Awards & Scholarships

Edward Steidle was born in Williamsport, Pa., in 1887 and received B.S. and E.M. degrees from The Pennsylvania State University in 1911 and 1914, respectively. In 1943, he was awarded a D.S. by Alfred University.

After a brief period with the U. S. Bureau of Mines, he served in the U. S. Army for two years, in action with the A.E.F. Wounded three times, he was awarded the Victory Medal, the Pershing Citation and Purple Heart. He then joined Carnegie Institute of Technology as Associate Professor of Mining Engineering, simultaneously working with the U.S.B.M. where his research in mine safety and health proved the nucleus of the tremendous strides that have been made in these fields.

In 1928, he was appointed Dean, School of Mines and Metallurgy at Penn State. His complete reorganization of the curricula of this School resulted in the present unified, decentralized College of Mineral Industries. When the Dean retired in 1953, the College had a modern physical plant and an eminent faculty, together with a comprehensive program to meet the needs of the State and the Nation.

His activities on behalf of Pennsylvania and the U.S. have not ceased and he has been a Delegate to many important missions in the mineral industry field. Both President Eisenhower and President Kennedy have appointed and reappointed him as Chairman, Federal Coal Mine Safety Board of Review, in which post he has traveled in nearly every country in the world.