Page introduction

The Department of Civil Engineering brings together faculty with doctoral and postdoctoral training from IIT Roorkee, NIT Srinagar, the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Sheffield, supported by administrative and technical staff, doctoral research scholars and a postgraduate student community. Faculty members combine active research programmes in earthquake engineering, structural fire engineering, vibration control and sustainable construction materials with substantial professional experience in structural design, consultancy and public works, and several also carry technical and administrative responsibility across the University for campus engineering, procurement, disaster management coordination and digital learning. This combination of research depth and field experience defines how the Department teaches and how it engages with the region.

Head of the Department

Dr. Asif Hussain Shah — Head, Department of Civil Engineering; Assistant Professor. Specialisation in Structural Fire Engineering.
asif.shah@cukashmir.ac.in · +91 9797760882

Dr. Shah holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from IIT Roorkee, where his doctoral research examined the fire performance of earthquake-damaged structures, and both his M.Tech in Structural Engineering (Gold Medallist) and B.Tech in Civil Engineering from NIT Srinagar. He has previously served as Assistant Professor and Head of Civil Engineering at the Islamic University of Science & Technology, as Assistant Professor at Shaqra University in Saudi Arabia, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, and as Assistant Professor at NIT Srinagar. His research covers structural fire engineering, fire-resistant and sustainable concrete, geopolymer concrete and recycled aggregates, spalling behaviour and mitigation, and machine learning applications in structural engineering. He holds a Seal of Excellence from the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, has four published Indian patent applications in fire-resistant structural systems, publishes in journals including Construction and Building Materials and Materials and Structures, and currently supervises five doctoral scholars. Within the University he serves as Officer In-Charge of the Central Procurement Unit, Nodal Officer for SWAYAM/NPTEL and for NIDM/NDMA, Coordinator of the Central Workshop and Central Facilities, and Assistant Executive Engineer.

Faculty

Dr. Zubair Rashid Wani — Assistant Professor; Assistant Executive Engineer. Specialisation in Structural Dynamics, Vibration Control and Earthquake Engineering.
zrwani@cukashmir.ac.in · +91 9070051008

Dr. Wani holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from NIT Srinagar, and an M.Tech from the same institution as Batch topper and Gold Medallist. He has held postdoctoral appointments as a Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh and as a C. V. Raman / Institution of Eminence Postdoctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. His doctoral work was conducted on the largest shake table in India at IIT Roorkee, implementing adaptive control strategies on a five-storey steel frame using magnetorheological dampers. His research spans structural dynamics and vibration control, large-scale experimental testing using shake-table and servo-hydraulic systems, structural reliability and uncertainty quantification, and structural health monitoring. He is Principal Investigator of an externally funded national research project on probabilistic seismic demand and resilience-based design for high seismic risk zones of the Kashmir Valley, holds a granted Indian patent for a control circuit for magnetorheological dampers, and publishes in journals including Engineering Structures, Annual Reviews in Control and Smart Materials and Structures, with book chapters published by Elsevier and CRC Press. He also serves as Assistant Executive Engineer with responsibility for campus infrastructure development.

Suhail Ahmad Ahanger — Assistant Professor; Assistant Executive Engineer. Specialisation in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Materials.
suhailahanger@cukashmir.ac.in · +91 8825030586

Mr. Ahanger holds an M.Tech in Structural Engineering and a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from NIT Srinagar, and is completing doctoral research at the same institution on the seismic behaviour of masonry-infilled frames. His Master's thesis examined the microstructural and temperature characteristics of nano-silica-based high strength concrete, and his undergraduate project analysed damage to flood-affected buildings in Pulwama district. Before joining the Department, he served as Junior Engineer with the Jal Shakti Department, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, where he was part of the design and execution team for the Jal Jeevan Mission, designing ground service reservoirs and water supply infrastructure and chairing the forest clearance team for major mission projects, and earlier as Assistant Professor under the World Bank-funded TEQIP-III programme at the Islamic University of Science & Technology, Awantipora. His research covers the seismic behaviour of masonry-infilled reinforced concrete frames, macro and micro infill modelling, machine learning for classification of seismic building damage, the microstructure of pozzolana-based cement concrete, and source sustainability of drinking water supply schemes, with work presented at the RILEM Week and Cement and Concrete Science Conference at the University of Sheffield. He teaches structural dynamics, earthquake-resistant design, bridge and industrial structures, concrete technology, reinforced and advanced concrete design, matrix methods of structural analysis, and continuum mechanics, and has supervised postgraduate projects on seismic damage assessment using RADIUS and GIS, CFRP retrofitting of beams, and geopolymer and self-compacting concrete with recycled aggregates.

Administrative and Technical Staff

The Department is supported by technical and administrative staff who assist in laboratory operations, departmental administration, record maintenance and day-to-day support for teaching and research activities.