Vijay Panchang

Biography

Professor Panchang’s teaching interests include fluid mechanics, open channel hydraulics, wave mechanics, and numerical methods for coastal and ocean processes. He is the author of over 45 journal papers and several other conference papers and reports. He is the Editor of the Journal of Waterways, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). A Fellow of the ASCE, he has received the society’s Torrens Award and the Moffatt & Nichol Award, as well as the Ricker Distinguished Faculty Award from Texas A&M University at Galveston, where, since January 2012, he has been holding the Thomas C. Powell’62 Chair in Engineering & Technology. ​Professor Vijay Panchang, Ph.D., P.E., Regents Professor, joined Texas A&M University at Qatar in June 2013. Previously, he served as Professor & Head of the Departments of Martime Systems Engineering and Marine Engineering Technology at Texas A&M University at Galveston, which he joined in 2002 after spending nearly 17 years at the University of Maine as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and in the School of Marine Sciences. Dr. Panchang also served as Program Director for Coastal & Technology Transfer Programs at the National Sea Grant Office (NOAA, Department of Commerce) in Washington between 1998 and 2002. For his administrative/research work, he received the "Research Partner" Commendation in September 2001 from NOAA’s Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research.

Research Interest

Professor Panchang’s expertise lies in the area of coastal hydraulics in general and mathematical modeling (computer simulations) of coastal ocean processes in particular. He has developed wave prediction models like CGWAVE and coastal circulation models which have found wide usage among government and consulting engineers. Typically, Dr. Panchang’s work is aimed at predicting wave and current conditions for applications such as port design, containment transport, design of offshore facilities, etc. He has supervised several M.S. and Ph.D. students with whose assistance he has conducted over 4 million dollars of R&D activity sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Naval Research, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Aeronautical & Space Administration, and various other industry/academic partners.