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Dr. Umesh Puri, born in Chitawan, Nepal in 1970, earned Ph.D. degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Tokyo at the age of 28, making him one of the youngest scholars of our times to earn this academic achievement. He also received a post doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which is ranked #1 university in Civil Engineering in the USA. Dr. Puri is now a successful professional and serves as a Director of Research and Development in RISA Technologies (www.risatech.com), a top-rated company specialized in making computer software for analysis and design of structures.

Dr. Puri completed his SLC from Khairahani Secondary School in Chitawan (1987) and then I.E. (1990) and B.E. (1994) in Civil Engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Nepal. For the first class first in B.E. he was awarded the Mahendra Bidhya Bhusan awarded by the Royal Palace (Gold-Medal).

Dr. Puri received his M.E. from Asian Institute of Technology in Structural Engineering in 1996, Thailand. In 1995 he received the King's Scholarship of Thailand (from the Thai Royal Highness, Royal Palace of Thailand). Throughout his academic and professional career, Dr. Puri has been merited with numerous fellowships and awards for achieving top rank.

Dr. Puri did a pioneering research in “The Computer Modeling of Fresh Concrete” which entitled him with a Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1999. This is a novel work in development of a simulation tool for the flow simulation of fresh concrete and shotcrete. His revolutionary research got attention in many US universities and around the world. He presented his research idea and findings in various distinguished universities in the US such as Columbia university, Northwestern university and else where. Immediately after graduating from the University of Tokyo, he accepted a post doctoral researcher position to develop a “Rheology Based Mix Design Project” sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Center for Advanced Cement Based Materials (ACBM) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999. He spent 1.5 years in the project and gave many presentations in NIST, ACBM, etc.

With a strong vision of integrating structural design and analysis with computer, Dr. Puri got involved in software development to provide state-of-the-art design tool for civil/structural engineers. In 2000, he joined as a senior software developer in ADAPT corporation, a software company based in Redwood City, California. Dr. Puri wrote and maintained various commercial software like ADAPT-BUILDER, ADAPT-PT, ADAPT-ABI, etc which are currently in use worldwide.

Dr. Puri is heavily involved computer modeling of static and dynamic of structures from (linear to non-linear, continuous to non-continuous, small to large displacements), analysis and design of pre and post-tensioned concrete building and bridges.

Dr. Puri is recognized as a world class expert in concrete design technology and is a leader in the field of post tensioned concrete design technologies. With his in depth knowledge he is making significant contributions to the world of concrete design technology and his work and dedication is an example to the world as to what a Nepali can accomplish.


Honors and recognitions (selected):
• National Science Foundation Fellowship (NSF) in 1999.
• Japan Concrete Institute (JCI) best presentation award in 1998.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB-Japan) scholarship for Ph.D. study in 1996.
• King's Scholarship of Thailand (From the Thai Royal Highness, Royal Palace of Thailand) for M.E. (Structural) in 1995.
• Mahendra Bidhya Bhusan awarded by the Royal Palace (Gold-Medal) for the first class first in B.E. (Civil) in the kingdom of Nepal in 1994.
• Kulratna Bihdya Padak (Civil) awarded by the Institute of Engineering (Gold-Medal) for the first class first in B.E. in Nepal in 1994.

Refereed International Journal Papers (selected):
• Puri, U.C. and Uomoto, T. (1999), Numerical Modeling- A New Tool for Understanding Shotcrete, Material and Structures, RILEM, May 1999.
• Puri, U.C. and Uomoto, T. (2002), Characterization of the DEM Parameters for Fresh Concrete and Its Application in Consistency and Shotcrete Simulation, ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, March/Apr vol 14.

Conference Papers (selected):
• Puri, U.C., and Uomoto, T.(1998), Numerical simulation of shotcrete rebound and its voids inspections by 2D-DEM considering real size distinct element particle grading, Proceedings of the Sixth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, Taipei, Jan., 1911-1916.
• Puri, U.C. and Uomoto, T. (1999), Numerical Model for Accelerating Admixture in DEM Modeling of Shotcrete, Proceedings of International congress, Creating with Concrete, Sept. 6-10, Dundee, Scotland, UK.

Invited speaker:
Given a seminar on the flow simulation of fresh concrete in Columbia University in the city of New York, Dept. of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.

ACBM presentation:
Multiphase study of fresh concrete-Center for Advanced Cement- based materials, semiannual technical review, NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland, Oct. 27-29, 1999.

American Ceramic Society’s 102nd Annual Meeting & Exposition:
Given a seminar on Normal stresses in fresh concrete in St. Louis, Missouri, April 30 - May 3, 2000 

We should be all proud of this Nepalese son. We take this opportunity to include him as a member of 'Nepalese Hall of Brain'.