Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Congratulations to graduating NREP students Chiang Cheng Siew, and Anuja Oke on graduating from the NREP graduate program in December 2022.

Mines’ very own Roel Snieder and Cortney Holles, along with Virginia Tech’s Qin Zhu and transformational coach Cynthia James, are launching a new project called Teaching with Heart that is aimed at enriching higher education by growing a character of love in teachers in STEM fields. Through a series of workshops and an online community, teachers will study together, develop best practices and support each other in creating a caring classroom environment.

Congratulations to NREP Alum (2021) Shelby Piper on becoming Tri-States new Energy Policy Analyst.

Adam Keating was selected for the Zambia Mine Reclamation Research Project in Summer 2022.

Ben Rakov attended an internship at NREL in Fall 2022 and will continue work in the Spring.

Conner O’Reilly has been selected for an internship at INVISTA, working on Environmental, Social and Governance stewardship in Summer 2023.

Brianna (she/her) is the Teaching & Learning Librarian at the Colorado School of Mines. She coordinates the library’s information literacy program; teaching lessons and collaborating with classroom faculty to integrate information literacy instruction into the curriculum. In 2021, Brianna served as a US Fulbright Scholar at Tunghai University in Taichung Taiwan. Prior to joining Mines in 2016, she served as Engineering and Computer Science Librarian at the US Naval Academy and as a contract Reference Librarian at the National Defense University.  She earned her MLIS from the University of Denver in 2011.

Brianna Buljung and Seth Vuletich, Library faculty, are developing a Representation in STEM course. The course will help participants to explore the research performed by scholars from underrepresented populations in STEM. It provides guidance for seeking out these voices to include in teaching and research on campus. It will also help participants to understand the successes experienced and barriers faced by these scholars in their disciplines. Additionally, individual modules can be adopted by faculty as micro-lessons for use in courses across the Mines curriculum.

Steven DeCaluwe is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He has been at Mines since 2012 and focuses his teaching and research on energy storage and conversion, teaching courses in Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Electrochemical Systems, and Fuel Cell Science and Technology.  His research projects seek to understand interactions between fluid flows, material properties, and surface chemistry in clean energy devices, and incorporate fundamental experiments and multi-scale numerical simulations.

As a Newmont STEM Equity Fellow, Dr. DeCaluwe will develop modules for his MEGN 361: Thermodynamics course to highlight climate impacts that result from engineering design choices.  Students will assess and the how costs and benefits of solutions in cooling, heating, and power impact different populations.  These modules will be folded into an overarching, semester-long design project, helping students connect their engineering practice to equity and energy justice concepts in a quantitative manner.

Bio:Dr. H. Dr. Şebnem Düzgün is Professor and Fred Banfield Distinguished Chair in Mining Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. She also has a double appointment in Computer Science.  Dr. Düzgün got her Ph.D. Degree in 2000 from the Department of Mining Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey.  She was a visiting scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT from 1998 to 1999, with an award from the Turkish Scientific and Technical Council (TUBITAK).  She was appointed as an assistant professor in the Geodetic and Geographic Information Technologies Program at METU in 2001.  She performed research as a postdoctoral fellow from 2004 to 2005 at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and International Center for Geohazards with a grant from the Norwegian Research Council.  She then returned to the Department of Mining Engineering at METU in 2006 as an associate professor and became a full professor there in 2010.  Dr. Düzgün was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s experienced researcher fellowship in 2014 to conduct research at the Geophysical Institute at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany from 2015 to 2016.

She has over 25 years of experience in research, teaching consultancy in mining engineering, and information technologies in geosciences. Dr. Düzgün’s expertise involves big data analytics, artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality, GIS, remote sensing, information fusion, and their use in mine closure and reclamation, risk and safety analysis, mine environmental monitoring, systems engineering, mineral supply chain transparency and resiliency.  Dr. Düzgün has authored four books, published 11 book chapters, 80 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, over 200 papers in conferences, and many technical reports.  She is the principal author of the book Remote Sensing of the Mine Environment.  She has recently been included in 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining 2020 Edition, appointed as 100 Resilience Fellows of 4TU-Federation`s Resilience Engineering Program at TU Delft, ELATES fellow of Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) program, which is a national leadership development program designed to promote women in academic STEM fields and a Newmont STEM Equity Instructional Fellow.

Project Description: At Mines, Dr. Düzgün teaches information technologies in mining systems, geospatial big data analytics, mine design, data-driven mine closure and reclamation, and innovation courses.  As her Newmont STEM Equity Instructional Fellowship, she will incorporate the concept of equity in the new course entitled data-driven mine closure and reclamation.  She will design course material on understanding different views of stakeholders and their implications on equity and environmental justice.  Moreover, she will develop experiential learning exercises to incorporate equity by design concepts in mine closure and reclamation.  The course will also consider case studies and allow students to explore equity in various phases of the mine life cycle and their impacts on mine closure and reclamation planning.

Gus Greivel is a Teaching Professor and Interim Department Head in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics (AMS) at the Colorado School of Mines.  He regularly teaches classes in the Calculus sequence as well as in the Statistics and Data Sciences curriculum at Mines.  He has taught in the McBride Honors Program with an emphasis on the intersection of public affairs, science, and engineering.  His primary academic interests are in mathematics education, large-scale optimization, and statistics. 

