Proceedings of GeoMandu 2024 Volume 3 : Geotechnics for Sustainability

Dr. Netra Prakash Bhandary is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Ehime University of Japan. He teaches various topics in geotechnical engineering, geohazards and geo-disaster reduction. He completed his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India and his master's degree in geotechnical engineering and Ph.D. in engineering from Ehime University of Japan. Dr. Bhandary started his teaching career at Nepal Engineering College in 1994. He later joined Ehime University as an assistant professor in 2003. His main research interests are geotechnical aspects of landslides and seismic ground shaking. He has published more than 150 scientific papers on various topics. Currently, Dr. Bhandary holds the positions of Head of the Department of Environmental Design and Director of the Center for Disaster Management Informatics Research at Ehime University. He served as the president of the Nepal Geotechnical Society until May 2023 and currently leads the Shikoku Branch of the Japanese Geotechnical Society as its president. Dr. Bhandary has received several awards in recognition of his contributions to academia and research. Some of his achievements include all three classes of Biddhya Bhushan Medals (i.e., A, B, and C) given by the kings of Nepal, best paper awards, best presentation awards and best contribution awards.   Dr. Binod Tiwari is the Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects/Chief Research Officer at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), United States of America (USA) the largest campus within the California State University System. He also holds the position of Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSUF. Dr. Tiwari completed his B.Eng. in civil engineering from Tribhuvan University Nepal, M.Sc. in geo and biosphere science from Niigata University, Japan and his Ph.D. in environmental management science from Niigata University, Japan. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Virginia Tech, USA. He has served at CSUF in different capacities including department chair, program coordinator, graduate advisor and an academic senate member. He has published over 250 articles in various areas of his research interest, delivered nearly 100 keynotes or invited lectures and supervised over 250 students on their graduate or undergraduate research theses and projects. As an external panel of experts, he has reviewed design reports of dozens of large geotechnical engineering and dam projects in the USA as well as internationally. He has received many awards for his research publications as well as service to higher education and profession including the ASCE 2022 Edmund Friedman Professional Recognition Award, ASCE 2019 Thomas Middlebrooks Awards, and CSU Fullerton 2017 Outstanding Professor Award. Dr. Tiwari served as a Vice President of the International Consortium on Landslides, executive board member for the Council on Undergraduate Research and Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Geo-Institute Los Angeles Chapter. He is the incumbent president of the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR). Dr. Tiwari serves as an executive editor, associate editor, or editorial board member of various flagship international journals on geotechnical engineering including ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering, Landslides, and Geo-environmental Disasters. He also serves as the assistant editor-in-chief of the ICL Book Series - Progress in Landslide Research and Technology. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in California and is a fellow of ASCE.   Dr. Indra Prasad Acharya currently serves as an Associate Professor and the Campus Chief of Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University. He completed his bachelor's degree from Tribhuvan University, master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a specialization in geotechnical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Dr. Acharya has been a key figure in Nepal both in academia and geotechnical engineering sectors for over two decades. He has contributed significantly to research with numerous publications on various topics such as the geotechnical effects of earthquakes, liquefaction hazard assessment and foundation system analysis. He is a seasoned engineering professional and has played a vital role in infrastructure quality control and material as a consultant for geotechnical and tunnel engineering projects.   Dr. Mandip Subedi is an Associate Professor and the Director of Universal Engineering and Science College, affiliated with Pokhara University. He also serves as the Director of the Geoinfra Research Institute, Nepal. He completed his bachelor’s degree, M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Tribhuvan University. Dr. Subedi has worked as a geotechnical engineer/civil engineer for the World Bank Nepal, Asian Development Bank Nepal, and various other governmental and non-governmental organizations. His primary research interests include geotechnical earthquake engineering, soil liquefaction, geo-disaster, landslides and geotechnics in road transport. Dr. Subedi was awarded the 'Prabhdi Vidhya Bhusan 2023' award by the President of Nepal. He also received the 'President's Award' on the occasion of Nepal Geotechnical Society (NGS) Day, Silver Jubilee program in May 2018. One of Dr. Subedi's recent research papers, 'Liquefaction hazard assessment and ground failure probability analysis in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal' published in the Geoenvironmental Disasters has received the 'Best Paper Award 2022' from the International Consortium on Geodisaster Reduction. Dr. Subedi is currently the President of NGS for the term 2023-2025.   Dr. Dhundi Raj Pathak is the founding director of the Engineering Study and Research Centre, Nepal. He also serves as the President of the Center of Research for Environment, Energy and Water (CREEW), a not-for-profit scientific research-based organization established in Nepal. He is also visiting faculty at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Dr. Pathak is currently involved in several research and development projects. Dr. Pathak earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and his master’s degree in geotechnical engineering from the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University. He completed his Ph.D. in geoenvironmental engineering in Japan. He is also working with the World Bank and several other development and government organizations in the fields of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, integrated waste management and landfill engineering, faecal sludge management and healthcare waste management. He is also involved as a geotechnical engineer in several infrastructure projects and has drafted geotechnical guidelines for bridge foundations for the Local Road Bridge Support Unit of the Government of Nepal. As an external panel of experts, he has reviewed research and design reports of integrated waste management and geotechnical engineering and was appointed as a technical expert member by the Government of Nepal for the ISWM project of Kathmandu Valley. He has received the Nepal Bidhya Bhusan Award Class-A, the most prestigious academic award of the Government of Nepal, and the Nepal Bidhya Bhusan Award Class-B for his outstanding performance (rank 1) in master in geotechnical engineering from Tribhuwan University, Nepal. He has received several fellowships and grants. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles along with several international presentations. He served as an editorial board member of the Journal of Water Resources and Protection from 2009 to 2015 and is a reviewer for numerous environmental engineering journals, including journal titled 'Waste Management'.      Dr. Keshab Sharma is a Senior Soil Mechanics Specialist at BCG Engineering Inc., Canada. He completed bachelor’s in civil engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada, his research focused on the rocking shallow foundation. He proposed a performance-based seismic design of rocking shallow foundations in cohesive soil. Keshab specializes in geotechnical earthquake engineering, advanced geotechnical laboratory, geohazard, foundation, critical state soil mechanics, etc. Dr. Sharma has authored dozens of papers published in reputable journals including Geotechnique, covering topics such as rocking shallow foundation, seismic liquefaction, composite caisson-pile foundation performance, machine learning, geohazard, landslides in the Nepal Himalayas, performance of structure during earthquake, post-disaster reconstruction, etc. and presented more than fifteen papers at international conferences. Additionally, he involved in several post-disaster such as the 2011 East Japan earthquake, 2015 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake, 2023 Turkey earthquake, etc. His visited several countries including Chile and Taiwan for seismic resilience study. His contributions to earthquake reconnaissance reports and post-disaster reconstruction studies reflect a commitment to real-world applications of his research. He is also a well-known columnist in Nepal’s National Daily wherein he writes about socio-technical issues. In addition to his research and engineering roles, Dr. Sharma is an active participant in academia, having delivered lectures on geotechnical engineering, earthquake engineering, disaster, etc. to graduate students and professional engineers.