Dr Durgesh Rai is a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. Prior to joining IIT Kanpur, he was a research fellow at the University of Michigan (1996-1997), and on the faculty of the Department of Earthquake Engineering at IIT Roorkee (1997-2001). His research interests are in the design and behaviour of structures under earthquake loads, experimental investigations, supplemental damping, seismic rehabilitation, masonry structures and seismic design codes. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in journals and conferences in the area of structural and earthquake engineering. He received the 2021 John B. Scalzi Research Award from The Masonry Society, USA for an outstanding, lifetime contribution to masonry research; the 2000 Shah Family Innovation Prize from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (USA) for innovative approaches to earthquake risk mitigation and retrofit, and public entrepreneurship in code development, continuing education and improved standards to reduce future earthquake risk; and the Young Engineer Award from the Indian National Academy of Engineering (1999), among others. He is also elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (2010). Dr. Rai received a B.E. (Honors) from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli (1989), an M.S. from the University of Oklahoma, Norman (1992), and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1996). He is the Coordinator of the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at IIT Kanpur since 2009 and a Director of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) since 2021. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, the official journal of IAEE.

Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.

Dynamic and inelastic behaviour of structures, Masonry structures, Steel-Reinforced Concrete Composite Structures, Experimental investigations of large-scale structural sub-systems, Small-scale modeling of structural systems for real time dynamic testing, Supplemental damping & energy dissipation devices, Seismic evaluation and rehabilitation, Seismic qualification testing on shake tables and earthquake damage surveys and seismic design codes .

Courses I teach or have taught recently