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April 2012 Volume 4 : Issue 1

Rendezvous: Professor Mandar Inamdar You were awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award this year. How do you feel about it? I feel greatly honoured for being awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award. The best thing about this award is that it’s a result of spontaneous response from the students. It certainly feels really good that all the hard work that you have put in teaching is recognized by the students. What facet of being a professor fascinates you? My job, as a professor, has two main facets - teaching and research. Teaching involves disseminating your knowledge to the students, whereas research involves generating new knowledge. I deeply enjoy both these aspects. The most interesting thing about teaching is to get to interact with many brilliant students. For me, the process of teaching is much more than just delivering lectures. I feel a great need to have interaction with students while teaching. Sincere and inquisitive students always get the best out of me. My PhD advisor always emphasized that teaching and writing a book are the best ways to learn a subject. I don’t know anything about book writing, but I clearly agree upon his views on teaching. Research, on the other hand, is a completely different story. My

field of research is mechanobiology, which is an inter-disciplinary

field that involves investigating the role of mechanical forces in

biological structures. Although extremely satisfying, I have to

admit that research can be terribly frustrating at times. Getting

interested students, finding challenging problems to work,

publishing your work in good journals, etc., can be pretty tough. In

any case, I feel that a day is well spent only when I do my best with

both teaching and research.

When did you decide to go for a Ph.D? Why? When I was a student here (from 1996-2000), I had a strong inclination towards academics. At the same time, I was not completely decided if I wanted to do a PhD. But once I got an offer from Caltech, I became pretty certain that I wanted to do a PhD. My mentors at the time - Prof. Banerji and Prof. Goyal - played an instrumental role in guiding me in this direction.

What research topics are you working on currently? As I mentioned earlier, the main thrust of my research is in mechanobiology. In very simple words, I work on mechanics of biological structures. For example, our cells are formed of complex

networks of biological filaments, which can exert active forces on the surroundings. My current work involves theoretical modelling of this force generation within the cells, and its role on cellular adhesion and motion. I am also greatly interested in non-linear dynamics of nano-beams, and have been working on a couple of problems in that direction. How much time do you usually get to spend on research? It is not at all feasible to quantify the time spent on research. The reason is that it all depends on the role that I have to play. If a student working on a research problem is motivated, I don’t have to spend much time on it. On the other hand, there are some problems that I have to work all by myself. In such cases, if I get a break-through, I essentially work on it non-stop for many days. Similarly, I have to work really hard on research when we are about to submit a paper to a journal. At such times, I work even late into the night, or on the weekends. But there are times when no idea works. During such periods, the research slows down, and I pay more attention to learning newer material for teaching, or search for other research directions. Mr. Jairam Ramesh said some time back that IITs hardly do any worthwhile research. What do you have to say about that? Clearly, we have a lot to do before we get on par with the top universities in the world. At the same time, it is abundantly clear that we have greatly progressed in our research in the past many years. There are many extremely talented professors in IITB, and it would be really unfair to say that they aren’t doing any worthwhile research. At the same time, there is definitely room for improvement.

You did your B.Tech from IIT Bombay and your MS & Ph.D. from CalTech. How do you think IIT Bombay compares with world-class foreign universities like MIT, Stanford and the like - student motivation wise, infrastructure-wise, etc. This is not a fair comparison. In places like Caltech and MIT, undergraduate students choose a particular stream for studies (civil, mechanical, etc.) only in their third (junior) year. Students, generally, choose the field only because they like it. This is very unlike what happens in IITs. First of all, the students here join a particular field in their first year, when their knowledge of the field is very limited. Similarly, students prefer only “high” departments like CS and EE. It is, hence, a bit unrealistic for them to stay motivated, if they are forced to come to “low” departments like

