Patricia J. Culligan

Patricia J. Culligan is the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame and a professor of Civil Engineering. She is a former Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, and also served on the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She specializes in Geo-environmental Engineering, with an emphasis on water management and resources. Her most recent work is focused on issues related to urban sustainability.

Academic career and research
In 1994, Culligan started as an assistant professor in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In 2003, she joined the faculty of Columbia University's Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, first as an associate professor, then promoted to full professor in 2005. At Columbia, Culligan served as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs for the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, was the inaugural associate director of Columbia University's Data Science Institute, and also served as the Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. Culligan was also a faculty member of Columbia University's Earth Institute. In January 2020, Culligan was appointed dean of Notre Dame College of Engineering.

Culligan has published more than 130 papers in refereed journals and conferences, as well as multiple books, book-chapters and other technical articles. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and is a Fellow of the British Institute of Civil Engineers. She is a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) with the UK Engineering Council. In 2021, she was awarded the H. Bolton Seed Medal for expanding the boundaries of geo-environmental and sustainability engineering.