KAROLY CHARLES KOCSIS portrait
  • Department Chair, Mining Engineering
  • Professor, Mining Engineering
  • Western Mining Presidential Endowed Chair in Mine Safety, Mining Engineering
801-585-5176

Current Courses

Fall 2024

  • MG EN 505-001
    Ventilation/Air Cond
  • MG EN 505-002
    Ventilation/Air Cond
  • MG EN 5050-001
    Ventilation/Air Cond
  • MG EN 5050-002
    Ventilation/Air Cond
  • MG EN 5970-003
    Intern Program
  • MG EN 6900-008
    Special Topics
  • MG EN 6900-010
    Special Topics

Summer 2024

Spring 2024

Professional Organizations

  • Utah Mining Association. 01/01/2021 - present. Position : Member.
  • Society of Mining Professors (SOMP). 07/15/2013 - present. Position : Member.
  • Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration (SME). 02/27/2012 - present. Position : Member.
  • SME Underground Ventilation Committee. 02/27/2012 - present. Position : Member.
  • Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in Ontario, Canada. 07/03/2000 - present. Position : Member.

Teaching Philosophy

The main points of my teaching philosophy are:

  1. Provide a friendly and interactive environment to encourage the students to be attentive and engaged to the presented course material.
  2. Encourage team work and promote independent, creative and critical thinking by giving students time to come up with their own solutions whenever a problem is presented. Allow sufficient time to discuss the varying possibilities between a presented solution and solutions presented by students.
  3. Respect the students and their capabilities while maintaining high expectations.
  4. Inform and expose the students to new design methods and concepts, techniques and advanced software/tools, which are key components for their future studies and achievements.
  5. Develop appreciation, interest and the necessary skills to conduct research in mine ventilation design, rock mechanics, ground control, mine planning, mine design, mine climate control, material handling, mine feasibility analysis, and health and safety.
  6. Encourage and promote the development of new design concepts and systems, and the use of relevant mine design, mine planning, mine ventilation and rock mechanics software packages, which are extensively used at our surface and underground operations.
  7. Encourage and promote active learning in the classroom coupled with advanced technologies and systems, which can improve productivity, safety and health, while at the same time reducing energy consumption at surface and underground mines.
  8. For example, starting with the fall semester of 2017, I introduced a new laboratory session titled: “ventilation-on-demand based control systems”. Through this session, the students are exposed to managing the airflow distribution throughout a physical mine model by means of automated ventilation controls managed by a “ventilation control program” installed on the PC. The automated ventilation controls include components such as: primary and auxiliary fans equipped with variable frequency drives (VFDs), process logic controllers (PLCs), automated regulators, airflow sensors, pressure sensors, and contaminant sensors.
  9. In addition, as part of this mine ventilation lab sessions, the students are encouraged to develop their own control algorithms (e.g. C++) and through an interpreter” interface upload their airflow management program into the main control module of the VOD system. Students would then quantify savings in energy consumption while delivering the required air volumes to the production working and throughout the physical mine model. I strongly believe that this teaching approach will promote creativity, enhance critical thinking and increase the interest and confidence of the students to design and develop advanced mine ventilation systems.

Courses I Teach

  • MG EN 5050 - Mine Ventilation and Environmental Control
    The mine ventilation course (MG EN 5050) covers the following topics: (1) Mechanics of fluid flow–Laminar & turbulent, (2) Underground ventilation surveys, (3) Ventilation network analysis, (4) Application of engineering principles in ventilation planning, (5) Ventilation system design – Primary & auxiliary, (6) Mine ventilation fans – Primary & auxiliary (7) Psychrometry – Study of moisture in the air, (8) Contaminant control – Dust gases, (9) Mine climate control using mechanical and natural ventilation methods. In addition, the course also covers: (10) Heat sources and flow into mine openings – Strata, auto-compression, equipment, (11) Analysis of underground climatic conditions by means of climatic modelling techniques, (12) Underground work comfort analysis.
  • MG EN 5170 - Mine Administration and Finance
    The MG EN 5170 Mine Administration & Finance course is a 2-credits course. The course focuses on the application of accounting and financial procedures to mining engineering projects. Includes discussions with respect to the influence of US and world scale economics on mining activities, and evaluation of financial performance of mining projects. The course includes lectures (like Power Point presentations), group projects, risk analysis methods and their application to mining projects. The course focuses on discussions with respect to mining company organization, team development, ethical practices in the industry, and strategic planning concepts. Student interim and summary of written applications are also covered.

Current Students

  • Valdneide Cintia Alves, Master of Science (M.S.), Role: Chair.