Civil Insight: A Technical Magazine Volume 2 | Page 79

CIVIL INSIGHT 2018
construction of big structures. However, structural
engineering covers a broader area than earthquake
engineering. Structural engineers work with
all kinds of forces like wind, earthquake and
temperature forces, but earthquake engineers work
basically with earthquake and seismic forces. Both
can work in same project, but in some countries,
there are no occurrences of earthquakes. However,
in a country like Nepal where big earthquakes are
potential to occur, earthquake experts have more
scope. Earthquake engineers not only work for
designing earthquake resistant buildings, but work
in earthquake hazards too. Structural engineers
calculate the continuous static vertical forces as
well as earthquake forces. Hence, I can’t pick one
to have more demand in our country.
Q. As the HOD of DCGE, have you thought
of adding more specializations (Say,
Specialization in Structural Engineering)
to the current BE in Civil Engineering
program? How benefi cial would be such
specializations in the upcoming years?
In my opinion, structural engineering is a specialized
course which needs to be dealt by Graduate level
students. More importantly, the pre-requisites must be
covered in undergraduate courses. The department,
therefore, might add other master’s level courses
soon which I don’t want to disclose now.
Q. As you have visited lots of universities
throughout the world, how would you
compare the syllabus, laboratories and
teaching methods of Kathmandu University
with the other world class universities? How
satisfi ed are you with our own teaching
practices? How much do you see the room
for improvement?
If I must compare our department with that of foreign
universities, I don’t see us any lesser than them. We
are little behind on the laboratory
instruments and equipment since
they are not fabricated in our
country which has led to some
technical problems. In the case of
civil engineering, if we compare
with the developed countries,
their needs and our needs differ.
Consequently, their research and
responsibility towards this course
is different. I see some differences
in our syllabus and theirs.
I have realized that our department is not clean and
comfortable unlike other universities. We have fi xed
projectors on all classrooms, but they have not been
INTERVIEW
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well managed. Teachers should also learn regularly;
they can increase classroom interactions to add
effectiveness, and create a comfortable environment
for students to ask about their doubts.
Q. You have been involved as the advisory
and technical committee member of
various institutes. How would you describe
the impact of your role in the prevailing
practices of civil engineering?
I always try my best, through the knowledge I
acquire, to make the society understand what we
must do for the overall development of our country.
If you have the skills and the knowledge, but don’t
know how to use them appropriately, they can be
misused, and it turns out to be more dangerous. I
feel glad and lucky that different organizations of
my country have believed in me and have chosen me
for advisory as well as technical committee member.
I have been teaching structural engineering courses
essential to Nepal as it is in need of many structural
engineers for its development in the construction
sector. If students here learn effectively, then
structures in Nepal can be safe from earthquake —
my main motive to teach these subjects. If we have
knowledge, then we should not only impart to our
country but to the world. I share my knowledge in
different ways. Sometimes, I go to other universities
as a visiting professor. I also do review for some
reputed journals.
Q. Lastly what message/advice would you
like to share to the students who aspire to
be great structural engineers?
My fi rst and main advice is that one must be
honest attheir job. If you lack honesty, your skills
and knowledge are useless. There is no shortcut to
success and it is not easy to achieve great heights
in life.
To be a successful structural engineer,one should
love the subject and be updated. The depth of its
importance must be well-understood. Technically,
one must have skills and
knowledge on many aspects like
material quality and strength,
failure
criteria
knowledge,
mechanics, structural analysis,
analysis tools and understand
drawings. Nowadays, everything
is computerized, taking designing
and calculations to computers, but
you must know the fundamentals
to use and apply everything. You
must know design codes clearly to avoid trouble.
Above all, engineers must understand the human
psychology for successful execution of any kind of
project.