Tarun Naik, professor emeritus, civil and environmental engineering, passed away on Jan. 29, 2024 at his home in Wauwatosa.
His area of expertise was in recycling of industrial waste materials into products, especially concrete.
As founder and director of the Center for By-Products Utilization in the College of Engineering & Applied Science, he worked with partners, such as We Energies, to make power-plant fly ash available to industry for concrete production. Naik’s research helped to demonstrate how fly ash could be used in place of cement to drastically cut the greenhouse gas emissions.
“Professor Naik was a hands-on researcher who worked at the ready mixed concrete companies, precast plants, foundries, paper mills and more to find the best way to match their by-products to improve products or even create new products,” said Bruce Ramme, adjunct professor. “There were hundreds of UWM students involved in the research and thousands of technical papers inspired by Professor Naik’s leadership and work.”
Naik was Ramme’s thesis adviser in 1980 when Ramme was completing his master’s degree at UWM.
Born India, Naik completed his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering before immigrating to the U.S. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at the UW-Madison and joined the UWM faculty in the 1970s. He retired in 2012.
Visitation and gathering will be held on Monday, Feb. 5, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home, 10121 W. North Avenue, Wauwatosa.