Inducted
2017
Degrees
After joining West Virginia University in 1969 as an assistant professor, GangaRao attained the rank of Maurice & JoAnn Wadsworth Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, and became a Fellow of ASCE and SEI. GangaRao has been directing the Constructed Facilities Center since 1988 (a Center of Excellence designated by the U.S. Congress in 2000) and also the Center for Integration of Composites into Infrastructure, both co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Through many interdisciplinary activities, he has worked to advance the state-of-the-art of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials and their applications to infrastructure systems. GangaRao has demonstrated success by field-implementing his research findings and technical innovations for construction and rehabilitation of a wide spectrum of engineering systems in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alaska, and other states. In addition to the application of FRPs for highway and railroad structures, he has utilized FRP composites for corrosion resistant storage buildings and economical modular housing. Recently, GangaRao has been involved with innovations of naval vessels, prefabricated pavements, utility poles, high pressure gas pipes, sheet piling, natural fiber reinforced composites and others.
GangaRao has published over 400 technical papers on a wide range of subjects in refereed journals and proceedings, in addition to text books and book chapters. He has received a dozen patents and many national awards, and advised over 300 M.S. and Ph.D. students. His pioneering accomplishments have been covered by CNN, ABC Evening News, KDKA-Pittsburgh, WV-PBS, and many others.