<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Teaching has always been a part of my life, as I grew up in a family of academicians. For me, teaching is not just a job but something I truly enjoy and care about. I believe I am a committed and effective teacher. I see teaching not only as sharing knowledge, but also as helping students develop interest in learning, think independently, and grow both personally and professionally.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">I am currently working as an Assistant Professor at Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar (SSN) College of Engineering, Chennai. I am interested in applying to NICMAR for two main reasons.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">First, NICMAR&rsquo;s strong connection with industry matches well with my approach to teaching. I worked with Larsen &amp; Toubro (L&amp;T) for two years before moving into academics, and this experience helped me understand how important it is for students to connect theory with real site practice. During my BTech, MTech, and PhD, I also took up leadership and coordination roles, which shaped my interest in contributing beyond classroom teaching. The newly launched BTech program in Civil Engineering at NICMAR is especially interesting to me because it offers a chance to contribute from the early stages. NICMAR&rsquo;s industry collaborations provide students with exposure to real projects and practical challenges, which I believe is very important for their overall development and employability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">Second, on a personal note, my husband works at Tata Autocomp in Pune, and we have a four-year-old daughter. Moving to Pune would allow us to live together as a family, which is very important to us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">In research, my focus lies in the exploration of material fracture and fatigue behaviour. I take pride in having earned my doctoral degree from the esteemed Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, one of India's premier research institutes. My tenure at IISc has given me invaluable exposure to the world of the research, and I am eager to join an institution where I can contribute to both teaching and research endeavours. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">My research focuses on developing strong and durable concrete materials that can improve sustainability in construction by reducing structural size and increasing service life. I am particularly interested in Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC), which has very high strength (above 120 MPa) and good durability. Although UHPC is gaining attention, its fracture and fatigue behaviour still needs deeper study. I plan to investigate its behaviour under different types of loading using experimental and numerical methods, including techniques like acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC). The goal of my work is to support the wider and more confident use of UHPC in practical construction projects. </span></p>