Soil Behavior and Characterization of Geomaterials

Dr. Kasinathan Muthukkumaran is currently Professor in Civil Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He obtained Ph.D. in Soil-Structure Interaction and Marine Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute Technology Madras. He has published more than 150 papers in international and national journals and conferences. He has completed 5 R & D (including ISRO - Chandrayaan- 2 Mission project) & 70 major consultancy projects in Geotechnical Engineering and published two patent including “Moon Soil” (A Method for Manufacture of Highland Lunar Soil Simulant). He has guided 10 PhD scholars and 6 more are in progress, 5 MS (by research) and more than 40 M.Tech. students in Geotechnical and allied research areas. He is the Founder Chairman of Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS-Trichy) Trichy Chapter. He is a member of Technical Committee (TC-301 on "Preservation of Historic Sites") of International Society for SoilMechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Prof. Muthukkumaran area of research is in geotechnical engineering, which includes pile foundation, soil-structure interaction, marine geotechnics & foundations, field instrumentation, geotechnical physical modeling, ground improvement and forensic geotechnical engineering. He has received DST Young Scientist Award, IGS- Smt. Indra Joshi Biennial Award and Keynote Paper Award – GEOMATE Conference 2015 at Osaka, Japan. He is an Associate Editor of Australian journal of Civil Engineering and serving editorial board member of several journals.   Prof. Muthukkumaran has significant administrative contribution as Estate Officer, Associate Dean (Planning and Development), Member of Buildings and Works Committee and Member of Board of Governors (BoG) of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli and Member of Buildings and Works Committee, IIM Trichy. He has received NIT Trichy Achiever Awards for research publications,research projects, maximum citation and consultancy projects. 

Dr. Ravi Sankar Jakka is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. He is also currently serving as Secretary, Soil Dynamics Forum, Indian Society of Earthquake Technology (ISET). He graduated in Civil Engineering from Andhra University Engineering College in the year 2001. He has obtained Master's and Doctorate degrees from IIT Delhi in the years 2003 and 2007, respectively. His areas of interest are dynamic site characterization, soil liquefaction, seismic slope stability of dams, landslides, and foundations & seismic hazard assessment. He has published over 100 articles in reputed international journals and conferences. He has supervised over 35 Master's Dissertations and 6 Ph.D. theses, while he is currently guiding 10 Ph.D. theses. He has received prestigious DAAD and National Doctoral fellowships. He has obtained University Gold Medal from Andhra University. He also received ‘Young Geotechnical Engineer Best Paper Award’ from Indian Geotechnical Society. He was instrumental in the development of Earthquake Early Warning System for Northern India, a prestigious national project.

Dr. C. R. Parthasarathy holds B.E. and M.E. degrees in Civil/Geotechnical Engineering from Bangalore University and Ph.D. (Geotechnical) from Indian Institute of Science, (IISc) Bangalore, India, in 2002. He started his career as geotechnical engineer in 1993. He was involved in numerous large-scale site investigation/engineering studies at various levels for multi-storied complexes, industrial buildings, embankments, bridges, water-retaining structures, subways, pavements, offshore platforms, pipelines, mobile drilling units, etc. Dr. Parthasarathy has undertaken pile drivability studies, jack-up rig foundation investigations, and design including jack-up rig moves. He was involved in the pile installation, monitoring of several offshore platforms, and has served QA/QC Engineer for several Geotechnical Investigations on dedicated survey vessels. His sphere of activities has extended beyond from India to South East Asia and Middle East, Africa, and USA. Dr. Parthasarathy is Founder Director of Sarathy Geotech and Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd. The company with its registered office at Bangalore, India, was established in 2008 to provide both offshore and on land integrated geotechnical engineering services in India and abroad. As Technical Partner of Pile Dynamics, USA, he is instrumental in promoting quality testing of deep foundations in India and Authorized Trainer for high strain dynamic pile testing. He is Life Fellow of Indian Geotechnical Society and Member of several other professional bodies like DFI, ISRM, Indian concrete Institute, Institution of Engineers, etc. He is currently Elected National Executive Member of Indian GeotechnicalSociety (IGS) for 3 consecutive terms and Chairman, Indian Geotechnical Society-Bengaluru Chapter.

Dr. B. Soundara is Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Saveetha University Chennai, and has a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. Her research interest includes study on the behavior of problematic soils, various ground improvement methods, and physical modeling of geostructures. She has received grants from various government funding agencies like AICTE, DST NIMAT, SERB, and TNSCST and Recipient of the Early Career Research Award from Science and Engineering Research Board (DST) in 2016. She has published around 25 peer-reviewed journal papers, 40 conference papers, 3 chapters, and published 2 patents. She is an active reviewer in six leading journals, organized & attended more than 25 skill development programs, and also delivered about 30 guest lectures. She has guided 3 Ph.D. scholars andcurrently guiding 6 members. She is a professional member of American Society of Civil Engineers, Intionaltional Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Indian Geotechnical Society, and Indian Society for Technical Education.