Presentations by both keynote and oral speakers are below and our Critical Minerals YouTube. See you in 2024!
The Transition to Renewable Energy: Truths and Consequences
Adam C. Simon is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. He earned degrees in geology and geochemistry from the University of Maryland and Stony Brook University and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Johns Hopkins University. His scholarly work focuses on the global flow of energy and mineral resources with an emphasis on the geologic availability of energy critical metals. Adam has co-authored the textbooks Mineral Resources, Economics and the Environment, and Earth Materials: Components of a Diverse Planet and published extensively in the field of energy and mineral resources. Adam has done research and given invited lectures on all seven continents, including a TEDX talk in 2022. He has earned numerous awards for under-graduate teaching including the University of Michigan Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize.
Developing the critical minerals workforce: roadblocks and opportunities
Isabel Barton is an assistant professor of mining and geological engineering at the University of Arizona. Her major area of research is geometallurgy, integrating geology, mineralogy, and extractive metallurgy to understand how rock and mineral properties affect process behavior. In collaboration with ASU and with the UA School for Mining & Mineral Resources, School of Anthropology, and Aerospace Engineering department, she is also running an NSF-funded study of recruitment practices to enhance and diversify engineering disciplines.
New Sheriffs in Town? Part Deux, In Which the Minerals Wild West Gets Wilder
Michelle Michot Foss, Ph.D., is a fellow in energy, minerals, and materials at Rice University’s Baker Institute, developing policies and conducting research to help build capacity on non-fuel minerals supply chains. She has nearly 40 years of experience in senior positions in energy (oil, gas/LNG, electric power) and environmental research, consulting, and investment banking, with early-career exposure to mining and mined land reclamation.
Key considerations in thinking about public policy toward critical minerals
Roderick G. Eggert is Viola Vestal Coulter Foundation Chair in Mineral Economics at Colorado School of Mines, where he has taught since 1986. He also is Deputy Director of the Critical Materials Institute, an energy innovation hub (research consortium, led by the Ames Laboratory) established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2013 to accelerate innovation in energy materials.
Responsibility in Mining: Educating for Environmental, Social and Economic Awareness
Keynote talk by Dr. Emma J. Hunt (Furman University).
Identifying Labor Risks in Critical Mineral Supply Chains
Alex Silberman is an International Relations Specialist with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). He works in ILAB’s Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, where he researches labor exploitation in critical mineral and energy supply chains to inform DOL’s International Child Labor & Forced Labor Reports.
Critical Mineral Recovery from Unconventional Sources
Presentation by Isabelle Harris (Colorado School of Mines).
The Role of Universities in Training Students for the Critical Materials Workforce
Presentation by Dr. James D. Kubicki (The University of Texas at El Paso).
Metal mixtures in uranium mine wastes from tribal lands
José M. Cerrato is Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico. He obtained a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Honduras, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech. He was also a Postdoctoral Researcher in Washington University in St Louis. He serves as Associate Director of the UNM Center for Water and the Environment, and is affiliated to the UNM METALS Superfund Research Center. His research interest is related to biogeochemical processes occurring at molecular and macro scales at the interface of water and energy. He has been a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, and Fulbright U.S. Scholar Senior Research Award to Spain.
Unlocking new resources through full-value copper mining
Saskia Duyvesteyn is the Chief Advisor Research & Development for the Rio Tinto Copper product group managing the portfolio of innovation projects across the entire value stream including ore body knowledge, underground & surface mining, mineral processing & metallurgy, tailings and digital projects. Saskia has over 20 years of experience in operational, technical and leadership roles based in Nevada, California and Utah for a range a commodities, including copper, gold, silver, borates, molybdenum and other critical minerals. Prior to her career in mining, Saskia was an assistant professor at the University of Utah’s Department of Metallurgical Engineering. Saskia has a Ph.D. in Extractive Metallurgy & Mineral Processing and a Master of Science in Minerals Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She has a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science & Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also a Senior RioExpert.