Montana Tech Chancellor Don Blackketter will present Dr. Douglas Fuerstenau with the Chancellor’s Medallion at Montana Tech’s Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 17, 2014. The Chancellor’s Medallion is given at the sole discretion of the Chancellor to recognize an alumnus who has excelled in both their educational and professional careers. The award recipients will have earned at least one degree from Montana Tech and will have made significant academic related contributions including professional publications, holding faculty positions, advising graduate students, and participating in academic research.
“It is an honor to present Dr. Fuerstenau with the Chancellor’s Medallion,” noted Chancellor Blackketter. “He has had an exceptional industrial, academic and research career. Of special recognition is the positive impact he has made mentoring and directing graduate students.”
Biography of the award winner:
Dr. Douglas Fuerstenau
B.S. Metallurgical Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 1949
M.S. Mineral Dressing, Montana School of Mines, 1950
Sc.D. Mineral Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1953
Douglas W. Fuerstenau, a South Dakota native, developed an early interest in mathematics and science that led him to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology where he graduated in 1949 with a B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering, and to graduate studies at Montana School of Mines for an M.S. degree in mineral dressing engineering in 1950 and then to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received his Sc.D. degree in mineral engineering in 1953. After teaching at MIT and working in industry for Union Carbide and Kaiser Aluminum, he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley in 1959. Through his inspiration, numerous students have achieved notable distinction in careers in academia, industry and government worldwide. Over the course of his academic career, he guided the thesis research of 65 M.S. students and 60 Ph.D. students.
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1976, Dr. Fuerstenau is recognized as a giant in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, and his research results are widely used and referenced extensively. Some 440 publications have resulted from his work, mostly with his graduate students. He has held leadership roles in national and international technical societies and has served on numerous advisory boards to universities, international editorial boards, Government committees and panels regarding mineral resources, and has contributed widely at the international level to resource programs. For 22 years he was a Director of Homestake Mining Company.
He has received many awards, including honorary doctorates from Belgium and Sweden, and election to foreign academies in Australia, India and Russia. In 2011 the Bancroft Library of the University of California published his oral history, Mineral Processing Engineer and Scientist: in Education, Research, Industry and International Cooperation. In 2014, the International Mineral Processing Council (IMPC) and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) jointly honored him with an IMPC/SME Special Award for Outstanding Contributions to Global Mineral Processing.