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The Sikh Foundation

December 2003

Dr. Sukhmander Singh

Dr. Sukmander Singh is currently the Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering at the prestigious Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, C.A. and formally a farmer from the Central valley of California.
Dr. Singh received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979. He began teaching at Santa Clara University in 1986 and has been a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering since 1992. After receiving his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1979, Dr. Singh, following in the tradition of five previous family generations, began farming in the Central Valley. He farmed more than 100 acres of grapes, gaining valuable hands-on knowledge of the problems facing farmers.
Before embarking upon his career as a teacher, Dr. Singh was a project engineer and manager for the Alyeska Pipeline Company. He handled the seismic stability and liquefaction studies for the entire 800-mile Trans Alaska pipeline. Later, he was the principal investigator to analyze the failure of the San Pablo Clearwell Dam, and handled the seismic stability and re-design of the dam. Dr. Singh's expertise in dam engineering is widely recognized nationally.
 

As a Sikh, Dr. Singh became the first President of Sikh Council of North America in 1979 (Federation of Sikh Society of U.S.A.). He was also instrumental in building the first Gurdwara in Houston, TX. From 1983 till 1985, Dr. Singh published the first ever Punjabi-English newspaper in California.
 

In early 2002 Dr. Singh ran for office as Congressman for 18th Congressional District (Modesto, CA). Although he did not win the election but was successful in creating a strong visibility of the Sikh turban.
 

Here’s what Dr. Singh has to say about his turban to the non-Sikhs?
 

“ Since September 11th, Sikhs have been targets of violence and hate crimes due to their turban and beard. In the United States, almost all of the people you see wearing turbans are members of the Sikh religion. Sikhism is a distinct religion, neither Hindu nor Muslim. It is the fifth largest religion in the world with over 22 million people worldwide, 1 million in North America. Turbans are a distinctive part of the Sikh identity. Sikhs commonly wear a peaked turban that serves partly to cover their long hair, which is never cut out of respect for God's creation. The turbans worn by Sikhs represent the high moral code of conduct of the Sikh religion: equality, justice and freedom for all. Sikhs are honor-bound to stand against injustice and protect all those who need their help”.


Dr. Singh currently lives in the city of Fremont (San Francisco By Area) with his wife and two children.