Shankar Mahalingam
2025 Sigma Xi Fellow
For his pioneering research in turbulent combustion modeling, fire-spread dynamics, and fluid–structure interactions—combined with his sustained service in mentoring students, leading engineering departments, and advancing computational science at multiple institutions.
Statement
“I was fortunate to become a member of Sigma Xi as a PhD student at Stanford University. The embodiment of Sigma Xi is science in its purest form. It impacts the way we think, the way we live, and how we come up with solutions to make humanity better for all.”
Biography
Shankar Mahalingam has served 15 years as Dean of the College of Engineering and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. In his decanal role, he has helped graduate over 7,500 BS, MS/MSE, and PhD degreed engineers, improved graduation rates significantly, and enabled his college research expenditures to grow by nearly a factor of 10. He recruited high-quality faculty who have become fellows and associate fellows of prestigious engineering societies and organizations. Eleven junior faculty received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards bringing significant visibility to his college and university.
He received his B.Tech., graduating with distinction, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, MS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and PhD from Stanford University, all in the discipline of Mechanical Engineering. He was on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder for 11 years, and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside for 10 years. At UC Riverside, he served as Department Chair for six years, recruited outstanding faculty, and helped initiate their PhD program. He served as Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and Invited Professor at the Laboratoire EM2C, Ecole Centrale Paris, France.
His research expertise includes direct and large eddy simulations of turbulent combustion, forest fire modeling, flame spread experiments, computational fluid dynamics applied to turbulent combustion, acoustic-flow interactions pertinent to solid rocket motors, and cardiovascular fluid dynamics. He was amongst the earliest group of researchers to develop direct and large eddy simulation methodology to study coflowing jet diffusion flames.
He is one of the leading experts in the area of modeling transition behavior in fires including marginal burning, and transition of surface fires to crown fires, utilizing both simulations and laboratory scale experimentation. He has also examined the role of fuel moisture in ignition and fire spread. He has coauthored over 150 refereed publications and conference proceedings.
Dr. Mahalingam has taught undergraduate and graduate courses starting from introductory mechanical engineering classes to advanced, special topics classes for graduate students. He has successfully supervised/co-supervised the dissertations of 15 PhD students across three universities.
He is a member of The Combustion Institute, American Physical Society (Fluid Dynamics), International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), ASEE, Tau Beta Pi (Eminent Engineer), & Sigma Xi. Dr. Mahalingam is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).