Professional Experience

Jitendra Sharma

B.Eng.[Mumbai], M.Tech. [IIT-Kanpur], Ph.D.[Cantab]

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I have had the good fortune of working as an educator and an engineer in many different countries where I was presented with remarkably different cultures, both at work and outside work. As a result, I have become more versatile professionally as well as socially. I find it quite easy to adjust in a new environment, acquire new skills, and be a part of a multi-national team. I hope to be able to give you a flavour of my global experience in this section.

See Also:

CALICE Project

LTA Singapore

PWD Singapore
[Link Not Working]

Cambridge Program for Industry [CPI]

PLAXIS BV

GEO-SLOPE International

CRISP Consortium

HCItasca [FLAC]

NTPC India

From	To	Designation and Place of Work
2008	Present	Professor University of Saskatchewan, Canada
2001	2008	Associate Professor University of Saskatchewan, Canada
2000	2001	Senior Research Fellow ETH Zürich, Switzerland
1997	2000	Assistant Professor Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
1996	1997	University Lecturer QMW College, London, UK
1994	1996	Post-doctoral Fellow University of Cambridge, UK
1989	1994	Doctoral Student and Research Assistant University of Cambridge, UK
1989	1989	Executive Engineer [Civil Design] National Thermal Power Corporation, India

University of Saskatchewan, Canada

[September 2001 - Present]

Professor of Geotechnical Engineering, Department of Civil and Geological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. The only full-time faculty with teaching, research and professional interests primarily in the area of classical soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. I am the faculty-in-charge of the U of S Geotechnical Laboratory, working closely with the chief technician Mr. Adam Hammerlindl. In addition to the teaching and research duties, I also provide specialized services to the regional geotechnical industry on a variety of problems such as

Riverbank slope stability
Stability of salt containment dykes
Rehabilitation of failed highway embankments using geosynthetics
Mechanical behaviour of municipal solid waste (MSW)

The specialized services include interpretation of laboratory and field test results as well as advanced numerical modelling. I also work closely with Geo-Slope International on the development of advanced geotechnical analysis software.

ETH Zürich, Switzerland

[July 2000 - August 2001]

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering [IGT], Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [ETH], Zürich, Switzerland. I was one of the leading members of the team that created and administered the on-line teaching modules [CALICE] for the Geotechnik 1 course. The on-line modules received overwhelming approval of the students with almost 75% strongly agreeing with its philosophy and usefulness in imparting basic geotechnical engineering to them. During my tenure, I was responsible for directing the numerical modelling activities of the Institute. This involved supervision of graduate and final-year undergraduate students that use advanced numerical simulations using programs such as FLAC, SAGE-CRISP and PLAXIS as a part of their Ph.D. or undergraduate project. I led the planning and delivery of specialized courses in advanced geotechnical analysis to practicing civil engineers. I also conducted and directed research on the following topics:

Ground improvement techniques for soft, warved lacustrine clays
Effect of large pieces of falling rocks on thawing mountain slopes
Effect of the method of construction on the response of steep reinforced soil walls

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

[April 1997 - June 2000]

Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Structural Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Here, I conducted and directed research on the following topics:

Consolidation of clay slurry around vertical drains
Instrumentation and monitoring of rock caverns during their construction and operation

I created and administered the web portal of the NTU-PWD Geotechnical Research Centre and edited its biannual research bulletin. I delivered invited lecture on Analysis and Design of Tunnels to the participants of a workshop on Tunnel Engineering Practice organized by the Institution of Engineers, Singapore. I provided special consulting services to the Land Transport Authority [LTA] and the Public Works Department [PWD] on the Changi Airport Line project [CALP]. This job involved coupled consolidation finite element analysis of tunnel excavation underneath Runway 1 of Changi Airport.

Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, UK

[August 1996 - March 1997]

Lecturer, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, UK. I was responsible for the coordination and the delivery of first year undergraduate course in stress analysis and second year undergraduate course in introductory soil mechanics and geomaterials.

Cambridge University Engineering Department, UK

[April 1994 - July 1996]

Post-doctoral Fellow, Cambridge University Engineering Department, UK. I conducted research on the following projects:

Centrifugal and numerical modelling of compensation grouting
Anchor piles for deep sea tension leg platform [TLP] subjected to cyclic lateral loading

During my tenure, I developed STRAINS - a PC-based computer program that computes and plots soil strains from photographic measurement data. This program proved immensely useful to the research students of the Cambridge Soil Mechanics group working on various projects involving centrifuge model testing. I also lectured on various continuing professional development courses organized by the Cambridge Program for Industry [CPI].

Cambridge University Engineering Department, UK

[October 1989 - March 1994]

Doctoral student, Cambridge University Engineering Department, UK. I conducted research on a US$180,000 project on geosynthetic-reinforced embankments on soft clay sponsored by the UK Transportation Research Laboratory [TRL]. I was responsible for planning, design, execution and reporting of centrifuge model tests for this project. I also organized a prediction symposium based on the results of the above-mentioned project. Academicians and consulting engineers from the UK and the neighbouring European countries were invited to this symposium. I also lectured on various continuing professional development courses organized by the Cambridge Program for Industry [CPI]. These courses attracted practicing civil engineers from all over the world.

National Thermal Power Corporation, India

[April 1989 - September 1989]

Executive Engineer [Civil Design], National Thermal Power Corporation, India. I was responsible for the planning and supervision of site investigation for thermal power stations as well as for devising novel techniques for safe disposal of fly ash.