Professor Emeritus - Department of Mining Engineering
Dr. Keith Heasley retired from the Mining Engineering Department in 2018. Keith A. Heasley was a tenure, full-time professor and held the Charles T. Holland Chair until May 2018.
Prior to his appointment with WVU in 2001, he was employed by the former U.S. Bureau of Mines and then the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory from 1986. From 1984 through 1986, he was at The Pennsylvania State University earning his Masters degree. For 2 years prior to 1984, he was employed as a project engineer for the underground mines in the Midwestern Region of Consolidation Coal Company.
He graduated in 1981 with a B.S. in Mining Engineer from The Pennsylvania State University. Then after working in the industry he returned to graduate school in 1984 and finished his M.S. degree in Mining Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 1987. Then, while working for the U.S. Bureau of mines, he was awarded a competitive training opportunity 1993 and obtained a Doctorate in Mining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1998. He obtained his Professional Engineers license in 1996 and has been a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania since then. His research interests are numerical modeling in rock mechanics, computer applications in mining, multiple-seam mine design and ground control.
He has served as: board member of the Alpha Foundation for Improvement of Mine Safety and Health, chair of the Coal & Energy Division of the SME, board member of the SME, board member of the Pittsburgh Section of the SME, board member of the American Rock Mechanics Association, and on numerous SME committees. He was awarded: the Rock Mechanics Award of the SME/AIME (2020) and the Erskine Ramsey Medal of the SME/AIME (2019), Coal & Energy Division of SME Distinguished Service Award (2013), the Old Timers Club Faculty Award (2011), the Syd S. Peng Ground Control in Mining Award (2011), the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources' Outstanding Teaching Award (2008), the PCMIA's Stephen McCann Award for Educational Excellence (2006), and the Pittsburgh Section of the SME's Young Engineer Award (1990). He has also been on the organizing committee for twelve International Conferences on Ground Control in Mining and two U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposia.
Education
Ph.D., Colorado School of Mines, 1998
M.S., The Pennsylvania State University, 1987
B.S., The Pennsylvania State University, 1981