civil and material sciences. All the same, I have to admit that many students do reconcile with their allotted departments, and stay motivated. What do you think about the attitude of undergraduate students at IITB towards learning? What is wrong with it, if anything is? There are some students who are extremely motivated and want to learn as much as they can. These students will go out of the way to learn things not taught in the class, and would try to find a niche for themselves. I have seen many such students at IIT, and am greatly proud of them. At the same time, I find that there is also a large population of students, who come to IIT with a feeling of entitlement – meaning, they should get everything without working hard for it. These students take things for granted, and feel that they can manipulate professors into giving them good grades (or passing them.) I feel that such an attitude is detrimental, both to the students and to the Institute. Finally, there are some students who start very strong, but lose motivation on the way. I can say that a lot of onus also lies with us teachers to stop such things from happening. Your take on the 80% attendance policy of the institute. Should students be given the freedom to make choices about attending/not attending lectures? Are they mature enough? Or should the decision be left to the professor? I think that sincere students (around 30%) will anyway attend the classes. The students who don’t care (around 20%) will anyway not benefit from anything. But, a large chunk of students (around 50%) are on the fence. The 80% attendance policy will make sure that they will attend the classes and benefit. I think that the 80% attendance policy is quite necessary for the benefit of such students. Also, attending classes is the kind of etiquette that will prepare the students to be regular in their professional life in the future.

What are your views on the fascination/craze of undergraduate students for foreign internships? What purpose (if any) do these internships serve? It is a good idea to get some foreign exposure. At the same time, I have my reservations about what can be achieved in a short

duration of two months.

My attempt @URA

The Undergraduate Research Award is an opportunity our institute offers to undergraduate students for earning research exposure at the undergraduate level. The URA 01 is a non-credit project that can be undertaken before the fourth year, but which reflects on a student’s transcript. In the following article, G. Sreeta writes about her URA 01 project Before I begin with the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of the procedure for applying for a URA, let me get

one aspect straight- this is not a documentation of the procedure for a URA (you might try

the academic brochure for that). This is an informal discussion on how I went about working

for it.

I came to know about the URA opportunity only around the end of my 4th semester. The issue came up during a discussion with my Honors professor. Frankly speaking, I think I would have been better off starting earlier, because the 4th semester is an ideal time for experimentation. Nevertheless, I began my hunt for information regarding the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of the proceedings. I began my pilgrimage to the Academic Office and came to know about the various formalities and requirements for the process. The entire process can be outlined into the following steps: 1) Find a Topic of your interest – For this keep your eyes and ears open. One naïve way to go about it is to visit the faculty page on the department’s website. The research areas and interests of all the professors are mentioned there, but this can be a little vague. So, if something catches your eye, visit the professor’s personal webpage and see if the detailed description sustains your interest. If so, see what kinds of skills are required in that field and how well you can relate to the prescribed work. (Most research activities require good programming skills, mathematics, etc) My current topic is - Mechanics of Cells and Differentiation. I came across this in my Honors class, when the professor spoke about the ‘larger’ scope of Civil Engineering. So, I followed the cue and went about to meet Professor Mandar Inamdar who specializes in this field.

2) Convince the professor – I think this is the tricky and more difficult part. Professors can be quite reluctant to take students in owing to our poster image of ‘irresponsibility’. So, tell him why you find his work interesting, and what you can do in your capacity to contribute to his work. Tell the professor about your programming skills, your Minor courses (if that is of any relevance) and other courses and skills. My Physics Minor helped me

in persuading my guide. Professors may give a little reading material to see how enthusiastic you actually are and this is where most of the students are sieved out. So, read that material and follow up with your professor on what you understood, your queries, etc. Once the above two steps are done, you need to complete a few formalities with the Academic Office. You need a hand-written application stating your work and your guide and this should be approved by your guide, Facad and DUGC (HOD). One important thing to note is that, if this application is submitted, then the PP/NP grade for the URA has to be submitted by your guide before the release of grades for the semester, otherwise your regular grades could be withheld. Also, if you have completed some project and think you have done significant work, you could ask your guide/Facad to recommend you for a URA. Regarding my project- My project was based on modeling the mechanical interactions of cells using structural elements and coming up with a model that is consistent. I worked on this project during my 5th semester, at the end of which my professor found my work satisfactory and recommended me for a URA. This link will provide very good information and experience of others who have been awarded a URA: http://www.insightiitb.org/2011/ura-101-2/. The number of working hours I have spent in this project wasn’t fixed. The biggest task at hand for

me was to come up with a model. I spent unaccounted time in trial and error processes. The beginning was intense, but when I settled down with a project, my major work was coding and debugging (some days were lucky and some weren’t). The amount of time depends on the project and individual competence and varies over the stages of the project. My project did not involve lab work, but other projects might. I had immense pleasure working with my guide Prof. Mandar M Inamdar. The field of work I undertook was of great interest to me and getting my URA 01 has been a very important learning and memorable experience to me.

