Dr. Babu T. Jose completed his B.Tech. from NIT Warangal in 1967 with Nehru Memorial Gold Medal, M.Tech. from IIT Madras in 1972 and Ph.D. from Cochin University of Science and Technology in 1990. He was lecturer in NIT, Calicut, for 13 years (1967-1980). Currently, he is emeritus professor at Cochin University of Science and Technology since 2004. Dr. Jose has commendable experience in research. He has published more than 150 research papers, and on the consultancy front, he has successfully completed more than 500 projects. On the administrative side, he was principal at the School of Engineering, Cochin University, during 1980–1995 and a director till 2004. Dr. Babu T Jose is the founder chairman of IGS, Kochi Chapter. He was the chairman of the organizing committee of IGC in 2011 and the chief editor of its proceedings. Dr. Dipak Kumar Sahoo is full-time faculty member since 2001 and currently Professor since 2009, in the School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi. Prior to academics, he was working in the Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, a Central Public Sector Company, in India for more than 10 years as a Consulting Engineer to many public and private sector companies for setting up their green-field petrochemical complexes. He received his B.Sc. Engineering (Civil) from CET Bhubaneswar in 1987, M.Tech. in Construction Engineering and Management from Cochin University of Science and Technology in 1998, Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2009 and LL.B. from the Cochin University of Science and Technology in 2015. Prof. Sahoo has guided four doctoral theses, published over 60 papers and discussions in refereed journals and conferences, a book chapter by the Institution of Civil Engineers, UK, and a number of articles in periodicals. He was the Corresponding Editor of the Proceedings of the Indian Geotechnical Conference 2011. Dr. Sahoo received Industrial Merit Award from FACT Limited, Distinction and First Rank in M.Tech. and Justice Kochu Thomman Memorial Gold Medal in LL.B. He is Life Member of the Indian Geotechnical Society and Life Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India). He is reviewer for leading international journals.Dr Sanjay Kumar Shukla is a world-renowned expert in the field of Civil (Geotechnical) Engineering. He is Founding Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, Springer Nature, Switzerland, and Founding Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Research Group Leader at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Perth, Australia. He holds the Distinguished Professorship at nine universities, including Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, and Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India. He is an author/editor of 26 books, and more than 315 research articles, including more than 210 scholarly journal articles. With a hat-trick in 2020, 2021 and 2022, he is among the world’s top 2% of scientists. He has been honoured with several awards, including 2021 ECU Aspire Award by Business Events Perth, Australia, and the most prestigious IGS Award 2018 by International Geosynthetics Society, USA. He serves on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is a fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers and Engineers Australia, and a life fellow of Institution of Engineers (India) and Indian Geotechnical Society. Shukla’s generalized expressions for seismic active thrust (2015) and seismic passive resistance (2013), and Shukla’s wraparound reinforcement technique are taught in universities and routinely used by practising engineers worldwide.Prof. A. Murali Krishna is Faculty Member of Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Tirupati since May 2019. Before joining IITTP, he was Faculty Member in Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Guwahati for about 11 years. Dr. Murali Krishna obtained doctoral degree from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, M.Tech. degree from IIT Kanpur and B.Tech. degree from Sri Venkateswara University College of Engineering, Tirupati. His research interests include earthquake geotechnics, geosynthetics and ground improvement, site characterization and numerical and physical modeling of geotechnical structures. He supervised 7 doctoral students and 24 master’s students; co-authored nearly 200 publications of technical papers in international and national journals and conference and seminar proceedings, including book chapters. He was a recipient of BRNS Young Scientist Research Award, BOYSCAST fellowship and HERITAGE fellowship. He was Visiting Fellow at Bristol University (UK), Surrey University (UK) and University de Torino (Italy). Dr. Murali Krishna is Executive Member of Indian Geotechnical Society, International Society of Rock Mechanics (India), Deep Foundations Institute (DFI)-India and Life Fellow of Indian Society of Earthquake Technology (ISET). He is also Member of TC 203 of ISSMGE, since 2011. Dr. Murali Krishna organized several national and international workshops and short courses, in particular, Indian Geotechnical Conference 2017 at IIT Guwahati. He is Consultant for several projects and Reviewer for several national and international journals.Dr. Jimmy Thomas is Consulting Engineer specializing in geotechnical engineering, geosynthetics, reinforced soil structures and pavement engineering. He is also Guest Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar. He received B.Tech. in civil engineering from Regional Engineering College Calicut in 1986, M.Tech. in geotechnical engineering from College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram in 1989 and Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1998. Dr. Thomas has more than 25 years of experience in the industry and about 6 years in academics. He has worked extensively in the field of geosynthetics and reinforced soil structures. He also had short stints with Nirma Institute of Technology Ahmedabad and Albertian Institute of Science and Technology Kochi. Dr. Thomas is Member of many professional societies like Indian Geotechnical Society, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, International Geosynthetics Society, Indian Roads Congress, Institution of Engineers (India) and Deep Foundations Institute. He has also served in technical committees of Bureau of Indian Standards and Indian Road Congress, actively participating in the formulation of codes and standards.Dr. Veena V currently serves as Principal at Albertian Institute of Science and Technology (AISAT), Kalamassery, Kochi. Holding a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Cochin University of Science & Technology, Kochi, Kerala, she has a strong academic background with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Govt. College of Engineering, Trivandrum, and master’s degree in construction engineering and management from Cochin University of Science & Technology. Dr. Veena V has 21 years of experience, including 5 years in the industry. She is a life member of Indian Geotechnical Society and serves as Executive Committee Member of the Indian Geotechnical Society, Kochi Chapter. She has published several papers in national and international journals and conferences. Her areas of interest are environmental geotechnics, soil stabilisation and liner soils.
