Ramanarayanan (Vish) Viswanathan, professor of electrical and computer engineering, began at the University of Mississippi last fall and is an inaugural member of the Woods Society.
OXFORD, Miss. – After more than 40 years, Sam S.Y. Wang retired from the University of Mississippi as F.A.P. Barnard Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering. Yacoub “Jacob” Najjar and Ramanarayanan “Vish” Viswanathan started at UM as the chairs and professors of civil and electrical engineering, respectively, last fall.
Though Sam Wang’s, Yacoub Najjar’s and Ramanarayanan Viswanathan’s expertise and years of leadership experience differ, the common denominator among them is their status as inaugural members of the Woods Society, a new initiative to increase donations to the School of Engineering.
“I joined the Woods Order in the 1980s, honoring my parents because of their wish to promote the educational institution and progress at Ole Miss,” said Wang. “At the time of my retirement in 2010, I fully understood how the extra financial support can strengthen the success of the School of Engineering and decided without hesitation to join the newly reactivated Woods Society when Dean Alex Cheng proposed it.”
Students spend countless number of hours preparing for their activities, and Najjar said his support represents a thank-you note for all their efforts.
“I believe my support represents an investment in our school to support the activities of our students,” he said. “I would like my donations to support the civil engineering students’ activities, such as concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions. My first priority is to support my department’s student activities.”
Viswanathan found the Woods Society to be a good way to provide support to students’ educational activities.
“Friends and alumni of the Woods Society have a say in how their contributions are to be spent,” he said. “I would like the money raised be spent on laboratory upgrades, support for student organizations for their travel to professional meetings and competitions, and for on-campus student activities.”
Yacoub (Jacob) Najjar arrived at the University of Mississippi in fall 2012 and is an inaugural member of the Woods Society, a new initiative to increase donations to the UM School of Engineering.
Begun in fall 2012, the Woods Society helps fund annual student activities in the School of Engineering. Gifts help provide career fairs, field experiences, professional conventions and leadership/service opportunities such as Engineers Without Borders. Membership begins with a donation of at least $1,000.
“We remain excited about the new membership for this unique society,” said Kevin Gardner, development officer for the School of Engineering. “With each freshman class getting larger than the last, resources are necessary to equip our present students for the bright future ahead. Anyone with an interest or passion for a particular department or student activity can have [his or her] financial support directed for that cause.”
Wang was one of the university’s first four Frederick A.P. Barnard Distinguished Professors in 1988, the highest faculty accolade on the Oxford campus. He was renominated and selected for a second term in 1993 and was awarded the Barnard Distinguished Professor title for life in 1998. Wang was chosen for the inaugural Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award and Outstanding Engineering Faculty Awards, as well as many other UM honors.
A pioneer in applying computational modeling methodology to hydroscience research, Wang has gained worldwide recognition. Among numerous accolades, he has received the Hans Albert Einstein Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Qian Ning Prize from the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research, the two highest international honors presented to a researcher selected for his or her lifetime distinguished achievements in hydrodynamics, soil erosion and sediment transport research.
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Najjar served as interim chair and professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University before coming to 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.
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 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.
Wang encourages everyone with an interest in engineering to join the Woods Society.
“I hope that all retired faculty, alumni and present faculty and friends of the School of Engineering actively support Dean Cheng’s initiative to strengthen this worthy fund, to expand its ability to support not only the students’ professional developments, but also the academic programs and faculty development to raise the School of Engineering’s reputation to higher and higher levels,” he said.
For more information about the Woods Society, call Gardner at 662-915-7601, Kevin@olemiss.edu or visit http://www.engineering.olemiss.edu/woods/.