Dr. Syd S. Peng, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, was born in Tanwan and graduated from Stanford University and received his Ph.D. in 1970. He was the Chair of Department of Mining Engineering, West Virginia University, U.S.A. from 1978 to 2006. He was appointed as professor of HPU since 2010.

He has supervised 150 research and consulting projects from federal and state governments and private companies, and authored and coauthored 4 textbooks and 332 journal and proceedings articles in the areas of longwall mining, ground control, and respirable dust. He initiated the annual international conference on ground control in mining since 1981. It is now recognized all over the world as an annual forum for exchange of information on ground control.