His vision is to one day have mining classes taught at an experimental mine where students can get hands-on blasting experience.  “I find the best way to get someone to understand the technology and the science is to have them look at something and see its application,” he says.

One aspect of teaching Dr. Lusk most appreciates is seeing students gain confidence throughout their time in the program. “I find myself in a unique position because I get students early on for my blasting classes—maybe the first semester of their sophomore year—and then I teach the last class they have to take, the Mine Design Capstone Project. I get to see a person when they’re coming in and when they’re going out the door. The confidence builds in the progression. Mining is a wonderful field. If an incoming engineering student has any interest at all, they should give it a try.”