Sankaran Mahadeven received Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor Award during the Spring Faculty Assembly held at Vanderbilt April 6.
The award, created in 2000 upon former Chancellor Wyatt’s retirement, recognizes accomplishments that span multiple academic disciplines. Mahadevan, professor of civil and environmental engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, has director of the National Science Foundation-Funded Multidisciplinary Reliability and Risk Engineering and Management program.
In presenting the award to Mahadevan, Chancellor Gordon Gee said, “The courses on reliability and risk engineering which Professor Mahadevan has developed do not only attract graduate students from engineering, but also from the Owen School of Management and … from the School of Nursing. Sankaran’s contributions in applied mathematics have been used to develop and improve the performance of civil engineering structures, aerospace structures, the management of nuclear waste, micro-electronics and human reliability.”
The Multidisciplinary Reliability and Risk Engineering and Management doctoral program is the first in the world to study and develop integrated multidisciplinary computational and experimental approaches to assessing and managing risk and reliability. The program’s unique approach has yielded techniques are broadly applicable across engineering and management disciplines.
The Vanderbilt award is conferred upon a full-time faculty member for the development of significant new knowledge from research or exemplary innovations in teaching. The recipient carries for one year the title Joe B. Watt Distinguished University Professor and receives a $2,500 cash award and an engraved silver tray.
Mahadevan came to Vanderbilt in 1988 as assistant professor, upon receiving his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.