Address

Building Science Block # 218, Dept. of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai, TN 600036, India.

Prof. Piyush Chaunsali

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai, TN 600036, India

Piyush Chaunsali is an Assistant Professor in the Building Technology of Construction Management Division of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras. Before joining IIT Madras, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He obtained his Ph.D. (2015) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), M.S. (2010) from Clarkson University (USA), and B.Tech. (2007) from NIT Warangal (India), all degrees in Civil Engineering. During his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, he was a recipient of Ravindar K. and Kavita Kinra Fellowship, and Chester P. Siess research award. He is an associate member of American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committees 201 (Durability of Concrete), 223 (Shrinkage-Compensating Concrete) and 236 (Material Science of Concrete). He is also a member of Indian Concrete Institute and RILEM. He currently serves as an editorial board member of ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. He is broadly interested in processing-microstructure-performance relationship of alternative cementitious binders and thermodynamic modeling of hydration of cementitious materials. His research group aims at developing low-energy pathways to develop low CO2 cements such as calcium sulfoaluminate cement and alkali-activated binders using locally available materials and industrial by-products.  

Research Areas

Low-CO2 binders

Development of low CO2 binders such as calcium sulfoaluminate cement.



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Processing-microstructure-property relationships of alternative cementitious binders

Short-term and long-term performance, hydration reactions

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Carbon dioxide mineralization of industrial byproducts and cement-based composites

Mineral carbonation – valorization of industrial byproducts

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Education

  1. 1995

    Ph.D., Civil Engineering

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, U.S.A.
  2. 2010

    M.S., Civil Engineering

    Clarkson University, Potsdam, U.S.A.
  3. 2007

    B.Tech., Civil Engineering

    National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India

Professional Experience

  1. 2018-till
    Assistant Professor
    Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
  2. 2015-2018
    Postdoctoral Associate
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, U.S.A.
  3. 2009-2010
    Teaching Assistant
    Clarkson University, Potsdam, U.S.A.
  4. 2007-2008
    Graduate Engineer Trainee
    Delhi International Airport Ltd. (GMR Group), New Delhi, India
  5. 2007
    Junior Engineer
    Gammon India Ltd., New Delhi, India

Awards

  • 2020
    Outstanding Reviewer Award
    Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (ASCE)
  • 2016
    Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program (KTCP)
    MIT
  • 2015
    Listed among Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students
    University of Illinois
  • 2014
    Conference Travel Award
    University of Illinois