Beena Sukumaran is Professor and Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at Miami University in Ohio since August 1, 2020.

Prior to joining Miami, she was on the faculty in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Rowan University since 1998. Before joining the ranks of academia, she worked at Amoco and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute on offshore foundations for deepwater applications. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in 1996.  

In her current role as the Dean, she is having a positive impact on Miami University’s engineering and computing curriculum and how engineering and computing is taught to undergraduates. She is working to change student experience by providing more opportunities for experiential learning whether it be through leadership training, internships, study abroad or research. She also believes that working with industry partners is critical to the success of the college and is therefore expanding industrial outreach. She is also a strong proponent of applied research, entrepreneurship and commercialization of research. She is also a believer in the Socially Engaged Engineering and Computing theme that is the hallmark of the College. She has also expanded outreach to K-12 so that every student irrespective of their background can be inspired to pursue engineering and computing careers.

Her previous leadership positions at Rowan was Vice President for Research from 2018 to 2020. She managed the South Jersey Tech Park and, in this role, she facilitated growth of healthcare collaborations with the two medical schools, the main campus and hospitals in the area. She also served as the President’s Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion from 2017 to 2018. She served as Department Head of CEE for seven years from 2010 to 2017. In 2016 while serving as Chair of CEE, she and her team were awarded the NSF-Revolutionizing engineering, and computer science Departments (RED) grant for $1.92M, which is titled “Revolutionizing Engineering Diversity (RevED).” The RevED grant looked at strategies to grow representation of women, underserved groups and ethnic/racial minorities in Rowan University’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, while at the same time enhancing inclusion through curriculum design, teaching and learning.

She has also been involved in various outreach activities to recruit more ethnic/racial minorities, women and underserved groups into engineering. She is also the co-organizer of the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (ConECD) conference since its inception in 2018. She was the recipient of the 2011 New Jersey ASCE Educator of the Year award, the 2013 Distinguished Engineering Award from the New Jersey Alliance for Action, the 2016 New Jersey Department of Transportation Research Implementation Award and 2020 WEPAN Inclusive Culture and Equity Award. In 2021, she was chosen as a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education.