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 a lecturer in NIT, Calicut, for 13 years (1967-1980). Currently, he is an 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 the principal at the School of Engineering, Cochin University, during 1980–1995 and 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 a full-time faculty member since 2001 and currently a 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 a life member of the Indian Geotechnical Society and a life fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India). He is reviewer for leading international.Dr. Thomas Oommen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi, USA. Dr. Oommen received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. His research is focused on geohazard characterization and risk reduction using remote sensing and artificial intelligence. Dr. Oommen has extensive teaching, research, and consulting experience in geohazards, sustainable development, community resilience, infrastructure monitoring, asset management, and transportation geotechniques. Dr. Oommen has authored two books, 85 journal publications, and numerous conference publications. He has received more than 9 million USD in research funding. His work has been funded by prominent agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), World Bank, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Department of Defense, United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), United States Geological Survey (USGS), Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), Society of Exploration Geophysicists-Geoscientists without Borders (SEG-GWB), United States Civilian Research and Development Foundation, and Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC). Dr. Oommen has been an invited speaker and panelist for several international meetings and conferences.Dr. K. Muthukkumaran is currently BIS Chair Professor & Head of Civil Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. He obtained Ph.D. in soil-structure interaction and marine geotechnical engineering from Indian Institute Technology Madras. He has published more than 150 papers in international and national journals and conferences. He has completed five R&D projects, including ISRO—Chandrayaan-2 Mission project, and 70 major consultancy projects in geotechnical engineering and published two patents, including “Moon Soil” - A Method for Manufacture of Highland Lunar Soil Simulant. He has guided 10 Ph.D. scholars, 5 M.S. (by research), and more than 40 M.Tech. students in Geotechnical and allied research areas. Moreover, 6 Ph.D. scholar enrolled in his lab currently. He is the founder chairman of Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS-Trichy) Trichy Chapter. He is a member of Technical Committee (TC-301 on "Preservation of Historic Sites") of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Prof. Muthukkumaran’s area of research is in geotechnical engineering, which includes pile foundation, soil-structure interaction, marine geotechnics and foundations, field instrumentation, geotechnical physical modeling, ground improvement, and forensic geotechnical engineering. He has received DST Young Scientist Award, IGS-Smt. Indra Joshi Biennial Award and Keynote Paper Award—GEOMATE Conference 2015 at Osaka, Japan. He is an associate editor of Australian Journal of Civil Engineering and editorial board member of several other journals. Prof. Muthukkumaran has significant administrative contribution as Estate Officer, Associate Dean (Planning and Development), Member of Buildings and Works Committee, Member of Board of Governors (BoG) of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, and Member of Buildings and Works Committee, IIM Trichy. He has received NIT Trichy Achiever Awards for research publications, research projects, maximum citation, and consultancy projects.Dr. S. Chandrakaran, faculty in Civil Engineering (NIT Calicut), has been working in institute since 1983. He completed his Ph.D. from IISc Bangalore. In addition to teaching, he has worked on 16 sponsored projects and was involved in several research activities. Dr. S. Chandrakaran is one of the well-known geotechnical consultants in Kerala, and he has actively participated in major works for CPWD, KPWD, KSEB, AAI, and Indian Railways. Construction of IIMK campus in hilly area, runway for Calicut Airport, and railway doubling work from Calicut to Mangalore are some of his important consultancy works. He is also involved community service. He is an advisory member for Land Use Board of Kerala, a member of Kerala Building Rules, and an advisory member for Disaster Management Cell of Kerala. He was also involved in studies on landslides that occurred in 2018. He visited more than 900 landslide-affected areas in Kerala and helped the government in relocating the affected. He further helped in avoiding calamities during the floods in 2019. Presently, he is involved in investigation teams of two major landslides that occurred in Kerala in 2019. He is a member in Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP). He excels in giving courses for engineers on dam design and maintenance. He is an executive member of Indian Geotechnical Society and started first student chapter of IGS at NIT Calicut.Dr. T. G. Santhosh Kumar is Principal of Jai Bharath College of Management and Engineering Technology. He worked as Head of Civil Engineering, Government Polytechnic College, Kalamassery, and Professor in Civil Engineering at Jai Bharath College of Management and Engineering Technology. He completed his M.Tech. and Ph.D. in civil (geotechnical) engineering from the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi. He has authored several papers in journals and conferences and guided four M.Tech dissertations. He received Indian Geotechnical Society Awards, Best Paper Award, IGS-Prof. A.V. Shroff, and Baroda Prize for the best paper on “Grouting Technology/Environmental Technology”, in the paper titled “Strength Improvement of Loose Sandy Soils Through Cement Grouting”, Indian Geotech J, 2014. He was one of the editors of the Proceedings of the Indian Geotechnical Conference 2011. He is a fellow/member of many professional organizations, like IGS, ISTE, and Institution of Engineers (India), and he is also a chartered engineer.
