Recent Trends in Civil Engineering: Select Proceedings of ICRACE 2021

Dr. Arjun Sil is currently an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, India. He obtained his B.Tech. from North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), India; M.Tech. from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar; and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. His specific areas of research are interdisciplinary such as earthquake engineering including structural engineering, geotechnical earthquake engineering, seismology, seismic hazard, site response, microzonation, risk evaluation, solid mechanics, condition assessment and health monitoring of structures, reliability and probability, monte carlo simulation, space hazards, Covid-19, GIS and remote sensing, corrosion modelling, chloride, wind, and landslide hazard assessment. He has published so far more than 59 research articles [http://www.nits.ac.in/departments/civil/civil.php] in highly reputed international journals (SCI, Scopus), 12 papers in conferences and one granted patent. He has so far guided 34 M.Tech. scholars, Ph.D. scholars (03 defended, 03 submitted). Currently several Ph.D. and M.Tech. scholars are working under him in various domains. He is a reviewer of various prestigious journals such as Natural Hazards Review (ASCE), Journal of Geomatics, Natural hazards and Risk (Taylor & Francis), Journal of Earthquake Engineering (Taylor & Francis), and Corrosion Engineering Science and Technology (Taylor and Francies). He has received several prestigious awards such as Outstanding Structural Engineer of the Year Award-2020, Conferred by the Governing Council of “Indian Association of Structural Engineers (IAStructE)”, New Delhi, India, for the overall contribution of Civil Engineering. He is acting as “Research Advisor” of Nanyang Academy of Sciences (Singapore), received IGS-Sardar Resham Singh Memorial Award-2015, conferred by Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS), New Delhi. His Ph.D. thesis was nominated as one of the best thesis for “institute MEDAL” in IISc, Bangalore from Civil Engineering Department during 2014–2015.
Dr. Denise-Penelope N. Kontoni obtained her Diploma in Civil Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece (grade: excellent, ranked 1st), and her Ph.D. (doctor of civil engineering) in structural engineering also from the University of Patras, Greece. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of the Peloponnese, Greece. She has also been teaching for 19 years in postgraduate programs of the Hellenic Open University, Greece, and she has supervised many M.Sc. theses in the postgraduate programs such as “Earthquake Engineering and Earthquake Resistant Structures”, “Engineering Construction Management”, etc. She is the author of 120 scientific articles in refereed international scientific journals and in proceedings of international conferences, which have received many citations from other researchers. She is a reviewer in many international scientific journals (e.g., “Certificate of outstanding contribution in reviewing” from “Engineering Structures”-Elsevier). She is editor and guest editor in refereed international scientific journals and has been a member of the scientific committee in many international conferences. Her research interests are focused on structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, finite element method (FEM), boundary element method (BEM), soil-structure interaction, vibration control, computer-aided structural analysis, wave propagation, elastodynamics, elastoplasticity, computer programming in civil engineering, etc.
Dr. Rathish Kumar Pancharathi is currently a Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal. He obtained his Ph.D. from the NIT Warangal and Doctor of Engineering and postdoctoral research from Japan. His major areas of interest include new/alternate/supplementary cementitious materials, special concretes, rehabilitation of structures, construction technology and management, structural health monitoring, earthquake engineering and sustainable materials and technologies. He has published 226 technical articles in various international and national journals and conferences of repute. He has contributed 15 book chapters and authored 2 books. He has two patents granted to his credit. He has guided 8 doctoral students and 12 students are presently working with him. He has guided 68 Master’s students and 37 Bachelor’s student batches. He is a recipient of several awards including Aftab Mufti Medal, Monbusho and JSPS Scholarships of the Japanese Government, Best Engineering Researcher Award, Heritage Scholarship to pursue research at IST Portugal, Danish Government Scholarship, Italy Government Post-Doctoral Scholarship, Heritage Scholarship under Erasmus Mundus, AIT Fellowship, ASEM-Duo India Fellowship, Slovakian Government Scholarship, Jawaharlal Nehru memorial fellowship, Earth leader award and Distinguished Alumnus award. Prof. Kumar is a member of the Research Advisory Council member of the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM), Hyderabad, for the past six years. He represents several Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) committees like CED-4 i.e., Lime and Gypsum Products of the BIS, Preparation of Handbook of lime for the BIS, Convenor for revision of all parts of Indian Standard Code IS 2542-1978 including tests for Gypsum, Plaster, Concrete and Mortars, Member of Revision of Indian Standard Code IS 712:1984 i.e., specification for building limes. He is on the IRC B8 Committee of Inspection, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Bridges. He is on the editorial board of Journal of Facta Universtatis, Journal of Cement Wapno Beton among others and is a reviewer of several International Journals published by Elsevier, Thomas Telford, Taylor and Francis etc.