MGE Students Earn First In Mine Design Competition

For the first time, a team of University of Arizona seniors took home the first place award in the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration/National Sand, Stone and Gravel Association's (SME/NSSGA) student design competition. A team of Wildcat juniors also earned third place in the Metallic Student Design Competition, which ran for the first time this year.

“The University of Arizona’s mine design teams have been consistently ranking in the top three for the past several years. We have a tight-knit group of undergraduate students who are passionate about everything they do,” said Moe Momayez, Interim Department Head and David and Edith Lowell Chair in MGE. “The success of both the senior and junior mine design teams is also a reflection of the quality of our mining engineering program and the faculty in the department.”

On the senior team were Ryan Amos, Alexandra Contreras, Sarah Huggins-Hubbard, Nick Overleas, Will Peterson, and Nathan Syers. Kate Brown, Kerst Kingsbury, Schuyler Mangiafico, Victor Nieto, David Raihala, and Tennyson Wilson came together to form the junior team. Most of the students are majoring in MGE.

The challenges began in November and were concluded in the first week of March at the 2021 SME Annual Conference & Expo.

Watch the final presentation videos here: Senior Team and Junior Team.

This article appears in full at: Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources