Dr. Mrs. Sushma Shekhar Kulkarni is the Vice Chancellor of NICMAR University, Pune, India, and Chair of GEDC. She was formally the Director at Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Maharashtra, India. She has completed her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (2003), M.E. in Construction Management (1993), from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India, and B.E. in Civil Engineering (1987), from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India.
 
She has been holding the post of Principal/Director for more than 16 years. She has transformed an affiliated Engineering college into an Autonomous Institute with excellent credentials. Institute has NAAC “A+” grade, and all its eligible programs {more than 60%} are accredited & re-accredited by NBA. She has successfully handled World Bank-funded Technical Education Quality Improvement program (TEQIP I & II) with a funding of Rs. 15 crores.
 
She has 36 years of teaching & research experience in the Civil Engineering program. Her areas of interest are Concrete Technology, TQM, Quality Circles, Construction Management, Watershed Management, Outcome Based Education, and Women Empowerment.

She has received more than 25 awards/honors for her outstanding academic work, few are as follows:

• The IUCEE awarded Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Rajaramnagar with the “Institutional Achievement Award 2023” during ICTIEE 2023 for Best Practices and Outstanding Performance
• Awarded with “Outstanding Personality in Engineering Education” during the 5th Edition Navbharat Education Award 2022
• The IUCEE “Institutional Leadership Award” for transformation in Engineering Education during ICTIEE 2020
• Awarded with the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies’ “Duncan Fraser Global Award” for excellence in engineering education with a cash prize of USD 1000 in 2019
• Received “Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan National Award for Best Engineering College Principal” from the Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), New Delhi in 2011
• The ISTD’s Emerging HRD Thinker’s Gold medal for my research paper in 2011

She has contributed to more than 144+ research papers and, has two patents provisionally registered. She has delivered more than 140+ expert talks on diverse topics in India and outside India. Also, she worked as a panelist in workshops and webinars organized by IUCEE, IFEES, GEDC, etc at national and international levels. Under her guidance, 5 students have completed their Ph.D. and 7 are pursuing it. She has also guided more than 70 UG & PG students in their research projects.

At present, she is associated with the following professional bodies:

1. Chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC)
2. An Editor for the “Journal of Engineering Education Transformation” (JEET), a “Scopus-index 7” and UGC care-recognized journal from January 2014 in collaboration with Indo Universal Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE).
3. A fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India, and an elected member of IEI, Pune chapter
4. As a promoter of IUCEE Foundation (a Section 8 Company)
5. Lifetime member of ISTE and ISTD, New Delhi.