The departments of Civil and Electrical Engineering at the University of Mississippi are under new management.
Yacoub “Jacob” Najjar is chair and professor of civil engineering. Ramanarayanan “Vish” Viswanathan is chair and professor of electrical engineering. Along with decades of administrative expertise and academic vision, both men bring excitement and anticipation to their respective positions.
“I really liked the university people whom I met with during my first and second visits,” Najjar said. “Students, faculty, staff and administrators were very friendly and easy to get along with. My family prefers to live in a college town, and Oxford offers us just that. Moreover, having a very beautiful campus is a major plus!”
Ramanarayanan 'Vish' Viswanathan
Viswanathan said the rich tradition and history of Ole Miss and his long-term experience as a faculty member in a place comparable to the university motivated him to seek the position.
“The friendliness of the faculty, staff, the dean and other administrators was an appealing factor in my decision to come here,” he said. “In the past few weeks, my interaction with the students here has been limited. Nonetheless, this experience has been nothing but positive.”
Najjar’s goals for the civil engineering department are to elevate the department’s national and international standing by increasing the feasibility of faculty through excellence in research, teaching and service.
“I also want to create and maintain a happy civil engineering family by encouraging a very collegial work environment,” Najjar said. “Finally, I want to align the departmental strategic goals with those of the School of Engineering and the university in order to efficiently serve our community, the state and the nation.”
Viswanathan’s vision for the electrical engineering department is to increase the number of undergraduate students and to strengthen graduate programs and research.
“By utilizing faculty expertise, the department will reach out to alumni, corporations and government sponsors to bring additional funds for research and education,” Viswanathan said. “By working with the dean’s office, together we will initiate efforts to attract students from targeted high schools and community colleges, and launch targeted international collaborations.”
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Najjar served as interim chair and professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University prior to joining UM. His teaching awards and honors include the 2006 Midwest Section Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education and the 2012 Kansas State Commerce Bank Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Yacoub 'Jacob' Najjar
Najjar’s research focuses on the application of artificial neural networks and computational mechanics to advance the civil infrastructure. His research on the interaction of soil and civil structures, transportation, geomechanics, geosynthetics and geoenvironmental systems has yielded more than 90 peer-refereed articles.
A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Viswanathan was professor of electrical and computer engineering at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He also served as interim dean of the SIU’s College of Engineering.
A fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, his research areas include signal detection, wireless sensor networks and wireless communication. Viswanathan received an Outstanding Teacher Award from the ECE department in 2007 and the Outstanding College of Engineering Faculty Award in 2008, both at SIU.
Viswanathan’s wife, Rama, is a registered cardiac sonographer who enjoys working part time. The couple’s older daughter, Priya, works for a bioengineering company in Chicago. Their younger daughter, Jaya, is studying chemical engineering at the University of Illinois.
Najjar and his wife, Oana, have three sons: Danny, 19, a computer science major at Kansas State University; Adam, 6; and Noah, 4.
When not at work, Najjar enjoys walking, swimming and visiting new places. Viswanathan’s hobbies include watching Indian movies, listening to songs with his family, playing doubles tennis with friends and reading.
