Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Boller

chair for Non-Destructive Testing and Quality Assurance (LZfPQ) at Saarland University

Topic:- Establishing Digital Twins for Life Cycle Assessment of Engineering Structures including NDE 4.0

Christian Boller studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt/Germany and received an engineering doctoral degree in the field of material mechanics and fatigue life evaluation from the same institution in 1987.

Having been active in the field of materials technology at Battelle-Europe in Frankfurt/Germany for a few years, he moved into the aircraft development division of MBB Military Aircraft (today Airbus) in 1990, where he became the chief engineer aerostructures in 1998.

In 2003 he was appointed the chair of 'Smart Structural Design' at the University of Sheffield/UK. From 2008 until 2020 he was director of Fraunhofer IZFP. Since 2008 he holds the chair for Non-Destructive Testing and Quality Assurance (LZfPQ) at Saarland University, which he still runs after his retirement in 2020. He was the director of the NDT master course programme at Dresden International University (DIU) from 2013 to 2024.

From 2014 to 2019 he served as a visiting professor at the School of Aeronautics of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) in Nanjing/China. He is the author and co-author of more than 300 publications including 'Materials Data for Cyclic Loading' (1987) and 'Encyclopaedia on Structural Health Monitoring' (2008) both a 5-volume compendium each. He is also one of the central organizers of the 'European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring' and the 'Symposium on NDT in Aerospace'.

In 2009 he was awarded the Structural Health Monitoring Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2023 he was nominated as a Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (ISNT).

Mr. Ashok Kumar Shrivastava

Centre of Excellence - Head QMS & Sustainability

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited

Mr. Ashok has done commendable work in the field of Sustainability, Decarbonization, Durability and Rehabilitation of Structures and by profession he is a dual graduate, Chartered & Fellow in Civil Engineering, He is a National Technical Advisor of IIT Delhi & IIT Mumbai. He is a Lifetime member of the M.I.C.E.(London) and the Indian Road Congress. Sustainability, Climate Change and Mitigation, Civil/Structural Engineering, Project Management, and Quality Management Systems are his areas of expertise.

Professional Experience: Being a Chartered and Fellow Engineer with more than 32 years of experience in the fields of Sustainability, Decarbonization, Climate Change and Mitigation & set up Power Plants (1200 MW), Refinery, Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Heavy Chemical Plant, Textile plant, Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Telecomm etc.

In his 32+ years of broad & rich experience, he has proven to be a very result-oriented Professional, attaining targets, and challenging tasks in every circumstance in Construction and Project Management.

He has successfully completed various greenfield projects in Essar Power, Heading Civil Division & overseeing significant construction operations of Essar Energy, and currently heading QMS & Sustainability for Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited within budgeted costs while adhering to all quality and safety parameters.

Appreciation Awards:
i. Received Sustainability and Integrated Management System Champion award in UBS Forum in 13th Edition CSR Summit and Awards 2025.
ii. Top 20 Sustainability Leaders award from Transformance Forums in 4th Annual ESG Summit & Awards 2023.
iii. Received “The Great Indian Sustainability Leaders & Sustainable Business Leader of the Year award in India Sustainability Conclave and Awards of 2023
iv. Received ESG Visionary Leader of the Year award in 5th Annual ESG Summit & Awards 2024.
v. Received Most Impactful Sustainability Champion award in 5th Annual ESG Summit & Awards 2024.
vi. Participated in the CDP India event focused on Investing for achieving a Net Zero emissions target.
vii. Global Speaker on the Topic “Post Covid 19 New Normal Scenario in Global Construction Industry Practices” hosted by Adani Institute of Infrastructure in Collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool (UK) held was on 28th July 2020.
viii. Received appreciation award from Managing Director of the company (GHCL) for the Projects were taken in hand completed a head within budgeted cost as committed in the year 2008.
ix. Received award from CEO & Managing Director of the company (ESSAR ENERGY LTD) for taken challenges and strength to support for best efforts to achieve target in time for exceptional contribution to growth of company in year 2011.

He is passionate about climate action and has led large-scale infrastructure and greenfield projects, bringing expertise in construction engineering, concrete technology, and sustainability. With a positive attitude and strong social commitment, he has contributed to both professional excellence and the upliftment of underprivileged communities.

