Professor Suresh K. Sitaraman received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NITT) at its 50-year Golden Jubilee event on July 19, 2014. The Chief Guest at this event was the Honorable Pranab Mukherjee, President of India.  Sitaraman was one of approximately 30 awardees recognized at this event which was held at the NITT campus in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. In addition to Sitaraman, Madhavan Swaminathan of ECE was honored with the same Distinguished Alumnus Award for Excellence in Academic/Research.

Sitaraman received his Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering in 1982 from NITT, under the University of Madras.  Subsequently, he received his M. A. Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.  While at Ohio State, he was awarded the Outstanding Research Award at the Graduate Research Forum in 1989.

At Georgia Institute of Technology, Sitaraman’s research focuses on the design, fabrication, characterization, modeling and reliability of micro-scale and nano-scale structures intended for microsystems that are used in aerospace, automotive, computing, telecommunicating and medical applications. 

He has obtained multi-million dollar funding from several US federal agencies and companies to carry out his research.  He has authored more than 240 research papers in highly-respected journals and conferences, and he has guided several post-doctoral fellows and visiting scholars, more than 45 PhD and MSME students, and a significant number of undergraduate and high-school students.  Also, he has made numerous presentations, including keynote and invited, in conferences, workshops, academia, industry, and research consortia.  

Sitaraman’s work has been recognized through various awards including the ASME/EPPD (Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division) Applied Mechanics Award in 2012; the Thomas French Achievement Award from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University in 2012; the Sustained Research Award from Georgia Institute of Technology – Sigma Xi in 2008; the Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award for the Development of Graduate Research Assistants, Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006; the Commendable Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging in 2004; the Best Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies in 2000 and 2001; the Metro-Atlanta Engineer of the Year in Education Award in 1999 and the NSF-CAREER Award in 1997.  He is also an ASME Fellow.

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In this group photo, Sitaraman is in the middle row, first from the left, while Swaminathan is in the top row, second from the left.