Professor Gulhati retired recently from IIT Delhi after a distinguished career in teaching, researching, consulting and managing spanning four decades.

He is internationally known for his work on Unsaturated Soils and Offshore Soils. He served on the Editorial Board of the International Journal: “Marine Geotechnology”. He was President of Indian Geotechnical Society (1986-87); in 1996, the Society elected him an Honorary Fellow. He is a recipient of the Kuekelman Award for Outstanding Contribution to Geotechnical Engineering. He was the Organizing Secretary General of the 13th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering in 1994.

Professor Gulhati is keenly interested in the process of teaching and learning. He developed courses on Technical Communication that he taught at IIT and abroad; he prepared video programmes on Soil Testing. He was instrumental in IIT establishing its Centre for Educational Technology. At IIT, he served as Head, Civil Engineering Department; Dean of Students; Coordinator, Curriculum Development and Quality Improvement Programmes; and as member of IIT’s Board of Governors.

An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained his Bachelors and Masters degrees, Professor Gulhati earned his doctorate at IIT Delhi.

The author can be contacted at shashi@neomailbox.com

Professor Datta is Professor of Civil Engineering at IIT Delhi and currently the Dean of Alumni Affairs and International Programmes. He obtained his Bachelors and Doctorate Degrees from IIT Delhi.

His areas of specialization include site investigations; soil testing; and design of onshore and offshore foundations, of embankments & dams, of landfills & solid waste disposal facilities, of ash ponds & mine tailings ponds, of anchoring systems in soft marine clays, and of dewatering systems. He has prepared a number of audio-visual programmes on geotechnical construction processes.

An expert in Geoenvironmental Engineering, he has edited three books in the areas of landfills, ash ponds and solid waste management. He has been and is also currently a member of Technology Advisory Groups and Expert Groups on Municipal Solid Waste Management as well as Hazardous Waste Management set up by the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of Urban Affairs.

He is the recipient of IIT Director’s Silver medal for being the top-ranking graduating student as well as of five Best Paper Awards of the Indian Geotechnical Society.

The author can be contacted at mdatta55@hotmail.com