Dr. Sarmishtha Palit Sagar

Chief Scientist and Head of the Non-destructive Evaluation group

CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur

Topic:- From CSIR-Laboratory to Market: Bridging Research and Industrial Implementation

Dr. (Ms.) Sarmishtha Palit Sagar is a Chief Scientist and heading the Non-destructive Evaluation group at CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur. She is having 29 years of experience in the area of Non-destructive Evaluation and Sensor development. She has bagged her B.Tech and M.Tech in Electronics & Communication from the Institute of Radio Physics & Electronics, University of Calcutta and Ph D from Jadavpur University, India. Her research interest is on ultrasonic & advanced ultrasonic, signal & image processing, Device & sensor development for Industrial applications, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Sarmishtha has worked as a Visiting Scientist at Fraunhofer Institute for Non-destructive Testing, Saarbreucken, Germany from 2000-2002 and at Pennsylvania State University, USA in 2009.

She is having 72 Publications in SCI and Non-SCI journals, 14 Patents, 7 copyrights in her credit. Her team has developed and implemented couple of technologies in the Industry. Four technologies have been licensed for commercial deployment. She has guided 3 Ph D students and 18 Master students.

She is the recipient of National NDE Award for International Recognition in 2017 and National NDE award in R&D in 2005 by Indian Society for NDT, Raman Research Fellowship award by CSIR, in 2008, Lady Engineer Award by Institute of Engineers in 2012, Tata Innovista Award in the “Most Innovative Partner” category as a Partner of Tata Steel in 2022 by Tata Group. She is in the editorial board of Indian Journal for NDE and Korean Journal of NDE. She is the Honorary Fellow of Indian Society for NDT since 2022.

Mr. Venugopal Manoharan

Chief Executive Officer - Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE)

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Topic:- Translational Research in Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE)

Venugopal Manoharan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, where he leads programs in advanced inspection science, translational NDE, and workforce development. Over a career spanning 35+ years, he has worked across the full spectrum of NDE—fundamental research, system design, standards and regulation, and high-value industrial deployment.

Before CNDE, he was Principal Technologist at VisiConsult X-ray Systems & Solutions, focusing on digital radiography (DR), computed tomography (CT), and radiological safety/regulation. He previously spent 19 years as a Senior Scientist at GE Research, and earlier served as Scientific Officer at BARC (Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility) and in IGCAR’s Division of Post-Irradiation Examination and NDT Development.

Manoharan is an ISNT National NDT Award recipient and an ISNT Fellow (2023). He holds ASNT Level III certifications in RT, IR, UT, PT, and ET. His technical interests include industrial radiography and radiation safety, digital X-ray imaging, modeling & simulation, quantitative radiography and model-based Probability of Detection (PoD), applications of micro/nano X-ray CT, pipeline and pressure-vessel integrity, and professional training in NDE. He is an inventor on 12+ patents and has 30 publications in national and international venues. Since January 2022, he has served as Chief Controller of Examinations for the National Certification Board (ISNT) and as PFMB Chair for the past two years.

Pierre Calmon

Chairs the Scientific Branch

COFREND (the French NDT Society)

Topic:- Stakes, challenges and recent advances in SHM – A French perspective

Pierre Calmon received his PhD in Physics from the University of Paris XI, France, in 1990. Since then, he has pursued a research career in the field of Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), focusing on ultrasonic modelling and array imaging. He has been involved from the very beginning in the development of the CIVA simulation platform, now distributed worldwide. He currently serves as the scientific head of the Digital Instrumentation Department at CEA, chairs the Scientific Branch of COFREND (the French NDT Society), and actively participates in several international working groups on NDT. His current research interests include reliability, simulation, and data analysis for NDE and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM).

Prof S Gopalkrishnan

Professor - Department of Aerospace Engineering

Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Topic:- Coupled Peridynamics - Machine Leaarning approach for Modeling Stress Assisted Pitting Corrosion problem

Prof. Gopalakrishnan received his BE degree from UVCE, Bangalore, Master’s Degree in Engineering Mechanics from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai and Ph.D from School of Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University, USA in the year December 1992. Before proceeding for USA for his doctoral studies, Prof. Gopalakrishnan briefly worked at NAL Bangalore in the Structures Division. After his Ph.D., he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. In the year November 1997, he joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, where currently he is an Honorary Professor. His main areas of interest are Wave Propagation in complex media, Computational Material Science, Computational Mechanics, Smart Structures, Structural Health Monitoring, MEMS and Nano Composite Structures.

