Life Sketch and Professional Accomplishments

Dr. Balasingam Muhunthan, 59, of Pullman passed away June 17, 2021, at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA.  He is survived by his wife, Kalyani, and two daughters, Vishaka and Priyanka. A memorial service will be held at 10am on July 8, 2021 at the Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center at Washington State University.

Muhunthan was born September 8, 1961, in Point Pedro, Sri Lanka to P. Balasingam and S. Sathasivam. He is the eldest of five children, and is survived by his sisters, Yohini, Nirmala, and Vijayarani, his brother, Thevan, and his parents.

Muhunthan finished primary school at Hartley College in Point Pedro before attending University of Peradeniya in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He met Kalyani Wickramage in 1984 while at Peradeniya, and they were married in Colombo, Sri Lanka before moving to West Lafayette, Indiana in 1988. He earned his Master's degree in Geotechnical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. Muhunthan and Kalyani then moved to Pullman, WA in 1991, when he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Washington State University (WSU). He was the Department Chair of CEE at WSU since 2012.

Dr. Muhunthan built an illustrious career that spanned three decades and included more than 150 journal articles, several national and international invited talks, and visiting professorships at Georgia Institute of Technology (1992), Churchill College at University of Cambridge (2001), University of Auckland (2006), and Shandong University (2018). He was the Founding Director of the Washington Center for X-ray Computed Tomography, Director of the Washington Center for Asphalt Technology, and Director of the Washington State Department of Transportation Research Center. Dr. Muhunthan's research contributions were extensive and included multi-scale modeling of materials, geomechanics, bio-inspired materials, and modeling of instabilities in materials. He received several national and international awards for his scholarly accomplishments. He was a recipient of all of the three top CEE departmental awards at WSU: Outstanding Teaching, Excellence in Research, and the Leon Luck Most Effective Professor. He also received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Engineering and Architecture at WSU and the Crampton Prize by the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Facilitating the growth and success of students and junior faculty was a cornerstone of Dr. Muhunthan's life, and he supervised more than 50 graduate students, including 20 Ph.Ds.

Muhunthan and his family loved to travel across the US as well as internationally. He was a lifelong learner who delighted in using his diverse experiences to connect with and help other people. Outside of work, Muhunthan enjoyed discussing and playing all manner of sports, and was known to outplay students half his age on the racquetball court!  He firmly believed in the power of education to transform lives and kept this ideal at the forefront of his work as a Professor and Chair. Memorial donations can be made to the B. Muhunthan Memorial Scholarship fund at Washington State University ( https://bit.ly/muhunthan-memorial ).