Karan S. Surana

Dr. Surana joined KU's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1984 as an Associate Professor. He had previously worked at Structural Dynamics Research Corporation as a Special Consultant, Engineering Mechanics Research Corporation (1973 – 1978) as Director of Research and Development, and McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis as Principal Consultant. Over this period he was the principal architect, originator and developer of the commercial finite element software systems IDEAS, NISA and FINESSE.

Dr. Surana's research interest is in computational mathematics, computational mechanics, and continuum mechanics including development of constitutive theories. He has focused on theoretical research in classical and non-classical continuum theories, including ordered-rate constitutive theories in addition to fundamental and applied topics in computational mechanics and computational mathematics. Notable contributions include work on the k-version of the finite element method, operator classification, and variationally consistent integral forms.

He is a member of International Association for Computational Mechanics, a Fellow and life member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and he has served as an Associate Editor for The International Journal for Computational Methods in Engineering Science and Mechanics and The International Journal of Modeling and Simulation. Dr. Surana has served as a national and international speaker on computational mathematics, computational mechanics, and continuum mechanics.

Learn more about Karan S. Surana on KU's Department of Mechanical Engineering website.