Report of the Review Committee
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Madras
November 2013
59
Contents
1
Background
2
2
Presentations, Meetings and Visits to Facilities
3
3
Specific Recommendations
7
4
Separate Free Flowing Notes from Each Member
16
5
Consolidated Summary
25
Acknowledgement
27
Annexure I Terms of Reference
28
Annexure II Summary of Discussions with Students and Staff
30
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1. Background
The Director, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras constituted the
following committee to review the academic, research, professional and outreach activities of the
Department of Civil Engineering:
1. Shri.E. Sreedharan
Advisor, Kochi Metro Rail;
Kochi. Kerala.
2. Dr.-Ing. Martin Kranert
Chair Professor, Faculty of
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dept of Waste
Management and Emissions, Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid
Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart , Germany
3. Dr. Vasudev Vithal Nori
Chairman, Shirish Patel and Associates Consultants Private Limited,
Mumbai
4. Dr.P.P.Mujumdar
KSIIDC Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore
A number of documents were made available to the committee, as a preparation for the review.
These include: (a) Report of Civil Engineering Department, prepared for the review, (b) Civil
Engineering Department review committee report, 2007, (c) Document prepared by the IIT on
expectations from its faculty, (d) Report of the task force on B. Tech and Dual Degree
curriculum, (e) Report of the M.Tech. task force, (f) Report of the task force on graduate
research, and (g) Terms of Reference for the Review Committee (reproduced in Annexure 1)
The invitation letter from the Director to the committee members listed out the following specific
points on which recommendations were sought from the review committee : (a) A consolidated
view on each of the terms of reference, (b) a separate free flowing note from each member of the
Review Committee, giving his/her perspective reflecting the priorities of the member, and (c) if
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the committee so wishes, a consolidated summary highlighting the consensus, if any, on the most
important observations.
This report of the review committee is prepared keeping the above points in view.
The committee visited the Department during November 26-27, 2013, for conducting the review.
Shri. E. Sreedharan, a member of the Committee, could not participate in this exercise because of
a minor accident that prevented him from travelling.
2. Presentations, Meetings and Visits to Facilities
2.1 Department Presentation
The Head of the Department, Prof. S. R. Gandhi made a comprehensive presentation on all the
activities of the department including, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, PhD guidance,
sponsored research, consultancy projects, research publications, outreach activities and
significant contributions to the industry. A unique and noteworthy contribution of the department
has been on developing two teaching programs specifically tailored for the industry – the MTech
programme in Building Construction and the Diploma programme for the Metro Rail. The
MTech programme has been in successful operation since 1998 and has helped significantly in
enhancing the industry’s capacity.
An open discussion with the faculty was facilitated by the committee during the presentation, on
a number of issues including : (a) recruitment of faculty at senior levels (Associate Professor and
above), (b) start up grants given to the new faculty recruits, (c) mentoring of the new faculty by
the senior faculty, (d) travel support available to the new faculty, (e) focus on Departmental
issues during the faculty retreats, (f) dual degree programme offering M.Tech. and PhD degrees,
(g) institute level core courses offered by the Department, (h) training of students in Engineering
Drawing (division between computational tools and manual drawing), (i) teaching assistantship
available from the M.Tech. and the research students, (j) evaluation of courses by the students,
(k) use of facilities generated for teaching, PhD research and industrial consultancy, (l) high end
research resulting from the facilities generated, (k) Scientific and practice oriented (e.g., with
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industry, administration etc) conferences organized by faculty members, (l) women students in
undergraduate and postgraduate courses, (m) tutorials for UG and PG students, and (n) practical
work on field.
Separate discussions with BTech., MTech. and Research Students, as well as with the technical
staff of the Department were held by the Committee. The inputs received during these
discussions are provided in Annexure II. These inputs are not critically evaluated by the
Committee and the Department may take suitable view on them.
2.2 Summary of Visits to the Labs
Building Technology and Construction Management
The committee visited the following laboratories and interacted with the students and faculty
members engaged in research in the laboratories: (a) Lafarge-IIT Madras Laboratory for
Durability and Long Term performance of Concrete, (b) Mechanical Testing Laboratory, (c)
Building Science Laboratory and (d) Integrated Construction Practice Laboratory.
The Lafarge-IIT Madras laboratory is well equipped with experimental units for research in
durability and long term properties of concrete including facilities to simulate different
environments (e.g., walk in environmental chamber and carbonation chambers), for addressing
issues related to alternative materials in concrete and to develop performance specifications for
concrete, with an Indian focus. Tests on concrete (Indian) for evaluation of long term creep
characteristics is noteworthy. Outcome of these tests will confirm whether models currently used
(such as the European codes) are satisfactory.
The mechanical testing laboratory has servo hydraulic testing machines for cement mortar and
concrete. Testing fiber reinforced concrete panels is important and the facility is a unique feature
for India. The instrumentation also includes equipment for microstructural evaluation.
The building science laboratory is equipped with necessary instruments for research in thermal
comfort, acoustics and lighting.
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Of particular interest is the Building Information Model which is now an indispensable tool for
integrated project delivery.
Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory
The geotechnical engineering laboratory houses equipment for research on triaxial tests and
geosynthetic materials. Earthquake engineering laboratory is an important component of the
Geotechnical Engineering and is well equipped to be of service in the country.
Geoenvironmental Engineering laboratory has facilities for physico-chemical analyses. Synergy
effects for common use with equipment in environmental lab should be considered. Labs for
rock mechanics and unsaturated soil mechanics complete the research facilities in this field.
A wide variety of routine testing equipment as well as state of art equipment was demonstrated.
Creep Testing of geosynthetic products and drainage characteristics of geotextiles was very
interesting. Reduced model testing of piles for varying frequency of vibration was equally
interesting; Probably actual testing will be even more useful since installation methods, actual
soil conditions etc are much better represented.
Structural Engineering & Material Testing
The structural engineering laboratory is equipped with all relevant testing stations of large scale
structural elements for static and dynamic tests. Also available are facilities in testing
composites, relaxation and non-destructive evaluation and testing facilities, which become more
and more important with passage of time. A new structural glass research and testing facility
addresses the critical requirement for studies on glass in building construction. The facility is
also used for testing for glass used in automobile industry.
This structural glass testing facility was of considerable interest. With sudden spurt in the use of
structural glass there has been an urgent need for such a facility. Hollow ducts in fiber
reinforced plastic as a substitute for concrete ducts ( for services) is an interesting possibility
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The committee also visited the GFRG Panel Building which is a showcase for the indigenous
technology developed for sustainable, low cost buildings that can be constructed in short time.
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Laboratories
The Environmental Engineering laboratory is well equipped and makes it possible to carry out
research in the field of air and water quality at international standards. The fields of water and
waste water treatment, solid waste management, contaminated sites and subsurface contaminant
transport are also covered in research. The equipment is new and the research carried out is very
impressive. Additional new lab rooms are under construction.
Of particular interest were studies in ground water contamination, waste water recycling,
portable water testing kits to meet the needs of rural population and sustainable water treatment
techniques. This is matched by a wide variety of state of art equipment. Ongoing studies on
biological aerosols in urban and rural environment demonstrates capability to address
interdisciplinary issues.
The hydraulic engineering laboratory is under development and rejuvenation. New equipment
and instrumentation needs to be installed to make the laboratory comparable to international
standards.
Transportation Engineering
In transport engineering, a new intelligent transportation systems laboratory is established. It is
the first of its kind in India and makes it possible to monitor traffic in real-time. Traffic detection
technologies and software for detection and data transfer are available for research and
demonstration.
It is remarkable that efforts have been made to carry out studies relevant to our peculiar vehicular
traffic. It is perhaps necessary to widen the scope beyond prediction of arrival time of busses.
The dramatic growth in ownership of vehicles in the last 15 years has created havoc in road
transportation. The infrastructure is already stressed to the limit almost in all cities. Perhaps the
transportation research group could take up these issues for Chennai city.
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The asphalt and pavement materials laboratory is working in the field of characterization of
bituminous material. It is equipped with new testing units and allows research in developing
advanced bituminous pavements.
Bitumen testing facility covering a wide range of issues such as polymer additives with a view to
achieving uniform mechanical properties over a wide temperature range , use of recycled
bitumen pavements, incorporating new test methods in accordance with ASTM are the need of
the hour. The committee appreciated the efforts of the faculty in developing the facilities.
3. Specific Recommendations
The following paragraphs list the specific recommendations, against the items mentioned in
the “Terms of Reference” for the Committee (Annexure I).
(i) The coverage of important fields/areas in the department, whether there are key gaps, and
whether some re-orientation is recommended in some areas,
The Department addresses most of the important areas, and there are no major gaps at
present. However, the emphasis of work may be slightly reoriented with the present
strength and expertise of the faculty to focus on the challenges for the future. These include
the issues arising out of megacities, climate change, environmental degradation, energy,
resource efficiency etc. The areas of sustainability, currently active in the Department, may
be made broader to include these issues.
Development of field hydrologic observatories may be taken up as a long term hydrologic
research to provide a basic understanding of hydrologic processes in a coastal region. It is
worth pointing out here that there are very few hydrologic observatories in the world, and
there is only one in the country today, being maintained by IISc. It will be of great value to
the hydrologic science to have an observatory in the country in a coastal region. The water
resources group is well geared up to set up such an observatory, and some initial
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experiments are already underway. This effort should be taken to a much larger scale of
observations, by generating funds towards installing flux towers, sensors and real-time data
communication networks.
Such field observatories, apart from providing valuable
scientific data for basic understanding of the processes, will also act as field laboratories to
test out the water management options.
The committee also suggests that the methods concerning life cycle assessment and waste
management should be made much more rigorous. The Building Construction group,
which is extremely active and has achieved a great visibility in the country, should also
address questions related to energy in buildings much more rigorously than it is doing at
present. This also includes the whole life cycle of the buildings (Construction, use of the
building, demolition and recycling) regarding sustainability.
