Suguang Xiao Receives Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor at Clarkson University

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Clarkson University has announced that Suguang Xiao has been granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Coulter School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Xiao teaches core and advanced geotechnical and foundation engineering courses, and mentors graduate and undergraduate researchers in cold-region and extreme-environment geotechnics.

His research focuses on resilient geotechnical solutions for extreme environments spanning cold-region infrastructure, lunar exploration, and climate-driven landslide hazards. By integrating experimental geomechanics, soil-structure interaction, and coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes, Xiao's work advances foundation performance in permafrost, thermosyphon-enabled ground stabilization, and water-vapor diffusion processes relevant to lunar regolith mining.

More broadly, Xiao's scholarship supports the development of resilient foundation systems for cold regions and mechanistically grounded approaches to in-situ resource utilization in lunar environments.

Since joining Clarkson in 2019, Xiao has secured external support for projects in Arctic infrastructure and lunar exploration. This includes funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation for the evolving dynamic behavior of pile foundations in degrading permafrost, and NASA New York Space Grant support for lunar water-ice extraction.

Xiao earned his doctoral degree in civil engineering from Lehigh University and, prior to joining Clarkson, served as a research associate for University of Oklahoma. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in California and contributes to the profession through leadership and editorial service, including serving the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Cold Regions Engineering as editorial board member.