Alumni Accolades

Graduate winner: Dr. John Cox

John, Nicole, Asher, and Aurora

Dr. John Cox was selected as the fall 2022 Emeritus Faculty Exemplary Graduate Student.  John is an active-duty officer in the United States Air Force and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology, respectively. In 2019, he joined Prof. Alexandra Newman’s research group in the Operations Research with Engineering (ORwE) interdisciplinary program.  This group focuses on applications of optimization to problems in the energy, manufacturing, mining, and professional sport fields.

John’s research focused on improving the profitability of utility-scale solar plants by optimizing their design and operation.  He developed non-linear optimization models to study the impact of including different technologies on the economics of generating and selling electricity from the plant.  His results showed that the lifetime benefit-to-cost ratio of the plant could be improved between 6 and 19% by optimizing the sizing of the systems generating and storing energy, as well as the timing of electricity dispatch from the plant to the grid.  This research resulted in four journal publications and a collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory studying the design of a concentrating solar power installation in Tunisia.

In addition to his outstanding research accomplishments, John also co-taught an online course in optimization for the Advanced Manufacturing Master’s program and mentored Second Lieutenant Air Force Master’s students who were pursuing degrees within the ORwE program. John now commands a flight of 40 military, civilian, and contract analysts in the Air Force Education and Training Command’s Studies and Analysis Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio Randolph, supporting operations of the Air Force’s technical and flying training programs.

For his significant contributions to optimizing solar energy operations, and for his service to the ORwE program specifically and to the Department of Mechanical Engineering more broadly, we are pleased to name Dr. John Cox as the Fall 2022 Emeritus Faculty Exemplary Graduate Student.

 

Winner of the Emeritus Faculty Exemplary Graduate Student Award

 

 

Seun is a triple Oredigger, earning his Bachelors, Master’s and Ph.D. from Mines.  He has consistently served the department by meeting with prospective students, interviewing department head candidates and other academic services.  As an undergrad, he competed in varsity Track and Field and Soccer.  Seun holds the school record in the high jump and triple jump and was a NCAA national competitor in those events as well as the long jump, in which he holds the second longest jump in school record.

As a graduate student, Seun has been an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and served on the INFORMS minority issues forum.

Seun completed research projects focused on Operations Research as a graduate student.  He worked with companies such as NREL, Jeppesen, and Newmont Mining.  Seun recently defended his doctoral thesis, “Modelling and Solving Large Scale Optimization Models: Case Studies in Renewable Energy and Mining,” which was a finalist for the Rath Research Award.

 

 

 

Dr. David Baker holds a Ph.D. in mineral economics with a specialization in operations research from the Colorado School of Mines, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering from West Virginia University. Over the years, he has garnered several prestigious recognitions and awards. He was asked to give the commencement address at Tusculum College in May of 2016. In 2017, the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) presented him with the Captains of Industry Award for his work at DirecTV where he served as senior vice president of field services for AT&T. In that capacity, Dr. Baker oversaw the company’s national network of installation and service providers and was charged with improving the operational efficiency and quality of the customer experience. Previously, Baker served as executive vice president and COO for On Command Corp. and as CFO and COO for DirecTV Japan. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Operations of Sunrun, and has been a generous donor to the Operation Research program at the School of Mines for decades.

 

West Virginia University College of Engineering is starting a social media series called “Alumni Who Inspire” to help with recruiting and retention.  David Baker is their first featured alum.

ORwE recognizes the following 2019 award presented to Dr. Andrea Brickey: the Tim Shaw Award for innovations in teaching and learning from the Society of Mining Professors. Dr. Andrea Brickey completed her PhD in Mining and Earth Systems Engineering with a minor in Operations Research at the Colorado School of Mines in 2015 under the advisement of Dr. Mark Kuchta and Dr. Alexandra Newman. She is now an associate professor and assistant department head for the Mining Engineering and Management Department at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. She received her Bachelor of Science in mining engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1999. Upon receiving her B.S., she worked in the mining industry for 15 years before accepting her current position. Her industry work focused primarily on mining planning and design at numerous operations and projects located in Africa and North and South America, mining copper, gold, silver, nickel, phosphate and coal. She has a post-graduate diploma in Management Practices from the University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business. She is the recipient of the Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Ph.D. Fellowship and a SME Academic Career Grant. She is a licensed professional engineer in Colorado and South Dakota and a qualified person in mining engineering and ore reserves through the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. Her current research focuses on developing tools used to optimize underground mine production schedules.

 

 

In a June 2023 news feature, Brickey weighed in on Mining Talent for the Wall Street Journal.

 

Application of Computers in Operations Research in the Minerals Industry (APCOM) is an organization that has been holding conferences since the 1960s.  This international organization recently held the 2023 APCOM conference in Rapid City, South Dakota.  The conference was hosted by CSM Alum Dr. Andrea Brickey.  During the conference, Andrea was also elected to serve as the Chair of the APCOM International Council and will lead the organization as they plan the next conference in 2025 to be held in Perth, Australia.

 

Additionally, Dr. Brickey was recently promoted to professor at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.  She was also acknowledged by the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration in 2023 with the Mining and Exploration Division Distinguished Service Award.

Prof. Newman and Brickey continue to collaborate on numerous grants and projects.  This collaboration has resulted in numerous graduates and publications focused on operations research applications in underground mining.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2017, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Scioletti, a 2016 graduate of the Operations Research with Engineering PhD program, was named an Academy (permanent) professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, and is currently leading its engineering-math program. Mike, like his advisor Dr. Alexandra Newman, actively advises many students. In particular, his cadets are pursuing honors thesis research with the goal of publication on topics such as sports analytics, Soldier health and fitness analytics, and precipitation forecasts involving Doppler radar estimates. In his 21 years of service to the US Army, Mike, a combat engineer by trade, has served in operational assignments with the 1st Cavalry Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division.  He has deployed in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

During his tenure as a doctoral student, he published two papers in Optimization and Engineering and one in Applied Energy. He currently has a paper under revision at INFORMS Journal on Computing. These were the result of his doctoral work sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and relate to optimally designing and dispatching power for forward operating bases.

Mike is a 1998 graduate of West Point (BS, Mathematical Sciences) and, subsequently, the Naval Postgraduate School (MS, Operations Research). While pursuing his undergraduate studies, Mike played varsity baseball and was named the 1997 Patriot League Player of the year.  Upon graduation, Mike was drafted by the White Sox and in 2011 was inducted to West Point’s Athletic Hall of Fame.  He currently works as an officer representative and mentor to the Army baseball team, which is back-to-back Patriot League Champions.