Nemkumar Banthia

Banthia was born in 1959 in Nagpur, India.^{[2][failed verification]} Growing up in India, he was concerned with the poor quality of housing, poor quality of water, and the little state of transportation infrastructure.^[3] This further motivated him to pursue a field where he could transform societies and create healthy communities and vibrant economies by creating proper infrastructure. He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Nagpur University and a Master of Technology in Structural Engineering in 1982, from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.^[3] Banthia then moved to Canada where he obtained his doctorate in Civil Engineering Materials from UBC in 1987.^[4]

Banthia's main area of research is fiber-reinforced composites and is he is credited for his contributions to the fundamental understanding of sprayed concrete including particle and fiber kinematics, rebound modeling, in-situ quality control and performance characterization.^[1] Banthia is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and previous Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia.^[5][6] He is also a fellow of the American Concrete Institute, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the Indian Concrete Institute, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Indian National Academy of Engineering.^[7]

Banthia was first appointed as an associate professor at UBC in 1992 and later promoted to professor in 1997.^[8] He leads the Civil Engineering Materials group, also known as SIERA (Sustainable InfrastructurE ReseArch).^[9] With Banthia's leadership, the group is extremely experienced in the field of composites and is well known for its extensive research in the field of fibre reinforcement, including shotcrete applications. Banthia was recognized by the university's Distinguished University Scholar (DUS) program and received an award in 2003.^[10]

Banthia has developed a number of novel methodologies for fibers use in concrete and shotcrete reinforcement, developed a family of fibres for reinforcing Portland cement-based materials, pioneered research in microfiber-reinforced cement composites for civil applications, demonstrated use of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) in new construction and repairs. Some more specific topics of current and planned research include mechanical properties and durability of Portland cement concrete (plain and fibre-reinforced); permeability of Portland cement concrete; shotcrete (wet and dry processes); shrinkage, cracking and durability; impact/blast resistance of concrete and fiber reinforced concrete; use of fiber reinforced plastic composites for new construction and repair, and use of recycled materials in concrete.^[11]

In 2012, Banthia was named Scientific Director of the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS).^[12] IC-IMPACTS is the first, Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence established through the Canadian Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)^[13] as a Centre dedicated to the development of research collaborations between Canada and India. A number of projects led by Banthia at IC-IMPACTS have been covered by media outlets globally.^[14][15][16]

Banthia has served on numerous committees and is currently actively involved with CSA: Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) as the Chair of Technical Subcommittee on Durability. He also serves on Editorial Boards of eight international journals and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cement and Concrete Composites.^[17] With a CiteScore of 10.9 and an Impact Factor of 6.257^[18] the journal has one of the highest Impact Factor in the field.^[19]

Through seminars and other events, Banthia contributes towards continuing education of practicing engineers, graduate students and other institutions, business personnel and technicians.

Some of his most recent involvements, with international conferences, include:

• Chair Steering Committee, PROTECT2017
• Conference Co-Chair CONSEC2016
• Conference Chair, BEFIB 2016
• Conference Co-Chair, ACMBS-XI
• Chair Steering Committee, PROTECT2015
• Conference Chair, ConMat'15

Banthia has more than 450 research publications with an outstanding H-index value of 48 (Web of Science). To date, he holds 9 patents, has published over 450 refereed papers and over 30 books, edited volumes, and special journal issues.^[19]