Dr. Samuel Frimpong, professor of mining engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Minerals and Energy Research at the University of Alberta, Canada, will be the next Robert H. Quenon Chair of Mining Engineering at UMR, effective July 1.

The chair, named for Robert H. Quenon, retired president and chairman of the board of Peabody Holding Co. of St. Louis, was established at UMR to attract experienced mining engineers to campus. Frimpong will replace Dr. Richard L. Bullock, the first Robert H. Quenon Chair of Mining Engineering, who served from 1997-2002.

Frimpong received his bachelor’s degree and post-graduate (professional) diploma in mining engineering from University of Science and Technology School of Mines in Ghana in 1985 and 1986, respectively. He also received a master’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Zambia in 1988, and a Ph.D. in mining engineering from the University of Alberta in 1992.

Frimpong has 20 years of professional experience as a researcher, 10 years teaching experience, eight years in consulting and four years of industry experience in surface and underground mining and offshore crude oil production operations. He joined the University of Alberta in 2002, and his research expertise includes intelligent mining systems engineering, materials excavation and handling engineering, simulation of mine production engineering systems, and risk and safety engineering.

Frimpong has taught several core graduate and undergraduate courses in mining engineering and has graduated seven Ph.D., seven master’s degree and six mining engineering students within a period of 10 years. His current research team includes four post-doctoral fellows, six Ph.D., and five master’s degree students with more than $2 million in research funding. Research results include 41 refereed journals and more than 75 refereed conference publications, 55 technical reports, and more than 60 presentations to academic, government and industry audiences.

Frimpong is recognized as a Canadian Petroleum Institute Distinguished Lecturer. He received the 1989 Northwest mining Association’s Grand Award and the 1997 World Mining Congress’ Award of Distinction. From 1998-2000, Frimpong was a member of the Japanese government’s Research Council on Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, and from 2002-2003, he was a member of the College of Reviewers for the Canada Foundation for Innovation. He was also an editorial reviewer for 10 journals and an editorial board member for the International Journal of Surface Mining, Metallurgy and Environment. Frimpong has taught more than 30 short courses for industries worldwide. He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum; the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration; the Society for Modeling and Simulation International; the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicist of Alberta; and patron of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology School of Mines Alumni Association in Ghana. Frimpong is also a registered professional engineer in Canada.