Prof. Umamaheshwar Rao Karanam

Prof. U. R. Karanam is a distinguished academician and mining engineer with nearly four decades of experience in teaching, research, and institutional leadership. An alumnus of Osmania University and IIT (BHU), he earned his Ph.D. in Rock Mechanics from IIT Kharagpur, where he served as Professor and Head of the Department of Mining Engineering.

His global academic engagements include postdoctoral research at KIGAM, South Korea, and visiting professorships at Chonnam National University, South Korea, and the University of British Columbia, Canada. He has also delivered invited lectures at Seoul National University, Kangwon National University, and the University of Adelaide.

Prof. Rao served as Director of NIT Surathkal from 2017 to 2022 and assumed charge as Director of NIT Rourkela in February 2022. He has also served as Independent Director of UCIL and as Chairman, CSAB in 2022, 2023, and 2025.

His expertise spans Rock Mechanics, Mining Engineering Education, and Technical Institution Building in India and abroad.