1987/MT/CE A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair Professor & Director, Center for Infrastructure Renewal,Texas A & M University, USA
Prof. Anand J. Puppala is a globally recognised leader in geotechnical engineering whose research, teaching, and professional service have shaped the field for over three decades. Currently the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, he is also Director of the Center for Infrastructure Renewal and serves in leadership roles across multiple national university transportation centers. He was elected a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2024, the highest honour the society confers.
He completed his B.S. in Civil Engineering with distinction from Andhra University in 1985 and his M.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1987, before earning his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 1993. His time at IIT Madras provided the foundational training that would underpin a research career of exceptional breadth and impact.
Prof. Puppala’s scholarly contributions span expansive and unsaturated soils, ground modification, recycled materials in construction, remote sensing, and sustainability in geotechnical engineering. He has authored or co-authored more than 600 publications, including over 270 journal papers, 19 book chapters, and eight edited volumes. He holds two granted patents and has submitted additional provisional patents. Prof. Puppala supervised 47 Doctoral students and 55 Masters students and is currently advising 15 doctoral students. Many of his students are in academia and industries holding faculty positions in esteemed universities and vice president leadership positions in major industries.
His work has received numerous international recognitions, including the ASCE Ralph B. Peck Award (2020), the 2026 Proctor Lecture Award from the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (2026), the Excellent Service to Geotechnical Engineering Award from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (2011), and the Civil Engineering Leadership Award (2021) and multiple Engineering Genesis Awards (2023–2024) from Texas A&M University.
Beyond research, Prof. Puppala has served the global engineering community with distinction. He is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a Fellow of the Indian Geotechnical Society. He currently serves as Vice President of the ASCE Geo-Institute for FY 2026 and previously served as President of the US Universities Council on Geotechnical Engineering Research and as Chair of the ISSMGE Technical Committee on Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering (TC307). Earlier, as Associate Dean for Research at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2012 to 2019, he played a key role in expanding the college’s research enterprise and mentoring the next generation of faculty and researchers.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to geotechnical engineering, infrastructure resilience, and the global engineering community, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and its alumni are proud to confer Prof. Anand J. Puppala with the Distinguished Alumni Award for the year 2026.
