G Madhavi Latha, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, is one of the major contributors to the successful construction of the world’s highest railway bridge – Chenab Bridge – in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chenab Bridge, inaugurated by PM Modi last week, is the world’s highest railway bridge. Madhavi Latha was involved for 17 years in the project as a geotechnical consultant.
Madhavi Latha completed her B.Tech in Civil Engineering in 1992 from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University.
She bagged a gold medal as an M.Tech student at the National Institute of Technology, Warangal.
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Her specialisation was in Geotechnical Engineering. She completed her doctorate from IIT-Madras in 2000 in Geotechnical Engineering.
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Over the years, she received several awards. In 2021, she was given the Best Woman Geotechnical Researcher award by the Indian Geotechnical Society.
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She was also named in the Top 75 Women in STEAM of India in 2022.
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She is presently a Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) professor and is also the Chair of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at IISc.
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Dr Latha and her team adopted a “design-as-you-go approach” to overcome all obstacles. This meant innovating in real-time based on geological conditions such as fractured rocks, hidden cavities, and varying rock properties, which were not apparent in early surveys.
