September 13, 2005
Professional organization to honor Kumar
Kumar will receive a plaque as winner of the section's annual professional recognition award. Nominees must have established reputations for professional service, demonstrate lasting achievement in improving the conditions under which professional engineers practice and make significant contributions to civil engineering education and the guidance of younger members of the field.
Kumar joined SIUC's College of Engineering in 1998 after more than 11 years of professional practice, including a four-year stint as a geotechnical engineer for Geotechnology Inc., a consulting corporation with offices in St. Louis, Kansas City and Collinsville.
For the last seven years, his research has focused on practical uses for bottom ash, a byproduct of coal-burning power plants, and the analysis and design of foundations under static and dynamic loads.
Known for welcoming undergraduate students on his research projects — he has even published technical papers with some of them — he earlier this year won both his departmental and college outstanding teaching award.
Kumar, a fellow of the civil engineering society, also serves as a director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's New Madrid chapter.
He earned his bachelor's degree in 1986 in India and his master's and doctoral degrees in 1996, both from the University of Missouri, Rolla.
Celebrating faculty excellence is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.