Brought out by the Civil Engineering Association

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"I would cherish the night-out under the Eiffel tower, the weekend dorm parties,

parties, interesting research work,

healthy discussions and breath-taking train journeys all through my life’ . "

First person report of Internship Experienced by the students….

Prateek Chaturvedi, a B Tech student of the ‘08 batch, did his internship at Deutsche Bank during the summer of 2011. Selection procedure: I worked as an intern at the Mumbai branch of Deutsche Bank. I was selected via PT Cell, through the usual procedure of one written test followed by two HR interviews. I believe it was good quantitative abilities, communication skills and a finance internship in my 2

nd year that

helped me get through. Project profile: Intern for the Institutional Clients Group, Asian Rates Team. What that means is I was assisting a Singapore-based team that sells rate products and derivatives to people who trade in the largest amounts, viz., hedge fund clients, pension funds, governments, people called "real money clients", and a lot more. One-week training was organized for us at the beginning of our internship, which meant that we stayed at a 5 star hotel, and learnt a few things. Work description: Underlying goal: Make life easier for the Sales Group. How I did it: I built a tool that very quickly identifies the most profitable trades to be made at any point of time, covering more than 500 products and 10 countries. Most of these products are issued by governments when they need money and are, thus, reflective of a country’s prosperity and credit-worthiness (purely in financial terms). What sounds cool: Identified Relative Value Trade Opportunities across all the heavily traded Asian sovereign bonds, volatility derivatives, futures, options, etc. Schedule: Come when you wish; go when you wish; just get the work done. Personal experiences and encounters beyond work: Absolutely amazing. Listening in on calls between company heads, government representatives, bank officials (basically everyone who can influence the markets in a big way) was fun. Watching news erupt the moment something happened and people's reactions to the same was thrilling. The EuroZone Default issue was at its peak during my internship, which showed me the most about market sentiments, expectations etc. Also, the people at the bank were amazing, extremely open, fun to talk to, always willing to lend a helping hand, and great party-givers. Interacting and working with these people helped me learn a lot. It helped me get a new perspective on events and news. I enjoyed the innumerable treats at some of the best hangout spots in Mumbai. The stipend was enough to get me a phone, sponsor two vacations, and support a whole lot of other activities.

Vaibhav Kalra, a B Tech student of the ‘08 batch, did his internship at Leibniz University, Hannover during the summer of 2011.

Owing to my interest in research, an intense desire to explore the world and learn about new cultures, I had always dreamt of working on a summer project in a foreign university. Sending emails selectively rather than random spamming paid off and I finally received an invitation from a German professor, Prof Nackenhorst, from the Leibniz University in Hannover. I had little idea of what the months to come had in store for me. All I knew about the university was its educational excellence and multi-cultural environment. After months of anxious waiting, screwing up end-semester exams and loads of shopping, the day of departure arrived. With infinite excitement and a more than just a tinge of nervousness, I left India on the 5

