Prof. Dr. Shimin Liu obtained a M.S. in Mineral Processing Engineering from China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 2007 and a PhD in Engineering Science from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, USA, in 2012. He was awarded the 2017 Freeport-McMoRan Career Development Grant from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration in 2017 and the Gladys Snyder Grant Award at Pennsylvania State University in 2015. He is a professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State.