2019 MEI Young Person's Award to Nikhil Dhawan

The recipient of the MEI Young Person's Award is normally announced after the presentation of the award at an MEI Conference.

These are not normal times, however, and the 2019 award was to be presented at Hi-Tech Metals '20 in Cape Town, which is now cancelled due to Coronavirus.

So I am pleased to announce that the recipient, who will be presented with the award somewhere and sometime in the unforeseeable future, is Dr. Nikhil Dhawan, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT-Roorkee, India.

Nikhil was nominated by three eminent mineral processors, Prof. Jan Miller, of the University of Utah, USA, Prof. B.K. Mishra, Director of IIT Goa, and Dr. Pradip, Chief Scientist at Tata Research Development and Design Centre, India.

Nikhil Dhawan obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Metallurgical Engineering) with First Class Honours from Punjab Engineering College, in 2008. His Ph.D on the Modelling of Crushed Ore Agglomeration for Heap Leach Operations, was conferred by the University of Utah in 2013.

He has four sponsored research projects funded by various government organizations, and has authored 47 refereed journal articles, 20 international conference papers, and 2 book chapters. He is among very few young researchers working in the high priority areas of electronic waste recycling for recovery of base metals and rare earth elements, processing of low-grade iron ores, and silicate rocks for potassium values.

His research work is focused on the extraction of rare earth values from electronic waste, lithium and cobalt from lithium-ion batteries, copper and gold values (printed circuit boards), potassium values from silicate rocks and enrichment of low grade banded iron ores.

Dr. Dhawan was recently elected as a member of the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences and has received the AC Datta MESA Award (Institution of Engineers, 2016) and Khare award (2016) from the Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers.  Based on his research, Nikhil was selected as a consultant by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited for technical due diligence work on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries for Attero Recycling Pvt. Ltd.

Nikhil is passionate about training the next generation of mineral engineers to meet the challenges of the future, and as part of the 2016 IMPC in Quebec, he was invited to participate in the IMPC Emerging Leaders Working Group.

He is active in promoting the role of extractive metallurgy through invited lectures and contributory lectures at different platforms (workshops and conferences) within India and abroad. In his short career, Nikhil has made a significant mark on our profession, produced research results of acknowledged benefits to the industry, and built an international network of collaborators. Undoubtedly Nikhil has the attributes necessary to play a significant role in our industry’s future as a researcher, teacher, practitioner, and international collaborator. His excellence, commitment, and dedication make him a worthy recipient of the MEI Young Person’s Award.