Rakesh Salunke

Rakesh is a remote sensing scientist and brings a decade of practical experience gained through industry and academic projects working with public agencies. He specializes in remote sensing technologies for geohazard monitoring, including LiDAR processing, UAV photogrammetry, InSAR time-series analysis, hyperspectral analysis, geophysical surveys, and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). He has led full-cycle remote sensing workflows for highway slope monitoring and change detection, from planning and acquiring multi-temporal aerial and terrestrial lidar point clouds and UAV photogrammetry datasets to processing and analysis using Python, GIS platforms, and AI/ML techniques. He is also a United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-licensed drone pilot.

Prior to joining Shannon & Wilson, Rakesh worked as a Research Scientist at Jackson State University on Mississippi DOT- and FHWA-funded projects. He designed LiDAR and UAV workflows to develop advanced landslide and geohazard investigation protocols for highway slopes and bridge approach embankments, which received honorable mention in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 2025 High Value Research Award.

Rakesh has led projects assessing railroad embankments affected by sinkholes using non-destructive geophysical methods, including electrical resistivity imaging and multichannel analysis of surface waves; this work was published in Transportation Research Record. He has also led peer-reviewed publication efforts on a GIS and machine-learning framework for landslide susceptibility mapping of highway slopes, InSAR timeseries deformation mapping of landslides and wetlands, multi-sensor slope-instability detection, and optical-thermal imagery with AI/ML-based soil-moisture estimation, resulting in publications in Springer Nature Scientific Reports, Remote Sensing, Transportation Geotechnics, and other journals. He has presented related work at major geotechnical and scientific conferences, including the American Geophysical Union (AGU), ASCE Geo-Frontiers, Geo-Congress, and the Transportation Research Board. He serves on review panels for journals, international conferences, and federal grants.

EDUCATION

• PhD, Civil Engineering (Geotechnical Engineering), Jackson State University, 2023
• MS, Civil Engineering, The University of Alabama, 2011
• BS, Civil Engineering, B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology, India, 2006

AFFILIATIONS

• ASCE Geo-Institute – Earth Dams and Slopes (EDS) technical committee member
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)