Dr. Amit Kumar Verma is currently Assistant Professor in the department of Mining Engineering at prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad. He has obtained his Bachelor degree in Mining Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, and his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, and worked at several renowned institutes across globe such as 3S Laboratory, Grenoble, France and the University of California Davis, in the US. He was visiting faculty at Clausthal University of Technology, Germany in 2015 and Endeavour Executive Fellow at Monash University, Australia in 2016. He is recipient of prestigious awards like Institute of Engineers Young Engineers Award 2014-15, Inspire Faculty Fellowship–2012 by the Department of Science and Technology and Indian National Science Academy, Endeavour Executive Fellowship by Australian Government and Dr. K.S. Krishnan Research Associateship–24 in 2012 by the Board of Research on Nuclear Sciences. Dr. Verma serves on the advisory boards of several national and international conferences and seminars. He has published more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals and contributed several chapters in books related to rock science and engineering. He is also a member of reviewer boards for several SCI journals.