Dr. Alok Bhandari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) at Iowa State University (ISU) where he also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Bhandari serves on the faculty of ISU’s Interdisciplinary Program in Environmental Science and its Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture. He is the Focus Area Leader of ISU-ABE’s eight-member faculty of Water and Environmental Stewardship Engineering, and directs the group’s Water Quality Laboratory. From 1998 to 2007, Dr. Bhandari was a member of the Civil Engineering faculty at Kansas State University (KSU), where he also served as the founding Coordinator of KSU’s New Faculty Institute and as a Special Assistant to the Provost.

Dr. Bhandari is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, the KSTAR First Award, and Virginia Tech Civil Engineering’s Outstanding Young Alumni Achievement Award. His academic career has focused on conducting interdisciplinary research in the area of environmental science and engineering. Dr. Bhandari has been a principal investigator (PI) or Co-PI on nearly two-dozen research and educational projects worth >$5 million. He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications and has delivered more than 125 professional presentations and invited talks. Dr. Bhandari’s research has been funded by federal, regional and state agencies as well as private industries. He has served as an associate editor of ASCE's Journal of Environmental Engineering and ASCE's Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste Management, track co-chair for ASCE-EWRI international conferences, and an officer in several national committees of ASCE, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, and the Water Environment Federation.

Dr. Bhandari is a passionate educator and a scholar of student learning. He has been a PI or Co-PI on several projects focused on scholarship of learning, has edited four books, and published thirteen book chapters. He is a recipient of ISU’s Miller Faculty Fellowship and KSU Chi Epsilon’s Teaching Excellence Award, Advising Excellence Award, and Student Advocate Award. Dr. Bhandari is actively engaged in student life and has served as a faculty advisor to the ASCE Student Chapter at KSU, the Engineers Without Borders Student Chapter at KSU, and Engineers for a Sustainable World Student Chapter at ISU, and a faculty mentor for student leaders in the Engineering Leadership Program at ISU. Dr. Bhandari is a recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award and Advisor of the Year Award from KSU’s ASCE student chapter and the Student Chapter Advisor Reward from ASCE-national.