Prof. T.G. Sitharam

Prof. T. G. Sitharam took over as Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Govt of India on December 21, 2022.

He was the Director of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam for 3.5 years (from July 2019 to December, 2022). He Obtained his B.E.(Civil Engineering) from University of Mysore; Master’s from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1986 and Ph.D. from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1991. He worked as a lecture at University of Waterloo soon after his PhD and later moved to University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA (1992-94). He also held the position of Director (additional charge) at Central Institute of Technology Kokrajhar, Assam for 1.5 years (May 2021-November 2022). Presently, he is the Chairman, Board of Governors at CIT, Kokrajhar and Chairman, Board of Management of North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli, Arunachala Pradesh.

Director & Professor - Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Senior Prof. in Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science

Prof. T. G. Sitharam is a KSIIDC Chair Professor in the area of Energy and Mechanical Sciences. IISc and Senior Professor (HAG Scale) at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He was former founder Chairman of a Center for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at IISc. He is presently the Chairman, AICTE South western zonal committee, Regional office at Bengaluru and vice president, Indian Society for Earthquake Technology (ISET). He was also a Visiting Professor at Yamaguchi University, Japan, and ISM Dhanbad, Jharkhand. He had earlier completed his Masters from Indian Institute of Science (in 1986) and Ph.D. from University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada (1991).

AICTE Chairman
Director at IITG
Senior Prof. at IISc

Biography

Prof. (Dr.) T.G. Sitharam is a distinguished academician, renowned civil engineer, and an influential education administrator currently serving as the Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Government of India, since December 21, 2022. With an illustrious academic and research career spanning over three decades, Prof. Sitharam is widely recognized for his visionary leadership, commitment to excellence, and transformative contributions to India’s technical education landscape.

Prior to AICTE, he served as the Director of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (2019–2022), where he was instrumental in launching five new interdisciplinary schools and five research centres, and significantly improved the institute’s global ranking. Under his tenure, IIT Guwahati ranked 2nd in India for citation per faculty in QS World Rankings 2022 and 2023 and initiated a unique partnership with the Government of Assam to establish a medical school and a multispecialty hospital within the campus.

Prof. Sitharam holds a B.E. in Civil Engineering from the University of Mysore, M.Tech from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, and a Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He has held faculty and research positions in leading institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin, University of Waterloo, and IISc Bangalore, where he served for over 30 years. He has guided over 40 Ph.D. scholars, authored 500+ technical papers and 20 books, holds five patents, and was listed among the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University from 2020 to 2024. Moreover, he has been ranked among the top scientists globally in the 2025 AD Scientific Index, securing top positions in Engineering & Technology (#3 in IIT Guwahati, #193 in India) and Earth Sciences (#1 in IIT Guwahati, #6 in India) based on citation impact, H-index, and i10-index.

A prolific researcher in geotechnical engineering, seismic microzonation, and infrastructure development, Prof. Sitharam has executed over 120 consultancy projects and led innovation in the construction of major national infrastructure, including the iconic Chenab Bridge and foundation works for the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

As AICTE Chairman, Prof. Sitharam has steered the Council towards a new era of inclusivity, innovation, and skill integration. Under his leadership, AICTE has launched transformative schemes and initiatives AICTE Career Portal, Placement Portal, SARASWATI scheme, VAANI scheme etc, played a major role in expansion of IDEA Labs and foster the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education.

He has also played a pivotal role in enhancing implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 by promoting multiple entry-exit systems, Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), and flexible learning pathways.

Prof. Sitharam is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), and holds several honorary and fellow positions across national and international scientific bodies. He has received numerous awards, including the Sir C.V. Raman Young Scientist Award (2002) and the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Senior Scientist Award (2023) from the Government of Karnataka.

An advocate of quality, equity, and innovation in education, Prof. Sitharam continues to shape the future of India’s technical education, building a robust and globally competitive ecosystem aligned with India’s vision of becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Awards

