we cordially thanksprof. k.v. krishnarao (hod, …db), schlumberger, housing.com and zlemma.com. a...
TRANSCRIPT
2 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
We cordially thanks Prof. K.V. Krishna Rao (HOD, Department of
Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay) and Prof. P. Vedagiri (Faculty
Advisor, CEA IIT Bombay) for supporting and encouraging our
endeavor every single time.
3 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Why should we hire you? As soon as we hear
this question, we truly understand that
Placement Season is here. After passing
through numerous mazes of everincreasing
difficulty, the lucky ones get to leave the
hallowed portals of IIT Bombay with a smile on
their faces. Few pass the infamous Placement
Season unscathed, but most have something to
show for their scars, for they have emerged
from the battlefield with the most coveted of
accomplishments: a job.
This year too was no different. With a steady
increase in the number of students in each
batch, placements have become tougher.
More competition, limited companies!
However, all that the media reports is “IITB
Civil Dept. 39th in QS World Rankings” and
“Croreplus packages make a comeback at
IITs”. Such biased reporting gives rise to
unrealistic expectations and heartbreaks. We
present to you a peek behind the curtain with
the actual story of what happened at
placements 2013.
This year marked a new high for the Civil
Engineering Dept. of IIT Bombay, as we ranked
just behind Computer Science and Engineering
(CSE) in the number of offers received. While
looking at the placement data for the last five
years, the number of unplaced people has gone
up, but so has the strength of each batch.
However, the percentage of registered B.Tech
students who have been placed remained 69%,
showing no change from 2012.
The M.Tech batch was almost necktoneck
with the B.Techs, while the Dual Degree batch
showed an astounding placement rate of
76.5%. The PhD placement rate was 50%, as
the others decided to pursue postdoctoral
studies abroad.
A quick survey of the students revealed that for
most people, CPI remains THE most important
factor for placements. The fact that 89% of
B.Techs placed had a CPI that was greater than
7.0 further emphasized this point.
Communication skills, extracurricular
activities and interest in the job profile are
other factors which will definitely come in
handy.
Coming to the different sectors, the percentage of those who opted for CoreEngineering & Technology Profile jobs showed a significant jump from 9.4% to an encouraging 28.2%. Analytics, Software, Finance and Consulting profiles were not lagging far behind.Overall, it was a very good season with the CivilDept. being one of the only ones to have a nearequitable distribution among the different sectors.Another new record was set this year, with 4students getting PPOs from Deutsche Bank(DB), Schlumberger, Housing.com andZlemma.com. A long conversation with the DepartmentPlacement Coordinator (DPC) led us to discoverseveral things which students often miss out on. The basics of the courses should be absolutely clear, for which the Dept. organizes refresher lectures, in which professors quickly give an overview of the whole course content. Special emphasis should be made to improve communication skills, as even the most talented companies fail if there is no teamwork and internal bonding. Several alumni and eminent personalities from each sector have been invited to give talks so that all doubtsabout placements can be sorted out. TheStudent Alumni Relations Cell (SARC) hasinitiated a new program “Speed Mentoring”, where you can clear all your doubts regarding a particular sector by talking over Skype to analumnus currently employed in that field.Ultimately, when it comes to the placementday, it all boils down to how well you have prepared yourself and your resume. We hopethat we have been able to quell your doubts regarding the placement scenario of the Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
B.Tech M.Tech M.Tech+ PhD
DualDegree
PhD
% placed out of registered students
3% 8%
51%
27%
11%
Placed B.Tech CPI Distribution
< 6.0
6.0 7.0
7.0 8.0
8.0 9.0
> 9.0
20
1115
12
10 1
Placement SectorsCoreFinanceAnalyticsSoftwareConsultingEducation
Content...� Placements @ Civil : The
Inside Story� Interview: A talk with Prof.
Tarun Kant� Interview: Prof. Nagendra
Rao Velaga: A Rise againstthe Odds!!
� Infra-development and Curriculum Update
� Learn from the ACHIEVERS
� Solar Decathlon,2014- Team Shunya
� Only @ Civil, IIT B� AAKAAR-2014� Department Hulchul� Sentience
Editorial Board
Editors
Abhideep SahuRounaq Basu
Aakanksha Uday
Articles
Dhawal Desai Venkatesh Pandey Prateek Deogekar Amar Sinha
Design & Outline
Abhideep Sahu Kshitij Maheshwari
Special thanks to:
Saurav Jain
Placements @ Civil : The Inside Story� Rounaq Basu
0
100
200
78 97 119 103 11520
1520 35
56
Annual Variation in Civil Placements
Number ofpeople notplaced
Number ofpeople placed
4 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Professor Tarun Kant is the senior most
faculty member at Department of Civil
Engineering, IIT Bombay. He is the receiver of
the prestigious Nehru Fellowship, the IIT
Bombay Lifetime Achievement Award and the
only civil engineer to get nominated in all the
premier science academies of India. Professor
Kant has served as the Head of the
Department of Civil Engineering and is
currently the Institute chair professor and
convener of INSA. He has also taught in
Cambridge University and University of
California and University of Wales, Swansea
as a guest faculty. Apart from the academic
activities he has also worked as the DeanIPS
and is also the founding member of the
Faculty Forum, IIT Bombay. Despite of
excelling in variant fields over the past 40
years, he still continues to work for the cause
of civil engineering and to promote it to its
very best level. A very lively and generous
person by his nature, Professor Tarun Kant sir
shares his life experience with us….
We have noticed a peculiar thing about you.
You did B.Sc. prior to your B.Tech. in civil
engineering. So was there any specific reason
or instance that made you to go for another
graduation despite of already being a
graduate?
No, I always wanted to be an engineer and the
reason I went for B.Sc. was because I was not
eligible for a four year or a five year
engineering program because of the minimum
age requirement for them which was 16 years.
Actually I completed my schooling very early, I
think I was 13 at that time and then to fill this
gap of three years, I opted for B.Sc. which at
that time had no such minimum age criterion.
B.Sc. at the age of sixteen! Well that’s
something a child prodigy case. Now coming
to the later time to 1966 when you completed
your B.Tech. , there must be a lot of other
career opportunities in civil engineering as
the time was just within a 20 years span of
postindependence then how did you found
yourself in the shoes of a professor??
(With a sound laugh he stated…) well first of
all I wasn’t a case of any child prodigy. It just
happened. Secondly, in my list I always had job
at the first place and being the eldest son that
was the requirement of my family too but that
period was a hard time for all as we all were
facing recession at that time. There were
hardly any jobs available. I gave the UPSC exam
for engineering services and I got through it but
the result came very later because in those
times, the results declaration use to take a lot
of time, sometimes even two years. So before
that could have happened, I got two viable
options for pursuing M.Tech. One was from IIT
Bombay and the other from IIT Kanpur.
Bombay I had already stayed for four years and
at that time, Kanpur had a name because of the
research activities they carried out there. So I
went there for my postgraduation. Later I got
two jobs offer during my placement time, one
was TATA Consulting Engineers and other was
an upcoming firm, it was Builder’s Associate to
which I joined here at Bombay. I worked there
for 18 months but during that point I use to
come here at IIT Bombay in weekends to meet
Professor C.K.Ramesh., then he influenced me
a great deal, and that made my decision to
apply for lectureship in IIT Bombay. At that
time Ph.D. was a very big thing and only a few
were doing it so M.Tech was the minimum
criterion for the lectureship plus I had an
industrial experience so I joined here. So
overall I would say that it was all an accident. I
would have remained in industries for whole
my life but it was destined the other way
around and then the things followed and life
continued. I never looked back and started
doing my Ph.D. along with my teaching here.
Well accidents do create a Wonder sometimes
and now after serving the whole civil
engineering fraternity for almost 40 years,
one would have easily made a decision for
staying back from work after retirement, but
it didn’t seems an obvious decision in your
case as you decided for being the Institute
Chair Professor. What is the reason behind
this motivation of working continuously?
According to me, our profession is not a job you
are here because you wanted to be. If you
don’t like it, you shouldn’t be a teacher or a
professor and if you do like it, there’s never
ending to it. In teaching, our mind is
continuously working unlike the other 9 to 7
job where you work and then go home and
take rest. And from the very starting only, my
mindset was such that I always loved the
analytical and computational field and that’s
another reason that kept me going and also till
today my health is good enough to work and
contribute and that’s why I am still here.
With such a long run of success, can you name
a few to whom you would like to credit your
success to?
Well one is obviously Prof. C.K.Ramesh who
influenced me and brought me here and then
all this started. He always liked whatever work
I did and always encouraged me about the
possible solution gateways of any particular
problem. Second person is my wife, who gave
lot of freedom, of course she complained
about my late coming to home but was never
so much particular in all this. I had a lot of Ph.D.
students and to supervise them and their work,
I use to stay late here, somewhat till 9 o’clock.