Prof. Gopalakrishnan has extensively published his work on many top-rated international journals. He has a total of 248 international journal papers, 9 graduate level textbooks, two undergraduate books, 13 book chapters, and 175 international conference papers. He has an h-index of 56 in Google scholar with nearly 13000 citations, which is highest in India for any researchers in Aerospace domain. He is in the editorial board of 5 international journals and is the Editor-in-chief of ISSS Journal for Micro and Smart Systems and is the Associate editor for Smart Materials and Structures and Structural Health Monitoring international journals. Prof. Gopalakrishnan is decorated with many awards and honors, which include, International Structural Health Monitoring person of the year awards 2016 instituted by SAGE Publications, Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Associate Fellows AIAA, Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, Satish Dhawan Young Scientist Award by Government of Karnataka, Biren Roy Trust award of Aeronautical society of India, Alumni Award of excellence in research at IISc in the year 2013 and the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK Distinguished visiting Fellowship. He was elected Fellow of Institute of Mechanical Engineers, UK in the year 2020. Prof. Gopalakrishnan figures in the Stanford list of top 2% of scientist in the world for four consecutive years. In July 2025, he received the ASME Founder’s award for his contributions to SHM and NDE. He has guided 33 Ph.D’s, 7M.Tech (Research) and 23 M.E students.

Dr. Nishal Ramadas

Founder - Azeriri Pvt. Ltd.

Founder - Celmetrix Limited

Topic:- Advances in Non-Destructive Testing for Next-Generation Batteries

Dr. Nishal Ramadas is a highly experienced engineer working in the field of ultrasonic instrumentation, with a special interest towards developing advance transducers/systems with predictive analytics capabilities. Nishal recently founded two start-ups Azeriri Pvt. Ltd. (an ultrasonics transducer/system OEM in Chennai, India) and Celmetrix Limited (formerly Hy-Met UK developing instrumentation/software solutions to enable energy transition).  Nishal previously held leadership roles at Elster Metering Limited/ Honeywell, in the UK, Germany & Belgium. During his time in industry, Nishal was also an honorary visiting academic & a Marie Curie Research Fellow at University of Warwick, UK (2011-2021) and Technical University of Darmstadt Germany (2013-2015). Prior to this, Nishal held post-doctoral positions at universities in the UK (Southampton & Strathclyde-Glasgow) and started his career as an Associate Systems Engineer at Tata Infotech Limited (Bangalore). He holds a bachelor’s degree in “Medical Electronics” from Bangalore University, MSc/PhD in EEE from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK) and PG Diploma in Business Administration from Warwick Business School, UK.

Dr. M R Bhat

Chief Research Scientist

Department of Aerospace Engg.

Indian Institute of Science

Bengaluru

Topic:- NDE for Health Monitoring of Advanced Composite Aerospace Structures – Some Practical Challenges

Academic Qualifications:

• Ph. D, Department of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Science
• M.S (Engg.), Department of Aerospace Engg., Indian Institute of Science
• B.E (Elec. Engg.) BEC, Bagalkote, Karnataka University Dharwad

Experience & Fields of Interest : 40+ Years

Structural Health Monitoring , Non-Destructive Evaluation , Advanced Composite Materials, Smart Structures.