(ii)
(a) The course programmes, with respect to relevance for research and/or employment,
The courses are all relevant and the curriculum is drawn with a high degree of care and
application. There is some scope for slightly restructuring the courses for the UG students
(including the dual degree students) to give them a broader choice of electives. It is
suggested that the Department discusses the following issue, in this context, and decides
what is best for the students:
The first year UG courses lean heavily towards basic theory – physics, chemistry and
mathematics, with very little exposure of the students to engineering. In the remaining
three years, there is very little scope for the UG students to choose adequate number of
electives in subjects such as building construction, transportation, hydrology/water
resources, environmental engineering etc. These are important courses for a Civil
Engineering graduate. The current slot structure appears to give very little freedom for the
students to choose electives of their choice, and it is the opinion of the Committee that an
interested student should have the option of choosing at least two courses in his/her area of
interest.
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(b) whether the courses are relevant, comprehensive and possess depth, the breadth and
depth of laboratory courses
The courses are all very relevant, comprehensive and well thought out. The Committee is
very appreciative of the rigor with which both the theory and the lab courses are taught.
(c) whether the experiments have been upgraded, the vision for course programmes during
the next 5-10 years;
Most laboratories are very well equipped – and the experiments are well designed. The
Hydraulics Laboratory is currently undergoing renovation and it is expected that
sophisticated instrumentation and setups will be available soon for the students. The course
program will benefit from addressing the observation made in (b) above.
(iii) (a) The quality and quantity of research carried out in important areas, and the position of
the department in relation to the best work done globally in these areas;
The quantum of research output of the Department is very high and is greatly appreciated
by the Committee. The number of PhDs produced by the Department is growing over the
years and the Department is aiming to enhance the number further in the coming years.
This is a very welcome move keeping in view the need for the trained manpower in the
country. The number of journal publications is also commensurate with the general
expectations from a Department of such standing in the country. Given the high potential
of the extremely talented faculty, however, there is still a good scope to enhance the quality
of research. Please also see the comment in item (b) below.
(b) whether the publications are predominantly in journals where the best global peers
publish, whether research in areas important to India are being pursued,
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The publications are by and large in good journals, and a few publications are also in the
journals such as Water Resources Research, Geotechnique etc., where the best global peers
publish, but at present this number is small. The Department should identify top journals
in each field (irrespective of the impact factors of the journals), and should strive to publish
in those journals at least once every two or three years. This will bring a much needed
international research visibility to the Department. For example, the Department could
achieve visibility by frequent publications in journals such as Journal of Mechanics and
Physics of Solids (JMPS), ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE Journal of
Engineering Mechanics, ASME Applied Mechanics, Geotechnique, ASCE Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engg., Transportation Research – B, Water Resources
Research, Environmental Science and Technology, Waste Management, Chemosphere etc.
(c) whether the graduating PhD students are being employed in good positions,
Yes. (Refer to Table 6.3 and Fig 6.1 of the Department’s report prepared for the review)
(d) whether the number of scholars and the quantum of research are commensurate for the
size of the department and in comparison with global benchmarks,
The current number of PhD scholars is 185. For the current faculty strength of 50, this
number of PhD scholars is very good, and compares well with global benchmarks.
(e) whether the important research facilities for carrying out state-of-art research are
available in the main areas represented in the department,
The Department has excellent facilities both for teaching and for research. The Committee
was impressed with the sustained efforts put by the faculty in continually upgrading
facilities and adding new equipment through external funding.
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The Hydraulics Laboratory was till recently not very well equipped. The recent efforts put
by the two young faculty members in constructing flumes and developing instrumentation
in the laboratory is laudable.
Overall, the Committee feels that the Department may be currently the best in the country,
as far as laboratory facilities and equipment are concerned.
(f) whether bright UG and MTech students who show an interest in research are provided
an opportunity to engage.
Yes, ample opportunities are provided to the students to carry out research.
(g) whether there is an overall positive atmosphere that encourages research and enquiry;
Yes. Discussions among students, enthusing the students to ask right research questions
through frequent interactive sessions with faculty may further be encouraged.
(iv)
The teaching / learning methodologies employed in the theory and lab courses,
The methodologies employed are very good.
The following suggestions may be considered for enhancing the quality of education
further:
(a) UG Courses :Theory and lab courses must go hand in hand. Any gap of more than one
semester between theory and the lab courses will likely be less effective, and should be
avoided. Create more opportunities for internships for the students - the internships should
be relevant to the courses the student has already completed. Team work in elective
courses through mini projects, seminars and group discussions may be encouraged.
Excursions to important Civil Engineering projects (e.g., construction sites, large dams,
hydroelectric projects, bridges, tunnels, water and waste water treatment facilities etc) may
be taken up to give the students a feel of the engineering practice.
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(b) The Department may have a relook at the course feedback form (form for evaluation of
courses by the students). While the questionnaire in the form is exhaustive and is prepared
with care, the choice of the specific questions (apart from some core questions) is left to
the instructor, leaving no chance for the students to comment on aspects where there is a
definite need for the instructor to improve. Perhaps a smaller questionnaire common to all
courses and all instructors may be better suited – in such a case comparison of performance
across courses and across faculty members will be possible. In the present evaluation
system, it would be very difficult to compare the performance of courses in the student
evaluation, as the two courses would have obtained scores on different questions, in
general.
(c) PG courses: It must be ensured that the course material is provided to the students,
where the material is not available in standard text books or reference books available in
the institute library. If a faculty member uses power point projections for teaching, the
slides used in the presentation must be made available to the students. It is noticed that not
all electives listed for a semester are offered. This leaves the students with very little
choice of electives. As mentioned under item (a) above for the UG courses, excursions
may be planned for the PG students also to give them a feel of the practical setting in their
area of specialization.