I had a good batch of students under me and
we did a quality work. All what I have to do was
just to motivate them which made them keep
going and to produce some significant work.
The third thing I would credit my success is my
single mindedness. Because as a professor, you
should not get involved in too many things, be
specific and be deeper. I was so particular
about my field of work “Plates and Shells”
which I liked since my M.Tech days and its
endless problems that kept me engrossed in it.
Throughout your career, you have been
awarded and honored and now you have a big
list of all such recognitions. Among those
please name your three proudest
accomplishments.
In my initial years, when I was less than thirty
five, the NEHRU Fellowship was my biggest
achievement. It was awarded to a single person
in the whole country and the competition was
not only in civil or any engineering but in all the
fields being it the economics or humanity or
medical or science. They judge people from
various backgrounds and then the selected
candidates were interviewed by a panel from
PM office and then the final interview was
taken by the Honorable Prime Minister himself.
I was unaware of this last procedure and my
interview by our Honorable Prime minister Mr.
Morarji Desai was a surprise and I got this
information of my last interview prior to
around two or three hours before the
interview. So obviously I was not prepared for
any such thing but still I went for it and
received the prestigious NEHRU FELLOWSHIP
which proved to be a big boost for my morale.
But the best award for any person is the
recognition by its own people and the LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD which this department
and this institute has awarded me is the
greatest honor for me and it feels wonderful
when I thinks that according to my people, I am
a lifetime achiever. And the third one I would
say is my nomination as a fellow of the four
highest academies of science in our country.
These academies, note that they are an
academy and not any society, are controlled by
the tops engineers and scientists of the nation
and I had been privileged to get elected by
their nomination and not by applying in all the
A talk with Professor Tarun Kant� Abhideep Sahu
Prof. Tarun Kant
Institute Chair Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Bombay
5 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
four academies. I am the only civil engineer in
the country who got elected to all the four,
Indian National Academy of Engineering,
Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National
Science Academy and The National Academy of
Sciences, India and all these fellowship are for
lifetime and you serve these academies for the
cause and benefits of science.
Comparing the time when you joined here as
a lecturer and now, what major academic
difference have occurred in this period? Are
you satisfied with the current academic
curriculum?
See according to me, the decision made by the
last committee, the Biswas Committee has
spoilt our curriculum. The balance was lost,
important things like practical training were
removed and then the very essential part of
graduation, the BTPs were also removed citing
the reason of wastage of a lot of time of
professors and students but I would say that all
these things are not meant for the convenience
but for the betterment of students and thus
there removal was not a right decision. And
many courses were also removed but now we
are trying to correct that by reintroducing a
few essential courses. Then the number of
students have increased three folds but the
number of faculties didn’t. Now the positive
changes I would say, one is that the research
culture has developed a lot. In our times only
faculties used to research on new possibilities
in their field but now we have students also to
contribute to that. Also most of our faculty
members who are joining us are already from
good research background and hopefully that
will further improve the scenario here.
Any significant thing in terms of department
or general civil engineering which you would
say better in olden times??
There is a lack of devotion towards the
department. Now the new entrants are more
selfcentered and are less bothered about the
department. See I had considered this place as
my home. The attachment with the
department is somewhere missing. Even as a
faculty, I was very extrovert and use to take
interest in a lot of departmental and institute
activities. I was the founding member of the
Faculty Forum which takes care of the interests
of the faculties and maybe I was a thorn in the
eyes of the administration but I continued to
do things because for me all those meant for
the betterment of my people. I think people
should come out and must spent some time
with the department and contribute to it
because if the department grows, they also
grow. Secondly, in the recent times I have seen
some exchange program students complaining
about unavailability of proper study
environment in the hostels. They complain
about all these so called social and cultural
activities and commotions being carried out.
This culture is somewhat pushing us back
because the study hours of the students got
constraint to only a night before the exams and
this is surely a result of the lack of seriousness
towards studies.
What standard does IIT Bombay possess on
the postgraduation level as compared to the
foreign universities?
Well I don’t agree with the typical mindset that
those universities are better than us. Based on
my experiences in many universities as a
faculty to those institutes, as far as teaching is
concerned, we are much better than those
universities. We have more sound teaching
programs both at UG level and PG level but the
place we lack is the infrastructure, the
environment and the administration of certain
policies. Like taking the example, we have got
so many software in the department but we
failed in implementing them. The supervision
that is needed to teach students and make
them proficient, is absent here which is not so
in those universities and that’s why our
students struggles a lot when the go out from
here. So there’s a need to bring in more
practical training sort of things/programs. I
personally believe that every person
graduating from our department, must be
proficient if not in all then at least in few and if
we are not able to provide that facility, then we
must introduce some professionals from
outside to teach our students.
Considering the current batches, do you think
that the students are consistent with the
standard of IIT Bombay?
See our institute is the premium most institute
of the nation but I am totally dissatisfied with
the students code of conduct here. They have
perceived very casual attitude and I am very
much concerned about this. In our times, there
was no question of absenteeism in class even
up till the final years except a few may be one
or two. But now predominantly a large number
of students don’t come to the class and they
think that they will learn everything by reading,
then that is not possible. It does not matter
much that a particular professor is good or bad
in terms of teaching but still if you listen to him,
you ought to learn at least something. And one
thing is we are not a school so that we can
control them and their activities by imposing
some rules and regulations but at the same
time we are telling them that what is important
for them, but we fail in getting any response
from them, they are just spoiling themselves
with this culture. They cannot afford to be so
casual at their workplace and one must
develop a proper attitude now and this is the
place for their development. But what I see is
students are fooling themselves and their
parents by adopting so casual and irresponsible
behavior and today if I put students from NIT
or any other local institute for a task, they will
be proven better than out students because
they have realized their sense of responsibility
and they are more dedicated and motivated
towards their career. This is a big loss to us and
the nation because our students are the best
mind but they could not get converted to the
best talent. So I would say that they must
realize what they are here for and should work
to fulfil that aim.
You have experienced the professional world
for many years so what according to you is the
success mantra one should have to be as
successful as you are today?
HARDWORK, IT REWARDS. See you cannot
deny that. Sincerity and hard work are two
basic ingredients for any successful story. You
must be sincere and you must do hard work
and then the rest follows.
Now we have many young professors joining
us and you will be a rolemodel for them. Any
professional or personal message that you
would like to share with them?
The new faculties we have here are highly
talented and well deserve to be here because
our selection process is very exhaustive in
terms of faculties too. So what I would like to
say to them is to have a specific vision and be a
firm believer of depth of the subject & not of
its width. Pursue your goals with seriousness
and dedication and then the success will surely
follow you. And in addition to that, also
includes the interest of the department in your
personal goals, try to think of the department
and the ways to improve it, this thought must
be there in everyone.
What would be your message for our
students?
The message is simple, you people are the best
mind in the nation but what you all lacks is
sincerity and dedication. So spent some more
time in studies because this is the only ideal
time and place to study and develop yourself.
Obviously everybody cannot excel but
everybody can at least give it a try so try your
best and surely that will take you to the life that
will be very fruitful in the later years. I am
always available for you and if you seek any
guidance any help being it academic or non
academic, I will be very happy to help you out.
And good students must come back to us for
teaching. In recent times I have seen a top
ranker of our department got placed in a
financial job which is not good because if
people like them will go for such options, then
that is something unfortunate and I am not
happy about it. So wherever you go, whatever
you do, at least serve for the cause of the civil
engineering. All the Best�
“Our institute is the premier mostinstitute but I am worried about the casual behavior of the students here.I just wish that students must realize the importance of this time and develop themselves and this demandsnothing more than a bit of sincerity and dedication from them towards their studies.”
6 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Dr. Nagendra Rao Velaga is a selfmade man
who had passed over the expectations that
were put over him and who has risen against
the odds is. Prof. Velaga who studied at a
municipality school in his childhood has dreamt
of becoming a civil engineer and then a faculty
in IIT. He did his B.Tech from Nagarjuna
University and M.Tech from IIT Bombay, being
University rank 1 and Department rank 1 at the
both respective places. He left IIM Bangalore’s
Fellow Program in Management offer just
because he wanted to do his thesis in
transportation engineering, and then went to
Loughborough University, UK for his Ph.D
work. Currently Prof. Velaga is designated as
the assistant professor in the Department of
Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay and also honorary
research fellow at University of Aberdeen, UK.
Here are some excerpts from a talk with him…
What did you aim for when you were a
teenager? Did you ever thought of becoming
a civil engineer and finally landing up here as
a faculty of IIT Bombay??
Absolutely when I was a teenager, becoming
engineer was one of my objective and being a
civil engineer was always my priority over
other disciplines. Apart from that I always had
a thought for becoming a faculty and that’s
why I opted for higher studies and did Ph.D and
postdoctoral work and finally got to be here as
your faculty.
