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Accolades MINING FACULTY Win R&D Award L to R: Jerry Jones, John Howard, Eddie Bonnin, Yi Luo, Syd Peng, and Felicia Peng. For the third straight year, a WVU Department of Mining Engineering research project aimed at increasing the safety and efficiency of coal mine drilling operations received a R&D Top 100 Award from R&D Magazine in 2006. longhole directional drilling, which involves drilling holes as long as 5,000 feet. This type of drilling is accomplished mainly by trial and error and requires constant repositioning of the bit to keep it in the coal seam. The new technology has replaced trial and error with a high-tech system involving radar sensors that are coupled to the drill pipe or tubing. The information gathered by the sensors is transmitted to a computer outside, and this computer automatically determines and directs the course of the drill bit. The result is an increase in the efficiency of the entire drilling operation. In addition, the radar sensors on the drill string provide useful information to drill operators about the geology of areas being drilled. Professor Syd Peng, along with associate professors Felicia Peng and Yi Luo, won the award in partnership with Stolar Horizon, Inc., of New Mexico, for their development of a realtime communications system known as the Data Transmission System. The system facilitates high-speed data exchange between the surface and the drill string that is used to drill into coal seams prior to mining. Drilling into the coal seam is necessary to allow methane to escape before mining operations can begin. The most common technology in current use for this purpose is “A reliable data transmission between the drill string and the surface control unit over long distances is the key to tapping the full potential of these drilling technologies,” said Peng. “With all of the information that this system will provide, the risks of mining will be reduced, especially in adverse geological conditions.” The same team won R&D’s Top 100 Award in 2004 and 2005 for earlier stages of the research. The technology is now complete and is being tested underground. 22 WATTS RECEIVES Erskine Ramsay Medal Royce Watts (right) accepted the Erskine Spring 2007 Royce Watts, the College’s associate dean for administration, received the 2007 Erskine Ramsay Medal from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Engineers for his dedication to the coal mining industry, to WVU, and to the preservation of our mining heritage. Ramsay Medal at the SME Conference in Watts earned his B.S. in business February. administration and his M.S. in economics from WVU, and has served the University in administrative and teaching positions for 48 years. His association with the coal mining industry began in 1979, when he became the associate dean of the College of Mineral and Energy Resources. He has served in leadership roles with the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, has advised honors students in the mineral resources majors, participated in the Central Appalachian Section of SME, and has helped to manage the WVU Mineral Resources Alumni Chapter. He also oversaw the design and construction of the Mineral Resources Building. In 1995, when the College of Mineral and Energy Resources merged with the College of Engineering, he moved into his current position in the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Watts has been a longtime supporter of WVU’s Mining, Petroleum, and Natural Gas Museum, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the coal, oil, and gas industries of West Virginia. In 2005, the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute endowed the museum and it was renamed The Royce J. and Caroline B. Watts Museum in honor of the couple’s contributions to our mining heritage. Watts also was recognized as a Distinguished West Virginian in 1997 by Governor Cecil H. Underwood for his contributions to the continuing education of mining professionals.
Student News WVU ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES Volume 3 Issue 1 Microgravity Team Takes Flight By Shainna Sticklen Tristan Wolfe was one of our students who got to experience weightless flight last summer at NASA in Houston, Texas. Students (left to right) Thilanka Munasinghe, Brad Palmer, Jason Gross, Tyler-Blair Sheppard, Kevin McCrea, and Curtis Groves conducted an experiment in microgravity at the Kennedy Space Center. While some students played on the beach, members of the WVU Microgravity Research Team spent part of last summer’s break conducting inflight experiments in zero gravity. Led by mechanical and aerospace engineering professors Donald Gray and John Kuhlman, one team headed to NASA in Houston, Texas; the other went to the Kennedy Space Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to work with the Zero Gravity Corporation. The NASA team included Adam Feathers, Jackie Grimes, Jason Gross, Kerri Phillips, Tyler-Blair Sheppard, and Tristan Wolfe. The Kennedy Space Center team included Curtis Groves, Kevin McCrea, Thilanka Munasinghe, Brad Palmer, Tyler-Blair Sheppard, and Justin Smith. The students wrote proposals for their research projects, then designed, built, and tested the experiments before taking them on board. Once in flight, to create microgravity, the aircrafts engaged in steep climbs following by dramatic free falls to create 25-second intervals of near-zero gravity. The process was repeated more than 30 times, giving the teams time to get used to the weightless environment and to conduct their experiments. The NASA team was investigating whether there would be a circular hydraulic jump in microgravity, and was attempting to predict where this would occur. “It would be useful to know where the jump occurs so it can be avoided on electrical cooling equipment.” said Phillips. “In fact, there was a jump, and we were able to locate it.” The Kennedy Space Center team constructed tanks to study pool boiling in microgravity. “If you are cooling something in space, you need to create some type of force to pull the vapor bubbles to the surface,” said Groves. Weightlessness was different than she expected, said Phillips. “The first time you actually feel it, you feel a drop in your stomach,” she said, “but that only happens the first time. It feels very different than you expect.” This was the project’s seventh year, and, according to Kuhlman, many past participants in this project have gone on to successful careers in aerospace and aeronautics. “It is very gratifying to see how students grow from this experience, in terms of their confidence, communications skills, and career goals,” he said. For the students, the experience was the opportunity of a lifetime. “It was impressive to meet WVU graduates who are working in the space program, sitting at mission control,” said Wolfe. The project is funded through the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, and the dean’s office. 23
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Page 3 and 4: Engineering West Virginia Spring 20
Page 5 and 6: WVU ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURC
Page 13 and 14: In Focus Building West Virginia’s
Page 17 and 18: College News WVU ENGINEERING AND MI
Page 21 and 22: Accolades WVU ENGINEERING AND MINER
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Page 29 and 30: Alumni News Lectures WVU ENGINEERIN
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Page 33 and 34: Scholarships WVU ENGINEERING AND MI
Page 35 and 36: Alumni Notes WVU ENGINEERING AND MI

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