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K-State Today

July 19, 2017

Prabhakar recipient of endowed chair in engineering

Submitted by Mary Rankin

Pavithra Prabhakar

Pavithra Prabhakar, associate professor of computer science at Kansas State University, has been named the Peggy and Gary Edwards chair in engineering.

The endowed chair, established by the Edwards — Gary, civil engineering, and Peggy, English, both 1963 graduates of Kansas State University — supplements salaries and research budgets in order to recruit and retain high-achieving faculty in the College of Engineering.

Prabhakar is a recent recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research's Science of Autonomy Program and has also received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Summer Faculty Fellowship from the Air Force Research Lab and the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant from the European Union.

Gary Edwards enjoyed a successful career with Conoco, retiring as senior executive vice president. He and Peggy's longtime support of K-State includes endowed scholarship funds in the English department and College of Engineering.

Gary is a past member of the College of Engineering advisory council, including two years as council president. He earned distinction as an Alumni Fellow and is a member of the College of Engineering Hall of Fame.