Well that’s quite interesting that you worked
for your dream and made it come true. But we
would like to know that was there any
particular incidence or your parent’s influence
to make it sure that yes, it is Civil Engineering
only.
To be honest, I would say that in this whole
aspect, my parent’s influence was zero. The
most what they expected from me was that I
would end up somewhere near intermediate
studies (i.e., 10 + 2 level) and that would be all
for my life. They would have never thought of
me being a faculty here at IIT Bombay.
Regarding joining civil engineering, I always
had some sort of very brief relevant knowledge
of this field which may be because I had some
field exposure while travelling with my father
but basically I had no clear idea about the
differences between all the streamswhen I was
choosing civil engineering. As I started pursuing
my graduation, I got a thought of staying on the
academic side and then I came here for my Post
graduation and seeing the freedom and the
activities that were being carried out by the
faculties here, I made my mind for becoming a
faculty in IITs, not at any IIT but particularly
here at IIT Bombay. And that was the only
reason I went for my Ph. D. study.
Well that’s something in accordance with the
reputation of IIT Bombay inspiring youths
since 1958. So as you said that your parents
never believed in your academic potential. So
when you decided for all you career prospects
like for your graduation and then post
graduation, did your parents supported your
decision for the same?
The family background am hailing from is not
so strong in terms of academics. My parents
were very casual about me and my career.
When I told them that I will be joining in IIT for
my M.Tech or will be going to UK for my Ph.D.,
the only thing they got to know is that their son
is going ahead for higher studies. They didn’t
even know about what IIT is. So I would say that
my parents or any other person had zero
influence in my decisions taking. Whatever
work I did till today is only because of my
personal interest.
After coming back to the institute after Six
years, what particular did you observed
here?? And how do u correlate yourself as a
student then with the students who are
currently enrolled in our department.
Definitely there were many changes I found
when I came back here; for instance,
construction of some high rise buildings,
improved labs facilities and many more. Earlier
we use to do our practical labs in an old
building (to which he called BHOOT BANGLA
and laughed) which was there before VMCC
and in the transportation lab (TSE lab) we used
to share the computers for our dissertation and
project purposes but now seeing the facilities
we have, I can surely say that the department
has seen some drastic change over the period
of last 67 years.
Regarding a correlation between the current
students and students of my time, I would say
that the comparison will vary from batch to
batch. Seeing the current Ph.D. and Masters
students, I would say that their attitude, their
way of thinking and quality have not changed a
lot. But with respect to B.Tech students, I had
observed a drastic change. If we look at the
long run of around past 15 to 20 years, the
mentality of the students have changed a lot
and this is not particular for our department or
our institute but for all the IITs. The students
now are more confused and get influenced as
compare to that of those back in 1990 and
2000. What I have observed is that previously
students were more determined and
concerned about their goals and motives but
students (about 80%) now are very casual.
They don’t know what they want to do and
what they need to do. Most of them just
follows the ground rules set by either their
parents or seniors or the preexisting situations.
I can give you the examples of some of our
professors like Prof. Tarun Kant, Prof. D.N.
Singh, (who are internationally renowned
faculty) they persuaded their bachelors and
masters and even their Ph.D. from the same
IITs but does this degraded them or their
potential??? The answer is obviously no! They
didn’t hesitated in doing their higher studies
from here because they had belief in
themselves. But the current generation is tend
to follow more of other’s advice then of
themselves. This sometimes leads to the
compromising condition in their career where
they are forced or obliged to do certain things
which are not of their interest and they have to
do that because either it has been done by
someone influential or this what their parents
want them to do. This has resulted in loss of
intellectuality and students are not actually
coming up with their best results despite of
having a lot of talent and potential to do
wonders. Even before coming to IIT and during
their first year here, their goals are been set or
influenced by some seniors or parents about
their job and package etc. and in all this
scenario, one’s intellectual capabilities are
been lost and he/she just get confined to this
small bubble of getting a package of
xyz/annum at the end of their graduation. And
such things leads to a kind of disinterest
towards their respective core engineering and
they are bound to do things which are not of
their interest. And looking at the stats of
recent times, around 60 to 70 percent of
students leaves their job within 2 years or so &
the reason is obvious, if you don’t pursue your
interest, you will definitely struggle in future.
So what I would emphasize here is that
students lacks a sense of selfrealization and
selfmotivation.
That’s a very deep answer sir. Well keeping
the JEE time aside as at that time student
remains some sort of immature, even now
when one is about to get graduate and is
mature enough to take important decisions,
one remains confused about his career
prospects. So what particular mindset one
should have in such scenario??
What I would recommend is that one should
understand that what actually will make
him/her happy. What actually he/she desires
for and then the person should come up with
some kind of research in that particular field (I
mean exploring more details about that field!).
Exploring the existing career opportunities and
all other aspects of that field and then he/she
needs to priorities things according to their
comfort. And then one must start working for
that goal, the way to reach their and
accomplish their dream. Their mindset and
deeds should be such that at the end of the
day, they should find themselves moving
towards their goal. And at the same time,
Interview with Professor Nagendra Rao Velaga: A Rise against the Odds!!
� Abhideep Sahu��
Prof. Nagendra Rao Velaga
Assistant professorTransportation systems Engineering
Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
7 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
considering the uncertainty of things in life,
one should always have a backup option as life
is mostly something unexpected. But all this
must be part of intellectual decision and not an
influenced one.
Seeing your list of priorities, you put structural
first and transportation second. So
throughout all these years, at any point of
time did you ever regretted that why didn’t
you opted for structural engineering?
Well many times I had got people coming to me
and saying that I am underperforming because
this particular things is not my field of interest
and that’s obvious excuse and that’s what
common human Psychology is but I don’t
believe in constructing an excuse for my bad
performance or any such situation. What I
would say is that even though if you put me in
some other specialization say water resources,
I would have performed the same. I am more
oriented to my work rather than constructing
unmaterialistic concepts and thoughts. And
one more thing I would like to say that it is
more challenging to perform better if you don’t
like your particular field and thus you have an
option to excel in it. The excuse of not my field
of interest is valid only when you are
comparing engineering with sociology or with
medical or law because the field definitely
changes their but within engineering the
comparison between mechanical and civil or
any other branch is not so relevant according
to me.
Do you agree with it that the there’s been a
huge difference between the theoretical
concept taught in class and the real life
practical application of those??
(With a continuous smile when I was asking
him the question he replied…) You have
actually asked me a very good question and I
want to point you something that you guys,
actually not only you but even me when I was
of your age use to think that I am not getting
any kind of practical exposure; but I want to
clearly emphasize that if you really want to get
some exposure, you don’t need to go for a
technical trip to Goa. For example, taking our
students, even after learning theory in the
class, there should be an urge within the
student to learn or see the practical aspect of
the same and for this you don’t need to go
anywhere else; in our campus itself there are
different kinds of construction going on,
different types of foundations are being laying
down but nobody goes there. Taking the
example of Infinity corridor where we can see
the failed columns being laid off but did anyone
stopped there and notices their failure
pattern?? NO! Because the curiosity is not
there to learn. If one really tries to explore
things then no one can stop him from learning
things up but the problem is nobody tries for it
and instead they seek for a so called ‘work visit
trip’ which is absolutely nothing more than a
FUN trip. Other thing is even in the practical
labs, one’s motivation is restrained to just get
the AA grade and get himself out from it but
normally students ever tries to learn some
basic things out of these experiments. Having
done your surveying course from IIT, if one day
your father asks you to check the procedure of
the people surveying your land, will you be
comfortably able to do that? The answer would
be NO for most of the students and that’s again
because they never took these things seriously
and never tried to get the best out of the
facilities available to them here. So it’s not
what institute lacks in providing but it’s
something what lacks in student and it the self
motivation to learn things. And I would even
suggest that it is not necessary to go to the big
firms for learning, you can even work with a
contractor for a month or two and there you
will learn more as compared to the big firms.
As you said that you had an aim of becoming
a faculty but seeing your work profile it says
that you had worked for company like GMR in
the past. So was there some sort of swing in
your aim or some specific reasons that you
went for a job?
Well there was never a second thought for my
career goal. I always wanted to be a faculty and
I had always worked for it. But what actually
happened was during my time here as a
M.Tech student, alike the other students, I also
applied for some Ph.D. and also appeared for
placement and then I got admission to this
Fellow Program In Management (which is
equivalent to Ph.D in IIMs) at IIM Bangalore in
Finance and control, and Public systems and
policy. I also got two job offers but as decided I
went for my Ph.D (i.e., IIM B). But I always
wanted to do some sort of management
economics in transportation and which was
offered by a single faculty at that time in IIM
Bangalore and when I talked to him, because of
some reasons he was not available to supervise
me – he is about to retire. So I was left with no
option other than either doing my Ph.D. in
some other field or leaving the IIM Bangalore. I
chose the latter one and then I applied at GMR
and they offered me a job and I joined them
but with an open and mentioned intention that
I won’t be working for long there as I will be
applying for my Ph.D. and they didn’t objected
that and I worked there for some months and
then I left to UK to pursue my Ph.D.