(d) whether they incorporate pedagogical techniques that are known to be effective, and
whether students are satisfied with the learning experience;
Overall, yes. The techniques used in teaching are good, and the students are by and large
satisfied with the learning experience.
(v)
(a) The depth and breadth of sponsored projects undertaken by faculty members,
Excellent; the Department is very active in sponsored research. All specializations in the
Department are engaged in sponsored research, and the depth of the research is good.
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(b) whether emerging areas are being covered, particularly those where the faculty have
strength and which could lead to competitive advantage;
Yes. The Center of Excellence in Decentralised Wastewater Management, Center for
Excellence in Urban Transport; active participation of the faculty in the Indo German
Center for Sustainability (IGCS) and the collaboration with Max-Planck-Society on bioaerosols, are some examples that standout.
(vi) (a) The vibrancy and depth of industry engagement, particularly in areas where Indian
industry has been growing and developing technology;
The industry interaction of the Department is very high – both in terms of quantity and
depth. The MTech programme in Construction Technology and Management tailored for
the Larson and &Toubro Ltd, and being run successfully since 1998, and the recently
launched PG Diploma in Metro Rail Technology and Management are excellent examples
of a continuous engagement with Industry to meet its capacity development demands in
areas of current importance.
The Industry funded projects carried out by the Department are unique, and have made
significant contributions to the Industry. Noteworthy among these are the projects dealing
with Restoration of Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia, Retrofitting of Pamban Bridge,
Demonstration House using Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG) panels, Control of
Sox and NOx in Flue gas and the Seismic Evaluation of Delhi Secretariat Building.
Additionally, a large number of consultancy projects have been undertaken by the
Department, with an average number of projects per year around 200. Since a complete list
of the consultancy projects undertaken by the Department is not available with the
Committee, it is not possible to comment on the nature of the work carried out in these
projects. Even without this data, going by the large number of consultancy projects, the
Committee takes the liberty to reiterate the earlier committee(2007 Review Committee)’s
suggestion that routine and repetitive type of consultancy projects should be avoided by the
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Department. The focus should be on projects with high visibility, and projects using new
research findings and bringing new methodologies into practice.
(b) whether IP is being created and protected where feasible : Yes.
(c) whether the department provides the linkages between knowledge and practice,
Yes. The industry interaction and the service provided by the Department to Government
agencies through engagement in committees ensures this.
(d) whether incubation is being undertaken where feasible;
Yes. The Department already has started five incubation centers, over the last five years.
This is a very effective outreach activity of the Department.
(vii) (a) The degree and depth of international collaborations with academics elsewhere, number
of visiting researchers from other institutions and scope for growth
There is a scope for improvement on international collaboration. For a Department with
fifty faculty members, the current level of international collaboration is rather marginal.
The few collaborations that do exist are mainly one-to-one faculty-to-faculty
collaborations. Active participation at the IGCS is a good example for bilateral
international cooperation in education and research. It is suggested that the Department
puts extra efforts to participate in - and indeed, lead - large consortia- driven research
programs. The number of International visitors to the Department is also very low. A
number of opportunities for international collaborations (e.g., Indo-UK, Indo-Australian,
Indo-US, Global Innovative Initiative etc) regularly open up, and the Department should be
proactive in responding to such calls and lead the consortia from the Indian side. This is
especially important to spread the good work carried out by the Department to the other
institutes in the country, such as the NITs.
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(b) Multi-disciplinary research, work with colleagues etc:
Acceptable at present level, but there is a scope for improvement ; this is, however, a
common limitation in most institutes in the country.
(viii) The infrastructure and ambience of the department, its classrooms, labs, etc.
The Department has generated funds and developed excellent facilities in most of the labs
over the years. At present, space is a major constraint. Most labs are cramped, and it is not
a very enjoyable experience for students, faculty and technical staff to work in such
constrained space. Material used for experiments often is not stored under adequate
conditions (outside, without covering on unpaved areas, student lockers, cramped lab
lockers etc.). because of lack of space. The Department must put immediate efforts to
create additional space, with adequate allowance for future expansions.
Lack of free accessibility to sophisticated equipment not available with the Department
(such as XRD, SEM etc) is a major constraint for research that depends on such facilities.
Given the importance of these facilities, the Institute may develop centralized facilities
housing such high end equipment of common usage to several departments and manage the
facilities centrally.
The Committee was rather surprised to learn that the PhD students do not have individual
PCs, provided by the Department. A few students have individual PCs provided from
funded projects. The PCs are a bare necessity now, and expecting the research students to
share the PCs with other students (including UG and PG course students) is rather unfair
for the students. The committee strongly recommends that each research student must be
provided with a PC, with an exclusive access.
To develop the research areas further, addition of some new equipment is desirable. In the
field of environmental engineering a gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS) for
complex organic pollutants is a necessary equipment to address the research questions of
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organic pollutants in air, waste and wastewater e.g. behavior in biodegradation processes
and forming of metabolites.
(ix) The spirit of the research scholars and research project staff, and the ambience and
intellectual environment they work in;
Very positive; The committee received very enthusiastic responses from the research
students - they are passionate about the work they are doing, and are happy about the
general ambience.
