Jammi Srinivasa Rao, currently Chief Science Officer, Altair Engineering India Pvt Ltd, Bangalore was born in Madugula 27th December 1939. He received Bachelor’s engineering degree with Honours in 1960 at the Andhra University. At the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, he completed his Masters degree, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science in 1963, 1965 and 1971 respectively. He became a full professor at IIT Kharagpur in 1970 and then moved to IIT Delhi to establish a center on Industrial Tribology, Machine Dynamics and Maintenance Engineering and chaired the department of mechanical engineering. He was also honored with an endowed chair from the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. He was a visiting Professor at various universities abroad, University of Surrey, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, Concordia University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Technical University, Kassel, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, The University of New South Wales, Sydney. He was a consultant to over 30 industries, e.g., Gas Turbine Research Establishment, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Indian Space Research Organization amongst others in India and to Washington Metro and Stress Technology Inc., in USA and Twyflex Couplings in England, Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, Taipower Company, Taipei and others. Notable amongst several consultancy jobs, Professor Rao led a team of BHEL engineers in successfully investigating the complete catastrophic failure of Narora Atomic Power plant in Northern India, fixing up through analytical simulations and field tests of the annoying squeal problem of Washington Metro trains, Solving the problem of High pressure compressor rotor failures due to rub from clearance, thermal expansion and rotor dynamic problems. He was a full time consultant to Stress Technology Inc. in Rochester and for a period of five years he was Science Counselor at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC.
Professor Rao moved in the year 2000 from academics to industry on a permanent basis at Quality Engineering and Software Technologies, where he held the position of Chief Technology Officer and responsible for a rapid nearly ten-fold growth in a four years. He has been the key figure in advancing design culture in private industry in India and in particular getting further industrial advances in the fields of rotor and blade dynamic technologies for several multinational companies, GE, Nuo Pignone, Pratt and Whitney, Rolls Royce, GE Hydro and Indian defense establishments GTRE, ISRO. Professor Rao is also a Director on the Board of GMR Energy Group, which set up the largest barge mounted combined cycle power plant with four GE aero-derivative engines and one Mitsubishi Steam turbine in record time and successfully producing power since 2001.
He played a key role in the establishment of IFToMM right from its inception in preparing the constitution and signing the same at the inaugural ceremony in 1969 in Poland. He was Chairman for the sixth Congress held in New Delhi and a member of its executive council. He also played a key role in establishing the Rotor Dynamics Technical Committee and chairing it for two terms and making it grow to a leading and most reputable international body over the years; he is elected life time Emeritus Chairman of this committee. He was also chairman of Permanent Commission on Conferences, member of several committees over the years for IFToMM.
He is a Fellow of ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Honorary Life Fellow, Association of Machines and Mechanisms, Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineers, Fellow Institution of Engineers (India) etc. and also established the Indian Association for Machines and Mechanisms – IFToMM organ in India. He has been President of Indian Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and recently established The Vibration Institute of India as founder President and also became Chief Editor of the journal “Advances in Vibration Engineering”. He is member of scientific Committees for several conferences and has served as reviewer for several international conferences and journals.
He has given several invited lectures in many countries. His research interests cover aspects of Vibrations, Rotor Dynamics, Design and Theory of Machines and Mechanisms.
He has authored over 300 research publications and written 10 text books and guided over 30 students for doctoral degree.
He has conducted over 25 short courses on Turbomachine Blade Vibrations and Lifing and Rotor Dynamics and Condition Monitoring, in USA, Germany, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Kula Lumpur, Taiwan, Venezuela, Korea, Hong Kong, Dubai and India and given special lectures in 110 Universities, Research Laboratories and Industries in America, Europe and Asia.
Over forty seven years of intense academic and industrial research, Professor Rao made significant contributions in 1.Torsional Dynamics, 2.Lateral Dynamics, 3.Blade Dynamics, 4.Railway Train Consist Dynamics, 5.Brake Squeal Instabilities, 6. CFD and Conjugate Heat Transfer, 7.Flow Induced Noise and 8. Optimization. Some of the large size significant projects led by him include: 1. Investigations into Catastrophic failures of Narora Nuclear Power Plant Turbo-Generators, 2. Annoying Squeal problems in underground trains of Washington DC Metro systems and fixing, 3. Design of LP Compressor of an advanced military aircraft engine, Kaveri for light combat aircraft, 4. Rotor Dynamics Design of High Speed Cryogenic Pumps for Last Stage of Geostationary Launch Vehicle for ISRO amongst others.
He has been honored by several bodies for his outstanding scientific achievements and developing international understanding in science, that include: Association of Scientists of Indian Origin in America, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Washington, DC, Institution of Engineers (India), American Biographical Institute, International Biographical Center, Cambridge, England, Association of Machines and Mechanisms, Pacific Center of Thermal-Fluids Engineering, Hawaii. He has also received several best paper awards from Defence Science Journal, ANSYS & LSDYNA and IIT Delhi honored him for Outstanding in Instruction of Mechanical Engineering. He received Bharat Excellence award and Gold Medal in 2002 and recently honored by IFToMM by two awards IFToMM award 2004 for fundamental contributions as one of the founding fathers in developing IFToMM and MMS, and IFToMM Distinguished Service award 2004. He also received Outstanding Alumnus Achievement Award from College of Engineering Kakinada at its Diamond Jubilee Celebration, 2006.