Student & Faculty Highlights
Mahadevan Appointed John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering
Honoring internationally recognized expert and leader of world's largest doctoral program in Risk and Reliability Engineering
Sankaran Mahadevan, professor of civil and environmental engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, works on ways to increase the reliability and decrease the risks of complex structures and systems. His research regarding automotive, aircraft and spacecraft systems, civil infrastructure systems, and nuclear waste storage has the potential to save human lives and millions of dollars.
His research has been funded by NSF, NASA, FAA, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Transportation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Army Research Office, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, General Motors, Chrysler, Union Pacific, Transportation Technology Center, and the Sandia, Los Alamos, Idaho and Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Professor Mahadevan also directs the Vanderbilt Risk and Reliability Engineering and Management Doctoral Program, the largest of its kind in the world.
Professor Mahadevan joined the Vanderbilt engineering faculty in 1988, after earning his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech. Has has authored more than 300 technical publications, including two textbooks and 130 peer-reviewed journal articles. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Probabilistic Methods Educator Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Next Generation Design Tools Award from NASA, and the Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor Award from Vanderbilt.