Professor Yudhbir obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Panjab Engineering College, Chandigarh (1960), M.Tech. (Soil Engg.) from IIT Bombay (1964) and Ph.D. (Geotechnical Engineering) from Cornell University, USA (1969). Between 1964-66, he worked as a Research Fellow and later as a Lecturer in Civil Engg. at IIT, Delhi.
After working for a year with Woodward-Clyde and Associates- Consulting Engineers & Geologists in California, USA, Prof. Yudhbir joined IIT Kanpur, where he was involved in teaching, research and consultancy in the Department of Civil Engineering between 1970-97. He was Professor of Geotechnical engineering (1981-83) at AIT Bangkok where he also taught as a visiting faculty during May terms between 1989-94. He was a visiting Research Scientist at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., USA during summer of 1975 and a visiting scholar at RPI, Troy, N.Y., USA during the summer of 1986. Professor Yudhbir was vice-president, Moh and Associates, Bangkok, Thailand during 1995 responsible for coordination of two major infrastructure projects on improved soft ground.
Professor Yudhbir has been engaged as consultant on major earth/rockfill dam projects with special emphasis on design parameter evaluation and stability of slopes and foundations. He has been actively engaged in the studies related to investigation of landslides in a variety of geologic environment, both in India and Abroad. He has been consultant to Indian railways for evolving rational design methodology for track formation & consultant to thermal energy sector for use of fly ash as construction material.
He has been member of various professional institutions and societies, both national and international and was Vice-President for Asia (1984-88) of the Association of Geoscientists for International Development, AGID. He was key note lecturer at International Conference on Applications of Geology in Developing Countries, Nottingham, UK, 1987; a theme general reporter at the XII International Conference on Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1989; theme leader for the session “Natural Hazards and Environmental Geotechnics”, at the 9th Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering, Bangkok, 1991; panelist at International Conference: GEOCOAST, Yokohama, Japan, 1992; Technical Coordinator, XIII International Conference on Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering, New Delhi, 1993; Key note speaker at International Conference on Landslides, Slope Stability and Safety of Infrastructures, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1994; and invited speaker at PIARC, G2 Group Seminar: Natural Disaster Reduction for Roads, New Delhi, 1997. He was invited to write a chapter on “Landslide – Case Study” for UNDRO, Geneva, Manual for Planners and Decision Makers, and a chapter on Mitigation of Landslide Hazards in the Handbook on Education for Natural Disaster Reduction – Joint Project of International Union of Geological Sciences and international Geographical Union and the Commission of Teaching Science.
Professor Yudhbir has published more than 100 technical papers, co-edited 4 books and supervised 9 Ph.D. and 47 M.Tech. Theses in addition to many technical and consultancy reports. He has also held many academic leadership positions at IIT, Kanpur; member of Expert Committee of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India on Natural Resources Data Management Systems (NRDMS), and Consultant to Coal India Limited (since 1997) in connection with the rehabilitation of overburden dumps at 25 open cast projects as part of the World Bank Coal Sector Environment and Social Mitigation Project (ESMP) and Chairman of Task Force on Geotechnical Investigations of Landslides, setup by DST. Professor Yudhbir reviewed the geotechnical investigations report for Delhi Metro. Professor Yudhbir has been Visiting Fellow at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun; Member, Project Management Committee, Jai Vigyan Mission of Government of India on Assessment of Natural Hazards in the Himalaya, and Chairman of Expert Committee, setup by DST on Landslide Hazard Mitigation. He was visiting faculty at Yamaguchi university, Institute of Lowland technology at Saga University, and Kyushu university in Japan.
Currently Professor Yudhbir is member of Panel of Experts-stability problems- for Pipalkoti Vishnugad Hydroelectric Project on Alaknanda(funded by the World bank) being built by Tehri Hydro Development Corporation in Uttarakhand.
He can be reached at yudhbir2002@yahoo.co.in