Well that was a bold decision to leave IIM
Bangalore! Now talking about our core civil
engineering, do you think that a B.Tech
Degree is sufficient for a person applying in a
core job?
Yes definitely an undergraduate degree is
sufficient to fetch you a decent job in the
beginning but what I wish to highlight is the
limit of growth here. After six years or seven
years, one cannot grow beyond a particular
level and at that particular stage one should
definitely have some sort of management or
master’s degree at least to grow further.
Many times intelligence does not get
converted to grades. So in that scenario how
do you differentiate among the students that
this particular students has a bright career
ahead? Is it on the basis of CGPI that one has
maintained?
With reference to the grades system here, it is
only the indication of level sincerity, dedication
and seriousness one has perceived. For me you
all are equally intelligent but only a few uses
that intelligence and scores higher. But if I am
a HR person from a company, its obvious for
me to tempt towards a student with higher
CGPI because for me again all students are
intelligent but what I want take is more serious
and regular person to work in my company and
I won’t prefer to take a student who is not
systematic and not sincere and doesn’t
manage his/her time and resources well. So in
that scenario, grades are becoming more
important. And for those who say that they
didn’t get good grade in this particular subject
because it is not their interest; for them I would
say that what if the job profile which I am going
to offer you will not interest you again?? There
will definitely be some uncertainty that you
might not perform but there will be absolute
guarantee of the person with high CGPI that
he/she will perform well.
Can you list down the three major professional
achievements of your life so far?
(With a smile he responded by saying…) The
first one is becoming a faculty in IIT Bombay.
And there are every step in my career which is
a kind of good achievment for me because the
family background I am coming from, is not
strong either in terms of education or financial
condition. So every step is a big step for me.
So far its now obvious that you are a Self
made man, but still at any point of your career
was there anyone who was your role model or
who backed you up in your low times?
If I want to say to you that I did put this
particular person as my role model, I wouldn’t
be achieving this, I wouldn’t be reaching here.
I am selfmotivated, I know what I want to do
so I just think towards that and I never ever
think of someone else for motivating me.
Would you like to give any message to our
students??
I would say that you must be aware of the
consequences of what you are doing. Don’t just
work under anyone’s influence and have an
idea of about why I need to do this and why I
want to do this. And even though if many of
you have landed up at the wrong discipline
according to you (regarding the civil
engineering as preference), you should take it
as a challenge and work a bit harder to change
your stream and do your masters or Ph.D. in
your interested field. And never compromise
with your happiness for certain things because
there is no limit of earning but sacrificing your
happiness and missing other important things
for this is worthless. So plan your career
appropriately and work happily. GOOD LUCK
And the last question, which time would you
consider the best, the one when you were a
student here or now when you are a faculty?
Without hesitation it is now when I am
enjoying the most and happy about most. The
reason being now I am able to help somebody
and motivate them and if anyway can
contribute to their betterment and this would
made me the happiest ever.
8 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Change is the rule of nature, and our
department strictly adheres to it, then being it
be the infrastructure or the academic
curriculum or the practical facilities, everything
is going under some serious changes. The
department’s investment on its infrastructure
and other facility has shoot up with a vision of
reestablishing it as a better place to learn and
grow. Also considering the increment in the
compulsory credits, a lot of thinking is being
done for the revision of the existing curriculum
and to do the needful to ease the ways out of
the student through their academic years.
The department will be the whole new place
with the completion of the renovation work
which is being undergoing. The master plan
includes the construction of a number of
facilities & a few of them has already been
installed and are being used by the students. As
per the plan, there will be installation of a
computer lab with all new 120 computational
facilities in placed, as a replacement of the old
UG and PG labs at the ground floor. The old
Geodesy lab has been converted to a well
facilitated library and according to the
proposed plan, there will be inclusion of 6 new
class rooms at the second floor. Apart from this
11 new faculty rooms are also going to be
constructed at first and second level with the
old ones going under renovation. To hold the
seminars there is a proposed large seminar
hall, a conference hall and two meeting rooms,
all assembled with latest technologies at the
first floor. The department will also have the
facility of lift at the western side and a small
cafeteria at the terrace. All these plans are
expected to reach completion by the end of
December this year.
It’s not only the infrastructure at which the
department is spending, but also on the
academic grounds. The department has
received a whopping sum of INR 8.4 crores
from the Ministry of Human Resources and
Development to improve the laboratory
facilities and maintain them as per the
international standards. Despite of being a
premier institute, the condition of labs (except
those which were recently installed at VMCC)
are not up the standard with most of the
equipment and machineries being outdated.
Thus taking care of this, with the assistance
from the MHRD, all the labs including the
Heavy Structure, Hydraulics, Geotechnical,
Pavement Engineering, Concrete and GPS, will
be upgraded with new machinery and
instruments before the starting of the next
session. As per the information collected an
order of about INR 4.4 crore has already been
placed and the remaining sum will be spent by
the end of April 2014. Having realized about
the importance and need of research in the
growth, the Government of India has again
planned to provide some financial aid for R&D
which will be carried out at our department.
The department will be investing around INR
5.6 Crore only on research infrastructure. This
fund has been granted under FIST scheme
which is the Fund for Infrastructure in Science
& Technology, passed by the Department of
Science & Technology (DST), Government of
India.
The decision making committee of the
department has worked out on some
previously conceptualized idea and is currently
in state of implementing them from the new
session. The proposed changes are likely to be
accepted by the Senate meeting. The decisions
taken are for the full benefit of the students
and to assist them to carry out their learning
process smoothly. From the input we got from
Professor Raaj Ramshankaran, it can be said
that the changes which are to be made are
majorly influenced by the increment in the
total compulsory credits of the recently
enrolled UG batch. The significant increase of
credits from 252 to 272 will obviously results in
somewhat increase in the academic pressure
over the students. Among the big ones, a
decision was the revision of the Honors
criterion, which will be entitled of only four
courses, being cut down from 5. But the major
difference is not the release of one course but
the allowance of doing a BTP for earning an
honors citation. That means a student can have
his honors degree within a span of one year by
doing a BTP of 18 credits (that will serve as the
replacement of 3 courses) and a separate
course of 6 credits. As said by Prof. Raaj that
this is to ensure that the work load of doing
extra 24 credits should not disturb the actual
B.Tech program of the student. The other
recommendation for the same program is that
the one course, apart from the BTP should be
of the same specialization/field as that of BTP
so as to make the Honors more significant.
There’s also a relief for the students who are
not willing to do a BTP and it’s the removal of
the compulsory courses concept from the
Honors. The earlier system of studying some
specific courses to be the part of the Honors
has been revoked. Now students are free to
choose any 4 courses as part of the Honors
Degree.
The increase in the minimum credit criterion
has obviously resulted in the inclusion of few
new courses but also in the deduction of
credits of the existing ones. The new courses
introduced are Building Materials &
Construction, Probability & Statistics for Civil
Engineers, Water Resource Engineering, and
Foundation Engineering.
With all the above courses being of 6 credits,
the Building Materials & Construction is to be
taught in 2nd year whereas the other 3 will be
the compulsory courses of the final year. The
course on Probability and Statistics is kept as a
replacement of IC211 the Experimental and
Measurement Laboratory as there has been
nothing much related to Civil engineering in
that course. . Apart from these a new course,
Engineering Geology will also be offered as a
compulsory course. This course will be
instructed by the Earth Science Department
and the exact structure of the course is yet to
be finalized as it demands for a practical lab
also and the department is still looking for the
place to avail that facility. Also there are few
courses whose contents has been revised and
a few whose credits are been changed. The
CE206, Hydraulic Engineering will now be
Applied Hydraulic Engineering with an
inclusion of the concepts of the water supply
and treatment along with the old content. The
Design of Structure courses which are offered
in the fifth and sixth semester has seen a major
revamping. The course will now be named as
Structural Design I and Structural Design II with
the abolition of extra three credits of the lab.
With change in minimum credits
requirement, many new courses have
been introduced, many existing courses
have been revamped and a few
interesting changes in the curriculum
are thought to be implemented by the
next session. A qualifying exam for the
Ph.D. students to decide the quality of
their thesis is also under consideration.
