Raja V. Ramani Receives Honorary Membership Award from The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME)
March 10, 2010
On March 3, 2010, Raja V. Ramani, professor emeritus of mining and geo-environmental engineering, was presented with an honorary membership award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). The award was presented during the 2010 AIME banquet at the annual meeting of the Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) in Phoenix, AZ. Dr. Ramani was given the honor "in recognition of his contributions to mining engineering education and practice, his research to improve mine health and safety and his more than 40 years distinguished service to SME and AIME."
As part of the 2010 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit, Dr. Ramani also served as one of the panel speakers at the keynote session to discuss "a century of mining research." He and his fellow speakers offered an "historical perspective of the mining industry with an eye toward a future that is both safer and healthier, while also productive and sustainable."
Raja Ramani holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mining engineering from Penn State, where he has been a faculty member since 1970. He is a certified first class mine manager under the Indian Mines Act of 1952 and a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1971. Dr. Ramani’s research activities include mine health, safety, productivity, environment, and management; flow mechanisms of air, gas, and dust in mining environs; and innovative mining methods. Dr. Ramani has been a consultant to the United Nations, World Bank, National Safety Council, mining companies and governmental agencies. He has published extensively on health, safety and environmental planning and management issues and has received numerous awards from academia and technical and professional societies. He was the 1995 president of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME).
Dr. Ramani has served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Mine Health Research Advisory Committee (1991-1998). He was the chair of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Post Disaster Survival and Rescue (1979-1981) and a member of the Health Research Panel of the NRC Committee on the Research Programs of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (1994). He was a member of the Department of Interior’s Advisory Board to the Director of U.S. Bureau of Mines (1995) and a member of the Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Coal Worker’s Pneumoconiosis (1995-96). More recently, he was a member of the NRC Panel on Technologies for the Mining Industries (2000-2001), the NRC Committee on Coal Waste Impoundment Failures and Breakthroughs (2001-2002), the NRC Committee to Inform Coal Policy (2005-07), and the NRC Committee to Develop the Framework for the Evaluation of NIOSH Research Programs (2005 -09) and the Chair of the NAS Committee to Evaluate the NIOSH Mining Health and Safety Research Program (2005-07). In 2002, he chaired the the Pennsylvania Governor’s Commission on Abandoned Mine Voids and Mine Safety that was set up immediately following the Quecreek Mine inundation incident and rescue. Dr. Ramani is a distinguished member of SME (Class of 1988) and now an honorary member of AIME (Class of 2010).