th of May. Because I reached Germany on a Friday, I had two days off before

I started working on my project. Thus, I got ample time to get an insight into the weekend culture of Germany. Tall, young men dancing on the streets, violins playing all around and alcohol all over the place made me realize that I was no longer in India. This amazing weekend helped to let the feeling of staying in an unknown, foreign land for the very first time sink in calmly. I was to work in the Institute of Computational and Static Mechanics. Once my work began, I was asked to go through a series of research papers and acquaint myself with MATLAB and ANSYS during the first couple of weeks. I worked on ‘Numerical Investigation of Micro Cracks in Reinforced Concrete Cubes. The project offered me a chance to understand various aspects of reinforcement that strengthen a concrete block. The institute was a host to scholars from all over the world, especially those from China and the United States. All members of Professor Nackenhorst’s research group contributed to my work with constructive suggestions and discussion. My supervisor was very patient with me and gave me sufficient time to understand the techniques that were completely new to me. By that time, I came to know that my guide was an eminent personality in Hannover and was nicknamed the Godfather of Hannover Mechanics. I was pleasantly surprised by this and it gave me all the more reason to work hard and prove myself. Eventually, most of my work bore fruit and I was told that I would be the Third author in two research papers. This made me immensely happy. The weekends were usually off and that gave me time to explore other parts of Europe. Along with my mates from IIT, I visited Amsterdam, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Paris and Germany. I could not stop myself from comparing the place to India throughout the journey. One thing India would have the most difficulty in catching up is the transportation system. It is extremely well-knitted in Europe. Each journey was a unique experience in itself and brought with it new adventures and opportunities to learn. The adventure sports in Switzerland, the night-out with friends on a chilly French night under the Eiffel tower, the weekend dorm parties with people from all around the globe, the interesting research work accompanied by healthy discussions in the group, the eagerness to taste some Indian food after months of sandwiches and burgers, the breath-taking train journeys are some highlights that I would cherish all through my life. I believe this was the best time for me to go abroad. On this note, I would like to encourage all to consider a university internship as a very good choice after the second or the third year as it gives one a golden chance to learn more about one’s field, know about the needs of research, move out of one’s comfort zone and fly across the globe.

Shikhar Sethi, a B Tech student of the ‘09 batch, did his internship at Essar Engineering service, during the summer of 2011.

Applying for a foreign internship was never a good option for me, considering the bare minimal knowledge I had in the field of civil engineering. Hence, I turned to the alternative of an industry internship. It is always better to start looking for internships as early as possible, if one is extremely serious about gaining some practical training. I started looking for internship opportunities from February and sent my near-blank resume to various construction companies. I got to talk with the HR of a company X, and all I got in reply from him was ‘Can you call on Wednesday?’. Some replied straight-away, ‘Sorry, you are late. We are already done with the internship procedure’. Time flew by rapidly and I had planned nothing for the summers. I couldn’t secure a project in the department, which could have made my summer a little more worthwhile. Finally, I asked my dad, if he could help. He told me that he could talk to someone to offer me an opportunity to work at EESL (Essar Engineering Services Limited). (Here is the connection: Dad-Essar Power-internship). I was glad since I finally had something to look forward to. Just in case you were curious to know, the stipend was zero. Internship description: I had two options at EESL - to work at a construction site in Gujarat or at the head office in BKC, a place where you can find Head Offices of almost all major firms. I chose to work at the BKC office since the work profile was interesting. The EESL had a Civil-Structural Division which was in-charge of designing various structural elements, viz., support structures for machinery, pipe rack supports, foundations etc. All this is a small part of what goes into making a power plant. The engineering department at EESL is a really busy place. There are three shifts that run all around the clock. Due to lack of space for me to sit, I was allotted the third shift, i.e. 3 pm- 11pm. It was perfect for me. During the initial few weeks, I was made to go through the standards of construction material, cement-concrete works, etc. Most of my time was spent in reading – be it Standard Codes or some comic, which I could issue from the office library. EESL never had an experience of training college students before. So, it was tough for me to adjust with no other interns for the first few days. Mr Prabhakar Menon, Head of the Civil-Structural Division, must have had a hard time managing his staff and me. I couldn’t understand more than half of the huge drawing sheets he handed over to me. He later suggested that I must read up about the theory of Design of Structures, a course that I did later in my fifth semester. Honestly, I never thought I would spend time at the internship reading theory. My idea about a design internship was to be working on professional softwares and coming up with analytical results that can be applied on an actual site. After about five weeks of reading, I was asked to start working on STAAD-PRO. For those who don’t know about this, it’s a high-fundoo software used for analysis of structures. Within a week’s time, I was able to analyze complex structures. It’s pretty easy. All those indeterminate structural mechanics questions that took hours of manual solving could now be solved in a matter of a few minutes. At times, due to the overlap of time between shifts and not being able to get a seat, Prabhakar Sir arranged meetings for me with other Engineering Division Heads to understand how the flow of information takes place from one division to another. There were six-seven other departments at EESL: Process, Mechanical (Statics/Rotary), Electrical, Instrumentation, Piping and Project Control. This was one of the best parts of my internship. In the last week of my internship, I was finally handed a real structure to design, analyze and verify the results with previously known figures. It took me about four days to get to the results; but, in the end, I almost matched up with the actual results. I can count the number of days when I sat till 11 pm on the fingers of one hand. I used to leave the office with my dad on most days. The company had a pick-up and drop facility at specific intervals of time, but I rarely used it. On the last day of my internship, I thanked all the people who helped me out - with food, the stupid coffee machine, computer login, etc. Before leaving, I collected my internship certificate from the HR office; and there I came across two girls who had been working as interns since seven weeks!!!

