Dr. Sripad R Naik is a graduate in Mining Engineering from NIT, Surathkal in 1990 and acquired his masters from IT, BHU. He completed PhD from NITK, Surathkal and got provisional degree in November 2017. Dr. Sripad joined NIRM in the year 1992 and presently he is Head, Numerical Modelling Department. He has expertise in numerical modelling and instrumentation in the areas of mining and civil engineering. He has worked on many challenging problems in the area of hydroelectric projects, coal mine method of working, instrumentation and subsidence modelling. Substantial experience in sophisticated research techniques and technologies, particularly in the area of 3D modeling of underground structures, slopes. Expert in planning, design and execution of geotechnical instrumentation work for mining and hydroelectric projects. He has published more than 35 technical papers in journals, national and international conferences.
Dr. Rabi Bhusan is a geologist and completed his M.Sc (Applied Geology, 2001, 1st rank) and D.Phill (Earth Science, 2012) from University of Allahabad, Allahabad. Dr. Bhusan has worked as research fellow under Department of Science Technology (DST) at the University of Allahabad from 2005 to 2008. He joined National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM), Department of Engineering Geology in 2008. He is very competent Petrologist and Engineering Geologist. He is well versed with various problems in opencast, underground, dimensional stone engineering and tunnels and caverns. Dr. Bhusan has more than 11 years of experience in geological mapping, geotechnical investigations, geological structural analysis and petrology. He was transferred to Numerical Modeling Department in 2013 and acquired experience in Numerical modeling analysis by using continuum (2D FLAC, 3D FLAC and FLAC Slope) and discontinuum (3DEC, UDEC) professional software. He has experience in monitoring and analysis of instruments in large civil and mining projects. Dr. Bhusan has more than 20 Publications, and supervised five M.Sc students.
Mr. B H Vijay Sekar is a graduate in Civil Engineering from V.R.Siddhartha Engg. College and obtained his M.Tech in Rock Engineering & Underground Structures from IIT, Delhi in 2008. He joined NIRM in July 2013, prior to joining NIRM he worked with Lahmeyer International India Pvt. Ltd. from 2008 to 2013. He has experience in the areas of slope stability problems, design and analysis of underground caverns, tunnels and shafts by using advanced numerical tools. Presently he is involved in the design of large underground caverns using FLAC3D software and instrumentation of hydroelectric projects.
Mrs Praveena Das Jennifer is a Civil engineer, BE (Civil Engg) degree in 2007 with a Master’s degree in 2015 from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum. She was with IIT, Chennai as Project Associate before joining NIRM as Scientist-I in 2008. She has extensively worked as co-investigator in 28 industry sponsored laboratory geotechnical investigation projects in Rock Fracture Mechanics (RFM) Laboratory. She has carried out several soil investigation studies for various mines. Since 2013, she has been involved in seismological data processing (seismic events like earthquakes- regional and distant and regional) and is currently carrying out research work on seismic hazard due to shallow seismic events in pursuit of Ph.D. degree at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore. She is currently Scientist-II, working in Environmental and Exploration Geophysics Department (EEGD) and is associated with S&T project related to seismic monitoring in old mining areas. She has one publication each in a national journal and an international conference as author and as co-author in 3 national and international conferences. She currently holds membership of International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM) and Institution of Engineers India (IEI).
Mr. K. Sudhakar is Diploma holder in Electronics & Communication Engineering (1990) and joined NIRM in April 1992 as Research Assistant after serving two years in private industry. Later he acquired Diploma in Industrial Automation in 2006 and completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from Institution of Engineers (India) in 2016. He is currently working as Scientist-II. During this period he worked in various Coal S&T projects and industry sponsored projects for development of instruments for coal mines (CSMS, RST and Micro Seismic Systems) and Geotechnical Instrumentation for major hydroelectric projects in India at Sardar Sarovar, Nathpa Jhakri Projects and at Tala Hydro project in Bhutan. He is Currently working on geotechnical instrumentation works at various projects.
Dr. Siva Prasad BNV is a professional, enthusiastic geo-scientist and consultant having completed over 50 industry-sponsored projects. His expertise includes the application of rock mechanics principles to solve industrial problems using numerical modelling techniques, drilling and blasting in underground and surface excavations, geodetic and geotechnical instrumentation in mines, tunnels, civil structures, and hydro-electric projects, design of ground control methods and support systems, determination of in-situ stress regimes, geotechnical mapping, rock mass characterization, and mine development. He has rich experience in lead-zinc, gold, copper, iron ore, uranium, aluminium, and coal mining. He has visited Bhutan, South Korea, Singapore, and Austria on numerous assignments. His consultations comprised Mining, Tunnelling, Hydropower, Infrastructure and Irrigation sectors.
Prior to joining NIRM, Dr. Prasad worked at Zawar Mines, HZL in the mining and rock mechanics departments contributing to mine transformation vis-à-vis mining, rock mechanics and geotechnical aspects. During his term at NIRM, he was on deputation to Punatsangchhu-II Hydroelectric Project, Bhutan for four years. He is certified with a Second Class Mine Manager Certificate of Competency in metalliferous mines, a life member of the Mining Engineers Association of India and a Member of The Institution of Engineers (India).