Recent Developments in Structural Engineering, Volume 3

Dr. Manmohan Dass Goel completed his Bachelor of Engineering from Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Nagpur. He was awarded three gold medals by Nagpur University for academic excellence. He completed M.Tech. in offshore engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai in year 2003. His Ph.D. is from Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and University of Federal Armed Forces, Munich, Germany, under German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Sandwich Fellowship in year 2013. He was awarded Surendranath Mukherjee Memorial Medal for best research paper by Institution of Engineers (India) in year 2009. He has been selected Young Ambassador by German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) for consecutively for two years. His doctoral thesis has been awarded as the best thesis by the Indian National Academy of Engineering under "Innovative Student Project Award 2013" at doctoral level in Civil Engineering discipline. He has been awarded "CSIR Young Scientist Awards-2014" in Engineering Sciences by CSIR. He is recipient of "Young Engineer Award" from Institution of Engineers (India) in 2014. He has been nominated as "DAAD Research Ambassador" by German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD). He is also recipient of "Young Associate", Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, Maharashtra in year 2015. His paper has been awarded IGS-HEICO Biennial Award- 2017 by Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS), India as a best paper on "Rock Mechanics" published in Indian Geotechnical Journal through Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS). He has been interviewed by Rajya Sabha TV under popular science program "Eureka" in recognition of contribution to the R&D in Engineering Sciences. He has been Senate Member of ACSIR (Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research) CSIR, Delhi. Currently, he is serving as Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur. Prior to this, he served CSIR-AMPRI Bhopal and CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) Nagpur, India as Scientist. He has more than 150 international and national journal/conference publications to his credit. His areas of research interest include blast analysis, blast resistant structures, lightweight materials, composite structures, low, medium, and high strain rate material characterization and computational mechanics. He is looking forward to contributing to the broader areas of structural protection systems used against blast and impact loading.

Prof. Laxmikant M. Gupta is a distinguished professor in the Department of Applied Mechanics at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur. With a profound academic background, he obtained his B.E. in Civil Engineering in 1980 from Govt. College of Engineering, Amravati, followed by an M. Tech in Structural Engineering in 1983 from Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering (VRCE), Nagpur, and a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 1991 also from Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering (VRCE), Nagpur. Prof. Gupta has been an integral part of VNIT since 1989, contributing significantly to the field of steel structures. His remarkable career extends beyond academics, having served as Junior Engineer in the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Notable awards highlight his achievements, including Best Teacher Award in 1995 and Appreciation Award from the PWD Government of Maharashtra for his remarkable work in retrofitting and widening of bridges. Prof. Gupta's expertise is evident in his 46 publications across various national and international journals, with a notable focus on steel structures and wind engineering. His influence extends to the preparation of draft code for prestressed steel bridges under IRC. Prof. Gupta has also played a pivotal role as an examiner for Ph.D. and M. Tech projects in esteemed engineering colleges across the country. A life member of various institutions of engineers, civil engineers, and structural engineers, Prof. L. M. Gupta continues to be a driving influence in the fields of academics and research.

Prof. Omprakash R. Jaiswal took over the charge as Director of NIT Goa in 2023. He is on deputation from the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, wherein, he is Professor at the Department of Applied Mechanics. His basic field is structural engineering with research work in the areas related to earthquake analysis of structures, tuned mass dampers for seismic and wind response control, dynamic response of railway tracks, etc. He had graduated in civil engineering from Visvesvaraya Regional Engineering College (VRCE), Nagpur (Now, VNIT) in 1987; completed his master's in 1991 and doctoral degree in 1995 from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Subsequently, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Liverpool for a period of about two years. He joined as faculty at VRCE in 1998. After becoming Professor in 2008, he was Head of the Department from 2010 to 2012 and then Dean (Academics) from 2013 to 2016. During his deanship, VNIT Nagpur had initiated the Student Mentor Program (SMP), wherein, first year UG students were mentored by third year students. This SMP is very effective in handling the anxiety and curiosity of new entrants at early stage. Professor Jaiswal has coordinated funded R&D projects from MHRD, DST, CSIR, and World Bank. In a collaborative project with IIT Kanpur, he developed Guidelines for Seismic Design of Liquid Storage Tanks. He is a member of BIS committees for earthquake and wind codes. He has supervised seven Ph.D. students. He has more than eighty scholarly papers to his credit.