Dr. Venkatesh Kodur is a University Distinguished Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. He also serves as Director of the Centre on Structural Fire Engineering and Diagnostics at Michigan State University. Research interests include Experimental behaviour and analytical modelling of structural systems under extreme fire conditions; Constitutive modelling of material properties at elevated temperatures; fire resistance design of structural systems; application of AI & ML-based techniques for structural fire engineering; and Building collapse investigations. His research contributions have led to the development of a fundamental understanding of the fire behaviour of material and structural systems and also resulted in numerous design approaches and innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing the fire resistance of structural systems. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers in journals and conferences and has given numerous invited keynote presentations. He is one of the top-cited authors in Civil Engineering, and as per Google Scholar, he has more than 17,000 citations with an “h” index of 72. He has been elected as a Fellow of six Institutes/Academies, including the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Prof. Kodur is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is a professional engineer, Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of Structural Engineering Institute, Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of American Concrete Institute, Associate Editor of Journal of Structural Engineering, Chairman of ACI Fire Protection Committee, Chairman of ASCE-29 (Fire) Standards Committee and a member of UK-EPSRC College of Reviewers. He has won many high-profile awards, and most notably, he was part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and American Society of Civil Engineers high-profile “Experts Team” that investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings as a result of September 11 (2001) attacks.

Professor Ir. Dr U. Johnson Alengaram is the Director of the Centre for Innovative Construction Technology (CICT), a Research Centre under the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is listed among the top 2% world’s scientists by Stanford University through Elsevier Data Repository, and also the recipient of outstanding achievement awards in most of the Institutions he served.

He is a Chartered Civil Engineer of the world-renowned Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE, UK) and the Engineering Council (UK); in addition, he is also a qualified Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia. He is a Companion member of the Institution of Engineer Malaysia (CIEM), and a life member of the Concrete Society of Malaysia (CSM).

Professor Ir. Dr U. Johnson Alengaram has been in academia, consultancy, research, and administration and contributed to society in different capacities in India, Bahrain, and Malaysia. His current Web of Science (WoS) h-index stands at 49, Scopus h-index of 54 and Google Scholar h-index of 64 with the publication of over 200 articles in refereed journals in Web of Science and Scopus indexed journals.

Professor Johnson along with his CICT team also built a low-cost model house in Universiti Malaya using industrial by-products and showcases the utilization of vast quantities of materials that could be used in low-cost houses. Recently, he and his team built another house using cement-free, geopolymer concrete for bus drivers-which also serves as a research hub. The local sustainable materials used in the construction are a testament to his commitment towards sustainable development.

He serves as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Cement-Based Sustainable Materials, the Australian Journal of Civil Engineering and Editorial Board of the Journal of Construction Materials, Frontiers in Built Environment, and the Jordanian Journal of Civil Engineering. He has been a reviewer for several international journals.  

His research involves low-carbon footprint materials through the utilization of industrial by-products and waste materials in concrete, lightweight aggregate, foamed concrete, geopolymer concrete and impact & blast-resistant concrete; his experimental works revolve around investigations on the microstructural behaviour, mechanical properties and durability characteristics, structural behaviour, functional behaviour etc.

His research team has won multiple gold and silver awards at national and international exhibitions, including, the Innovation and Technology Exhibition (ITEX), International Conference and Exposition on Inventions by Institutions of Higher Learning (PECIPTA), Malaysia Technological Expositions (MTE), etc.

He has a research collaboration and activities with various universities in Malaysia, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Jordan, Oman, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. He has been invited by various Universities in different countries to give keynote lectures at international conferences, seminars, and research workshops.

Professor Johnson started the University of Malaya’s Institution of Civil Engineers Student Chapter (UMICESC) in 2014 and currently, he is the staff Advisor; UMICESC serves as the professional student body for the undergraduate students to enhance their professional attributes, so they can strive towards becoming CEng after graduation and appropriate training.

In addition to giving keynote lectures, Professor Ir. Dr. U. Johnson Alengaram is involved in giving expert lectures and training young engineering students and graduates on the following:

1. Graduate Engineer vs. Professional Engineer – A Perspective
2. Research publications in high-impact journals
3. Research funding proposals to secure funds
4. Patents and innovations
5. Faculty development programme

Professor Johnson has given expert and keynote lectures on excellence in research, article writing, etc. in different states in India, including the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.