(x)
Any striking strength of the department that is not being sufficiently exploited, or
weakness that is not being plugged.
There is a much higher potential in the Department to address original and more significant
research problems, than currently visible. As a Department, there is a slight sense of
complacency in terms of rigor of research and the teams are capable of doing much better –
their intellectual ability, training and general potential is very high; The Department also
has world class facilities, in most areas. With these strengths, the Department is very well
positioned to steer itself into higher orbits and compete with the best in the world in terms
of research contributions, and should not be satisfied with merely comparing with other
institutes in the country.
4. Separate Free Flowing Notes from Each Member
Free flowing note: Vasudev V Nori
Introduction: (Wither Civil Engineering!)
Structural Engineering has steadily become the most glamorous Civil Engineering discipline in
our country since I graduated 55 years ago. Even in those days very little good quality course
material was available to undergraduates interested in other disciplines such as Transportation,
Ports and Harbours. Structural Engineering being the favoured child, other important basic
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disciplines such as Irrigation Engineering, Water Supply , Sanitary Engineering were receiving
a step motherly treatment. Only Geotechnical Engineering as a discipline managed to make
some in roads slowly over the years. Even today,
Structural Engineering continues to be the
favoured discipline in most of the Engineering Colleges. It is ironical that most of the structures
we have built in recent years do not make us feel proud.
These are neither elegant nor
economical.
When I graduated, Civil engineering salaries were in par with salaries offered to Electrical or
Mechanical Engineering.
But steadily the gap between the salaries of civil engineers in
comparison to their counter parts began to increase over the years. Civil Engineering gradually
ended up being the least preferred discipline. It is therefore not surprising that on graduation
civil engineers started migrating to management studies and later to Software / Information
technology etc where they could earn salaries which they would never dream of earning even if
they worked their entire life as Civil Engineers. Our profession could no longer attract the best
talent.
Civil Engineers steadily became subservient to Architects, Management Consultants,
Builders, Administrators, Accountants etc. Today Civil Engineers are longer leaders.
Sudden boom in construction during the last fifteen years has had a somewhat salutary effect as
far as civil engineering salaries are concerned. But good quality civil engineers are simply too
few. Good civil engineers cannot be produced over night.
hands if we have to restore our image and
We have thus a huge task on our
win back the confidence our society.
Civil
Engineering still remains the very foundation for a healthy society and environment.
It is with this back ground in my mind I found it heartening to witness “Civil Department I I T
M” with a young committed faculty in various disciplines and equally enthusiastic budding
civil engineers opting for such disciplines. Continued strong interaction with Industry on one
hand and concern for other major issues such as environment, waste water management on the
other certainly appears to be a healthy approach.
Nevertheless there is an urgent need to
reduce the gap bridge the gap between theory and practice. This problem exists in all countries
but our problem is very severe because we do not have adequate number of trained
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technicians/supervisors. Perhaps IIT M could in some way take advantage by collaborating
more closely with Germany (mentor country of IITM).
“Civil Department I I T M” could then aspire to provide leadership become game changer
for other Indian Institutes of Technologies.
Department Presentation:
This was excellent covering a wide variety of topics such as conservation of heritage structures,
pollution control, material testing for pavements, water testing kits for rural areas and even
affordable housing.
Response to queries were addressed with promptly with confidence.
Structural Engineering is a major discipline, but there are many other the disciplines which are
no less important. There could be some gaps here and there (there will always be!) but these are
not irresolvable.
Interaction with Undergraduates
One of the main issues was that there was a feeling among undergraduates that they are wasting
their energy on subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, which they felt that they
were never going to use as Civil Engineers. 55 years ago I too went through a similar situation
but in those days we tended to accept what we were expected to study without questioning. To
question, to doubt , is a sign of good health that needs to be encouraged. I salute these students.
I cannot honestly say that I have been able to make use of all the subjects we studied as a part of
our course work. Even so I feel that students will be more receptive if courses (that appear to
be seemingly irrelevant to them ) are taught by civil engineering faculty explaining their
relevance .
Interaction with M Tech Students
A more flexible approach in selection core courses and elective courses could be considered as a
bold step for overhauling the system.
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Interaction with Research Scholars
It appears that the course work and research work operate in water tight compartments in terms
of sequencing. Perhaps these barriers could be made porous and flexible ?
Laboratories
It was heartening to see on going testing of Bitumen, additions of Polymers for improving
properties of mix over a wider range of temperature, recycling etc. This could form an important
component of pavement design and hopefully lead to construction of pavements of better quality.
Structural glass testing facility was also truly impressive. Water quality testing kits for rural
areas and research on improving water quality based on sustainable technology was fascinating.
These are certainly the need of the hour. This is not to belittle many other laboratories equipped
with the state of the art equipment.
It was heartening to see several testing equipment
manufactured in the workshop of “Civil Department, I I T M”. Such equipments tailored to the
meet the specific needs of the facility have apparently been manufactured at a lesser cost
compared to it the ones incurred by procuring similar ones from the market. This is testimony of
a passionate concern for optimised use of resources that are made available to them. This is
indeed commendable.
