Ramachandran Janardan Garde earned his BSc degree from Bombay University and BE (Civil) from Poona University. From 1954 to 1959 he studied in Colorado State University in Fort Collins, USA under the supervision of Professor ML Albertson and EW Lane and obtained MS and PhD degrees working in the areas of Fluvial Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics. He earned DSc of Poona University in 1985. He worked as Dean of Academic Programmes and Head of Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee for three years. After retirement (1988) from Roorkee University, he was elected as Professor Emeritus. He was Pro-Vice- Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi (1988-91). He has also worked as UGC Emeritus Fellow, INSA Senior Scientist and INSA Honorary Scientist (1992-2004) at Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune.

Academic and Research Achievements: On returning to India in 1959, Professor Garde joined University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) and initiated teaching and research work in Hydraulic Engineering and Fluvial Hydraulics, becoming Professor in 1969. His research work is related to resistance to flow and sediment transport in alluvial streams, their hydraulic geometry and transient flow in streams. He has also worked in the areas of hydraulic structures. He has published over 190 research papers and written six books. During his career he guided 28 students for their PhD.

Other Contributions: During his tenure at Roorkee and afterwards Professor Garde has worked on consultancy projects related to model studies of hydraulic structures, transient flows in rivers, and other related to water resources projects in India.

Awards and Honours: Professor Garde is the recipient of Khosla National Research Award (1988), JN Birth Centenary Award of Central Board of Irrigation and Power (1991) and Lifetime Achievement Award of The Indian Society for Hydraulics (2004). He is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering.