Awards

• Awarded “Inspirational Teaching Award” by Teaching Learning Centre, BITS Pilani-Hyderabad Campus, September 05, 2024.
• Awarded First Prize under the Theme “Soft Computing Techniques in Water Resources Engineering” for the paper authored by Rohit Dwivedula, Rampalli Madhuri, K Srinivasa Raju and Vasan A., titled “Fuzzy Optimization Framework for Facilitating Best Management Practices in the Context of Urban Floods”, 26th International Conference on Hydraulics, Water Resources and Coastal Engineering, HYDRO 2021, Surat, December 23-25, 2021.
• Awarded “Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing” from The Editors of Journal of Hydrology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 2017.
• Awarded the Best Paper authored by Srinivasa Raju, Gayam Akshara, Ajit Pratap Singh and Vasan A., titled “Application of Multiple Linear Regression as Downscaling Methodology for Lower Godavari Basin”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Water, Environment, Energy and Society, Organized jointly by the Texas A & M University, Texas, USA and AISECT University, Bhopal, India, March 15 – 18, 2016.
• Awarded the Best Paper authored by DV Morankar, KS Raju and Vasan A., titled "Optimal Integrated Water Resources Management for Khadakwasla Complex Reservoir", Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Technologies IICET 2015 Organized by i-manager Conferences, Trivandrum, April 10-11, 2015.
• Awarded the Best Paper authored by Vasan A, Aaron Darius Vaz, Prasanth Abraham and Reshmi Nambiar, titled “Optimisation of self-compacting concrete mix design using Bio-Inspired metaheuristic algorithms, Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering and Chemistry of Innovative Materials, organized by Department of Civil Engineering, SRM University, Ramapuram Campus, Chennai, March 13-14, 2014.
• Awarded DST Young Scientist Travel Grant for presenting my research work at the International Conference on Mathematical and Computation Methods in Science and Engineering, June 27-28, 2012, Paris, France.

Administrative Responsibilities

Current

• Senate Member, BITS Pilani
• Member, Departmental Level Selection Committee, Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, User Committee for Project Vistaar, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (Since February 2024)
• Member, Space Audit Committee, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus (February 2024)
• Member, NAAC Team for Mock Visits, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (June 2024)
• Member, Internal Quality Assessment of WILP Offerings at BITS Pilani for Instruction and Assessment (July 2024)
• Member, Academic Council, VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana (Since March 2020)
• Member, Employee Exit Review/ Retention Committee, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh (Since June 2021)
• BoS Member, Department of Civil Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of Engineering and Technology, Nandyala, Andhra Pradesh (Since October 2021)
• BoS Member, Department of Civil Engineering, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, Andhra Pradesh (Since May 2022)
• Member, Research Advisory Board, VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana (Since October 2023)
• BoS Member, Department of Civil Engineering, Kakatiya Institute of Technology & Science, Warangal, Telangana (Since July 2024)
• Member, Academic Council, NICMAR University of Construction Studies, Shamirpet, Hyderabad, Telangana (Since September 2024)

