Prof. Nemkumar Banthia
Award Year: 2020 | Degree Year: 1982
Nemkumar Banthia obtained a Master of Technology in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1982 and a PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1987.
Nemkumar Banthia is a Distinguished Professor and Senior Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia. His academic output includes 450 refereed papers, 9 patents, 20 monographs and nearly 75 doctoral and post-doctoral students. Dr. Banthia serves on 9 editorial boards and is the Editor-in-Chief of the J. of Cement and Concrete Composites with a 2020 Impact-Factor exceeding 10. With his personal citations approaching 15000, Dr. Banthia remains one of Top 25 ‘Most Cited in Construction & Building Materials’ as per Platinum H-Index.
A civil engineer by training, Dr. Banthia’s research is in the areas of materials science, structural engineering, 3D printing, sensing and artificial intelligence applied to infrastructure. Dr. Banthia has chaired over 30 international conferences and has given over 250 keynotes in over 25 countries. With more than 30 international awards, Dr. Banthia is a fellow of six global societies including the Royal Society of Canada—the highest academic honor in Canada—and the Indian National Academy of Engineering.
Dr. Banthia is the founding Scientific Director of India-Canada Research Center: IC-IMPACTS – the most successful international center that IIT-Delhi participates in as its prominent node. IC-IMPACTS has graduated over 300 PhD students with 29 patents and 8 start-ups. At its core is the development of ‘low-cost’ technologies in water treatment, sustainable infrastructure and public health that have now been placed in a number of rural communities in India and First Nations communities in Canada.
Dr. Banthia humbly attributes his successes to his strict but loving parents, his wife Kavita and his children Vinita and Varun. He emphasizes that his greatest source of inspiration are his 75 or so doctoral and post-doctoral students.
In honoring Prof. Nemkumar Banthia, IIT Delhi recognizes the outstanding contributions made by him in Teaching and Research. Through his achievements, Prof. Banthia has brought glory to the name of the Institute.
