Over the past four months, three students from Dr. Puppala’s research group have successfully defended their doctoral dissertations at Texas A&M University (TAMU), each contributing meaningful work to the field of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering with a focus on Geotechnical Engineering. This achievement marks a special milestone for Dr. Puppala, celebrating his 50th PhD graduate to successfully defend a dissertation.
Zoheb Faisal defended his dissertation titled “Mechanical and Durability Performance of 3D-Printed New Resilient Building Material – Hempcrete” on May 6, 2026 (Co-advising with Prof Petros Sideris)
Sopharith Chou defended his dissertation titled “Multi-scale Investigation of Chemically Stabilized-Problematic Expansive Clay: Laboratory Characterization, Durability, and Machine Learning-Based Prediction Models” on July 23, 2026
Ayush Kumar, E.I.T. Kumar (50th PhD student), defended his dissertation titled “Assessment of Artificial Mangrove Systems for Reinforcing Coastal Highway Embankments Subjected to Storm-Induced Loading” on August 20, 2026.
Their dissertations span resilient and sustainable construction materials, stabilization of problematic soils, and nature-inspired solutions for coastal infrastructure, all reflecting the breadth of challenges facing modern civil engineering. Funding for their research works came from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), MnDOT Research & Innovation, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s CREATE University Transportation Center, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) IUCRC’s Center for the Integration of Composites Into Infrastructure (CICI).
Zoheb’s Defense (May 6, 2026)
Sopharith’s Defense (July 23, 2026)
Ayush’s Defense (August 20, 2026)