Past

• Chairperson, Department Level Performance Evaluation Committee (2023-2024), Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• External Reviewer, Research Proposal, Fondecyt Research Initiation Project Competition 2025, National Research and Development Agency, Chile (September 2025)
• External Expert Member, Faculty Selection Committee, School of Engineering & Sciences, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh (July 2024 | January 2024)
• Member, Interview Panel, Faculty Recruitment, Department of Civil Engineering, Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Vishnupuri, Nanded, Maharashtra (August 27-28, 2023)
• Committee Member, To Identify Best Faculty for an Award, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh (September 2024 | August 2023)
• Subject Expert, Faculty Recruitment Interview, Department of Civil Engineering, Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad (June 2023 | October 2023)
• Member, Committee to nominate Best Faculty for an Award, NIIT University, Neemrana, Alwar, Rajasthan (November 2022)
• Associate Dean, Academic – Undergraduate Studies, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (September 2018 – September 2021)
• Chairman, Academic Counseling Board, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (September 2018 – September 2021)
• Convener, First Degree Teaching Assistantship Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (September 2018 – September 2021)
• Member of Expert Committee constituted by the Government of Telangana to look into the issues related to Intermediate Results in April 2019
• Associate Dean, Instruction Division, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (Jan 2014 – August 2018)
• Member, Project Lakshya: Team: Programs, Curriculum, Pedagogy and Quality Assurance
• Task Force Member & Leader, Mission 2015: Vision 2020, Team: Quality Assurance & Assessment
• Task Force Member, Mission 2012: Vision 2020, Team: Academic Programs & Pedagogy
• Member, Fact Finding Committee of JNTU Hyderabad to the colleges as per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the visit of Self-financing Institution for Grant of Temporary Affiliation for the Academic Year 2014-15
• Head of the Department, Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (Oct 2010 to August 2012)
• Faculty In-charge, Educational Hardware Division, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2009 to January 2011; September 2013 to February 2014)
• Faculty In-charge, Instruction Division, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2009 to January 2011)
• Faculty In-charge, Maintenance Unit, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2011 to December 2011)
• Faculty In-charge, Engineering Services Division, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2008 to July 2009)
• Convener, Works Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Convener, Space Planning Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Chairperson, User Council, Hyderabad Campus Growth Plan Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• BoS Member, Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science, Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh
• Member, Examination Committee, BITS Pilani
• Member, Academic Governing Committee, BITS Pilani
• Member, Examination Subcommittee, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus
• Member, First Degree Merit Scholarship Committee; Merit cum Need Scholarship Committee; Student Aid Fund Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Students Grievances Redressal Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Works Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Student Faculty Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Faculty Induction Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Academic Advisory Council, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Recruitment Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Academic Counseling Board, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, 1.08 Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Library Committee, Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Team Member, Centre for Desert Development Technologies, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Member, Library Committee, Civil Engineering Group, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Incharge, Research and Consultancy Activities, Civil Engineering Group, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Incharge, Civil Engineering Association, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Incharge, Civil Engineering Association, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Organizing Committee Member for several conferences/ workshops held at BITS, Pilani
• Nucleus Member, Instruction Division, BITS Pilani, Pilani and Hyderabad Campus
• Incharge, Test Scheduling, BITS Pilani, Pilani and Hyderabad Campus
• Incharge, Feedback and Monitoring Cell, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Executive Member, Staff Association, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
• Executive Member, Birla Institutions Community Centre, Pilani
• Program Officer, NSS, BITS Pilani, Pilani and Hyderabad Campus
• Non-Resident Warden, Bhagirath Bhawan, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Contributions during the Administrative Responsibilities Held

