Awards & Scholarships

Fuerstenau is professor and Interim chair in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR). He grew up in Rapid City, SD and received a B.S. in geological engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) in 1955. He then earned masters and doctorate degrees in metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has served as a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Utah, SDSM&T and UNR for more that 42 years. He served as head of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at SDSM&T for 17 years. For his dedication to teaching and research, he received the Presidential Award and the Guy E. March Silver Medal from the SDSM&T and was named a Foundation Professor at UNR. Fuerstenau has published more than 125 technical papers in extractive metallurgy, specifically in the areas of surface chemistry of froth flotation, metallurgical kinetics, solvent extraction, ion exchange, sedimentation, comminution and environmental remediation and has been awarded three patents. He has written or edited six books in extractive metallurgy. Fuerstenau was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991 He was president of SME in 1982. He has received several SME/AIME awards: the Richards Award, the Mineral Industry Education Award, the Gaudin Award, the Taggart Award and the SME Distinguished Member Award.