Have guided more than 100 Masters & Ph.D scholars. Many of them in senior & responsible positions at ISRO, DRDO Labs, DAE, NAL, HAL, IAF, NAVY, ARMY & Other Academic / R&D Organisations

EXPERT COMMITTEE MEMBER:

ISRO ; DRDO Labs ; DAE, NAL ; HAL ; IITs ; Academic / R&D Institutions Expert Panel Member on VAIBHAV – a PM Initiative on Science Program Chairman, GATE Committee ( 2015-2017)

AWARDS / RECOGNITIONS:

i) National Award for Outstanding Contribution to R & D in Non Destructive Testing & Evaluation by Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing – ISNT, 2006( Given away by the then CM of Andhra Pradesh Sri Y S Rajashekhar Reddy )

ii) ASNT - Level - III certification in Acoustic Emission Testing by The American Society for Non-Destructive Testing (ASNT) - 1998. First in India to have obtained this certification.

iii) Best Research Project award for the Research Project ‘ In-flight monitoring using AET ’ by Silver Jubilee committee, Aeronautics Research & Development Board (AR &DB) India, 1996.

iv) Outstanding Paper Award for paper published in International Journal "Materials Evaluation" by American Society for NDT (ASNT) - 2014

v) Several Awards for Best Research Papers at International & National Conferences

vi) Fellow of Indian Society for NDT ( ISNT ) – 2000

Dr. Dheepa Srinivasan

Associate Fellow,

Baker Hughes

Topic:- Small Scale Testing using Digital Image correlation for Accelerated Qualifications of Additively Manufacturing in Gas Turbines

Dr. Dheepa Srinivasan is Associate Fellow, Baker Hughes. She has over 25 years of experience in Gas Turbine Materials and Manufacturing. She has a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science.

Dr. Vanita Arora

Technical Specialist (Vision Systems),

SS Automation Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Dr. Vanita Arora received her Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar), India in the field of infrared imaging. Presently, she is serving as a Technical Specialist (Vision Systems) at SS Automation Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru, India. Her research interests include the development of infrared imaging systems for non-invasive/non-destructive testing applications. She serves as a Editor/Guest Editor for several refereed journals of IEEE, IET, IOP etc

Benjamin Ducharne

Researcher

Tohoku University (Japan)

Topic:- Magnetization Mechanisms and Processes for the Non-Destructive Evaluation of Ferromagnetic Steel Parts

Benjamin Ducharne graduated from UCB Lyon I in Electrical Engineering in 2001 with an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. degree in 2003. In 2004, he took a postdoc position at Institut Montefiore, Liège, Belgium. In 2005, he got a position as an Assoc. Prof. at INSA, Lyon, France. In 2018-19, he was a visiting scholar and a mid-term lecturer at Purdue University (IN, USA). In 2020, he joined Tohoku University (Japan) as a full researcher. His research interests are magnetic Non Destructive Testing, ferromagnetic and ferroelectric hysteresis modeling, fractional operators, and multiphysics coupling.

Dr Shruti Bharadwaj

Scientist C

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi

Topic:- Role of Artificial Intelligence in Thermal Imaging for Disease Diagnostics

Dr Shruti Bharadwaj is currently working as a Scientist C at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, with her doctoral research focused on geoinformatics, emphasizing the use of computational and data-driven techniques for geospatial analysis and modeling. Her work bridges the domains of computer science and geosciences, applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and image processing for spatial data interpretation. In her current research, Dr Bharadwaj explores the use of thermal imaging and deep learning for biomedical diagnostics and disease detection, particularly through spatio-temporal analysis and intelligent pattern recognition. She is also an active reviewer for several reputed international journals, including IEEE Sensors Journal, Neural Computing and Applications, IEEE Access, and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence. Her interdisciplinary research reflects a strong commitment to advancing AI-driven computational approaches for solving real-world problems in both geospatial and biomedical domains.

Dr. Amitabha Datta

Principal Scientist

CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories

Topic:- Next-Gen SHM: Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing from Lab-Scale to Flight-Scale

Dr. Amitabha Datta is a Principal Scientist at, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, Bengaluru & holding an academic position in the faculty of engineering at Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), an Indian institute of national importance as an Assistant Professor. He received the B.E. and M.Tech. degrees from Burdwan University and Ph.D from IIT Madras. In 2012, he joined the Advanced Composites Division, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories. His research interests include fiber optic sensing and instrumentation, distributed fiber optic sensing, acoustic emission sensing for load and damage monitoring, machine learning and statistical pattern recognition for structural health monitoring, ultrasonic guided/bulk wave based Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). He is senior member of IEEE and a Life Member of the Indian Society for Advancement of Materials and Processing Engineering. Presently he is a Handling Editor of SAE Non-event Technical Papers. He has been involved in various mission critical project and has authored more than 40 publications in international journals and conferences.