Gus has had an active role in the Multicultural Engineering Program as well as with nontraditional transfer student enrollment and access at Mines.  Where his activities have ranged from summer programs for student from underrepresented communities in STEM to the creation of academic pathways from the Colorado Community College System to Mines to increase access to the STEM pipeline to all residents of Colorado.  He has also played a role in the development of pathways for Mines students to pursue careers in secondary education via the Teach@Mines Program and the GetTheFactsOut initiative.

Gus is extremely pleased to be included among the Newmont STEM Equity Faculty Fellows at Mines.  He plans to leverage this fellowship to develop instructional materials in the initial Data Sciences course sequence at Mines that focus on how we can and should factor considerations of equity and inclusion into our use of data for analysis as well as the development of algorithms based on the enormous amount of data available in today’s world.  He hopes to provide students with the framework to intentionally consider past inequities (and the desire to move toward equity moving forward) when utilizing data.

Scott Houser joined the faculty in Economics and Business in 2007. He was previously an Associate Professor of Economics at California State University, Fresno, and Special Associate Professor of Economics at Colorado State University. His published research focuses on economic pedagogy, tax policy, and poverty.

Create an in-class or online student learning activity that motivates students to explore the differential impacts across gender and race in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

Create an in-class or online student learning activity that motivates students to explore the differential impacts across gender and race in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr. Lafrancois is Teaching Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Business.  She earned PhD and Master’s degrees from Syracuse University, and her undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics from Bryant University.  Becky’s interests are in energy and environmental economics, public economics and urban economics.

Professional Bio

My primary responsibilities at Colorado School of Mines involve teaching our large-enrollment, calculus-based physics courses for undergraduate engineering, computer science, and physical science majors using active-engagement teaching methods.  As the Faculty Advisor to Mines’ Society of Physics Students (SPS), I have watched our organization blossom under strong student leadership as it selflessly participates in numerous on-campus and off-campus science education outreach programs while earning the nationally coveted SPS Outstanding Chapter Award 14 years in a row (2008 – 2021), hosting four regional SPS Zone 14 Meetings (Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2014, and Spring 2017), and winning numerous Future Faces of Physics Awards and Marsh White Outreach Grants to promote our outreach efforts to local K-6 schools.  Additionally, I have served on Mines’ Campus Undergraduate Council, Ethics Across Campus Committee, and Faculty Senate, and am an active proponent in increasing the numbers of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in Mines’ academic programs and undergraduate research enterprise.

Each fall I mentor 25 incoming students in our CSM 101 (Freshman Success Seminar) course.  From 2009 to 2018, I directed a 10-week Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) summer program associated with our NSF-sponsored Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (REMRSEC), engaging 176 students and 3 teachers in renewable energy research.  In 2010, I developed and taught the ENGY320 (Renewable Energy) course that is now part of Mines’ Energy Minor Program.  In 2022, I began teaching ENGY501 (Energy Resources and Electric Power Systems) that is part of Mines’ Advanced Energy Systems (AES) graduate program in partnership with the nearby National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Brief Statement of Proposed Project for AY 2022-2023  

In my PHGN471 (Senior Design Principles 1) and PHGN472 (Senior Design Principles 2) courses, I will nurture in graduating seniors a more acute awareness of diversity, inclusion, and access needs in the professional workplace as they transition from undergraduate students to enterprising young professionals in a variety of STEM work environments.  Through these two capstone courses, students learn about Responsible Conduct in Research, Ethics in Science & Engineering, the function and role of Intellectual Property in the scientific enterprise, fundamentals of Technical Communications, and Professional Networking – topics that require one to be cognizant of, and sensitive to, contemporary best practices in STEM graduate fields and the STEM workplace.  I will infuse into these areas student-driven discussions that motivate classmates to integrate equity, social, political, and/or societal aspects into their studies.

Seth (he/him) is the Scholarly Communications Librarian at the Colorado School of Mines. He supports students and faculty through instruction, consultations, and leading the campus’ efforts toward Open Science. Prior to joining Mines as the Scholarly Communications Librarian, Seth worked at the Westminster Law Library at the University of Denver, the Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences and Map Library at the University of Colorado Boulder, in addition to having spent several years as a professional woodworker. Seth’s passion for equitable access guides his primary research interest in accessibility of materials for users with disabilities.

Brianna Buljung and Seth Vuletich, Library faculty, are developing a Representation in STEM course. The course will help participants to explore the research performed by scholars from underrepresented populations in STEM. It provides guidance for seeking out these voices to include in teaching and research on campus. It will also help participants to understand the successes experienced and barriers faced by these scholars in their disciplines. Additionally, individual modules can be adopted by faculty as micro-lessons for use in courses across the Mines curriculum. 

Dr. Youmans is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Engineering, Design, and Society Department. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an M.Ed. in Science Education from Boston University. Dr. Youmans completed her Ph.D. in Engineering Education at Utah State University with a focus on the use of empathic concern as a teaching practice to support students in engineering.

Dr. Youmans brings a broad perspective to her work, drawing from her experience designing surgical instruments in the medical device industry, leading diversity and outreach initiatives for MIT’s Office of Engineering Outreach, and launching STEM programs in Design Thinking, Computer Science, and Robotics at K-12 charter school. As an engineering educator and researcher, she is passionate about breaking down barriers and transforming engineering into a more inclusive field.

This project aims to engage 151 Cornerstone Design students in activities to raise their awareness of equity issues within design, while also increasing their ability to recognize and set aside biases in order to better empathize with project stakeholders.