Accent on construction issues
Encouraging sponsored programmes for M Tech courses, training programs for Metro Projects,
well qualified young faculty in Construction Management are indeed very positive steps and it is
hoped that this will gradually help in reducing the gap between theory and practice.
Future
I think that it is very important to introduce “Conceptual Design”. This was initiated several
years ago by Prof Jorg Schlaich in Stuttgart. It appears that Technical University of Berlin
offers such a course.
It is important that free hand sketching be encouraged.
Visits to
construction sites and ability to sketch freehand is essential. These and group discussions are the
starting points of concept design. Only simple calculations are necessary at this stage.
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I think that it is very important for budding civil engineers, researchers to visit construction sites
frequently and engage a dialogue with those who are working in the field. Field workers could
be invited to IIT to share their experiences and problems. Such interaction would help in
bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Lastly for design of concrete structures, there is much to be learnt from FIB bulletins. It will be
very useful these concepts are included in the relevant courses.
Free flowing note: Martin Kranert
Department visit
The department was very well prepared for the evaluation process. A very good compilation of
reports of the department (task force on B.Tech,, M.Tech , graduation research, a paper on
faculty performance, a departments overview and
review report) was handed over to the
committee. All questions we had have been answered to our complete satisfaction. The
discussion with the different groups of students, researchers and staff members were in a
harmonious atmosphere. The research students showed their work in posters and explained them
to us in our visits to the labs. The responsible colleagues in the labs showed and explained the
equipment and gave us an insight in some experiments. The labs contain a lot of new and
teaching and research important experimental and testing units and analyzers. The labs and
classrooms as well as the buildings have been in a clean and well organized condition and show
the spirit of high ranked teaching and research.
General aspects
Civil engineers are one of the most important specialists to solve the challenges of the future.
This is not only to built high sophisticated infrastructure and buildings for the society in fact they
have to solve the problems arising from climate change, lack of energy and resources, emerging
megacities and environmental pollution. Sustainability is the issue of an emerging world with
limited resources. My recommendation to the department is to take these general issues as a basis
for the vision of the future development and work in the department. The department with its
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five areas of teaching and research is well prepared to take these challenges and has an ideal
profile to develop in this direction.
Concerning the IIT and its departments the idea of the unity of teaching and research should be
followed intensively (Humboldt’s vision). This is an important requirement for a successful
development also of the department of civil engineering. It is realized very well in the
department and should be followed intensively. It is very important to close the gap between
theory and practice in engineering, even because engineers have to go outside the office on site
to combine experience from research and praxis.
Short evaluation
Beside the detailed evaluation in our report I want to point out some personal remarks.
In general the IITs belong to the excellent universities in the world. Especially the department of
civil engineering at IIT-M is high ranked and is well known and appreciated in the scene of civil
engineering worldwide. Students, researchers an faculty got important awards in the last years as
well as fellowships in academies and research fellowships. Faculty members are editors of
journals and have memberships in editorial boards. The Department has started five incubation
centers, over the last five years, a remarkable and important activity with high sustainability.
This is a very effective outreach activity of the Department. Three large research groups are
established. A large number of publications have been published in reviewed journals, even more
publications in journals, where the best global peers publish, could improve the visibility.
The number of female students in BTech and MTech should be increased considerably. It is clear
that this cannot directly controlled by the department, but public relation measures and activities
to interest more girls in schools to the field of engineering have to be intensified. On the other
hand, the number of women doing their PhD at the department is remarkable and nearly 50 %.
This is a very good situation and should be visible in future also in number of women as faculty
members.
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The interaction with industry is very good, the department should also interact with city
administration intensively, especially in the fields of traffic and environmental questions. The
focus should be on projects with high visibility, in projects using new research findings and
bringing new methodologies into practice.
International cooperation in large international research consortia have to be strengthened.
Life Cycle thinking should be established in teaching and research. This includes offering a
course in methods of life cycle assessment (LCA).
Especially in the field of environmental engineering waste management has to be developed in
teaching and research. This means to focus on systems of solid waste management (system
engineering, material flow analyses) incl. collection, transport, adapted technologies of
recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion and energy recovery from waste up to sanitary
landfills as well as evaluation of different waste management systems. Socioeconomic aspects as
including the informal sector in this system are important. Waste management should also be a
course in B.Tech and should be enhanced in M.Tech.
It is recommended, that a new
professorship in solid waste management is established.
In the field of the environmental engineering labs a gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCMS) for complex organic pollutants is a necessary equipment to solve the actual research
questions of organic pollutants in air, waste and wastewater e.g. behavior in biodegradation
processes and forming of metabolites. Research projects in this field are established.
Concluding remarks
The department of civil engineering of IIT-Madras has a good reputation in the field of civil
engineering worldwide. The programmes in teaching and research are well organized. Good
students, researchers and professors contribute to this status. There is the potential to become as
one of the leading departments of civil engineering in the world. Having this in mind we made
suggestions in the report for better performance and higher rising of the department.
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Free flowing note: P P Mujumdar
I would first like to congratulate the Department for facilitating a completely open and
independent review. The detailed report prepared for the review, the Department’s Head, Prof.