Arbind Kumar

Quality Assurance Division

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Topic:- Development and Application of Eddy Current Testing for Qualification of Austenitic Stainless Steel Pipe Weld

Shri Arbind Kumar is working in the field of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) especially in Eddy Current Testing. He is involved in quality control during manufacturing of critical components, Quality Surveillance and Quality Assurance of engineering products. He carries out selection of NDT techniques, fabrication of various probes, standardization of test parameters and analysis of signals observed during testing. He is deeply involved in in-service inspection of heat exchanger tubes, training and certification of NDT Personnel and review of various standards. He has published 70 technical papers in Journals and conference proceedings. He received ISNT National Award and DAE Science and Technology Award.

Prof Gangadharan Raju

Professor

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Topic:- DEEP LEARNING BASED DAMAGE CHARACTERIZATION IN CFRP COMPOSITES USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION TECHNIQUE

Dr. Gangadharan Raju is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. His research focuses on Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) of composite structures, ultrasonic wave propagation, progressive damage modelling, and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of aerospace structures. He also works extensively on the design and analysis of Variable Angle Tow (VAT) composites for advanced aerospace applications.

Dr. Raju obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, where his research centered on “Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Plate Structures using Lamb Waves.” His doctoral work earned him the Prof. Chintakindi V. Joga Rao Gold Medal for the best Ph.D. thesis in 2010–11. Following this, he pursued postdoctoral research at the Advanced Composite Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS), University of Bristol, UK (2010–2014).

Dr. Srinivas Kuchipudi

Scientist G & Project Director, Deputy Technology Director (R&QA)

Advanced Systems Laboratory, DRDO

Topic: Advances in Non-Destructive Evaluation of Composite Structures: A Multimodal Perspective

Highlights:

1. Insights from 65+ international publications
2. Case studies from defense R&D applications
3. Recognition through DRDO Technology Group Award, AGNI Award, and Titanium Medal
4. Mentorship of Ph.D. scholars across premier Indian institutions

Dr. Siddharth Tallur

Co-founder and Director

Nirixense Technologies

Topic:- FPGA-Based Ultrasonic Guided Wave Structural Health Monitoring System for Autonomous Non-Destructive Inspection of Pipelines and Composite Structures

Dr. Siddharth Tallur is an Associate Professor at Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay and Co-founder and Director at Nirixense Technologies. He has previously served as faculty-in-charge of Wadhwani Electronics Lab (WEL) at IIT Bombay. Prior to joining IIT Bombay, he worked at Analog Devices Inc. Wilmington MA, USA on MEMS sensor product and applications development. His current research interests include high resolution and low cost sensors, and high speed instrumentation and embedded sensor systems, most notably for structural health monitoring and biosensing.

Dr. Anish Kumar

Associate Director of Materials Characterization Group,

Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR)

Topic:- Recent developments in NDE for fast breeder nuclear programme

Dr. Anish Kumar is an Outstanding Scientist and Associate Director of Materials Characterization Group and heading Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) Division in Metallurgy and Materials Group at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam. He is steering the materials development, characterization and inspection activities at IGCAR, Kalpakkam. He obtained B.E. in Metallurgical Engineering from Bihar Institute of Technology, Sindri in 1996 and Ph.D. from IIT, Kharagpur in 2005. After one year of orientation course in nuclear science and engineering at BARC Training School, Mumbai, he joined IGCAR, Kalpakkam in 1997. He worked as post-doctoral fellows at Fraunhofer Institute for NDT (IZFP), Germany as Alexander von Humboldt fellow and the University of Michigan, USA for one year each. He has about 140 publications in peer reviewed international journals, co-authored a book titled “Non-Destructive Materials Characterization and Evaluation” published by Springer Verlag, Germany and edited 2 books. He has delivered about 70 plenary/ keynote/ invited talks and seminars. He is the recipient of Science & Technology Excellence Award (2015) from Dept. of Atomic Energy, National NDT Award in R&D (2015) from Indian Society for NDT (ISNT) and several young researcher/ scientist awards from various Indian and International societies, such as Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS-USA), International Committee for NDT (ICNDT) and ISNT. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Research in NDE (the research journal of American Society for NDT). He is also a professor and members of Board of Studies of ‘Engineering Sciences’ and ‘Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering’ at Homi Bhabha National Institute. He has guided 9 PhDs and 30 Masters theses.

