After a decades in the mining profession, Charles Kocsis has kicked off his teaching career through a Goldcorp Term Professorship, a $750,000, five-year professorship at the University of Nevada-Reno’s mining engineering program, company officials have announced.
Goldcorp Inc., a top Canadian miner, has sponsored the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, a division of the university’s College of Science, since 2004 in support of faculty positions. The $1.3 million has helped the college meet student demands, with last year’s donations leading to the appointment of Kocsis, the first professor under the program.
College of Science Dean Jeff Thompson lauded Kocsis and Goldcorp’s initiative in the heart of one of America’s most prolific mining states. “His expertise is what first attracted us,” he said in a statement.
“Support from Goldcorp is tremendous,” Thompson added, “it allows us connection with an industry that will make sure our students enter one of Nevada’s important business sectors;” Goldcorp CEO Charles Jeannes himself is a University of Nevada graduate.
Kocsis earned his doctorate in mining engineering at the University of British Columbia and his engineering license in Ontario; his 23-year mining career has included extensive work at Canmet, a mineral sciences laboratory, where ie specializd in mine ventilation.
In addition to classwork, Kocsis has been researching underground air ventilation, particularly through Ventilation-On-Demand, technology that uses sensors to limit unnecessary airflow. The design has potential to reduce operational costs alongside worker productivity.
Founded in 1874 as Nevada’s land-grant university, the University of Nevada, Reno ranks is a top tier educational institution, with nearly 19,000 students. Reno is home to the state university system’s top research program and home to the state’s medical school; with outreach and education programs statewide, its students also have access to one of the largest study-abroad consortiums worldwide.
