Alumni Spotlight – Andrea Brickey (MinE 99)
Andrea Brickey (MinE 99) has been connected to South Dakota Mines for over 30 years, and in those 30 years has received countless awards and recognitions, but she humbly accredits all of that back to the school, rather than her own accomplishments.
“In some ways it’s a recognition of this institution, that our education is valued here in what we do,” she said. “That we are one of the leaders in the mining industry in the United States and that our service we provide has an impact on the industry in the United States and beyond.”
Andrea graduated in 1999 and was told at the time by a professor and mentor, Charles (Chuck) Kliche (MinE 74), that she should go get some experience and a PhD, then come back and take his job teaching.
“I thought he was joking, but I showed up a year before he retired, so I guess he played the long game and was right,” she said.
Prior to coming back to teach, Andrea gained an extensive amount of experience in the mining industry, starting off her career at a copper mine in southern Nevada. She traveled and moved around a lot with her company, working in such places as Idaho, Montana, Venezuela, Canada, South Africa, and Denver. After several years of traveling and consulting, she decided it was time to settle down in one place and met her husband, who also was a Mines physics alum.
Andrea began teaching at Mines in 2015 and has been amazed at the changes taking place on campus, though, as she says, a campus that doesn’t have construction is a dying campus.
“We’re modernizing, we’re growing and doing all of those things that keep us rejuvenated,” she said.
Along with the growing that campus has been doing, Andrea has been doing her own personal growing, earning her a number of prestigious awards and recognitions. Andrea will be named the president of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America at the end of February. In addition, she is being awarded the Ivan B. Rahn Education Award and will be named a Fellow of Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration at a celebration during their annual conference. The last professor from South Dakota Mines to receive the Ivan B. Rahn Education award was Dr. Arden Davis in 2014.
In addition, Andrea, as well as Dr. Jon Kellar, were both asked selected by the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to share their knowledge as part of the U.S. Speaker Program. This program will put them on a global stage to represent the United States in matters of cybersecurity, energy security, and economic prosperity.
“It’s a big year,” she said. “I knew was I going to be the president of MMSA, but everything else was a complete and utter surprise to me. I feel very humbled and surprised.”
Andrea said it is not only about her, but about the impact that they get to have on the world now, and a tribute to the work that the students and staff do at South Dakota Mines.
“I hope that we can continue to make our name known around the world in places that we’d never thought we’d get a chance to visit, and see what opportunities that will bring to us. I’m very proud of the students that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and their accomplishments. I’m proud of the fact that what we do as mining engineers is often helping society; we’ve helped countries develop economies and jobs and provided a way for society to elevate their quality of life.”
