The University of Arkansas announced Friday (Aug. 29) it will use a $1 million gift from longtime professor and researcher R. Panneer Selvam and his wife, Chitra, to create the Chitra and Panneer Selvam Endowed Professorship in Civil Engineering.

According to a news release, the gift will “support faculty excellence and expand research opportunities in the high-impact area of computer modeling and computational mechanics.” The “endowed faculty position in the Department of Civil Engineering is a transformational gift” for the program.

“The Selvam Endowed Professorship is a powerful investment in faculty excellence and student success,” said Chancellor Charles Robinson. “It will help elevate our civil engineering program and empower the next generation of scholars to conduct high-impact research. We are deeply grateful to Chitra and Panneer, not only for this incredible gift but also for their many years of dedication to the University of Arkansas and our students.”

“Gifts like this from the Selvam family help us recruit and retain top faculty,” said Micah Hale, department head for civil engineering. “It will also provide support for the research mission of the university, allowing the professorship holder to fund both undergraduate and graduate students, purchase needed equipment and present research at national and international conferences.”

Panneer Selvam was born in India and traveled to the United States to pursue higher education.

“The U.S. is a place where dreams are realized,” Selvam said. “I found a career in teaching and research here, which I loved the most. The University of Arkansas gave me opportunities I could not have imagined.”

A university professor, Selvam has been working in science and engineering since the mid-1980s, having conducted research in Australia and Denmark, and established the Computational Mechanics Laboratory, one of the first high-performance computing labs at the UA.

“I am hoping this is just the start of giving back to the university, which has given me so much,” he said. “I also hope this will help raise the department and the university to the next level in national ranking and recognition.”

The new professorship places a priority on support for graduate students. Its intent is to support academic advancement in computer modeling in science and engineering, a field where Selvam has made significant contributions, the release shows. His work includes studies on the forces of tornadoes on buildings, thermal energy storage in concrete and electronic cooling systems.

Once the endowment is fully vested, the college’s dean will conduct a national search in collaboration with the department to select the inaugural holder of the professorship. According to Hale, the ideal candidate will be a scholar with a nationally recognized research program in computer modeling or computational mechanics.

“We feel very blessed and fortunate for what has brought us to this point in my career,” Selvam said. “I am wishing the same for the next generation at the University of Arkansas. The future will bring big challenges, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, but I believe the university and this professorship can help students and faculty meet those challenges head-on.”

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