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] :

1. 2nd Founders’ Day Oration, Shri dharmasthaLa ManjunAthEswar (SDM) University, dhArwAD, KA [November 2022].

2. 4th AN KhOslA Memorial Lecture in the Water Resources Development and Mgt (WRDM) Dept, IIT Roorkee, UttarAkhaND (UA), [January 2023].

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

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

5. 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].

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

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

8. Health, Wellness and Human Values through Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) [MNNIT PraAgrAj, {Jan, 2025}; NIT Warangal {Feb, 2025}]

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 Systems (IKS) on “VarSHA  nakshatrANi / Vriksha nakshtrANi” (i.e., precipitation constellations/ vegetation constellations), Indianization of Roman Script [for ensuring proper transliteration into Indian Languages] Achieving Health, Wellness and Human Values also through Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), as well as in linking modern science and technology with scientific and technical material available in classical Indian languages like Samskrita, KannaDa, etc.