DR. Priscilla P. Nelson

Expertise:  Civil, Geological, and Geotechnical Engineering, Underground Excavation, Mine Tailings Management  

Dr. Priscilla P. Nelson came to the Colorado School of Mines in 2014 as Professor and Department Head of Mining Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.  She previously was Provost at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), program director and senior advisor at the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and Professor in Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an international reputation in geological and rock engineering, and has been involved in the underground construction industry for over 35 years. She worked for the US DOE and the State of Texas on the Superconducting Super Collider project, and she has served two terms on the U. S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, appointed by Presidents Clinton and Bush.  She currently serves as the Director for E&O for the Tailings Center.

Dr. Nelson has published more than 150 technical and scientific publications, and she is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), former president of the Geo-Institute of ASCE, a lifetime member and first president and Fellow of the American Rock Mechanics Association, and Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Nelson has received many honors and awards, including election to The Moles (1995) and induction into Tau Beta Pi as an Eminent Engineer (2007).  

In 2008 she received the Kenneth Andrew Roe Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), and she was the 2011 recipient of the ASCE Henry L. Michel Award. In 2015 she was identified as one of the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining (by WIM/UK), and also was appointed to the Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering of the National Academies. In 2016 she was appointed Chair of the Mine Safety and Health Research Advisory Committee of NIOSH/CDC.  In 2018 she received the Outstanding Educator award from Underground Construction Association of SME. 

B.S., Geological Sciences, University of Rochester

M.S., Geology, Indiana University

M.S., Civil (Structural) Engineering, University of Oklahoma

Ph.D., Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering, Cornell University