Dr.Phani Surya Kiran Mylavarapu

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, U.S.A

Topic:- NDE Challenges in Next-Gen Nickel & Titanium Alloys

Dr. M. Phani Surya Kiran has received his Ph.D. degree from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, U.S.A in 2007 with specialization on “Non-Destructive Characterization of Advanced Composites used in Aerospace and Defence Applications.” After couple of internship experiences at M/s Olson Engineering, Inc., Wheatridge, Colorado, USA working on "Applications of NDT in Concrete Industry", and M/s Intel Corporation, Chandler, Arizona working on "NDT applications for reliability in electronic industry", he has joined Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, in the year 2010. He is currently working as Scientist “F” in Non-Destructive Testing Group. His current research interests include, experimental and modeling approaches for reliability assessment of NDT techniques, physics based modelling of NDT techniques, surface treatment techniques for inducing beneficial residual stresses in aeroengine components and applications of residual stresses in life revision studies of aeroengine components. He has over 50 publications including various international journal papers, conference proceedings and presentations. In the year 2019, he has been awarded the laboratory scientist of the year.

Deepesh Vimalan

Dy General Manager - Quality Assurance dept,

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Trichy

Topic:- NDE research and innovation -. is commonsense a friend or a foe?

Dr. Deepesh Vimalan, is currently heading the Quality Assurance dept at India's leading power equipment maker, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Trichy in the capacity of Dy General Manager.

He obtained B. Tech (Mechanical Engineering) from GCE Kannur, M.S from IIT Madrass & Ph. D from NIT Trichy. He has over two decades of experience in QC, QA and NDE in manufacturing of thermal and nuclear power plant components. He is an ASNT Level-III in UT & MT, ISO 9001: 2008 & 2015 Quality Management system lead auditor, ISO 19443:2018 Internal Auditor for Nuclear QMS, a Certified Supplier Assessor and has also completed the Harvard Manage Mentor Leadership Program.

He has won several awards, including the ISNT National NDE award for significant contributions in industrial applications 2019, National award for Young NDT Engineer in 2010, Republic Day Gold Medal from BHEL 2023, Best journal article in ISNT JNDE in 2014 etc.

He is a member of ASNT, Life member of Indian Welding Society (IWS), and also the Secretary of Program Formulation Management Board of ISNT. He has served in the academic boards of studies of reputed universities and institutions including NITs. He has 20 plus publications in peer reviewed journals and conferences,100 plus invited talks, and one granted patent to his credit. Also, he is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of NDE, published by ISNT.

His broad areas of interests include conventional & advanced NDE, welding, material testing, modelling & simulation, Digital image processing, organizational behaviour, poetry, philosophy, music and painting.

Dr. R. Vidya Sagar

Principal Research Scientist

Department of Civil Engineering, IISc Bangalore

Dr. R. Vidya Sagar received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He also worked under the guidance of Prof. Bhushan Karihaloo, at Cardiff university, Wales, UK. He is currently working as a Principal Research Scientist in Department of Civil Engineering, IISc Bangalore.

His research interests include fracture mechanics, Non-destructive testing of concrete structures, and computational solid mechanics.

He has contributed to these areas through research, teaching, and collaborative projects, and continues to advance the understanding of cementitious materials behaviour under complex loading & failure mechanisms.

Joseph Moysan

Professor

Aix-Marseille University

Topic:- Towards a new model for considering organizational and human factors in nondestructive testing. Application to radiographic testing

Professor Joseph MOYSAN graduated from the Mechanical Engineering school ECAM Lyon in 1989 and obtained his PhD from INSA Lyon in 1992. He is now a full professor at Aix-Marseille University in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Institute of Technology in Aix en Provence.

