BROOKINGS – The search committee for the dean position at South Dakota State University’s Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering has named four finalists, who will be on campus in the next two weeks.

Each candidate will spend one day interviewing and meeting with university leadership, deans, researchers, faculty, students and staff. There will be open forums for each candidate to engage with other key stakeholders, including community and university members.

The finalists are (by interview date):

Venkat N. Gudivada, Ph.D.

Professor and chair

East Carolina University

Gudivada is a professor and chair of East Carolina University’s computer science department. He previously was the founding chair and a professor at Marshall University’s Department of Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering, formerly the Weisberg Division of Computer Science.

He interviews Monday. His open forum will start at 11 a.m. in Bailey Rotunda Hall, room A. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/99707300523?pwd=T1FQb2haaVFtb2RQUnB4NURSYytSZz09.

Gudivada received a B.S. in civil engineering from JNT University, India, a M.S. in civil engineering from Texas Tech University and M.S. and doctorate degrees in computer science from The University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Gudivada worked as a vice president for Bank of America Merrill Lynch and GoldenSource, formerly known as Financial Technologies International.

He has published more than 110 articles in peer reviewed journals, book chapters and conference proceedings.

Alan Barhorst, Ph.D., P.E., FASME

Alumni Association/LEQSF professor and department head

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Barhorst joined The University of Louisiana at Lafayette in August 2018 as professor and department head of mechanical engineering.

He interviews Wednesday. His open forum will start at 11 a.m. in the University Student Union’s Pheasant and Crest room. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/96761511124?pwd=bVBCb0g4UFg4Z0tsSXdrdTZXdmhKUT09/.

A professional engineer in Texas and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Barhorst received his B.S, M.S. and doctorate from Texas A&M University.

He worked for Lockheed in his early career doing spacecraft and structural dynamics as well as simulation development in Houston before joining the Texas Tech University’s mechanical engineering department in 1991. Barhorst served as associate department chair at Texas Tech in 2017-18.

He served Texas A&M as visiting professor and program chair at its Doha, Qatar, campus in 2007-08. Barhorst has had appointments at Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs, NASA Johnson Space Center and the Institute for Computational Engineering and Science at the University of Texas.

Sanjeev Kumar, Ph.D., P.E., Fellow ASCE

Professor and director, School of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

Southern Illinois University

Kumar has served as an assistant professor, associate professor, professor and distinguished teacher, chair, interim association dean and director throughout his career at Southern Illinois University, which started in 1998.

He will interview Thursday. His open forum will start at 11 a.m. in the University Student Union’s Pheasant and Crest room. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/95992133859?pwd=cndIU3Y5QXoxOFhFQTIxKzlJczRlQT09.

Kumar earned a diploma in civil engineering at Thapar Polytechnic in India, a baccalaureate in civil engineering from the Institution of Engineers, India, and his M.S. and doctorate from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

He worked as a junior engineer and assistant engineer in India before working as a staff engineer, senior engineer and principal engineer with Geotechnology Inc. in Missouri.

Kumar has created more than 150 published works.

Raman Singh, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Engineering

Professor and Head, School of Materials Science and Engineering

Professor, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Helmerich Family Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering

Director, Helmerich Research Center

Oklahoma State University-Tulsa

Singh is the associate dean for engineering at OSU-Tulsa and the head of the School of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University. He also serves as the director of the Helmerich Advanced Technology Research Center at OSU-Tulsa and is the Helmerich Family Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering.

He will interview May 2. His open forum will start at 11 a.m. in the University Student Union’s Pheasant and Crest room. To participate in the open forum session via Zoom, visit https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/91970161481?pwd=ZHlwNExlK2dGQ3MvWEZTYlkwSEVaQT09/.

Singh earned his M.S. and doctorate degrees from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.Tech. degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, India. Before joining Oklahoma State in 2006, he was a faculty member at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and before that a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology.

He has authored or co-authored several archival journal publications and conference proceedings and holds two patents.