www internship com

“I feel like we’re pawns of the

Industry’s need for research grants”

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Shout- Sophomore Batch Division

Narendra and Sagar, second year undergraduates of the department, speak about the increasing number of student intake and its consequences on the current Sophomore batch

The sharp growth in the intake of students at IIT Bombay over the past couple of years has put a sudden strain on the existing infrastructure and created an urgent demand for more of it. This is easily observable from the tremendous amount of construction activities in the campus. A direct consequence of the same is the extremely high student - professor ratio. This issue did not receive a lot of attention till the JEE-2010 batch came in, since the annual increase in intake of students was not significant. But with an increase of almost 20% in the number of students that year, the department was compelled to divide the batch in two. The stark increase in the number of students is evident from the fact that the 2006 batch had approximately fifty students while the present sophomore batch has around 116 students (an increase of 132%). Laboratory batches earlier consisted of not more than three students; while most batches today consist of at least seven students. On the other hand, there is no substantial increase in the department’s infrastructure over these years. With the Lecture Hall Complex and VMCC now in place, the burden on the department to accommodate lectures and laboratory sessions has reduced. Along with shifting the classes to these venues, the sophomore batch was also divided into two. This decision was aimed at improving the effectiveness of lecture deliverance in class. The department believes that a smaller class shall ensure better interaction between the professor and students and thereby foster better understanding of the course content. Students now feel more confident while discussing doubts during class. Also, professors can now devote more time to individual students. This has enabled better monitoring of the students’ progress. On the contrary, interaction between students of the two batches has been minimal. Students from one division hardly know students from the other division. It would definitely not be a pleasant scenario where students graduating in the same year do not know each other after having spent four years in the same department. The formation of two divisions has also lead to some logistical issues. There is always a possibility of imbalance in the course content taught and the pace at which it is taught. Students often face problems during exams because of this imbalance. Eventually the entire batch is graded on the same scale, but with access to different resources. These issues need to be looked into to find a solution acceptable to all. It would only be logical to take a review from the current sophomore batch regarding this division of their batch before any such decision is implemented for other junior batches.

Richard Massey is one of the rare students to return to his alma-mater for higher education. He completed his B. Tech from IIT Bombay in the year 2009 and is back here pursuing M. Tech in

Remote Sensing. While we have a huge chunk of students eyeing for a getaway to the West for a Master’s Degree, Richard took the unconventional path since the lack of scholarships during the

American Economic meltdown of 2008-09 made him bid adieu to his US dreams. The following is his account of his academic endeavours within IIT Bombay and without.

About my choice of IIT Bombay for higher studies:

Having completed my graduation from IITB, returning to the institute for M. Tech may raise some eyebrows; but I believe that IITB is a world-class institution and with great

research facilities, infrastructure and qualified professors always willing to assist, there is hardly any reason to look beyond. The major difference that one may find between elite

foreign universities and IITB is the lack of industrial collaboration; but my love for academics, research and the familiar environment ensured that I returned to IIT Bombay

Before Joining IITB for my second innings, I worked as an Assistant Professor at the Kalinga Institute of Technology (KIT). During my brief stint at KIT, I could see a reflection

of myself in the students; but, startlingly, most students did not seem to care at all about academics. A probable reason for this is that students do not struggle enough and,

therefore, do not realize the educational value and opportunities available to them.

