Academics

Rezaee named outstanding young engineer

In an event held in February 2020, Mohammad Rezaee, left, received the Outstanding Young Engineer Award from James Metsa, chair of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s Mineral and Metallurgical Processing Division. Credit: Courtesy Mohammad Rezaee. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mohammad Rezaee, assistant professor of mining engineering in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, has been awarded the Outstanding Young Engineer Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s (SME) Mineral and Metallurgical Processing Division.

The Outstanding Young Engineer award was created in 1984 and recognizes a young individual, age 36 or younger, with a significant contribution within the mineral processing and extractive metallurgy discipline.

Rezaee, who holds the Thomas V. and Jean C. Falkie Mining Engineering Faculty Fellowship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, was selected for “his significant contributions in the development of methodologies and applications of mineral processing unit operations and circuits to enhance the sustainability of mining operations.” He received the award at the SME 2020 annual Conference & Expo held in Phoenix, Feb. 23-26.

“It is my honor to receive this recognition from SME” said Rezaee. "I am delighted to bring this competitive award to Penn State, as it reflects the quality of research in our University. This title brings more responsibility to continue conducting top-notch research works and to educate new generation of scientists and engineers who have the ability to develop fundamentals and apply knowledge to address the needs for sustainable recovery of elements from primary and secondary sources."

Rezaee’s research works addresses the development of sustainable mining waste disposal practices from which valuables such as critical elements can be recovered for commercial use while the remaining materials are processed to generate environmentally benign materials. His research experiences and interests include extraction of critical elements from primary and secondary sources, coal preparation, mineral processing, environmental management and computational fluid dynamics and numerical modeling.

Before joining the Penn State faculty in 2018, Rezaee was a postdoctoral research associate in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering. He also worked for two years as a mining engineer consultant.

Rezaee received his doctorate in 2015 and his master’s degree in 2012, both in mining engineering from the University of Kentucky. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering in 2008 from the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.

Last Updated September 9, 2020

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