Dr. Purushotham Tukkaraja is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, and the Director of MSHA State Grants Program in the Mining Engineering and Management Department at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City, South Dakota. Dr. PT is also an ABET Program Evaluator, Qualified Professional (QP) Member of Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. Past-President of the Black Hills Chapter of ISEE. He serves on the Underground Ventilation Committee (UVC) Executive Board; he is an organizing committee member for the Best in the West Drill and Blast Conference, and International Society of Explosives Engineers (ISEE) annual conference. He serves as an Associate Editor, an Editorial Board Member, and a Reviewer for several mining engineering journals.