Dr. Shamsher Prakash, professor emeritus of civil engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, in December 2008.

Prakash has been cited for his internationally recognized work in the area of soil dynamics, including pioneering work on liquefaction of fine-grained soils, seismic design of piles, and seismic analysis of rigid retaining walls. He has co-authored four books, including the first comprehensive text on soil dynamics, and has published approximately 300 academic papers.

The Technical University of Civil Engineering in Bucharest, Romania, awarded Prakash an honorary doctorate in 2003, and the University of Illinois department of civil engineering recognized him as distinguished alumnus in 2004.

Prakash has served in multiple professional organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers, to which he was awarded life membership. He is an honorary member of the Indian Society of Earthquake Technology and the Indian Geotechnical Society. He was named honorary editor of the International Journal of Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering in 2004.