Gandhi’s comprehensive presentation, interactive discussions with the faculty members, separate
in-camera meetings of the Review Committee with the UG, PG and Research students and the
non-teaching staff, discussions with the young faculty during lunch and the visits to the
laboratories - are all a testimony to the seriousness and sincerity with which the Department
facilitated the review.
A major strength of the Department is its large number of talented and committed faculty. My
impression is that most faculty members of the Department are very active. The Department has
achieved an all round growth over the past few years, contributing energetically to teaching,
consultancy, industry-interaction, outreach and research. I am particularly impressed by the
highly successful M.Tech. programme in Building Construction tailored and executed for the
leading industry, M/S Larson and Toubro. To my knowledge, this is a unique programme in the
country and I hope that the experiment may be upscaled to include other industries and emulated
in other areas. The recently launched Diploma programme for Metro Rail is another welcome
step in this direction. The facilities in the Department – both for teaching and research – are
perhaps the best in the country. The Department has been pro-active in attracting young talented
faculty members and putting in place mechanisms to ensure their independent growth.
The Department is thus in a very strong position to steer itself into a higher orbit – and, in my
considered view, it must. Keeping this huge potential of the Department in view, I make the
following comments and suggestions - with a sense of responsibility, a sense of camaraderie for
the faculty colleagues in the Department and with a tremendous goodwill for the Department:
a. The importance given to high quality research in the Department is rather low. A major
emphasis in the Department is on industry-interaction, consultancy projects, outreach,
generation of funds, teaching, quantum of research output, contributions to Indian
Standards and Codes and allied activities. All of these are extremely important activities
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for a Department of an IIT, and, in my view, must be sustained only along with a high
quality research. I must add here that the number of research publications and the
number of PhDs generated from the Department are both quite high; the h-index of
publications from the Department and the no. of publications per faculty per year are also
high and place the Department among the best in the country. The Department is thus
extremely well positioned to enhance the quality and rigor of research in many areas, by
moving from the current, largely facility-based research to idea/hypothesis-driven
research, resulting in frequent publications in high-end journals, where best of the
international peers publish. The few publications in such high-end journals (e.g., Water
Resources Research, ASCE Journal of Structural Engg., ASCE Journal of Engg
Mechanics, Geotechnique etc) that the Department has produced in the past few years,
point to the fact that the faculty members are capable of contributing at the highest level
of research. It is important that they do not relax their standards either because of
complacency or because of other pressures. Of course, maintaining a minimum number
of publications of acceptable standard is necessary for the younger faculty members for
their career advancement, but every once in two-three years, they must publish in the
high-end journals in their chosen areas of research. Being a part of large consortia
addressing exciting, big and basic research questions, pushing the boundaries of
knowledge in the chosen area of research, pursuing individual excellence in research
must all be the overriding ambitions of the faculty.
b. Teaching and industrial consultancy are both rewarding activities and bring about
immediate fulfillment, unlike serious research - which needs sustained efforts over a
long time, can be intellectually very demanding and often frustrating. The joy and
fulfillment of providing implementable solutions to practical problems through
consultancy can be quite addictive. Because the rewards are immediate, it is possible that
we get attracted to taking up more and more consultancy projects. While both teaching
and consultancy are extremely important activities for the Department, these must be
complemented with high-end research, for the Department to remain internationally
competitive. In the few institutes of such standing in the country where talented faculty,
good students and sophisticated facilities are all concentrated, the level of responsibility
of the faculty is very high: all activities - teaching, consultancy, student mentoring,
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outreach and research – need to be performed at the highest level and not just at an
‘above average’ level. I therefore urge the Department to be very choosy in the nature of
consultancy projects taken up; judging by the large number of consultancy projects
handled by the Department, I have no doubt that many of them are of repetitive type and
perhaps may be termed ‘routine’ type of projects.
c. The Department is vibrant in most academic activities. While acknowledging that the
faculty may not have any more slack time available, I still suggest that a few common
academic activities be initiated in the Department to enhance the vibrancy. These could
include regular faculty seminars, student seminars, internship programs for students from
other institutes etc. At present these activities may exist in the Department in different
forms but they may need to be streamlined and formalised.
d. A Leadership Team (LT) may be formed in the Department to periodically take stock of
and guide the Department’s activities and policies. Such a LT should be much different
from merely a committee of heads of laboratories or such formal bodies, and should be a
mix of younger faculty and senior, well-meaning professors chosen carefully.
In summary, I would like to assert that I am very impressed with the all round contributions of
the Department and would like to see it achieve much greater heights and visibility in the years
to come.
5. Consolidated Summary (Highlighting the Consensus on the Most Important Observations)
The Committee is very impressed with the all round contributions of the Department : UG and
PG teaching, guidance of doctoral research, sponsored research, consultancy projects, industryinteraction, achieving peer recognition, faculty recruitment, facilitating the growth of younger
faculty members and creating an excellent ambience for learning. Overall, the faculty members
of the Department are all very active and the Department is vibrant with a number of
professional and academic activities taken up at any given time.
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The following suggestions are made for consideration of the Department, so that the current
strengths of the Department are fully harnessed and the Department achieves even further growth
in the coming years:
1. Place emphasis on frequent, high-quality publications in the most important journals in
the chosen areas of research, where the best in the peer group publish. These journals
include (but are not limited to) : Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids (JMPS),
ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics,
ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, Geotechnique, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engg., Transportation Research – B, Water Resources Research,
Chemosphere, Waste Management and Environmental Science and Technology. The
research students should be made aware of the value of publications in such high-end
journals.
