Dr. Ankur Bhogayata is working as a Professor and the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India. He has 22 years of work experience in teaching and research activities. He obtained his Ph.D., with a specialization in concrete technology, from Saurashtra University. He has been granted one patent and more than 10 design patents by the patent office of the Government of India. Dr. Bhogayata has published more than 30 research articles in SCI and SCOPUS index journals with reputed publishers. His areas of expertise include concrete composites, geopolymer concrete, precast concrete, application of AI-based optimization methods for mix design of concrete, sustainable concrete, use of nano-particles in concrete and study of structures exposed to marine environments. Dr. Bhogayata has been conferred with the IGIP recognition by the International Society of Engineering Pedagogy, Austria, for the innovative teaching-learning practices that he implemented with the students of architecture and civil engineering programs. Presently, more than 7 research scholars are pursuing Ph.D. under his supervision and one student obtained his PhD in 2022. He also has supervised more than 24 theses of master’s degree students and has guided several undergraduate students for their research projects in the field of concrete technology. He has also received several funded projects from different organisations namely GUJCOST, GEMI, for his research work and academic activities. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers India, the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) and a life member of the India Chapter of the American Concrete Institute. Dr. Amit Sata is working as a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Marwadi University. He is also heading the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell at the institution. He holds a graduate degree in mechanical engineering and has completed his master’s of technology and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay. Dr. Sata also held a short visiting appointment at the University of Pitesti, Romania in 2018, under the ERASMUS+ program. He primarily works in the direction of extending an application of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to the domain of manufacturing engineering, specifically metal casting. He is currently guiding six Ph.D. students and has guided more than 35 graduate and postgraduate students in the domain of metal casting. Dr. Sata has published more than 45 technical papers and has delivered more than 50 talks in India. He has been granted 23 patents and other intellectual property rights (IPR) and has commercialized eight of these IPRs. He heads the SMART Foundry at Marwadi University (funded substantially by the Government of India) which is focused on extending the application of IIoT to metal casting. He also was instrumental in the formation of the innovative start-up Udhyog 4.0 LLP (incubatedby Marwadi University and funded by the Government of Gujarat) which focuses on transforming existing manufacturing enterprises into SMART manufacturing setups.
