- Graduate Field Affiliations
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
Biography
Sriramya Duddukuri Nair is an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Her research centers on cementitious materials for infrastructure, energy, and construction applications, with interests spanning cement chemistry, rheology, and materials characterization. Before joining Cornell, she was a postdoctoral associate at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), where she studied the micromechanical response of alternative cementitious materials. She previously served as a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin, where she worked on cementitious materials for zonal isolation, well decommissioning, and permanent abandonment of wells. Dr. Nair earned her Ph.D. in civil engineering from UT Austin, where she developed a novel set-on-demand concrete based on principles of magnetorheology. She received her M.S. from the University of California, Davis, and her B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She was recognized with the 2024 Walter P. Moore Junior Faculty Award from the American Concrete Institute and was named a 2023 Early-Career Research Fellow of the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Research Interests
Sriramya Duddukuri Nair’s research focuses on advancing cementitious materials for infrastructure, energy, and automated construction. Her group studies how composition, processing, and field conditions influence the fresh-state behavior, placement, and hardened properties of cement-based materials, with emphasis on alternative cementitious materials, subsurface well cementing for geothermal and other subsurface applications, and 3D printing with concrete. Her work integrates cement chemistry, rheology, and materials characterization to understand how novel cementitious materials perform under demanding processing and service conditions.
A distinguishing aspect of her research is the ability to tailor the fresh state behavior of cementitious materials. Her earlier work introduced “set-on-demand concrete,” demonstrating that magnetic fields can be used to tune rheological properties of cementitious systems in real time. More recently, her work has expanded this concept to magnetically driven crack filling and repair for concrete infrastructure. In parallel, her group develops new mixture designs and processing strategies for 3D concrete printing, including for challenging environments such as underwater construction, to improve control, performance, and functionality in concrete.
Teaching Interests
Nair’s teaching focuses on engaging students through student-centered, project-based learning that connects core engineering concepts to real-world materials and structural challenges. She integrates active-learning approaches, hands-on laboratory experiences, industry and academic perspectives, and open-ended design projects to help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Her courses span structural behavior, cementitious materials, and emerging construction technologies such as 3D concrete printing, with an emphasis on preparing students to become thoughtful engineers and researchers.
Select Publications
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Lunsford, C. Spencer, L. Shen, D., Genedy, M., Zivkovic, S., Ozturk, O., and Nair, S.D., “Impact of Toolpath Design on the Performance of 3D Printed Concrete Gyroid Walls”, Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 122, 115772, 2026.
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Ozturk. O., Lunsford, C., Strait, J. and Nair, S.D., “Breaking barriers in underwater construction: A two-stage 3D printing system with on-demand material adaptation”, Cement and Concrete Composites, vol. 164, 106306, 2025.
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Ozturk. O., and Nair, S.D., “Mechanisms Governing In-Depth Infiltration of Crack Filling Solutions in Concrete using a Magnetic Approach”, Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 192, 107856, 2025.
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Liu, X.†, Nair, S.D.†, Aughenbaugh, K., Juenger M.C.G., and van Oort, E., “Improving the rheological properties of alkali-activated geopolymers using non-aqueous fluids for well cementing and lost circulation control purposes”, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, vol 195, p. 107555, 2020. †Co-first authors.
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Nair, S.D. and Ferron, R.P., “Set-on-demand concrete”, Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 57, pp. 13-27, 2014.
Select Awards and Honors
- Daniel M. Lazar ’29 Excellence in Teaching Award, Cornell Duffield Engineering, Cornell University 2024
- Walter P Moore Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, American Concrete Institute 2024
- Recognized as an Outstanding Educator by Ryan Schanta, Cornell Merrill Presidential Scholar 2023
- Early Career Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Gulf Research Program: Offshore Energy Safety 2022
Education
- The University of Texas at Austin, Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering
- University of California, Davis, Master of Science
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering
