The University of Kentucky is well-represented on a list of the most-cited researchers in the world. In a database compiled by Stanford University in a partnership with Elsevier, 136 current UK scientists and scholars appear among the top 2% of the most-cited researchers across 22 disciplines. Of those 136 scientists and scholars, 20 are UK Pigman College of Engineering faculty.
Zach Agioutantis, Ph.D., the Mining Engineering Foundation Professor and chair of the Department of Mining Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has been honored as a 2025-26 University Research Professor.
Recently, mining engineering graduate students from the University of Kentucky student chapter of the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) participated in the ARMA annual student design competition, placing third.
The annual Pigman College of Engineering Faculty Awards ceremony was held on May 1 at Malone's Prime and Events. Awards were given in the areas of research, service and graduate studies.
In February, faculty and students from the University of Kentucky Department of Mining Engineering received several awards at the Society for Mining Engineering's annual MINEXCHANGE conference in Denver, Colorado. Jack Groppo, professor and director of undegraduate studies in the Department of Mining Engineering, was named the winner of the 2025 Frank F. Aplan Award, which recognizes contributions that further the understanding of the technology of coal and/or mineral engineering.
Recently, students in the Department of Mining Engineering formed a new student chapter of the National Sand, Stone & Gravel Association (NSSGA) at the University of Kentucky. The NSSGA represents the aggregates industry, which includes companies involved in producing stone, sand, and gravel.
Zach Agioutantis, department chair and professor for the department of Mining Engineering, was named University Research Professors for the 2025-26 academic year.
Born and educated in Fayette County, Kentucky, Samuel M. Cassidy received his Bachelor of Science in metallurgical engineering in 1925. After graduation, he accepted a position with Allen and Garcia Company, consulting and construction engineers, in Chicago, Illinois, where he received valuable experience in the field of coal mining. While employed at Allen and Garcia, he completed the requirements for a masters degree in mining engineering (’28). In 1946, he became president of Consolidation Coal Company (KY) in Jenkins, Kentucky.
By his own description, Louis Ware’s career was a planned one which, “with tenacity, the help of other competent people, a good health record and, of course, a goodly portion of luck, worked out as planned.” Following receipt of a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from the University of Kentucky College of Mining Engineering in 1917, Mr. Ware headed for the mines to become miner and underground boss for Old Dominion Copper Company in Globe, Arizona. His plan included getting experience in all types of mining, and he did just that.
UK Pigman College of Engineering researchers in the Department of Mining Engineering Ali Moradi (PI), Zach Agioutantis (Co-I), Pedram Roghanchi (Co-I) and Steven Schafrik (Co-I) have received a $1,250,000 grant over five years from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for their project, "Strategic Health and Safety Optimization in Transition from Open Pit to Underground Mines."
