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 Soil Mechanicsand 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. Balunaini Umashankar is Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad. He has been with IIT Hyderabad since 2009 after completing his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He did his Bachelors from S V University in 2000 and Masters from IIT Kanpur in 2002. He specializes in geotechnical engineering with research focus on geosynthetics in pavements, reinforced earth structures, foundation engineering, recyclable materials in geotechnics and soil-structure interaction. He is presently involved with research to use drone technology to monitor geoinfrastructre facilities. He has been involved with several research projects funded by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Neyveli Lignite Co. Ltd. (NLC), Department of Science and Technology (DST), etc. He is a technical advisor to the Irrigation and CAD Department, Government of Telangana, for the recently concluded project in the State- 'The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project’. Dr. Kumar Pitchumani is Regional Director at AECOM India Pvt Ltd, heading the Geotechnical Engineering business line and involved in the analysis and design of the geotechnical components of large infrastructure projects, especially underground metros. He brings in 28 years of professional experience in the field of geotechnical engineering, encompassing teaching, research, consulting, analysis and design in various aspects of geotechnical engineering. His experience includes foundation designs for various types of structures in the transportation and marine infrastructure projects. He has been responsible for various projects involving ground improvement of soft clays and reclamation fills. Dr. Kumar did his Bachelors in Civil Engineering at VJTI Mumbai in 1987 and then his M.Tech. and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at IIT Kanpur in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Prior to moving into the industry, he started his career with National Institute of Rock Mechanics and then as Assistant Professor at IIT Madras. Since 1999, he has been in the Consulting Industry with L&T Ramboll, L&T ECC and COWI before joining AECOM in 2011. He has around 40 publications in journals and conferences. He is also Adjunct Professor at IIT Madras, disseminating his industrial experience to the student community. He is Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineers, London.