• Associate Dean, Academic-Undergraduate Studies Division, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2018-September 2021)
  • Defined the division's responsibilities as the division was formed for the first time at BITS Pilani.
  • Formed a new cell named as “Data Analytics Cell”. Data available with AUGSD has been collated and analyzed program-wise. The various data analysed are grades, MGPV, Attendance, Student Feedback Score, CGPA distribution, No. of Registered Students in Projects and Thesis and minor program data. The analysis file is shared with each HoD for the program they are offering in their department. HoDs share and discuss this with their department colleagues to arrive at a few possible meaningful insights from this analysis and plan for new initiatives in their department.
  • The concept of Registration Advisor has been revived from the Second Semester of 2018-19. All FD students met their Registration Advisors for academic counselling and mentoring on day one before registration. The concept of a Registration Advisor has been revived from the Second Semester of 2018-19. All FD students met their Registration Advisors for academic counselling and mentoring on day one before registration.
  • Coordinating with four campuses, the various issues faced by the different stakeholders of ERP student systems has been listed. Regular review meetings were scheduled to enhance the performance of ERP and are planned to carry out the tasks of AUGSD. A lot of the division's manual activities were automated.
  • Specific guidelines booklet framed for the Departmental Committee on Academics (DCA) in implementing various academic functions, i.e., Course Offering and Allocation of Teaching Responsibilities, Academic Advising, Formation of Student Faculty Councils, Midsem Grading, Grade Moderation and Curriculum Changes Procedure besides Review of Course Handouts and Review of Question Paper & Solutions.
  • Designed the new Transcripts, Provisional Certificate and Minor Certificate with branding guidelines and security features at BITS Pilani from January 2020.
  • Managed the academic sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Was a part of the team that proposed several changes in the instruction, evaluation, grading, etc.
  • Led a complex and significant project, “Academic Structure module”, that was successfully implemented via ERP after working for three years. This module provides a report for each student that guides them to understand their graduation status as on date. 
• Chairman, Academic Counseling Board, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (September 2018 – September 2021)
  • Put a process in place to counsel the ACB students to come out of the purview of ACB. Senior faculty members regularly interact with the students. DCA Conveners have also made a team of faculty in their department to counsel and monitor the progress of ACB students. The committee interacted with the parents for special cases and took suitable actions.
• Convener, First Degree Teaching Assistantship Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (September 2018 – September 2021)
  • Automated the process for collection of the forms from students. Defined guidelines for allocating the teaching assistantship.
• Associate Dean, Instruction Division, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (January 2014-August 2018)
  • Defined the roles and responsibilities of the staff at ID office so that the time spent by a faculty nucleus member involved in the divisional activities is as minimal as possible.
  • Initiated dedicated cells and encouraged ten faculty members (Assistant Professor & above) to be a part of the nucleus of ID. Delegated the various activities of ID to various cells
  • Initiated the idea of Project Bank in January 2014 during the Project Allotment process, which would contain the list of projects offered by faculty and the no. of slots available. We collect this list of projects the faculty plans to offer during the subsequent semester and share it with students. Later, the students would interact with the respective faculty to apply for projects. We had automated the entire project allotment process.
  • Initiated the concept of Class Committee (year-wise) at the Hyderabad Campus in September 2014. It is an initiative to encourage regular interaction between teachers and students regarding academic matters. The committee will provide feedback about teaching and the performance of students on a regular basis to the corresponding department. The students’ feedback would help the faculty members take corrective measures when required. This would also help in creating an environment for providing constructive suggestions both ways.
  • Working with students to automate many routine activities done at the division
  • A pilot study was conducted in a 400-seater classroom to record attendance automatically using biometric systems. We successfully captured the same and the vendor we hired did a satisfying job. We are also doing another pilot study of automatic recording and distribution of classroom lectures for one classroom. Students will have access to the recorded lectures and other study materials made available through the current CMS platform. TLC had been requested to study the data analytics on the student usage and efficiency of the system on the overall teaching and learning of these courses.
  • Working closely with TLC to conduct an Intensive Teaching Workshop and draft a plagiarism policy for the University.
• Chairperson, User Council, Hyderabad Campus Growth Plan Committee
  • Had conducted several meetings with the HoDs, faculty members and staff members in the community to understand the needs and developed the user requirements for the Growth plan of Hyderabad Campus
  • Participated in several meetings with the Project Team, Architect and negotiation meetings for contractor finalization to initiate the Phase II expansion project
• Task Force Member & Leader, Mission 2015: Vision 2020, Team: Quality Assurance & Assessment
  • Had an opportunity to work as a member and later also as the leader of the task force group. Institutionalized several proposals i.e., Constitution of Student Faculty Council; Establishing Teaching Learning Centre; Introduction of Antiplagiarism software Turnitin in Indian Campuses; Grading of Journals; Revised the student feedback questionnaire and process; Partnered with a company to assess the employer satisfaction levels of our graduates; To conduct outgoing student survey. Also submitted several proposals i.e., Introduction of Teaching Awards; To improve the quality of FD thesis, HD dissertation and PhD Thesis and introduction of student awards.
