CARBONDALE — A professor of mechanical engineering and energy processes and leading scholar in energy technology from Southern Illinois University has been invited by United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to serve on the National Coal Council.

Tomasz Wiltkowski, who also serves as the Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center at SIU-C, will serve in an advisory role in dealing with coal’s future.

SIU’s Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center assists faculty, students and others in engaging in advanced coal and energy-related research and service opportunities as it looks for long-term, environmentally friendly solutions to energy needs.

Chartered in 1984, the council makes recommendations on the coal industry and the future of coal to the energy secretary. Members of the council serve without compensation and are to recuse themselves from any potential financial conflict of interest.