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

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.

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

Prof. T. G. Sitharam 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.

He is a Senior Professor in Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and served IISc for the last 30 years. He held KSIIDC Chair Professor in the area of Energy and Mechanical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from 2015 to 2018. He was instrumental in starting a Center for infrastructure, sustainable transport and urban planning and Master’s programme in the center at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has served as a visiting or honorary professor at many universities in countries such as Japan, Canada, USA, Hongkong, Australia and Republic of China.

Presently, Prof. Sitharam is the member of Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Established through an Act of Parliament: SERB Act 2008, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. He was the former Chairman, Research Council, CSIR- CBRI (Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee). He was the chairman, Executive council of Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum Bangalore. He was the Governing council member of National council for Science Museums (NCSM); EC and council member of AICTE (2015-2022). He is presently the Board member of Bureau of Indian Standards and Central Power Research Institute.

His broad area of research falls in to Geotechnical Infrastructure engineering including ocean and coastal zone management, earth sciences, hydrology, seismology, and natural hazards. He has carried out Seismic microzonation of many urban centers in India including Bangalore, Lucknow and NCR Delhi. He is an authority on seismic microzonation and site effects in the world. Presently, he is the President of Indian Society of earthquake Technology and he chaired the 7th International conference on recent advances in Geotechnical earthquake engineering and soil dynamics held in July 2021. He is also the President of International Association for Coastal Reservoir Research (IACRR) and IACRR’s vision is to be the world's leading organization, dedicated to advancing all aspects of Coastal Reservoir and promoting the sustainable development and management of coastal zones. He is the Scientific Committee Chairman of the 1st IACRR International Conference on Coastal Reservoirs and Sustainable Water Management to be held in China during Nov 2023.

Over the last 35 years, he has carried out research and development in the area of geotechnical and infrastructure engineering, seismic microzonation and soil dynamics, Geotechnical earthquake engineering and has developed innovative technologies in the area of earth sciences, leading to about 500 technical papers, 20 books with Google scholar H-index of 53 and I-10 index 149 with more than 8614 citations. He has guided 40 Ph.D. students; 35 Masters Students, 25 postdoctoral students and several thousand industry professionals and teachers through continuing education workshops. He has filed for 5 patents, executed more than 120 consulting projects and 2 start-up companies to his credit. He was listed in the world's top 2% of scientists for the most-cited research scientists in various disciplines by Stanford University in 2020. Again his name appeared in the top 2% of scientists in Elsevier by Stanford University in 2021 and 2022. He was part of an 8-member expert panel set up to supervise Ram temple foundation-laying work for Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra at Ayodhya. He was the consultant for M/s AFCONS in the construction of the highest railway bridge across river Chenab near Katra. J&K and on many other important assignments.

He is the chief editor of International journal of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, (IJGEE), PA, USA since 2010. He is the Editor-in-chief, Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering series, Book Series, Singapore. He was the editorial board member of many international Journals of repute in his area of research like Geotechnique letters, ASCE; Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, EJGE, etc. He has delivered the prestigious Indian Geotechnical Society’s annual lecture in IGC during December 2020. He is the honorary fellow of Indian Geotechnical Society and Honorary fellow of council of Vibration Specialist. He has received many awards and occludes for his work. In 2015, he was a recipient of IGS Kuckleman Award for his life time contributions in Geotechnical Engineering. In 2014, he was a recipient of Prof. Gopal Ranjan research award from IIT Roorkee for his excellent contributions to Geotechnical Engineering in the country. IISc conferred Amulya and Vimala Reddy Lecture Award at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in the field of Sustainable Development for the year 2014 on Sitharam. Earlier, he was the recipient of Sir C.V. Raman State Award for Young Scientists, Government of Karnataka, in the year 2002 in recognition and appreciation of exceptional contributions to Engineering Sciences. He is the Fellow of ASCE, Fellow of ICE (UK), Diplomat of Geotechnical Engineering (D.Ge.) from Academy of Geo-Professionals, ASCE; Honorary Fellow of IGS, Fellow of ISET, Fellow of ISES and many other Societies. He is also a certified professional engineer and chartered engineer from Institution of Engineers.

As the Director of IIT Guwahati, he was responsible for creating 5 new schools and 5 new academic multidisciplinary centers at IITG during 2020-21 and has taken IITG as no 2 institute in citation per faculty in India (Rank 41 globally) in the recent QS world ranking 2022. IITG jumped 95 ranks from 2019 to 395th rank globally in 2022. In NIRF ranking, IITG Maintained its 7th rank in engineering under his leadership. He has also created new Industry Interaction and special Initiative (II&SI) cell at IITG and has attracted large number of companies and incubated large number of start-ups. He has lead the Research park and Technology Incubation Center at IITG effectively. He has also improved research environment at IIT Guwahati and also successful in getting additional philanthropic funds to start school of Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence; and, School of Agro & Rural technologies. His plans for upgrading scientific infrastructure at IIT Guwahati are commendable. He was able develop a strategic partnership with Govt of Assam in establishing a medical school and a commitment from Govt of Assam to start a state-of-the-art Multispecialty Hospital at IITG with partnership. He is the member of Board of Governors of many NIT’s; IIEST, NCSM, AICTE, NESAC, etc.

He is an active member Presidents’ Forum of Southeast and South Asia and Taiwan Universities (SATU Presidents’ Forum), Member of many scientific committees in International Societies of repute and many other Associations and Universities in India & abroad. He has delivered many talks on implementation plan and best case studies of National Education Policy implementation across universities and institutions.

Awards

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.

Join the Community

 

Tune In

Social Media News

Facebook
Linkedin
Glimpses of Administrative Career Achievements