He began research and teaching in NDT in 1993. He won the Gold Medal for the European NDT Innovation Awards in 1994 for his work concerning the automatic thresholding of ultrasound images. He developed NDT analysis for metallic welds (defects detection, grain noise analysis) and contributed to the development of the MINA model that describes weld microstructure at the ultrasonic scale. He is also interested in the development of NDT solutions for nuclear reactors. He also recently managed an extensive French program, ISABEAU, to develop innovative NDT solutions to evaluate nondestructive bond strength. He is a member of the scientific council for the French NDT association (COFREND). He is currently involved in research about the integration of human and organizational factors (HOF) in NDT process.

Christophe Reboud

Senior Expert

CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission)

Topic:- Synergy between physics-Based simulation and AI for advanced NDT solutions

Christophe Reboud is a senior expert of CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission) in the fields of NDT techniques, Electromagnetics and modelling. He is currently the Head of the Simulation and Artificial Intelligence Service of the CEA List Institute which develops the CIVA software, an internationally recognized simulation and analysis platform dedicated to NDT applications. Christophe Reboud holds an Engineering degree from the Ecole Centrale de Nantes and a Ph.D. degree in Signal Processing from the University Paris Sud XI. From 2012 to 2022, he was in charge at CEA LIST of the Electromagnetic Modelling Laboratory, which developed simulation tools related to quasi-static Electromagnetics, Thermography, X-ray, computed tomography, statistical studies, meta-modelling and model based inversion. He has been a member of the COFREND society for more than 15 years.

Hari Krishna

Human Space Flight Centre

ISRO

Topic:- Laser Shearography of Launch Vehicle Structures

Educational Qualifications B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, JNTU, Anantapur M. E in Aerospace Engineering, IISc, Bangalore

A brief summary of contributions At Composites NDT Division, CMSE, VSSC (2000 January -2022 August): Introduced and developed test methodologies and technologies such as Pulsed Thermography; Laser shearography; Air coupled, Dry coupled, water coupled, Phased array ultrasonic testing for the NDT of composite structures for launch vehicle and Spacecraft systems. Analysed the defect nature and provided suggestions for improving the structures, which have been accepted and implemented. Provided NDT assessment of Composite structures successfully flown in launch vehicle and spacecraft missions of ISRO.
As DGM, Resident Quality Assurance team, HAL (2022 August -2024 November): Contributed in the realisation of light alloy structures realised at Bangalore work centres of VSSC. Identified opportunities for quality improvement. • Identified the potential use of THz measurement for various applications. Demonstrated its applicability on metallic and composite samples, for TPS coating thickness measurement. As DD, SRQA (2024 November- till date): Provided/ing quality assurance of Human Centric Gaganyaan systems.

Awards received • National award by Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (ISNT) for “NDT Systems Innovation & Development”, in year 2017 • ISRO Team award for the “Design & Development of Dual Gridded Antenna Reflector” in year 2011

Others • Guided two M. Tech and 1 M.S projects from NIT, Trichy • Member of National Governing Council of ISNT, from the year 2018. Secretary for the Training Management Board from Feb 2022.

Dr. Aparna Vadde

GE Aerospace Research

Topic:- Recent Trends in Inspection in the Aerospace Industry

Aparna Sheila-Vadde is with GE Aerospace Research and has been part of NDE Lab since 2005. She has worked on design, simulation, testing and data analysis of electromagnetic sensors and on algorithm development for inspection and monitoring applications. Prior to GE, Aparna worked at Western Digital Corp and Read-Rite, in CA, US for 3.5 years on GMR sensor design for hard-drives. Aparna has a B.Tech from Kerala University, MS from IISc and Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, all in ECE.

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Rai

Head, X-ray Diffraction & Metrology Section

Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore

Topic:- Synchrotron radiation an emerging tool for Non-Destructive assessment of stress and micro-structure in engineering components

Academic Career:
Ph.D. (X-ray ML mirrors), 2013
M.Sc. (Physics) IITD 1990

Achievements/ Awards:
32 years of experience in x-ray diffraction and its application in stress measurement, DAE Group Achivement awads 4 times Developed x-ray scattering setup and beamlines for Indus-2 Participated in development of first Indian x-ray telescope ASTROSAT developed jointly by TIFR and DRDO.