Infra-Development & Curriculum Update� Abhideep Sahu
Library @ Civil, IITB
9 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
The total course Credits will now be six in place
of the current nine. The Soil Mechanic I and Soil
Mechanics II will now be called as Geotech
Engineering I and Geotech Engineering II as the
course content has been fully revised and some
new concepts of rock sciences has been
introduced to it. The two transportation labs of
Sixth and Seventh semesters have been
merged and there will be now single lab which
will be offered in the Sixth semester. Another
big step taken by the department is the
allotment of six faculty advisors for the every
fresher batch, i.e. per faculty advisor there will
be at most 20 students. This step will ensure
the easy and healthy monitoring of the
students and will also ease out the complex
connectivity between the faculty and students.
All these proposed decisions will be
implemented only at the currently enrolled
fresher batch and the batches next to come.
There’s another decision which is been taken
by the committee and that is to open the Dual
Degree program in all specialization but this
will not be applicable for the currently third
year batch. The second year batch might be
given some consideration depending upon the
norms being set for the same. But this decision
is fully viable for the fresher batch. The
application for the conversion must be
submitted by the first phase of sixth semester
i.e. Premidsem. The enrollment criterion are
yet to be finalized.
The change which will affect all the batches
(except the current final year) is the selection
of department electives. The pool system has
been revoked and now instead of selecting one
course from each pool (total 6 pools and thus 6
dept. electives) now the students can select
any 6 of their preferences. Also there’s been a
talk on making some of the institute courses
liable to be tagged as dept. elective. For this
the DUGC is preparing a list of such courses and
is considering their course content. The final
decision about the same is yet to be taken. Also
the previous decision of dropping the civil
minor has been taken back and a set of five
new courses has been designed to give a brief
introduction of overall civil engineering. These
course includes, Building Materials &
Construction, Introduction to Geotechnology,
Introduction to Ocean Engineering,
Introduction to Water resource Engineering
and Introduction to Transportation
Engineering.
For the Ph.D. scholars
The department is planning to introduce a
qualifying exam for the Ph.D. students. This
exam will be a kind of quality check for the
Ph.D. students which will be conducted time to
time. As of now the PhD scholars are expected
to complete at least 2 courses and a few
seminars but now the number of courses are
planned to increases to 3 with the weightage of
seminars remaining the same. The minimum
acceptable CPI will be 7 and the students must
take a qualifier exam at the end of their first
year or else their Doctoral work is liable to get
terminated by the department. This decision is
taken to ensure the quality of the research
work and to avoid the wastage of human
resources which couldn’t produce the desired
results here.
When asked about the introduction of the
Honor Code, the reply from HOD sir was “We
have seen many unwanted incidents in the
recent times in which our students are involved
in unethical practices and we tend to decrease
the frequency of such things but currently we
are focusing on reforming our system and
making it a better place for them to learn and
grow, and then we will focus on restricting
their ways from doing anything undesirable.”
As per the Prof. Raaj, the department is not
interested in creating some additional honor
code for the students as there’s already one
underframing by the institute. It would be
difficult to follow two different sets of codes
and therefore the department will follow the
institute’s norms and will control the students
as per it.
Conduct the right engineering and do justice with you work and yourself!!!
However, we can have a good financial and time savings by not doing a geotechnical investigation!!
10 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Do you consider that it makes much difference in pursuing masters/ Ph.D. from abroad rather than our college??
I believe that exposure to differentperspectives and methods of research in a given topic at diverse institutions are very beneficial to one’s intellectual growth. In this light, I am of the opinion that it does make a significant difference pursuing masters/PhD from other institutes. UC Berkeley attractspassionate researchers from all around the globe and thus gives me an opportunity toobserve and learn from an extremely diversegroup of faculty and colleagues.
What are the ideal universities according to you which are best for this particular stream?? (Transportation, structural, Water Resourcesetc.)
There are standardized rankings available fordifferent fields on QS rankings and USNews rankings. However, many students get lost in the numbers of rankings and do notfocus on their research interests or faculty of the institutes that they are applying to. A wellranked university is mostly a good place to apply, but a student needs to understand the research focus of different faculty. Sometimes,an amazing research fit is way more valuablethan a rank hierarchy in terms of the topic andquality of research you want to pursue.
A student remains confused about whetherhe should go for higher studies or not. What according to you would be the possibledecisive mindset of a student to go for higher studies?
A very simple answer would be the interest andopportunity. If you are passionate about studying more and you are convinced thatthere is a certain topic you want to dedicateyour next few years to, then there is very littleroom for doubt. If financial burden is yourmajor concern, try searching for possible scholarships and loans in India and yourdestination country. There are manyunexplored avenues in terms of financialsupport to students. I think your true interestand passion about what you want to do andwhere you want to see yourself should be thedeciding point for higher studies.
What are the further professional gateways inthis stream after pursuing MS or PhD??
You would be surprised at the number ofoptions students have after pursuing higherstudies. Academia is a very competitive andpopular pursuit after a PhD. However, academia is NOT the only option available to students pursuing higher studies. Also, a very surprising fact is that there are a large numberof students who pursue higher studies in acertain field may end up working on acompletely tangential field after graduationDue to change in interests. I believe that this isNOT a ‘waste’ of their education, as manywould perceive. According to me, higher education gives you an amazing opportunity to Improve your structural thinking, problemsolving skills and focus on solving an unsolved problem in a field. These are valuable skills thatare every recruiter’s dream match! So the professional gateways are immense, if you are good at what you do, both in academia andother nonacademic jobs.
How did you decided about yourspecialization? What are the keyfactors/reasons which one should consider before deciding about his stream?
While deciding my specialization, I was veryconfused about which field I would apply to.My two major interests were Transportation Engineering and Structural Engineering. Themajor decision maker in my case was the work pursued by faculty in the universities of my interest. I had researched greatly about thecurrent research pursuits of various professors in both the fields. The decision making afterthis became very clear to me. I was very excited about the diversity and interdisciplinary natureof research in transportation! I believe thatdoing your homework and talking to studentsand faculty in IIT Bombay and your destination university about what is happening currently inthe field of your interest can be very useful andimportant.
What is the general timeline and corresponding activities of the whole apingprocess?? Please illustrate it.
General Timeline:1) Try finalizing/drafting your university list andtry contacting students/seniors from thatuniversity early to get their help and inputs onapplication process by SeptemberOctober. Ifound it immensely useful to prepare a spreadsheet of the deadlines, requirements(recommendations, transcripts, etc.) of each university. (Seniors can get really busy towardsNovember/December with their submissions and research projects and may not be veryavailable for your queries)2) Try getting a strong hold on your research/BTP at least by October. This will helpyou gain more clarity in writing your SOP (Statement of Purpose). Also, discuss you plans with your advising professors and other professors who have helped/guided you inyour pursuits. For me, this was my biggeststrength and I am very grateful to all my professors who guided me in my aping decisions. I believe that students grossly underutilize the information and advice that IIT
Bombay professor give and they can be careerchanging (for the best!), at least in my case!3) Discuss with your professors on the possibility of recommendation by the end of October or beginning of November. Also, bythe end of October have a good draft of yourSOP ready so that you could request seniors to review it for you (review by 3 seniors is good. Avoid overdoing it, since originality is one of the most important aspects of an SOP!). Also, your recommenders may need a copy your SOP sometimes.4) By November start filling in the online applications (in case of doubts, it may take some time for you to get back the replies. Sostart in advance!). If all goes well, filling the online application doesn’t take too long. Butmore often than not, you would be stuck with some doubts and might have to email the admission contact of the university. Also, check your applications to ensure that you have notmissed out on sending/attaching important documents.5) For universities which require mailing of transcripts, send the transcripts at least 15days before the deadline.
Do you think it makes much difference inpursuing graduate studies from abroad rather than our college?
In my opinion one should do graduate studies outside the country. Being restricted to a place,most of the times confines our thoughtswe getused to thinking the way our seniors,professors, etc. think. Basically, we getrestricted to one school of thoughts. Doing graduate studies outside the country opens usto different social interactions. This helps inpersonal growth, and most importantly broadens our mind. And the most important fact is that most of the time the resources available to students in an American or a European university are comparatively better. So, yeah it does make a difference in the context of personal growth and the resources available. However, I am not sure if it makes aconsiderable difference in career opportunities. I am still in academia andhaven't got enough taste of the job sector to comment on it.
What are the ideal universities according to you which are best for this particular stream?? (Transportation, structural, Water Resiurces etc.)
Well, in my opinion the ideal universitiesdepend on the individual. Most of the students will probably go by the `QS World University
Learn from the ACHIEVERS� Abhideep Sahu
Sreeta Goripatty(Batch of 2013)
MS, Transportation EngineeringUniversity of California, Berkeley
Higher
Studies
Sudesh Agrawal
(Batch of 2013)
MS, Transportation Engineering
University of Texas, Austin
11 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Rankings'. However, it's not necessary that the best university will have the best researcher(s) in your field. I would suggest to talk to a fewPhD Students before applying to some university or under someone. This helps you to know the research environment and work you'll potentially be in.
