Banaras Hindu University

Vice Chancellor Message

• Prof. Sudhir Jain is the 28th Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University. 

• Dr Jain is an internationally reputed scholar of earthquake engineering and a visionary academic administrator. He was conferred the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honour, for distinguished service in the fields of science and engineering, by the Government of India in 2020. Before joining BHU, he served as the founding director of the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar for over 12 years. 

• Dr Jain has made seminal contributions to earthquake engineering practice and education in India. He was instrumental in the development of several important seismic codes in India, and has trained thousands of professional engineers and college teachers in earthquake engineering. He established the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at IIT Kanpur and developed the National Programme on Earthquake Engineering Education (NPEEE), supported by the Government of India. He has served as consultant for several major projects, such as bridges and petrochemical pipeline, and has published more than 150 scholarly papers. His research interests include the study of damaging earthquakes, reinforced concrete buildings, bridges, and seismic codes.

• Dr Jain was elected as an international member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2021 (one of the only 18 elected from India) and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee for Academic or Research Excellence in 2018. He served as President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering from 2014-18 (the second Indian to hold this position) and was elected as its honorary member in 2021. He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2003, and conferred Life Membership by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) in 2013.

•  Dr Jain served on the faculty of IIT Kanpur for 35 years from 1984-2019. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Roorkee (1979), and Masters (1980) and Doctoral (1983) degrees from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.