Lalit Bahl, a longtime friend and supporter of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, passed away on August 24, 2025 at the age of 82.
Lalit was an alumnus of the electrical and computer engineering department at The Grainger College of Engineering, earning his master’s degree in 1966 and his Ph.D. in 1969. His wife Kavita’s late first husband, Ravindar K. Kinra earned his Ph.D. from CEE at Illinois in 1968, and the gratitude both men shared for the education and support they received while students motivated Lalit and Kavita’s boundless philanthropy to their respective departments throughout their lives.
With perhaps their greatest contribution to CEE, the Bahl family graciously provided the funds necessary to construct the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Smart Bridge. A 2,200-square-foot suspension bridge that connects Newmark Laboratory and the Civil & Environmental Engineering Building, the Smart Bridge has become a beloved landmark for the department and the university since its grand opening in 2022. It provides collaborative and comfortable space for students to gather and has played host to many department events and distinguished visitors throughout the years.
The Smart Bridge additionally serves as a living laboratory for faculty and students. Equipped with a permanent weather station, floor and roof vibration sensor arrays, and expansion sensors that constantly collect and record data, this fully instrumented space is a teaching tool that showcases the latest infrastructure monitoring technology. These additions, as well as construction of the bridge in its entirety, were only made possible through Lalit and Kavita’s generosity and dedication to uplifting the next generation of engineers.
Since 2007, Lalit and Kavita have additionally funded the Ravindar K. and Kavita Kinra Fellowship to support graduate students enrolled in the department of civil and environmental engineering with special preference given to Indian students whose families still reside in India. They also fund a similar scholarship in the department of electrical and computer engineering.
Lalit also received The Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in 2012 for his contributions to speech recognition software technologies and information theory.