A student remains confused about whetherhe/she should go for higher studies or not. What according to you should be the decisionbased on?
This is a tricky question. I cannot think of something in particular that you should base your decision on. I wanted to pursue graduate studies because I wanted to stay in the academia. This was mainly because of my experiences in a company during myinternship. I was sure after that internship that taking up a job would be my last preference. But you should be sure before you pursue graduate studies. Even three courses is quite aload here, and with the simultaneous research work the load is amplified.
How did you decide about your specialization? What are the key factors/reasons whichstudents should consider before deciding about their stream?
I am pursuing Transportation Engineering fromthe University of Texas atAustin. More specifically, my research field isNetwork Modeling which is closely related to the applications of operations research intransportation network. Coding is one of myinterests and network modeling requires quite a bit of knowledge about Data Structures and Algorithms. That was the most importantreason why I chose transportation engineering.You should put your interests above all to decide you stream. That is the only thing which will motivate you. Apart from that you probably should consider the funding scenarioand the job opportunities. Also talk to your seniors and your professors (advisor), they'll be your best guide.
What is the general timeline andcorresponding activities for the whole apingprocess? Please illustrate it.
In the sixth semester you decide if you want to pursue graduate studies; you do a bit of research on the universities you would like to apply to, and then you narrow down your choice to around 68 universities. Then youcheck the university websites to know what you are supposed to do for applying. Most of the US universities require you to take GRE and/or TOEFL. Students take it during summeror latest by September so that one can start applying by November |the results are available for sending one month later. Once you are done with these exams you start working on your `Statement of Purpose', andyou also start talking to professors/internship guide for recommendation letters. And last butnot the least you fill the application form andpay the fees. There should be resources online which talk about aping in detail.
It’s a general assumption that students with 9+ CPI only get a chance to pursue graduate studies in USA/Europe but, you have been anexception. Can you please list down the specific problems which you had faced (because of your CPI and other issues too) andhow did you overcome them?
I did not face any problems in particular. But the problem one could face would be gettingrecommendations from three professors. Soyou need to make sure that you have either worked with three professors (or internship guidesnot necessarily in an academic institute) or got very good grades in their courses. (Most of the universities ask for threerecommendation letters.)
How big role does the CPI plays in anyone’s
selection/hiring process?
I would say that CPI does play a role in the
hiring processes with a nominal one. A CPI
above 7 is acceptable and CPI above 8 is
favorable. It is generally an indication of how
seriously a student has pursued academics in
college and just reflects some sort of
determination of the candidate. Though, it is
NEVER the determining factor for final
recruitment.
Does the acquisition of PORs plays any vital
role for deciding the candidate’s suitability for
the job??
Well, not exactly but yes, partially it does
counts. The acquisition of PORs is NOT as
important as what value addition the student
has done, when holding that position but it just
showcases the management and resource
utilization skills within the candidate and how
he used them to fulfill his responsibilities.
What are the key attributes you demands
from a person seeking job in your company?
Please illustrate it on the skills based technical
as well as personal background.
Technically – One should have at least 1 month
of practical training on a construction site and
familiar with basic knowhow of construction
methodology. Other bookish knowledge such
as practical tests and theory of concrete and
structures also proves to be handy during the
interviews.
Personally – The personal attributes which
counts much are the communication skills and
adaptability in the new environment. One
needs to be an efficient planner and keen eye
for problem solving. Also a gogetter. Other
thing which a company demands is the
intention to work for them for at least 3 years.
For the hiring purposes, do you differentiate
between a Dual Degree student who came
from JEE background and an M.Tech student
who has cleared GATE??
With no offence to M.Tech students, definitely
a JEE grad is preferred over a GATE grad. But,
in many cases it depends on the demands of
the work profile and if there are exceptional
M.Tech students, they will be preferred for the
selection. The prior field experience sets the
basis of hiring of any candidate.
Is B.Tech sufficient for acquiring a job in
core?? What is the major difference in the
growth of a B.Tech student and a student who
had persuaded masters??
A B.Tech is sufficient. Students of B.Tech,
M.Tech or Dual Degree with no field
experience will be hired for the same position.
There MIGHT be a salary difference, depending
on additional qualifications but more or less,
it’s the same.
What is in general a time line of the growth of
any freshman in a core field?? (As a trainee,
sr. engineer, project head etc.)What is the
average package of any civil engineer based
on his designation in the company??
The first 3 years have to be spent on field at a
construction site. These figures are only for IIT
grads, an engineering trainee from any other
college has a CTC of INR 3 lakhs and will take 4
6 years to reach position of Deputy Manager,
ONLY if he/she is a consistent performer. As
per industry standards, I think it is probably
one of the best. High performers with more
than 10 years of experience have a huge
demand all over the world and the prospects of
working in foreign countries are excellent.
What is the future prospect of civil
engineering in Indian and abroad and where
is it better?
The prospect of civil engineering is bright
everywhere in the world. In developing
countries new infrastructure has to be created
and in developed countries, existing
infrastructure needs to be redesigned and
maintained. The demand is immense and
supply is scarce. You can work in any country
you like from India to Seychelles, Afghanistan
to Polynesia. The opportunities are limitless.
Timeline Possible HighestPosition Attainable
Possible CTC per annum (in lakhs)
Year 01 Trainee (At site) 7
Year 13 Deputy Manager(At site)
79
Year 35 Manager 912
Year 58 Senior Manager(2nd in Command)
1218
8+ Years 1st in Command(Many positions)
18+
Rahul Ajmera
(Batch of 2012)
Management Trainee
Shapoorji Pallonji Engineering &
Construction
Professional
Fields
12 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
A beforehand experience is always good but
what about those peoples who did their intern
in some fields (let’s say geotechnical firm) and
is now applying for some other stream (say
structural). So does that internship or
background acts against his selection
process??
Well, an internship in civil helps definitely, but
switching fields within civil shouldn’t dampen
prospects very much. This also depends from
case to case.
Any personal message or tips for the freshman
who will be preparing for their job interviews?
Apply ONLY if you are interested in civil
engineering and working at one place for at
least 3 years. Depending on the experience
with you, the company will decide whether to
come to placements next time or not.
How big role does the CPI plays in anyone’s
selection/hiring process?
Well it depends what you are aiming for.
Obviously CPI plays a crucial role for core jobs
as it a parameter to estimate your knowledge
level. It is an indication of one’s sincerity and
dedication because whatever u had done in
your past four years, that’s all is finally going to
be reflected by this one figure.
Does the acquisition of PORs plays any vital
role for deciding the candidate’s suitability for
the job??
Considering the core field, not exactly but in a
certain way. Its role comes in to the picture
when they want to judge you for some high
pressure jobs mainly in the field of
management. It helps the firm to estimate the
training time a person will be needing to
become suitable for a particular job.
What are the key attributes you demands
from a person seeking job in your company?
Please illustrate it on the skills based technical
as well as personal background.
NHAI focus on two things, technical learning
and versatility. Technical ground is required to
understand the practicality of the job since you
will be the person who will verify the technical
aspect before it get implemented on site. On
the other hand, you will also be dealing with
administrative work, so you versatility plays an
important role for this kind of job.
Is B.Tech sufficient for acquiring a job in
core?? What is the major difference in the
growth of a B.Tech student and a student who
had persuaded masters??
Well I wouldn’t deny it that B.Tech is sufficient
to acquire a job in core but you need a
specialization if you want to grow in this sector.
Your promotions are saturated after some time
if you don’t have any specialized degree so in a
way, postgraduation does makes a difference
here.
Any personal message or tips for the freshman
who will be preparing for their job interviews?
Try for a specific field (Core or Noncore), have
clear view about what you want to do. Never
try to get a job just for the sake of placing
earlier. Wait for right firm no matter when you
get place. I got placed in February but I never
regretted that.
For almost past two years, I have been working
on development and then improvement of
high strength concrete under the guidance of
Prof. Prakash Nanthagopalan. I started my
work with an aim to develop selfcompacting
high strength concrete. This was the first phase
of the project and after working for about 6
months, I was awarded URA01 and presented
research paper in First International
Conference on Advanced Nanocomposite for
Construction Materials (ICNC 2013), Kerala,
India in March’13. We kept on improving
strength properties of the concrete (till 130
MPa) and further after 6 months of work, I
presented another paper in International Civil
and Infrastructure Engineering Conference
(InCIEC 2013), Kuching, Malaysia in
September’13. This paper has been published
in conference proceedings:
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978
9814585026_19
In between these two conferences, I got an
opportunity to visit HKUST, Hong Kong as an
intern in summers’13 where I worked on High
Strength Fiber Reinforced Concrete. I believe,
this internship was only possible since I had
some background working in concrete
technology.
