The University of Alabama at Huntsville has received a $1 million pledge to establish the Ashok K. Singhal Endowed Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
The pledge came from from Sangeeta Singhal, wife of the late Ashok Singhal. It is pending approval from the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.
Singhal founded the local engineering firm CFD Research in his basement in 1987, and over 35 years, he guided the company as its president, CEO and eventually chairman to growth and success in Huntsville. He was known for his passion for science, innovation and technology and giving to the community, according to a release from UAH.
Sangeeta Singhal said he believed "education should be free to young people like sunshine."
He served on the UAH College of Engineering Industrial Engineering Advisory Board on two separate occasions as well as the UAH Foundation Board. In 2008, Ashok and Sangeeta Singhal established the Singhal Scholarship for undergraduate engineering students as well as the CFD Research Scholarship.
“This gift will be used to distinguish one of our top-level faculty in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering with an endowed chair position named after Dr. Singhal," said UAH interim president Charles L. Karr.
The successful candidate will have exhibited a strong record of research funding and an appointment as a senior associate professor or professor, and the Singhal Chair will be one of the highest academic accolades a COE faculty member can receive.
The university hopes the Singhal Chair will help UAH attract and retain faculty with the expertise to train the next generation of engineers and encourage innovative research at the frontiers of engineering and technology.
