End of Year Awards

2023 Wilson Banquet and Awards Presentation

The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ annual celebration of accomplishments was hosted virtually on April 23, 2023. The following EI students, affiliates, and researchers were honored.

Gladys Snyder Junior Faculty Grant

The Gladys Snyder Junior Faculty Grants are given to young faculty for the development of new courses or the improvement of current offerings; for travel to professional meetings special course and seminars; to broaden the studies of junior faculty members; and/or to recognize significant contributions of faculty in their first five years in research efforts.

Ashish Ranjan Kumar
assistant professor in energy and mineral engineering
“Development of a Virtual Reality System for Classroom Teaching of Complex Mining Operations”

Wilson Award for Outstanding Service

Created in 1999, the Wilson Service Award honors exceptional achievement in service and expresses the gratitude and appreciation of the college.

Elizabeth Hajek, Elizabeth Hajek
associate professor and associate head for diversity, equity, and inclusion, geosciences

E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller
Faculty Fellow

Luis Ayala
William A. Fustos Family Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering
“Pore-scale investigation of multicomponent, multiphase flow of geofluids: A fugacity-based mesoscopic approach”

Paul F. Robertson Award for
EMS Research Breakthrough
of the Year

The Paul F. Robertson Award for the EMS Breakthrough of the Year was created in 2012 with support from a generous gift by EMS alumnus Paul F. Robertson.

Mort Webster
professor of energy engineering

George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant

The George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant promotes innovative research of high scholarly merit. The award recipient receives $50,000 from the George H. Deike, Jr. Research Endowment Fund and a recognition memento.

Barbara Arnold, Barbara Arnold
professor of practice in mining engineering
“Revalorization of mine tailings”

Spring 2022 EMSAGE Laureates

Ali Al Hassan,
petroleum and natural gas engineering

Mufaddal Gheewala,
energy engineering

Promotion and Tenure

Derek Hall,
associate teaching professor of energy and mineral engineering

Arash Dahi Taleghani,
professor of energy and mineral engineering

Xiaoxing Wang,
research professor in the EMS Energy Institute

Tieyuan Zhu,
associate professor
of geosciences

2023 Institutes of Energy and the Environment
Seed Grants

The following EME Energy Institute researchers were 2023 Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) seed grant recipients:

Elizabeth Hajek, associate professor of geosciences for the project “CoRe at PSU: Growing Cold Regions Research Capabilities at Penn State University”

Nelson Yaw Dzade (left), assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering; and Derek Hall (right), assistant teaching professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering for the project “Rational Design of Bio-Inspired and Earth-Abundant Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Reduction into Fuels and Fine Chemicals”

Yashar Mehmani (left), assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering; and Anne Menefee (right), assistant professor in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering for the project “Impact of CO₂ Mineralization on the Evolution of Storage-Rock Microstructure”

2022-23 Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering
student awards

The 2022 and 2023 John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering awards banquets recognized students and faculty in the department. The banquet is held in conjunction with the G. Albert Shoemaker Lecture. EMS Energy Institute students who received awards are listed below.