The second phase of the project is to improve
its other properties such as flexural toughness,
shrinkage, improvement of elastic modulus
and rheology of the concrete. The idea is to
include different fibers in concrete in varying
proportions and then study the above
mentioned properties. This work is being
counted as my B.Tech project (BTP I and II).
As a message to junior batch students, apart
from gaining technical and practical knowledge
in the field you work, there are other perks
when you involve yourself in research. I have
made many industrial contacts, presented
papers (all at institute’s expenses �), secured
university internship and job in core company
and if you want to apply for MS then research
as an UG will surely help you in improving your
profile and chances of getting an admit.
I started working on transportation project
during my second year summers. My interest
in coding and inclination to explore a new
field pulled me towards the topic of modifying
a USbased open source transportation
simulation software namely TRANSIMS to
model traffic conditions in India. Our worked
involved learning how simulation is used as a
tool to model traffic, estimate travel demand
and enact real life conditions. To get India
specific simulation I worked on incorporating
leftside traffic movement and introduction of
new vehicletypes. My experience through the
project helped me realize that research
involves going from ‘what you know’ to ‘what
you want to achieve’ with tools and reasons to
learn at every step. I was awarded URA01.
Later in October’13, I also presented my paper
in ‘Conference on Agent based Modelling in
Transportation Planning and Operations’
Virginia Tech USA. My internship experience
at FCLSingapore was also related to learning
applications of simulation in transportation
modelling and I continued my work on
improving the simulation model in TRANSIMS
as my B.Tech project.
Key element I found responsible for a quality
research is dedication to your interest and
proper guidance. You learn from every
mistake you make and get far better practical
experiences than you would from a theory
course. It gives you opportunity to interact
with several professionals in the field and also
add on value to your technical profile
something valuable out of your study from a
technical Institute like IITBombay �
Mohit Mangal
(Batch of 2013)
Deputy Manager,
National Highway Authority of India,
NHAI
Dhawal Desai
Fourth year undergraduate
Research
Scholars
Venktesh Pandey
Fourth year undergraduate
13 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
Please give a brief introduction to Team
Shunya, with a specific focus on the longterm
goals and ideologies.
The idea of Team Shunya arose from a few
enthusiastic students who wanted to
participate in Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE)
2014 which is an international competition to
design, build and operate a solar powered
house. In December, they approached Prof.
Rangan Banerjee (Dept. of Energy Science and
Engineering) who encouraged them to submit
a technical proposal. Based on this proposal,
Team Shunya was selected to be among the
top 20 teams allowed to participate in the
competition in 2014. When I joined the
institute in November 2012, I was approached
by these students to become part of this effort,
and I gladly joined.
Team Shunya is a team of about 70 students
and 12 professors from IIT Bombay and Rachna
Sansad Academy of Architecture. This is an
ideal mix of talent for a competition such as
SDE. This is essentially a studentled
competition, and faculty serves as advisors.
The different disciplines involved in this effort
are Architecture & Planning, Civil, Mechanical,
Photovoltaic, Instrumentation, Building
Modelling, Sustainability, Communications,
Management, Sponsorship, Operations and
Market Viability.
What is your role at Team Shunya?
I am the Communications Faculty Advisor
responsible for advising on events, education
about green buildings and sustainability, media
/ press interactions and other public relations
events for spreading awareness about
sustainability. The competition requires that
the learning from this exercise be integrated
into the educational curriculum, which I have
done through the two courses that I have
introduced at IIT Bombay– CE639: Green
Building Design and CE649: Introduction to
Urban Design. In these courses, my students
have done handson projects related to green
buildings and urban sustainability.
I am also responsible for advising student
teams about internal communications among
team members to ensure healthy working
environment and transparency in operations.
Since my background is in architecture, urban
design and planning and I have worked in the
field of sustainability, I am advising students in
the overall project direction as well.
Please tell us about why you chose this
particular project.
Before coming to IITB, I was working in the
Department of City Planning in New York City
where I was leading projects related to Urban
Sustainability and Green Building Design.
Hence, I felt that I could contribute to the team
in these aspects. Also, I enjoy working in inter
disciplinary teams, as I believe that is when
new and interesting solutions emerge to
complex problems.
How much has Team Shunya accomplished till
now?
The project began in Dec 2012 after the team
was selected to participate in the competition.
Since then the team has come a long way. The
competition will be held in Versailles, France
during the months of JuneJuly 2014. We are
required to construct the house in 10 days at
Versailles and disassemble it in 5 days. There
are ten different competitions (hence
Decathlon) on the basis on which each team
will be judged. These are, Architecture,
Engineering & Construction, Energy Efficiency,
Electrical Energy Balance, Comfort Conditions
House Functioning, Communications and
Social Awareness, Urban Design,
Transportation & Affordability, Innovation,
Sustainability.
Until now, team has submitted four updates of
the project to the organizers and visited France
twice, in March and November 2013. The team
is looking at this opportunity to come up with a
building prototype that can address the
housing and energy needs of India. We are also
addressing the urban context in which this
house will be built in Indian cities, and for this
purpose, we are trying to evaluate how
sustainable townships can be developed
looking at resource efficiency, market viability,
economic efficiency of a transit oriented
development. We have chosen the town of
Uran which lies on the Delhi Mumbai Industrial
Corridor (DMIC) for this purpose.
Currently the house is under construction in IIT
Bombay. The house inauguration is scheduled
for March 13, 2014. All other systems such as
Solar PV, Solar thermal, instrumentation, solar
oven are being tested in parallel in the labs.
After the inauguration, we will monitor the
various aspects of resource consumption in the
house until the end of March. The disassembly
will start around first week of April and the
house will be shipped to France around April
10, 2014.
We expect the disassembled house to reach
France a few weeks before the competition. A
team of 30 members will be going to France in
JuneJuly to assemble and disassemble the
house and participate in various other
activities. Details about the competition and
Team Shunya can be found on the following
websites:
http://www.solardecathlon2014.fr/en/
https://www.facebook.com/SDE2014Shunya
http://teamshunya.in/
What do you think are the longterm
implications and impacts that this project will
have after the competition is over?
Among the team, we have discussed the long
term goals once this competition is over. Some
of the ideas that we will be exploring in the
next few months are below:
Reconstruction of the house in IIT
Bombay or other appropriate sites in
the country to showcase `Green living’.
The house could be used as a regular
accommodation unit that will be
monitored over a period of few years
to verify and validate the energy
simulations during the design phase.
The house could also become a green
building laboratory where experiments
on green building materials,
construction technologies and other
such handson research experiments
can be done.
Extend this single story prototype to a
ground plus three storied building that
is sustainable and could be
experimented as housing for army
personnel (as suggested by Dr. Satish
Agnihotri, Secretary, MNRE).
HUDCO and many other government bodies, as
well as industries, have shown interest in
various aspects of this plan.
For the urban context, the team envisions
creating guidelines for sustainable and
affordable townships that will be coming up in
next few decades. This will help urbanizing
India to grow sustainably, minimizing the use
of resources and improving the quality of life in
urban areas.
Is there anything specific about Team Shunya that you would like to mention to our readers?
My hope is that we continue participating in
this competition in the coming years. Team
Shunya the first ever Indian team to
participate in this competition is documenting
the whole process and also training 2nd and 3rd
year students so that they can take the lead in
the coming years. I wish the team all the best
in this endeavor.
Solar Decathlon, 2014 –Team Shunya� Rounaq Basu
Prof. Monika Jain
Communication Faculty Incharge,
Team Shunya
14 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
NATIONAL GEOTECHNICAL CENTRIFUGE FACILITY
SUDARSHAN, a geotechnical centrifuge facility
installed at IIT Bombay is in an exclusive facility
present in India. It is basically a physical
modelling facility and its conceptualization was
started in late 1980s and was awarded to IIT
Bombay in 1994 amidst of several bids by other
premier institutes of the nation. The
technology was nurtured with the original
Russian technology which was developed in
1936. The centrifuge laboratory is operable
since 20012002 and so far has completed
many national and international projects.
Likewise the other physical modeling which are
concerned with replicating a process or a
phenomenon in a reduced scale version of the
prototype, Sudarshan also replicates many
geotechnical phenomenon and is used for
studying the behavior of soil by carrying out
simulations. Geotechnical structures are solely
dependent upon the soil properties
underneath which are basically driven by the
nature of the stresses present there. In
centrifuge modeling, basically a model is spin
such that it experiences a gravitational force of
extremely large magnitude which simulates
the field stress condition of the prototype on
the model. Centrifuge modeling technique is a
revolutionary technology and is very handy in
the situations when it is impossible to create
the actual site conditions in the laboratory
some of those cases being when the size of the
prototype cannot be produced at the lab or in
the case if unknown likeliness of occurrences
(landslides/earthquakes) etc.
