Director

He joined the Department of Civil Engg, IIT Kgp, in 1994, after a full time UG teaching experience of 5+ years {in SDM Coll of Engg & Tech (SDMCET), dhArwAD, KA and BVBCET HubbaLLi, KA as well as in Clemson Univ, Clemson SC, USA}. During his long association with IIT Kgp, he has the following milestones to his credit,

1.  Co-authored a text book on ‘Environmental Hydrology and Hydraulics’ published by Science Publishers, Enfield, NH, USA in 2006.

2.  Co-ordinated two All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) sponsored short term courses [in 1998-99 and in 2010-11 on ‘Sustainable Development through Integrated Water Resources Planning and Mgt’ and on ‘Green Infrastructure’, respectively].

3. Served a Dean, Faculty and subsequently as Dean, Faculty of Engg and Architecture (FoEA) for 2.5 years [starting from Apr 2020] till Sep 2022.

4. Visited and presented a technical paper each [as lead author/sole author] :

   a) In Three Gorges Dam Project City, Yichang, Hubei, China [in 1999, on ‘A small Hydropower project proposal in Sub Himalayan W Bengal’].

   b) In Houston, Texas, USA [in 2006 on ‘Holistic Environmental Education through sustainable Habitats’].

   c) In Univ of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius [in 2010 on ‘Qualitative & quantitative water conservation considerations’].

He has served IIT Kgp as Asst Warden/ Warden/ Coordinating Warden-Allotment for 7+ years; as Engg Drawing & Computer Graphics Freshman course Coordinator for 8+ years and as Chairman, Students' Brotherhood Fund Committee (SBFC) for 12+ years. In IIT Kgp, the Team led by Professor dEsAi [along with two Associate Deans of FoEA] was looking after the student and faculty related academic affairs, in 12 out of 19 departments, 6 out of 15 centers and 6 out of 15 schools, during Oct 2020 - Sep 2022.

At the National level, he is now serving as:- an Executive Committee (EC) member, for AICTE and also for Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) BeLagAvi, KA:- as a Board of Governors (BoG) Member for the National Institute for Technical Teachers Training & Research (NITTTR) Kolkata, WB, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Thiruvanthapuram, KEraLA (KL), IIIT RAichUr, KA, as well as - Officiating Chairman, BoG for IIT dhArwAD.  

Professor dEsAi has delivered many prestigious invited talks/ lectures in the recent past [some of them are as follows] :

• 2nd Founders’ Day Oration, Shri dharmasthaLa ManjunAthEswar (SDM) University, dhArwAD, KA [November 2022].

• 4th AN KhOslA Memorial Lecture in the Water Resources Development and Mgt (WRDM) Dept, IIT Roorkee, UttarAkhaND (UA), [January 2023].

• Foundation Day Lecture in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) National Institute of Traditional Medicine (NITM), BeLagAvi, KA [May 2023].

• Dr. S RadhAkriSHNan Memorial Lecture, KarnATaka Univ. dhArwAD (KUD), KA [September 2023].

• Inaugural and Valedictory Function Lectures in the 3rd International Conference on River Health Assessment to Restoration (RHAR 2023), Civil Engg. Dept, IIT Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Varanasi, UP [October 2023].

• International Symposium on Digital Libraries, Sustainable Development in Education (DLSDE-2023), IIT Kharagpur, WB [November 2023].

• Civil Engineering Association (CEA) Seminar Lecture on Planning a Net Zero Water - Energy - Waste Academic Campus, IIT Bombay [May 2024].

Professor dEsAi has professional interests in Integrated Watershed Mgt (IWM), flood/ drought mitigation/mgt, green infrastructure (i.e., climate resilient water and/ or energy related infrastructure), promoting voluntary afforestation through Indian Knowledge System (IKS) on “VarshA  nakshatrANi / Vriksha nakshtrANi” (i.e., precipitation constellations/ vegetation constellations) as well as in linking modern science and technology with scientific and technical material available in classical Indian languages like Samskrita, KannaDa,etc.