Upendra Chivukula was born on october 1950 in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India.
He earned his M.E.E degree in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York.
Chivukula became the first Indian American elected to the New Jersey General Assembly and the fourth Indian American in the United States to be elected to state office in 2001.
Chivukula served on the Franklin Township Council as the deputy mayor from 1998 to 2005.
He has also served on the Franklin Township Community Foundation, Finance Oversight Committee, Emergency Life Support Delivery, Integrated Communications Committee, Emergency Management, Economic Development Committee, Senior Center Steering Committee and many more.
He was a member of the delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1996, 2000, 2008, and 2012 and was an alternate delegate in 2004.
Chivukula was one of New Jersey's presidential electors casting the state's Electoral College votes after the 2004 presidential election.
On September 18, 2014, Chivukula was nominated by Governor Chris Christie to a seat on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, to replace retiring NJ BPU Commissioner Jeanne Fox.
Chivukula represented the 17th legislative district and served in New Jersey general assembly from 2012 to 2014.
Chivukula has served as a state legislator for 12 years and 8 years as a commissioner at the New Jersey Board of Utilities since 2014.
He co-authored eight books, including four books published by McGraw-Hill on best practices to provide government program managers and defense contractors, and three books on supply chain management published by AT&T, and a Google book called The “3rd Way”.