For the testing purposes, the model is scaled by
1 by N times and the gravitational force is
increased by N times (N = scale factor or gravity
level). By doing so, the test results gives
satisfactorily the same results as they are
expected in the field conditions. Centrifuge
modeling is now firmly established as a
dependable research tool that can provide
solutions to many of the hitherto intractable
problems in geotechnical engineering.
Applications: There are many applications of
the Centrifuge modeling in the current
scenario. It can be used as a design aid thus
many new phenomenon/concepts/ideas can
be tested well versed before materializing
them and using them in the fields. The
centrifuge is especially helpful for modeling of
any largescale nonlinear problem for which
gravity is a primary driving force. It can be used
to understand the reasons/causes behind
certain natural events such as earthquakes or
landslides as the occurrence of these events is
uncertain and by generating similar conditions
for the test purposes, the future scope to face
such calamities can be understood. Other
applications includes the validation of
numerical models as for the establishment of
any new model, it is necessary to first verify it
experimentally and then only transform it into
any computational software. Also bymimicking
the actual site conditions, it is very helpful in
assessing the root cause of failure of any
geotechnical structure and study a variety of
geotechnical problems such as the strength,
stiffness and capacity of foundations for
bridges and buildings, settlement of
embankments, stability of slopes, earth
retaining structures, tunnel stability and
seawalls etc.
Facility@ IIT Bombay: The facility we have hereSUDARSHAN, is the biggest at this part of the world and is the lone facility in the entirenation. It was jointly sponsored by theDepartment of Science and Technology,Defense Research and Development Organization and the Ministry of HumanResource Development, India & currently is inthe supervision of Prof. B.V.S. Viswanadham.The indigenously built beam type configuration
has a radius of 4.5 m and a capacity of 250 g
tons. The maximum gravitational field
developed is 200g at a payload of 0.625 tons
and the maximum payload capacity is 2.5 ton
at an acceleration of 100g. The entire range of
the acceleration is from 10g to 200g.
The facility has already completed many
projects out of which a few were international
and is serving the ATC Policy i.e. AnalyzeTest
Construct policy of the government. Currently
it is working on a project from ONGC and is also
getting into a kind of collaboration with other
premier institutes of the country to carry out
more researches using the technology. The
most influential challenge is the installation
and commissioning of INFLiGHT EARTHQUALE
ACTUATOR which simulates a variety of
earthquake profiles and then the susceptibility
of geotechnical structures to these
earthquakes will be the course of observation.
ENVIRONMENT GEOTECHNICAL LAB
The Environmental Geotechnology Laboratory
at IITB is one of its kind in the country that
serves research in both environmental and
geotechnical aspects. The fundamental and
practical issues are being studied in every
aspect through field testing, laboratory testing
and mathematical modeling. This dream
project of Professor D.N.Singh came into
existence in 2001 at IIT Bombay. This
laboratory also collaborates with industries
and other partners for delivering some
significant results in the practical world out.
Geoenvironmental Engineering Research:The
lab is dedicated to carry out the research work
on geomaterials with respect to their physical,
hydraulic, mechanical and chemical properties
thus serving an interdisciplinary purposes. The
associated research work involves
development of new solutions and
technologies for both traditional Geotechnical
engineering and the emerging
Geoenvironmental engineering problems. The
laboratory has developed a special expertise to
address problems like contaminated sites,
waste disposal and waste
minimization/prevention, landfills, utilization
of fly ash & many more. A few projects have
been completed by Prof. D.N. Singh who is
been assisted by a number of research
scholars. The lab also carries out some research
work which are been funded by the private
industrial sector. Currently, a comprehensive
research project is in under study to assess the
performance of selfsustainable bioreactor
landfills to accelerate the degradation of
municipal solid waste and develop rational
design methods. A site of such bioreactor
landfill is present within the IIT Campus itself.
Another significant research includes the
investigation on gases released from hydrate
bearing sediments, which includes evaluation
of water permeability and sea floor stability
during the production of gas.
Nowadays we are missing a crunch of good
engineering practices in our country. This is the
first lab to focus on several parameters of
environmental aspects and the problems
associated with them and tries to determine
their solution which fits well under the
ecological and economical perspective. This lab
also runs an international Journal
Environmental Geotechnics, ICE Publishing,
London, UK.
Only @ Civil, IIT B� Abhideep Sahu� Aakanksha Uday
Centrifuge Lab Facility, IIT Bombay
Our sincere thanks to Prof. B.V.S. Viswanadham and Prof. D.N.Singh & his students for their inputs.
15 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
What marks the beginning of a phenomenon?
Everything begins with an idea and once a mind
is stretched by a new idea, it can never regain
its original dimensions. But as it is truly said “A
person with a new idea is a crank until the idea
succeeds”. The question is, what a person must
do to achieve that success? The answer is
simple, to transform that idea into a reality, its
necessary to take up the challenges, adapting
them in our life and live on it to succeed. Such
has been the dedication of people behind
Aakaar 2014. The journey of Aakaar has been
nothing less than a fairy tale. From a bunch of
likeminded students, the fest has grown into a
nationwide event.
This year Aakaar took place on 8th and 9th of
March. Around 800 people from different parts
of the country came to IIT Bombay to be a part
of the festival resulting in a fourfold increase in
the footfall. It was indeed a pleasure to
witness the zeal and the dedication of each and
every participant. Every event witnessed fierce
competition and a huge turnout.
Competitions
The competitions component in Aakaar took a
huge leap forward with unprecedented
increase in participation and marked
improvements in the organization of
competitions. A prefest competition of
“LOGIQ”, an online crypt hunt set the stage for
things to follow. On the day of Aakaar, even
Hall 4 proved to be insufficient to conduct the
“BRIDGE IT” competition which saw a Popsicle
structure taking a load of 200 kilograms. A
total of 66 teams participated in it with each
and every single specimen being a symbol of
sheer hard work and innovation. Pervious
concrete design competition was introduced
for the first time at Aakaar. The competition
turned out to be a huge success with more than
25 teams participating in the event and it won’t
be wrong to quote that “People did conquered
the concrete”. “On the street” competitions
made the participants rack their brains on a
challenging transportation problem whereas
“Potential Prof.” gave the students to be on the
other side of the table and teach topics in a way
they would like to be taught. “CIVIQ” – Civil
Engineering quiz competition was a modeled
on popular quiz shows held internationally and
left the participants and audience thrilled at
the audiovisual effects incorporated into the
quiz and the innovative questions posed to the
finalists. A contingent system was also
introduced this year which pitted colleges
against each other among all the competitions
mentioned previously. These competitions
were one of their kind and were appreciated by
all.
6th National Symposium The research symposium held in Aakaar 2014
witnessed research paper presentations from
all over the country. A major breakthrough this
year was the participation of IIT Bombay
students which more than tripled from last
year. The judges were impressed with the
improvement in the quality of research being
presented in the Symposium over the years.
Some elements of international conferences
were also incorporated in the form of
customized badges and notepads to continue
with the trend of major improvements that
have taken place since the event’s inception 5
years ago. The amount of efforts given by the
AAKAAR team does set up a bar for the next
year’s team.
Events
The festival was graced by Mr. Himanshu Raje
and Mr. C. M. Dordi, both pioneers in their
respective specializations. The lectures given
by them were highly insightful and drew huge
crowds. A seven hour workshop on STAAD PRO
was a huge hit with more than a hundred
participants. Enthusiastic civil engineering
students were satisfied with the
comprehensive coverage of basic STAAD PRO
concepts done in the workshop. Students were
also introduced to “TEKLA”, a 3D modeling
software used recently in the modeling of the
New Terminal of the Mumbai International
Airport. A lab visit was also arranged to
Sudarshan: The National Geotechnical
Centrifuge Facility. It left the attendees elated
on having been presented an opportunity to
visit a lab which is the first of its kind in the
country.
Overall Aakaar 2014 turned out to be a huge
success. Be it the Publicity, Symposium,
Competitions, Web or Hospitality team,
everyoneworked out of their skins to make this
happen. Aakaar 2014 was hence a successful
endeavor by a team of students who worked all
year long to make this event successful and to
realize the vision with which Aakaar was
started six years back. As Aakaar is growing
every year, the vision for next year is to take
it to the international level, so that not only
students from India but from all over the
world can becomes a part of Aakaar to share
their knowledge and compete on a common
platform. We leave this vision onto our
juniors who will make the team for Aakaar
2015 and take the baton forward.
Highlights of AAKAAR 2014
� Footfall increases fourfold
� Reintroduction of Lecture Series and
Industrial Design Problems (IDP)
� Introduction of fresh competitions like
Conquer It and Maze
� Makeover of the CiviQ pattern
� Introduction of New Workshops
AAKAAR 2014
� Prateek Deogekar
� Amar Sinha
Snapshots
20 BLUEPRINT: Newsletter of Civil Engineering Department, IIT Bombay
SENTIENCE: A CEA Initiative
Edition 3
Edition 4