Prof. Achintya Haldar

Prof. Achintya Haldar, who is a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, is a Ph.D in civil engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1976. He completed his B.S. in civil engineering from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, in 1968, and went to Illinois to do M.S. in civil engineering. The Executive Council of the University, Bengal Engineering and Science University (second oldest engineering institute in India), Shibpur, has appointed Prof. Haldar as Honorary Distinguished Visiting Professor for the term 2013-2018.

Prof. Haldar started his career as a student engineer in Kuljian Corporation in 1967 and as a design engineer at Paharpur-Marley Cooling Tower Engineers for more than a year, both in Kolkata. He then served as junior engineer for Engineers India Ltd in New Delhi before flying to Illinois.

At the University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, Prof. Haldar worked as a teaching and research assistant for more than four years and then briefly joined Marco Steel Supply Co., Champaign, Illinois, as designer. He also worked as staff engineer for Bechtel Power Corporation, Norwalk, California.

From 1978 to 1988, Prof. Haldar served as assistant professor of civil engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and at School of Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, from where he left as associate professor. From 1995, Prof. Haldar has been a visiting or guest professor at many universities around the world. At present, he is professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics, University of Arizona.

Since his arrival in Illinois in 1988, Prof. Haldar has supervised the maximum number of M.S. and doctoral students in structural engineering in the CEEM department. He also served as member of doctoral examination committee for many geotechnical engineering and hydraulic and water resources engineering students in the CEEM department. He was also a member of doctoral examination committee of numerous doctoral students in the aerospace and mechanical Engineering students.

Prof. Haldar has been honoured with the Graduate Advisor of the Year, 2004, from Graduate and Professional Student Council, University of Arizona. He has been elected Distinguished Member of ASCE, in March 2012, for his exemplary 44-year career as a world-class researcher, and his work as a peerless educator, mentor, and innovative practitioner, whose career includes the introduction of stochastic finite element method, a novel structural health assessment technique, an intelligent nonlinear seismic analysis technique, and an inspection-based maintenance strategy.

The other major honour is that Prof. Haldar is one of 23 Scientists and Technologists of Indian Origin Abroad (STIOs) (perhaps, the only engineer) of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (similar to US National Science Foundation), for collaborative projects with Indian scientists and technologists during 2009-2011. Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award, in 2007, was bestowed on Prof. Haldar for outstanding services, achievements and contributions from the Non-Resident Indian Welfare Society of India, New Delhi.

The ASCE noted that Prof. Haldar’s work had fundamentally changed structural engineering research, education and practice. His work with industry includes proposing maintenance strategies for a major transit system, developing methods to assess the effects of missile impacts on nuclear power plants, and designing methods to improve the reliability of river navigation systems.