Areas of Research Work:
Synchrotron Beamline Development
X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy
Thin films X-ray mirrors
Stress analysis for material life assessment

Publications:
More than 200 International Journals

Vemuri Padmanabha Sastry

Materials, Corrosion & RCA Expert & Trainer

Topic:- Role of NDT in Risk Based Inspection

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Vemuri Padmanabha Sastry is a Corrosion, Materials and Inspection SME with 45 years’ experience, performed project for Material, Corrosion & Failure Analysis. He is master’s in technology for Materials Science, Wide experience in Corrosion, Materials Selection, Inspection, Welding, Heat Treatment, DT,NDT, Paints, Coatings, Linings, Insulation, Refractory, Root Cause Analysis, including training in these topics.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
M. Tech. in Materials Sciences from IIT Mumbai, India 1978.
M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Mumbai, India 1976.
B.Sc. (C/P/M) from Andhra University, India 1974.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

• Training in Corrosion & Its Prevention and Computer Applications in Electrochemistry at CECRI, Karaikudi 1979.
• Repair Welding / Terrocote Welding Techniques by L&T, Eutectic, Powai.
• NDT of Weld Joints from NAARI.
• Awareness & Familiarization Program in Corrosion & Inspection by IPCL, Baroda.
• Deputation for 33 days to M/s Bechtel London for JERP-Jamnagar Export Refinery Project– M/s RIL. Worked with Bechtel systems.
• Individual and Life active member of SAESt, Karaikudi (CECRI-India)
• Intelligent Pigging by IBS Inc., 2013.
• NDT MPI Level II, LPT Level II by Insight Quality Services, Pune.
• Combustion and Heat Transfer John Zink Burner School CERTIFICATIONS (NOT RENEWED)
• Welding Inspection and Interpretation of Weld Radiographs by M/s Advani Oerlikon Ltd (ADOR).
• Certified CSWIP 3.1 from TWI, UK.
• NDT- ASNT RT Level 2, ADOR ‘Interpretation of Radiographs’ 1996, ADOR ‘Welding Inspector’ 1993
• UT- ISNT Level I & ASNT Level I Level II.
• Certified Lead Auditor: ISO 9000 & ISO 14000.
• Certified Coating Inspector CIP Level 1 &2 and CP Level 1 from NACE International, USA
• Certified Pressure Vessel Inspector API 510
• Certified Above Ground Storage Tank Inspector API 653 EMPLOYER APPRECIATION/Recognition
• Appreciation certificate for RPCL Commissioning May 2005.
• Invitation of Panel of consultants Tata Projects ltd. September 2015, Empanelment letter 2022
• Faculty appreciation Teacher’s day 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,2013,2014,2018, 2019 by RIL,

Prof Balaji Srinivasan

Professor - Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Topic:- Marriage Made Underground - Pipelines and DAS

Balaji Srinivasan obtained his Ph.D. in 2000 from the University of New Mexico, USA. He subsequently worked as a Senior Development Scientist at Corning Incorporated, USA, where he led technology development efforts related to 3D Optical Cross-connects and Channel Selectable Tunable Filters. Since 2004 he has been with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras as a faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering, presently as Professor.

Balaji’s research interests span the development of active and passive optical components / subsystems for distributed fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers. Balaji has co-authored more than 240 journal and international conference publications, as well as 4 book chapters. He also has 24 patents to his credit (2 more pending). He has successfully executed or currently investigating over 40 research projects, resulting in the development of 8 technologies, 6 of which have been transferred to industry for commercialization.

Balaji has served in the Editorial Board of the prestigious Optics Express journal, and is one of the Founder Directors of Folium Sensing Pvt Ltd, a distributed fiber sensor company incubated by IIT Madras. He has previously served as Member of the Photonics Working Group of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITy), Government of India, Steering Committee of the National Photonics Fellowship, the Editorial Board of the Springer Photonic Network Communications Journal, and as a Chair for the 2012 International Conference on Fiber Optics and Photonics. For his professional accomplishments, he has been awarded Senior Membership in Optica.

PVS Kurmanath

SDSC, ISRO

Topic:- Advanced NDE methods for large Solid Rocket Motors

1. Post graduate from Andhra University in Physics
2. Research fellow at National Atmospheric Research Laboratory.
3. ⁠Joined ISRO in 1995 from then, working in the field of NDE of large solid rocket motors
4. M R Kurup young scientist award from HEMSI