1. Research Publications

• Marimuthu, Kathir Vadivel, Riya Sharma, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Sharad Shrivastava, and Sudhirkumar V. Barai. (2026). “Manufacturing Process Effects on Multiaxial Mechanical Behavior and Anisotropy Evolution of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites for Automotive Applications”. Discover Materials, 1 October 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43939-026-00987-8.
• Roychowdhury, Debjyoti, Dipti Ranjan Sahoo, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, Sudhirkumar V. Barai, and Venkatesh Kodur. (2026). “A Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian Framework for Tracing Dynamic Response of Polymer-Based Composite Laminates Under Close-In and Near-Field Spherical Explosions”. Polymers, 18(21), 2630. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18212630.

2. Conferences / Workshops / Seminars

• Mukul Joshi, Pratik Jalan, Akhilesh Magotra, and Kshitij Jadhav. (2026). “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth: Auditing Multi-Agent LLM Councils for Medical Reasoning”. Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, pp. 49230–49245. Organized by the Association for Computational Linguistics, Budapest, Hungary, 24–29 October 2026. https://aclanthology.org/2026.emnlp-main.2164/.
• Anirudh Sharma (Research Scholar) presented a poster titled “Erosion Hotspots and Drought-Sensitive River–Aquifer Connectivity: Priorities for Water Conservation in the Semi-Arid Banas Basin, India” at Rajasthan Water Dialogue 2026, organized by HCLFoundation at IIHMR University, Jaipur, on 26 October 2026.
• Soni Kumari (Research Scholar) presented a poster titled “Participatory Adaptive Groundwater Management Using Geometric Fuzzy Identification of Recharge Strategies Under Environmental Uncertainty” at Rajasthan Water Dialogue 2026, organized by HCLFoundation at IIHMR University, Jaipur, on 26 October 2026.
• Meeniga Venkateswarlu (Research Scholar) presented a poster titled “CROP-RC GeoAI: A Climate-Informed Decision-Support Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Water Management and Adaptive Crop Planning in Semi-Arid Regions” at Rajasthan Water Dialogue 2026, organized by HCLFoundation at IIHMR University, Jaipur, on 26 October 2026.
• Vijaykumar, Ravi Kant Mittal, and Shilpi Garg (2026). “Utilization of Copper Mine Tailings Reinforced with Plastic Waste in Road Subgrade”. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Smart, Sustainable and Emerging Technologies for Climate Resilient Urban Infrastructure (SETU 26), organized by Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar–Delhi G.T. Road, Phagwara, Punjab, India, 23–24 October 2026.
• Kuppili Harish and Ravi Kant Mittal (2026). “CO2 Emission and Sustainable Optimization of an RCC Footing Subjected to Biaxial Moments During Earthquake”. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Smart, Sustainable and Emerging Technologies for Climate Resilient Urban Infrastructure (SETU 26), organized by Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar–Delhi G.T. Road, Phagwara, Punjab, India, 23–24 October 2026.

3. Awards & Recognitions

• Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh participated in the Chintan Shivir on the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), organized by the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, on 5–6 October 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
• Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh was appointed as an external expert panel member for the selection of the Head of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Education Technology at Bhartiya Skill Development University (BSDU), Jaipur, Rajasthan, on 3 October 2026.
• Prof. Shamsher Bahadur Singh and Prof. Manoj Kumar were invited to serve as Guest Editors for a special edition of the MDPI journal Polymers on “Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites: Trends and Applications”. Prof. Arghadeep Laskar (IIT Bombay) is the other Co-Guest Editor.
• Prof. Ravikumar Guntu was invited as a jury member to review posters at Rajasthan Water Dialogue 2026, organized by HCLFoundation at IIHMR University, Jaipur, on 26 October 2026.
• Kunal Dhadse (Research Scholar) was selected for fully sponsored participation in Co-Creating Code (CCC) 2026 and the Cambridge Co-Creation Workshop, held on 4–5 October 2026 at the Research & Innovation Park, IIT Delhi. The event was jointly hosted by the University of Cambridge and FITT, IIT Delhi.
• Smita Prajna Prusty (ID: 2023A2PS0235P) was awarded the OPJEMS Scholarship in the Engineering Track by the Jindal Group. Scholarship announcement.