Listed in World Ranking of top 2% Indian scientist in Geological & Geomatics Engineering .
Indian Geotechnical Society - Honorary Fellowship
GS-Kueckelmann Award 2015 with a cash prize of Rs.35,000 for "Outstanding Cumulative Contribution in Geotechnical Engineering" from Indian Geotechnical Society, October 2015. The prestigious Indian Geotechnical Society – Kueckelmann award is presented once in two years to an eminent geotechnical engineer who has made a significant contribution to the profession in India. So far 18 eminent Geotechnical Engineers have thus been honored.
Amulya and Vimala Reddy Lecture award in the field of sustainable development 2014 from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for research work on Sustainability with a cash prize of Rs 20,000/-.
Prof. Gopal Ranjan Research Award 2014 awarded from IIT Roorkee for the exceptional contributions to geotechnical engineering with a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000/-
William Mong Research Fellow, University of Hongkong, HONGKONG 2011
Sir C.V. Raman State Award for Young Scientists, Govt of Karnataka, for the year 2002 in recognition and appreciation of exceptional contributions to Engineering Sciences in Karnataka (awarded in October 2004).
Recipient of 1998 S. P. Research Award, Shamsher Prakash Foundation, USA for excellence in Geotechnical Engineering among candidates from SAARC countries.
Member of Committee on Soil mechanics and Geotechnical engineering codes, Bureau Of Indian Standards, The National Standards body of India.
IGS – YGE Best Paper Biennial Award – 2014 along with Mr. Amaranth Hegde awarded by Indian Geotechnical Society at IGC 2014 Dec 2014 at Kakinada.
ISRMTT Best paper award 2007- Sitharam and Maji (2007) “Modeling of Jointed rock mass using Equivalent continuum concept”
ISRMTT Best paper award 2009 –M. Ramulu, T.G. Sitharam – “Effect of repeated blast vibrations on rock mass damage at a penstock tunnel of hydroelectric power project- A case study”
IGS-Z-Tech Biennial prize for the best paper on “Geosynthetics and Allied Construction Products”- 2003 (awarded in 2004).
IGS-Prof.C.S.Desai Biennial award -2000 (awarded in Dec, 2000) for best paper on Constitutive modelling for geologic materials, IGJ paper on "Hyperbolic stress-strain and pore pressure response of sensitive clays, IGJ, Vol 29, No3, pp 221-241"
Best paper award – Under category CAD/Software packages for the paper by Sridevi, J., T.G. Sitharam, and H.M. Chandrashekhar, on Simulation of Rock mass behaviour using finite element method, paper appeared in Journal of Rock Mechanics and Tunneling technology, 2000. (Awarded in 2002) by Indian Society for Rock Mechanics and Tunneling Technology.
Best paper award – Under category Rock Testing and Monitoring of rock structures (late shri. Shanta Giridhara Lal-AIMIL award) for the paper by T.G. Sitharam, and G. Madhavi Latha, on Prediction of stress-strain behaviour of intact and jointed rocks in triaxial compression, appeared in Journal of rock mechanics and Tunneling technology, 2002. (Awarded in 2002) by Indian Society for Rock Mechanics and Tunneling Technology.
Certificate of Merit for the best paper presented at International R & D conference, Water and Energy - 2001, held at New Delhi, October 1995.
Best Citizens of India Award, Best Citizens of India, New Delhi, April 2006.
Marquis Who’s who, Who’s who in Science and Engineering, Sept 2006, 9th Edition.
Man of the year 2003, American Biographical Institute, Inc. (ABI) for the overall accomplishments and contributions.
Indian Institute of Science Research fellowship 1984-1986.
Govt. Scholarship, Govt. of Karnataka, 1978-1983.
National merit scholarship, 1973 -76

Amulya and Vimala Reddy Lecture on “Sustainable Development Issues and Directions in Urban Science and Engineering: Recent Studies” in the field of sustainable development, June 9th, 2015.
Late Er. T. Narayana Reddy’s 8th Annual Memorial Lecturer –November 2006 Organized by Institution of Engineers and S V University, Tirupati.
Professor B.K. Ramiah Memorial Lecturer (15th in the series), Karnataka Geotechnical Center, Bangalore, March 2007.

ISRMTT Best paper award 2007- Sitharam and Maji (2007) “Modeling of Jointed rock mass using Equivalent continuum concept”
ISRMTT Bets paper award 2009 –M. Ramulu, T.G. Sitharam – “Effect of repeated blast vibrations on rock mass damage at a penstock tunnel of hydroelectric power project- A case study”
IGS-Z-Tech Biennial prize for the best paper on “Geosynthetics and Allied Construction Products”- 2003 (awarded in 2004).
IGS-Prof.C.S.Desai Biennial award -2000 (awarded in Dec, 2000) for best paper on Constitutive modelling for geologic materials, IGJ paper on "Hyperbolic stress-strain and pore pressure response of sensitive clays, IGJ, Vol 29, No3, pp 221-241"
Best paper award – Under category CAD/Software packages for the paper by Sridevi, J., T.G. Sitharam, and H.M. Chandrashekhar, on Simulation of Rock mass behaviour using finite element method, paper appeared in Journal of Rock Mechanics and Tunneling technology, 2000. (Awarded in 2002) by Indian Society for Rock Mechanics and Tunneling Technology.
Best paper award – Under category Rock Testing and Monitoring of rock structures (late shri. Shanta Giridhara Lal-AIMIL award) for the paper by T.G. Sitharam, and G. Madhavi Latha, on Prediction of stress-strain behaviour of intact and jointed rocks in triaxial compression, appeared in Journal of rock mechanics and Tunneling technology, 2002. (Awarded in 2002) by Indian Society for Rock Mechanics and Tunneling Technology.
Certificate of Merit for the best paper presented at International R & D conference, Water and Energy - 2001, held at New Delhi, October 1995.