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.
A professor and Faculty Entrepreneurial Fellow, Golparvar-Fard is co-leading the new strategic initiative on establishing a Center on AI in the Built Environment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and he is directing the Engineering Faculty Leadership Forum (EFLF) for the Grainger College of Engineering. Golpava4-Fard received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and MS in Computer Science from Illinois in 2010, respectively and in returned to campus as an assistant professor in December 2012.
Golparvar-Fard has worked with many national and international construction companies over the years ranging from iconic projects in the United States to Japan and Saudi Arabia. He has dozens of patents and is currently involved with Reconstruct Inc., an early-stage technology company with $30 million in venture capital funding that was founded based on technology transfer of the outcomes of his research projects. He was previously recognized by The Grainger College of Engineering with the College Award for Excellence in Translational Research in 2025, and for Award Excellence in Research 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.