The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents (BOR) appointed Suresh K. Sitaraman and six of his fellow Georgia Tech faculty members Regents Professors, the highest academic recognition bestowed by the USG.

The seven Regents Professors are:

  • Marilyn Brown, Brook Byers Professor in Sustainable Manufacturing in the School of Public Policy
  • Suresh Sitaraman, Morris M. Bryan Jr. Professor in Mechanical Engineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
  • Jeffrey Skolnick, Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in Computational Systems Biology and GRA Eminent Scholar in the School of Biological Sciences
  • Prasad Tetali, professor in the School of Mathematics and the School of Computer Science
  • Vigor Yang, professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
  • Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication
  • Ellen Zegura, Stephen Fleming Chair in the School of Computer Science

Sitaraman began at Georgia Tech in 1995 as an Assistant Professor. Prior, he was at IBM Corporation. Sitaraman’s research focuses on fabrication, testing, and characterization of micro- and nano-scale structures, physics-based predictive modeling, reliable design, and development of innovative technologies as applied to rigid and flexible microsystems. He is the Lead Faculty for Flexible Wearable Electronics at Georgia Tech for NextFlex, a Manufacturing Innovation Institute and directs the Computer-Aided Simulation of Packaging Reliability (CASPaR) Lab. Sitaraman has co-authored more than 290 journal and conference publications and has mentored a vast array of post-doctoral fellows as well as doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s, and high-school students. He has managed several research programs totaling millions of dollars funded by US federal agencies, industry, and other sources.

Sitaraman’s work has been recognized through several awards and honors. Among them, he was the recipient of the Jack M. Zeigler Woodruff Outstanding Educator Award in 2019, was named the NextFlex Fellow in 2018, and he received the Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development Award (Team Leader) from Georgia Tech in 2017, the ASME/EPPD Applied Mechanics Award in 2012 and the Thomas French Achievement Award from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University in 2012. Sitaraman also received the Sigma Xi Sustained Research Award in 2008 and the Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award for the Development of Graduate Research Assistants, Georgia Tech in 2006. His co-authored papers have won the Commendable Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging in 2004 and the Best Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies in 2001 and 2000. Sitaraman was named the Metro-Atlanta Engineer of the Year in Education in 1999. He received the NSF-CAREER Award in 1997. Sitaraman serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology. Sitaraman is an ASME Fellow.

Many congratulations to these faculty members as they receive this well-deserved distinction from the Board of Regents,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. “We were proud to nominate them for consideration, and celebrate and honor their continued commitment to teaching, research, and scholarship in service to Georgia Tech and our students.

Each year, the college deans may nominate two academic faculty members for the Regents Professor title and one research faculty member for the Regents Researcher title. The Georgia Tech Research Institute may nominate two research faculty members for Regents Researcher. The titles are awarded upon approval of the USG chancellor and its Committee on Academic Affairs only with unanimous recommendation of the university’s president, the executive vice president for Research, the chief academic officer, the appropriate academic dean, and three other faculty members.