About my research interests and plans for the future:

Remote sensing is the interpretation of satellite images, but with broad applications in land surveying - estimation of forest cover, urban spread and telecommunication and

defence purposes. My M. Tech project is based on Artificial Neural Network for Rainfall Prediction. It revolves around the rainfall distribution and its prediction. In an agrarian

economy like India, this field has immense applications.

I haven’t yet made up my mind about a PhD because it is a big decision. It involves a great deal of concentration on one single project for considerable time. I am yet

undecided but may go for it in the near future. PhD students in India get less pay than their counterparts abroad, so I would prefer a foreign university for a PhD, if I decide to go for

it. As of now, I am looking forward to placements and focussing on firms supporting research activities, like the Cassidian, the European aerospace and defence firms with

substantial research background. There are some other companies like Atkins and GE digital which are construction and image processing companies respectively. Image processing

is a field I would love to explore further. It has wide military applications and I would love to contribute.

Major changes at IIT Bombay over time:

The batch strength has increased significantly; it almost doubled over five years. There is a dire need for better infrastructure to meet this increasing intake of students. The

Degree structure is more flexible with students given the chance to explore and pursue their interests by means of electives, Minors and Honors.

CROSSWORD

ACROSS: 1. The cross section of the wing of an aeroplane 3. an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system 4. a measure of the resistance of a material to indentations and scratching 6. a region of disturbed flow downstream of a solid body moving through a fluid 8. a precision instrument used for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes 9. a property of certain clays to regain a part of their strength lost due to remoulding 12. a component of limit state design of structures that accounts for their durability, deflection, fire resistance and cracking 13. a family of curves that are instantaneously tangent to the velocity vector of a fluid flow 14. this process helps prevent surface drying of a concrete cube 15. the steepest angle of descent on a granular soil surface when material on the slope face is one the verge of sliding 16. an algorithm popularly used to determine the shortest path joining two points on a road network

DOWN: 2. the Muller-Breslau principle is used to determine ______ lines 3. used in paving roads; obtained by fractional distillation of petroleum 5. used to measure the particle size distribution of fine-grained soils 7. applying stress to a soil causing it to densify due to removal of air 10. the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force 11. a strain gauge ______ is used to measure normal strains along different directions

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CiviQ Winners

Aakaar - the annual technical festival of the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay – concluded on the 4th of March. This edition of Aakaar was a huge success and witnessed a cumulative footfall of over eight hundred students. The primary crowd-puller of Aakaar 2012 was the National Students' Symposium which was conducted on the scale of a student conference. The Symposium aims to provide young civil engineering students a modest pedestal to put forth their ideas, be heard on a grand platform and get assessed by popular industry professionals and able professors. Participants from over 140 colleges across India sent in their research work for evaluation and 75 teams made it to the final round of paper/poster presentation. With Go Green as its theme, Aakaar 2012 added a social dimension to itself. An online deliberation forum was created to feature debates on a number of popular socio-environmental issues. This was an effective way of sharing thoughts and presenting opinions on sensitive issues on an easily accessible forum.

Another slice of this edition was the civil engineering and logic based quiz 'CivIQ'. As Aakaar aspired to spread beyond just the IIT Bombay campus, four legs for this quiz were held, one each in popular engineering colleges of Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur and Nashik. The grand finale for this quiz was later held at the IIT Bombay campus on the occasion of the festival. This edition of Aakaar also featured technical workshops on Struds and ESR-GSR, two popular structural design and analysis softwares. To add to this manifold undertaking, a multitude of on-the-spot events and a guest lecture by Dr. G. S. Rao was organized. Dr. Rao formerly served as the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Head of Lavasa Corporation.

BLUEPRINT TEAM

Poster Presentation

National Civil Engineering Student Symposium

Bridge-IT

Paper Presentation

Editors

Ashlesh Sonje

Writers

Narendra Chauhan

Sagar Khatri

Photo Credits

Islahul H. Zunjani

Niket Vora

Design

Shahbaz Haidar

Ashlesh Sonje

Rohan Sablay

Professor Dhingra sharing his Thoughts

Guest Lecture by Dr. Rao Team AAKAAR 2012

“We are all faced with a series of great

opportunities brilliantly disguised as

impossible situations” -Charles R. Swindoll