Every year the University of Illinois Office of the Provost administers Campus Awards Program to formally recognize faculty with campus awards, honors, and distinctions. This year, two faculty members in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering are among those chosen to receive campus awards for Excellence in Instruction, recognizing their accomplishments in graduate teaching and mentoring.
CEE AWARD RECIPIENTS
2026 Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate & Professional Teaching
Mani Golparvar-Fard has been selected to receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate & Professional Teaching for his sustained excellence and innovation in graduate or professional teaching and contributions to graduate or professional learning beyond classroom instruction.
Golparvar-Fard, a CEE professor and Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellow, is co-leading a new strategic initiative at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to establish a Center on AI in the Built Environment. He is also the director of the Engineering Faculty Leadership Forum (EFLF) for The Grainger College of Engineering. Golparvar-Fard earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and MS in Computer Science from Illinois in 2010, respectively. He returned to campus as an assistant professor in December 2012.
Throughout his career, Golparvar-Fard has collaborated with numerous national and international construction companies, working on iconic projects in the United States, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. He holds numerous patents and is currently involved with Reconstruct Inc., an early-stage technology company that received $30 million in venture capital funding. Reconstruct Inc. was founded based on the technology transfer of the outcomes of Golparvar-Fard’s research projects. In recognition of his contributions, Grainger Engineering awarded him the College Award for Excellence in Translational Research in 2025 and the Excellence in Research Award in 2016.
2026 Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring
Marcelo Garcia, professor and the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering, as been named recipient of the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring. This award recognizes excellence and innovation in graduate student mentoring, creating a positive impact on graduate student scholarship and professional development.
Garcia is one of the world’s foremost experts in water resources engineering. His distinguished research on sediment transport and river and marine morphodynamics at Illinois, along with his work advancing hydraulics and sedimentation engineering, propelled his induction to the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2025. He was also named a Doctor Honoris Causa of the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, in 2024 — the highest academic honor conferred by the university.
Garcia was recently selected as 2026 Warren A. Hall Medal recipient by the Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR), and The Grainger College of Engineering Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring in 2022.
Award recipients will be recognized at the Celebration of Academic Excellence on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.