A proposed absorption of the West Virginia University mining engineering into its petroleum and natural gas engineering school has been tabled indefinitely by school officials. A plan was originally announced earlier this year, part of wide-ranging staff cuts at the Appalachian institution. A walk-out was organized in September to oppose the move, and many mining engineering alumni have spoken up…
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Virginia Tech researchers use autonomous technologies
to make mines safer
How do you use drones and robots to make underground mining less risky for workers? Virginia Tech researcher Richard Bishop and his West Virginia University collaborators are working to answer this question. A recent two-year, $569,149 Alpha Foundation grant will allow the team to study ways to use autonomous drones to predict and prevent roof collapses underground. It’s urgent work.…
Read MoreWVU Researchers Get Funding for Longwall Sensor Work
Engineers from West Virginia University (WVU) received backing to develop an improved methane monitoring network for greater longwall safety. Derek Johnson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Statler College, who is steering the work, said a refined network of sensors could enable proactive responses to rising gas levels, versus current practices of a single shearer-mounted methane sensor…
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