Endowed professorships, such as this one, are awarded to outstanding faculty, ensuring them the resources they need to remain at the forefront of their fields and to lead teaching and research efforts in their key areas. The Coca-Cola Junior Professorship is supported by a gift from Coca-Cola, in order to support research and development in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Vengazhiyil's research interests are in the areas of statistics and quality engineering. He is especially interested in developing statistical methodologies for solving complex engineering problems.

In 2005, he was awarded the Jack Youden Prize from the American Society for Quality and a Career Award from National Science Foundation. In 2003, he received Distinguished Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan's Rackham Graduate School.

Vengazhiyil holds a Ph.D. degree in Statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2002; an M.Tech degree in Quality, Reliability, and Operations Research; and a B.Tech degree in Production Engineering and Management.