Dr. Tien has over 27 years of practical experience in mine ventilation, mine planning, and mineral project economic analysis. Before coming to UMR in 1985, he worked for the White Pine Copper Company as a Mine Planning Engineer for two years and Peabody Coal Company as a Ventilation Specialist for 10 years. He has accumulated extensive practical experience in ventilation system design, pressure surveys, cost evaluation, health and safety issues, feasibility study for coal, metal, non-metal and industrial minerals. Over the years, he has conducted 14 short cours es on mine ventilation, underground coal mining, and mine dewatering for the mining industry, including the two taught at the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, at Zacatecas, Mexico, March 22-24, 1999 and at the 8th U.S. Mine Ventilation Symposium held in Rolla, Missouri, USA, June, 1999.

During his sabbatical leave between May 2000 and December 2001, Dr. Tien worked for the Asian American Coal, Inc. (AACI) as the Vice President, Technical Services, stationed at Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. AACI, headerquartered in Richmond, VA, is currently working on several coal joint ventures in China.

Dr. Tien is a registered professional engineer, a certified mine foreman in Kentucky, and is currently an active consultant. In addition to working for companies in the United States, he has also worked for the International Labor Office (ILO, Genev a, Switzerland) as a Ventilation Training Expert and a consultant for United Nations' Development Program (UNDP, Beijing, China) on mine health and safety matters, both in China. He is also the China Specialist for Engineering and Mining Journal (E&MJ) and writes regularly for both E&MJ and Coal Age.

Dr. Tien holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mining engineering from

Michigan Technological Universityand theUniversity of Missouri-Rollarespectively, and an MBA fromUniversity of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana.