Dr Hirschi is a Productivity Analyst in the Smart Solutions group. Prior to embarking on this new role, he was a project manager for the Illinois Clean Coal Institute leading their research efforts in coal mining and preparation. He has adjunct faculty status in the College of Engineering at Southern Illinois University, the institution from which he received a PhD degree in Engineering Science. He received BS and MS degrees in Mining Engineering and a MBA degree from the University of Utah. The first half of his career was at the Galatia Mine in southern Illinois where he was a safety technician, operations foreman, and mine engineer.