Dr. Zach Agioutantis, Mining Engineering Foundation Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering, is one of three recipients of the 2020 College of Engineering Excellence in Research Award.
Dr. Agioutantis joined UK in October 2014 after serving as professor and the director of the Rock Mechanics Laboratory at the Technical University of Crete (TUC) in Greece for over 25 years. In the past five years, Dr. Agioutantis has secured research funds totaling over $3.9 million ($3.2 as PI and $700,000 as co-PI) with a personal share of approximately $2 million.
Since 2015, Dr. Agioutantis has published 23 journal papers, coauthored four book chapters and co-authored 33 peer-reviewed conference papers. Overall, he has published 78 journal papers, eight book chapters, 55 peer-reviewed conference papers and over 140 conference papers reviewed by abstract.
According to Google Scholar (March 2, 2020) he has an h-index of 17 (12 since 2015) an i-10 Index of 27 (16 since 2015) and 1,132 total citations (679 since 2015).
In 2018, Dr. Agioutantis was awarded the prestigious Syd S. and Felicia F. Peng Award by the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) for his “ability, integrity, passion and perseverance towards the integration of software and ground control methodologies.” This is a lifetime achievement award that recognizes individuals who have demonstrated technical and scientific excellence in advancing the understanding of ground control technologies.