Syd S. Peng is Charles E. Lawall Chair in Mining Engineering, West Virginia University and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Peng was born and raised and received his undergraduate education in mining engineering in Taiwan. He went to U.S. for advanced study in 1965 and received his PhD in mining engineering from Stanford University in 1970. He joined West Virginia University in 1974 and was appointed chairman of mining engineering in 1979 until 2006.Dr. Peng is the author of four books: Longwall Mining, Coal Mine Ground Control, Ground Control Failures, and Surface Subsidence Engineering, and published more than 360 journal and conference papers in the areas of longwall mining, ground control, respirable dust, surface subsidence, and automation. He is the recipient of 10 national and international awards and performed more than 100 research and consulting projects in US and 16 countries. Dr. Peng established the annual International Conference on Ground Control in Mining (ICGCM) in 1981.It has now become the annual forum of networking for experts on the subject all over the world.Since 2010, Dr. Peng has been working part-time on ground control projects on 7m high longwall mining and lecturing at China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu and Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, China as special professor. He also established the annual ICGCM (China) in 2014.

• 1. Research Developments that contributed to the Landscape of Longwall Roof Support Design over the past 25 Years2. Study on the factors influencing the load capacity of shield3. Structural Engineering Principles in Coal Mine Strata Control – the Common Link Between Empirical Models, Numerical Models and Practical Solutions4. Rock Failure above and below Chain Pillars- Implications for Subsidence and Fluid Flow Between Goafs5. Overburden Response to Longwall Mining6. Surface Subsidence Characteristics due to High-intensity Mining and Structures Damages Prevention Techniques7. Ground Control during Pillar Recovery with Continuous Miner8. Nondestructive Testing of Bolt Support Quality and Stability Control of Coal Mine Roadways9. Practical Coal Mine Ground Control – Operator’s Perspective10. The Use of Cable Bolts for Ground Control - Current Applications and Future Innovation11. Rock Failure Process Analysis Method (RFPA) for Modeling Coal Strata Movement12. Thick Seam Coal Mining and Its Ground Control13. Experience in Ground Control Evaluation of Longwall Recovery Using Numerical Modeling and In-situ Monitoring