• Head of the Department, Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (Oct 2010 to August 2012)
  • As it was in the initial formative years of construction of Hyderabad Campus, took an active part in the development of various lab infrastructure like identifying the list of instruments to procure, contacting vendors and also setting it up in the labs.
  • Initiated several files for proper documentation of various activities in the department
  • Initiated regular meetings with the faculty and created a conducive atmosphere to frankly share views and ideas for the growth of the department
• Core Committee Member, Convocation Planning Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
  • Has been a core committee member for organizing all convocations since the first convocation at Hyderabad Campus. It was very challenging initially (for two years) as we did not have the auditorium.
• Task Force Member, Mission 2012: Vision 2020, Team: Academic Programs & Pedagogy
  • Had been an active member while conducting discussions/ workshops with HoDs, faculty and students at all campuses while we undertook the curriculum redesign process in 2011.
• Faculty In-charge, Instruction Division, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2009-January 2012)
  • Took charge in 2009 and established the operations based on my experience of working in ID at Pilani Campus
• Faculty In-charge, Educational Hardware Division, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2009-January 2011; September 2013-February 2014)
  • Drafted the first purchase policy document during my tenure at Hyderabad Campus.
  • Defined the roles and responsibilities of all staff members and streamlined several operations at the division
• Faculty In-charge, Maintenance Unit, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2011-December 2011)
  • It was a great learning opportunity to work with various outsourced staff and streamline the operation of renewing the contract of various outsourced activities by receiving quotations from ISO-certified companies.
• Faculty In-charge, Engineering Services Division, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus (August 2008-July 2009)
  • This was my first administrative role at the Hyderabad Campus from Day one of the start of the campus.
  • Set up the required infrastructure for the institute's smooth functioning, such as printers, reprography, projectors, etc..
• Member, Visiting Advisory Committee visits for BITS Pilani
  • Designed the proforma for the document and the visits. Coordinated with all departments across campuses to organize the visits of the Visiting Advisory Committee for all departments.
  • Had an opportunity to listen to all faculty and students from all departments across campuses while they shared their feedback for improvement with the external advisory committee members.
• Member, Departmental Level Selection Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Played a very active role in shortlisting applications for faculty recruitment, participating in AV rounds
• Member, Students Grievances Redressal Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Participate in the discussions whenever we receive grievances from the students.
• Member, Student Faculty Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Academic Advisory Council, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Examination Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• Member, Works Committee, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Actively involved in assessing the bill of quantities prepared for any kind of civil or miscellaneous work that is taken up on the campus. Also, negotiate with the contractors and monitor regularly till its completion.
• Volunteer for many other initiatives at the Hyderabad Campus, like
  • Co-ordinated with several divisions to make presentations (to all HoDs, Deans, Associate Deans and Faculty In-charges) on their standard operating procedures followed at their divisions for possible improvement and information sharing
  • Co-ordinated with all HoDs and Associate Deans for the first round of Campus review
  • Organizing the sports and games as part of community welfare, Ganesh Chaturthi & Durga Pooja celebrations in the community
  • Led several initiatives in the construction of the car sheds, interior works in the staff quarters, construction of the TBI and placements area below the Library and coordinated with the Project Team during the construction of the Auditorium
  • Led and organized several events such as Foundation day celebrations, Abhinandhan (Thanks Giving) as a part of Phase I completion etc
• Member, Recruitment Committee, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Headed the recruitment committee in the initial years for Hyderabad Campus on behalf of the Director to recruit faculty members
• Member, Library Committee, Civil Engineering Group, BITS, Pilani
• In-charge, Research and Consultancy Activities, Civil Engineering Group, BITS, Pilani
  • Formulated a proposal in consultation with all faculty members
• In-charge, Civil Engineering Association, BITS, Pilani
• In-charge, Civil Engineering Association, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Guided the students to initiate several activities as a part of their association activities
• Organizing Committee Member for several conferences/ workshops held at BITS, Pilani
• In-charge, Test Scheduling, BITS, Pilani
  • Automated a lot of processes at ID by developing customized software with the help of students
• In-charge, Test Scheduling, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
• In-charge, Feedback and Monitoring Cell, BITS, Pilani
• Executive Member, Staff Association, BITS, Pilani
• Executive Member, Birla Institutions Community Centre, Pilani
  • Actively participated in several discussions and conducted various sports activities in BICC, Pilani
• Program Officer, NSS, BITS, Pilani
  • Participated and guided students on various NSS activities
• Program Officer & Co-ordinator, NSS, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
  • Motivated the students to join NSS at the Hyderabad Campus.
  • Initiated a few awareness activities
• Non-Resident Warden, Bhagirath Bhawan, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
  • Assisted the warden in doing routine rounds in the Hostel and interacting with the students at the Pilani Campus