Mangaluru: A three-day Faculty Development Programme on Forensics in Civil Engineering organised by St. Joseph’s Engineering College, Vamanjoor was inaugurated on July 22 at Bethania Hall.
Prof. K S Jagadish, Retd. Professor of Civil Engineering, IISc. Bengaluru inaugurated the Faculty Development Programme in the presence of Prof. S K Sekar, Senior Professor, VIT; Rev. Fr. Wilfred Prakash D’Souza, Director, St. Joseph’s Engineering College; Dr. Rio D’Souza, Principal, St. Joseph’s Engineering College; Dr. B Radheshyam, HoD, Civil Engineering, St Joseph’s Engineering College; Dr. Yajnheswaran B and Manjunath B, programme convenors.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Rio D’Souza, Principal, St. Joseph’s Engineering College said, “Forensics means looking at failures and learning from them. Engineers are capable of finding the faults and also forecasting the happenings. Failure analysis is done not only to fix faults but to understand them and to do better in the future. These days people compromise on standards. This FDP will help all of us to understand and learn a new area in our field.”
Prof. S K Sekar, Senior Professor, VIT, in his speech, lauded SJEC for taking up the initiative to organise the FDP on an emerging subject at a very appropriate time. Sharing examples of developed countries like Europe and USA, where a major chunk of the country’s budget is spent on repairing and rehabilitating old buildings and structures, he said, “Engineers are like doctors. We are diagnosing and treating the buildings. The structures built in olden days have longer life whereas the present day structures have a short life. We need to build structures which have more than 100 years of life”, he said adding that, “Knowledge of required material, selecting appropriate material and quality of the material is important for a structure to last long and proper maintenance is the key.”
Prof. K S Jagadish, Retd. Professor of Civil Engineering, IISc, said, “Failures are the stepping stones to success. Failures also lead to a lot of distress. Try to do some experimental buildings to experience the projects. Engineers are involved in planning also. Civil engineers have a bigger role in proper planning and systematic development of the country.”
Rev. Fr. Wilfred Prakash D’Souza, Director, St. Joseph’s Engineering College, in his presidential address, stressed the need of proper planning and thought process to avoid unwanted accidents and waste of public resources. He also welcomed the participants from various institutions to the FDP and extended his full support for the programme.
Manjunath B, Programme Convener welcomed and Ajay P proposed a vote of thanks. Prashanth and Bhavya compered the programme.
