Michael Caizzi
Connector Staff
The old saying “Good things come to those who wait” is a lie. Good things come to those who go out and earn them, and by all accounts, Professor Pradeep Kurup of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department has earned them.
Professor Kurup recently received the honor of being made Distinguished University Professor, the highest distinction a UMass Lowell faculty member can attain. Distinguished University Professors are those of unparalleled excellence. During their three year term, university professors receive one course reduction from their teaching load each semester, and also a $10,000 salary supplement. When asked about receiving the award, Kurup said “I didn’t even see it coming, but it felt really awesome.”
Professor Kurup, who has been with UMass Lowell since 1997, is an expert in geotechnical engineering, a branch of civil engineering dealing with soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Kurup’s research is primarily concerned with geoenvironmental engineering, which he described as “a marriage between geotechnical and environmental engineering.”
As a part of being made a Distinguished University Professor, Kurup will give a university-wide lecture in the spring. The lecture will be on Kurup’s interdisciplinary research, in which he has collaborated with the physics, mechanical engineering, plastics engineering, and chemical engineering departments.
Kurup’s research has garnered a lot of attention. Kurup has developed an electronic “nose” which mimics the human olfactory system to detect contaminants in the ground, such as gasoline. The sensors of this “nose” function very similarly to human nose. “The sensors are trained with what are called ‘artificial neural networks’ which function similar to the neurons in the brain that learn different odors. It’s an artificial intelligence software,” says Kurup.
Kurup has also developed an electronic “tongue” which functions very similarly to the electronic “nose,” except it mimics the human sense of taste. The “tongue” is trained in the same way the nose is, and is used to detect heavy metals, such as lead or mercury.
“In our field these [inventions] are novel, no one has ever done it before,” says Kurup. Professor Kurup’s groundbreaking work shows him to be a genuinely world-class researcher, and educator. The students of UMass Lowell are truly lucky to have faculty like him. Professors like Kurup help to distinguish this university, and ourselves as students as a cut above the rest.