4. Invited Talks

• Prof. Nishant Bhargava delivered an invited talk on “Bituminous Mixes for Rural Roads” in the offline training programme “DPR Preparation and New Technologies for Rural Roads” held at IIT Guwahati, sponsored by NRIDA, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, on 7 October 2026.

5. Entrepreneurship

• Prof. Shamsher Bahadur Singh and Prof. G. Muthukumar have started a company named Naturofiber Private Limited. Both will serve as Founding Directors.

6. Industry Talk

• Industry expert Ubaid Alimiya Sheikhali delivered a talk on “Software Applications in Highway Design” on 31 October 2026. The session was coordinated by Prof. Nishant Bhargava.

7. Workshop Conducted by the Department

Training Programme on Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) for Rural Roads

22–24 October 2026 | Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

The Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Pilani Campus, conducted a three-day Training Programme on Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) for Rural Roads from 22 to 24 October 2026. The programme was sponsored by the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi.

Coordinated by Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh, Senior Professor and Dean, Department of Civil Engineering, the programme brought together approximately 40 Executive Engineers of PWD/PMGSY from eleven states: Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttarakhand.

Inauguration

The inaugural function was held on Thursday, 22 October 2026, at 9:00 AM in Room 6106, NAB. It began with the lighting of the lamp and Saraswati Vandana. Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh, Coordinator, delivered the welcome address, followed by an introduction to the Department by Prof. Dipendu Bhunia, Head, Department of Civil Engineering. Prof. N. V. Muralidhar Rao, Dean, Administration, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, addressed the gathering as Chief Guest, and Col. Soumyabrata Chakraborty (Retd), Registrar, BITS Pilani, as Guest of Honour. The speakers highlighted the objectives of the programme and the critical role of field engineers in ensuring quality in PMGSY road construction. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Nishant Bhargava, Co-Coordinator. Other co-coordinators, Prof. Durgesh Vikram, Prof. Vijay Kakade, and Prof. Vinayak Devendra Malaghan, were also present.

Technical Sessions

Over three days, the programme offered 14 technical sessions and two hands-on laboratory and field-testing sessions. Topics included:

• QA/QC concepts, the PMGSY three-tier quality mechanism, first-tier inspections and stage passing
• Subgrade, granular and bituminous layers
• Shoulders, side drains and signages
• CC pavements, including panelled concrete, interlocking blocks and roller compacted concrete
• Cross-drainage and protection structures
• Technology innovation, local and marginal materials, fly ash, waste plastic and cold mix
• Stabilised layers
• Contractual provisions for quality and post-DLP maintenance
• Geometric design and road safety

In the laboratory sessions, participants performed CBR and UCS tests on soil and tests on bitumen. They also carried out field tests, including sand replacement, the dynamic cone penetrometer, the British pendulum tester and MERLIN.

The sessions were delivered by Prof. A. K. Sarkar, Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh, Prof. Ravi Kant Mittal, Prof. Dipendu Bhunia, Prof. Manoj Kumar, Prof. Ravindra Dwivedi, Prof. Durgesh Vikram, Prof. Rallapalli Srinivas, Prof. Mukund Lahoti, Prof. Nishant Bhargava, Prof. Vijay Kakade and Prof. Vinayak Devendra Malaghan.

Valedictory Function

The valedictory function was held at 3:30 PM on 24 October 2026. Prof. A. K. Sarkar, Former Director, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Prof. Ajit Pratap Singh delivered the valedictory address, reminding the engineers that a stage-passing signature is not a formality but a commitment to the communities that will depend on that road. Certificates were distributed to participants, and the function concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Nishant Bhargava. Research scholars of the Department also participated actively as volunteers, supporting guests and participants throughout the programme.

The Department sincerely thanks NRIDA for its sponsorship and continued trust, the resource persons for their expertise, and every participant for their engagement and commitment.

Photographs: View workshop photographs