Shobha Bhatia
Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence

Office: 243 Link Hall
Phone: (315) 443-3352
Email: skbhatia@syr.edu
Personal Website: http://www.ecs.syr.edu/faculty/bhatia/index.htm


Dr. Bhatia has made innovative, sustained, and exemplary contributions to scholarship throughout her career. She has demonstrated excellence in research through her more than eighty publications, participation in national and international conferences, service to numerous committees, presentation of lectures, and her work with numerous national and international students and colleagues.

In the 1980s, Dr. Bhatia focused her career on the in-depth characterization of soil under static and dynamic loadings. Her research resulted in unique experimental data and design methods, which are still widely used by researchers and practitioners today. In the early 1990s, Dr. Bhatia was the first to use image processing for characterizing soils. Her pioneering work is widely referenced. Since the early 1990s, Dr. Bhatia has focused her research efforts on the application of geosynthetics and natural materials in waste containment, road and building construction, and erosion control. Dr. Bhatia was also the first to use the bubble point method for characterizing the pore-size distribution of geotextiles. This work has lead to a new ASTM standard for the bubble point method. Many researchers frequently compare their results with her unique bubble point data.

She is currently working on an erosion control project in the Catskill Mountains and a research project to evaluate the technological, political, and cultural aspects of the use of natural erosion control materials (coir and jute) in India and the United States. More recently, Dr. Bhatia has been looking into bridging the gap between social sciences and engineering. She is looking into the role of globalization and technology on workers associated with natural fibers in developing countries. Throughout the last decade, Dr. Bhatia has worked extensively in developing collaborations and research programs with colleagues in Canada, India, and the United States.

Research Interests

Application of Polymeric Materials and Natural Fibers in Engineering, Soil Erosion, Soil Properties, Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)

Teaching Interests
Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, Geosynthetic Design, Earth Embankment and Dam Design, Soil Dynamics and Advanced Soil Mechanics

Recent Publications
Bhatia, S. K. and Smith, J.L. Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and the Global World: A Case Study of the Coconut( Coir) Fiber Industry in Kerala, India, Morgan Claypool Publisher, July 15, 2008, ISBN 9781598296259.

Smith, J. L., Davieau, M.R., and Bhatia, S.K. “Evaluation of Soil Erosion Using the Rain Splash Technique,” ASCE Geo-Denver 2007 Conference, ASCE GSP 167-Geotechnics of Soil Erosion, 2007, pp. 1-10.

Smith, J.L., Bhatia, S.K., and Satyamurthy, R. “An Overview of Geosynthetics Rolled Erosion Control Products,” Paper published in Geosynthetics – Recent Developments, In Commemoration of Two Decades of Geosynthetics in India, Publication No. 298, Edited by G.V. Rao, 2006, pp. 303-327.

Liao,K. and Bhatia, S. K. “Geotextile Tube: Filtration Performance of Woven Geotextiles under Pressure,” North American Geosynthetics Conference, Las Vegas , December 6-8, 2005, pp. 1-15.

Smith, J.L., Bryz-Gornia, C.J., Bhatia, S.K. and Walowsky, D. “A Comparative Study of RECPs: Index Properties and Field Performance,” Geo-Frontiers 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Austin, Texas, January 24-26, 2005, pp. 1-10.


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