As you may know, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has recently honored Dr. Shamsher Prakash, an
alumnus of IIT Roorkee/Roorkee University, by awarding him the Distinguished Membership of the Society for his exceptional service to the profession, pioneering work on liquefaction of fine-grained soils and seismic analysis of rigid retaining walls, revolutionizing the use of geotechnical engineering case histories in professional practice and education, and authoring the first comprehensive text on soil dynamics.

• This is the highest recognition the Society confers on its members, second only to the title of ASCE President.
• Since 1852, only 615 individuals have received this recognition from ASCE.
• Dr. Prakash is the only IIT Roorkee alumnus who has received for this honor.

Dr. Prakash had also been the head of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Roorkee and Director of Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) at Roorkee.

An event is being organized to honor him on May 4, 2013 in Chicago, IL, immediately after conclusion of the 7th Case Histories Conference. Along with many other dignitaries, Professor Pradipta Banerji, Director of IIT Roorkee, is expected to attend the event and make a presentation during a part of the symposium titled “Dr. Prakash: Roorkee’s Pride”.

Information about registration for the event is available at the conference website and can be accessed by clicking at this link (http://7icchge.mst.edu/postconferencetour/index.html). Tentative program of the event and the names of the organizing committee members for this luncheon is also at the conference site (http://7icchge.mst.edu/media/conference/icchge/documents/Post-Conf_Activity_Schedule.pdf). 

We encourage all Roorkee alumni and their spouses to participate in this event. Please register for the event ASAP. Please note that you register for only this event separately (i.e., $30 per person) and registration for the conference is not required to attend this event.

If you need any additional information about this event, please do not hesitate to contact Anoop Verma at anoopkverma@gmail.com or Dr. Sanjeev Kumar (Chair, Professor and Distinguished Teacher, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Southern Illinois University) at kumars@ce.siu.edu.