Civil Engineering Seminar Series - Building Healthy Communities: Research In Safe & Sustainable Infrastructure

Nemkumar Banthia, Ph.D., P.E
Scientific Director & CEO
Canada-India Research Center of Excellence
Professor, Distinguished University Scholar & Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure Rehabilitation
The University of British Columbia

ABSTRACT: This presentation will describe a Federally Funded Canada India Research Center of Excellence hosted at the University of British Columbia. The $40 million Center is a pan-Canadian Center that brings together a team of expert researchers, industry innovators, community leaders, government agencies, and community organizations, to work hand-in-hand to find solutions to the key challenges that affect the quality of life of millions of people in Indian and Canadian communities. IC-IMPACTS works in three strategic areas of Integrated Water Management, Sustainable and Safe Infrastructure and Public Health, Disease Prevention and Treatment. This presentation will highlight the Sustainable and Safe Infrastructure part of research. The Center is working in three primary areas related to infrastructure: Low Carbon Building Materials, Condition Assessment of Structures and Strengthening of Structures against Loss of Capacity due to Deterioration and Earthquakes.

BIO: Nemkumar (Nemy) Banthia is a Professor, Distinguished University Scholar and Senior Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He serves on editorial boards of eight international journals and is the Editor-in-Chief of the J. of Cement and Concrete Composites. He researches advanced cement-based materials and has published over 22 volumes, 350 peer reviewed papers and 5 patents. His awards include American Concrete Institute’s Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper, Solutions Through Research Award of the BC Innovation Council, Wolfson Merit Award of the Royal Society of the UK, Killam Research Prize, Horst Leipholz Medal of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering and the Aftab Mufti Medal of the International Society for Health Monitoring of Infrastructure (ISHMII). He is the fellow of the American Concrete Institute, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Indian Concrete Institute, Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Canada. Banthia passionately believes that universities have a critical role to play in improving the lives of the less fortunate inhabitants of the world through research, development and collective innovation. IC-IMPACTS is one such undertaking.