2. Emphasise on future challenges related to energy, water, solid waste, megacities, climate
change, environment and sustainability in research.
3. Enhance international collaboration by participating in (and leading) large international
research consortia.
4. Include excursions/field visits and team work projects in the UG and PG curricula.
5. Re-think the course feedback form: a smaller questionnaire common to all courses and
all instructors may be better suited.
6. Increase the number of international visitors to the Department.
7. Provide individual PCs to the research students.
8. Increase the physical space for laboratories and work place manifold, to enhance comfort
levels.
9. Restrict the consultancy projects to only challenging ones, avoiding repetitive and routine
type of projects.
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Acknowledgment
The Committee thanks the Director, IIT-Madras, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, for sharing his
vision on the review of the Department. The Committee places on record its deep sense of
appreciation of the excellent coordination of the review by the Head of the Department Prof. S.R.
Gandhi and his colleagues. The Committee also thanks the students, researchers and staff of the
Department for their cooperation in conducting the review.
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Annexure I
Terms of Reference for review of academic departments at IIT Madras
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras introduced the process of review of its academic
departments a decade ago. One round of reviews was conducted, reports of which are available.
Recently, the IIT Council has adopted a process of a 5-yearly review of the IITs by a Peer
Review Committee. This Institutional review is to be preceded by a review of the academic
departments. The Institutional review includes an assessment of the academic programmes, the
research, vibrancy of student life, industry linkages, infrastructure, services, quality of
management, vision for the next 5-10 years, etc. The departmental reviews naturally must feed
into the Institutional review, particularly with regard to the academic aspects.
The departmental review committee is requested to evaluate
(i)
The coverage of important fields/areas in the department, whether there are key gaps,
and whether some re-orientation is recommended in some areas,
(ii)
The course programmes, with respect to relevance for research and/or employment, and
whether the courses are relevant, comprehensive and possess depth, the breadth and
depth of laboratory courses and whether the experiments have been upgraded, the vision
for course programmes during the next 5-10 years;
(iii) The quality and quantity of research carried out in important areas, and the position of
the department in relation to the best work done globally in these areas; whether the
publications are predominantly in journals where the best global peers publish, whether
research in areas important to India are being pursued, whether the graduating PhD
students are being employed in good positions, whether the number of scholars and the
quantum of research are commensurate for the size of the department and in comparison
with global benchmarks, whether the important research facilities for carrying out stateof-art research are available in the main areas represented in the department, whether
bright UG and MTech students who show an interest in research are provided an
opportunity to engage, and whether there is an overall positive atmosphere that
encourages research and enquiry;
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(iv) The teaching / learning methodologies employed in the theory and lab courses, and
whether they incorporate pedagogical techniques that are known to be effective, and
whether students are satisfied with the learning experience;
(v)
The depth and breadth of sponsored projects undertaken by faculty members, whether
emerging areas are being covered, particularly those where the faculty have strength and
which could lead to competitive advantage;
(vi) The vibrancy and depth of industry engagement, particularly in areas where Indian
industry has been growing and developing technology; whether IP is being created and
protected where feasible, whether the department provides the linkages between
knowledge and practice, and whether incubation is being undertaken where feasible;
(vii) The degree and depth of international collaborations with academics elsewhere, number
of visiting researchers from other institutions and scope for growth, and the scope and
spread of multi-disciplinary research work undertaken with colleagues from other
departments/areas;
(viii) The infrastructure and ambience of the department, its classrooms, labs, etc.
(ix) The spirit of the research scholars and research project staff, and the ambience and
intellectual environment they work in;
(x)
Any striking strength of the department that is not being sufficiently exploited, or
weakness that is not being plugged.
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Annexure II
Summary of Discussions with Students and Staff
The following paragraphs briefly summarize the discussions with the BTech, MTech and
Research students, and the non-teaching technical staff of the Department. The inputs received
from these various groups are summarized here without authenticating or endorsing them. The
Department may consider the inputs appropriately.
Discussion with BTech Students
In general, the students are satisfied with the BTech course. Specific inputs received from the
students are: (a) There is a lack of information about the availability of resources (e.g.,
accessibility to computers, internet etc) for the students, (b) In the first two semesters there are
too many theory courses that the students are already exposed to. It is desirable to give an
exposure to civil engineering subjects in the first year itself. (c) More practical knowledge is
necessary through field visits etc. (d) An internship in industry after the second year is a
problem, because the knowledge about engineering practice is too small, (e) An academic
internship abroad is favored, (f) The slots for the elective courses are too small in number. The
slot structure should be such that the students may take more electives, (g) More teamwork and
interaction between students would be beneficial, (h) the class rooms are adjacent (or just above)
the laboratories and the students in the classrooms are often disturbed by the noise in the
laboratories.
Discussion with MTech Students
The structure of the MTech course is reported as perfect, by the students. However, there appears
to be a strong feeling that there is too much of course work often something that has been already
done at undergraduate level. The allocation of research topics (for dissertation work) is strictly
on the basis of academic scores, and not based on exposure and matching the research interests
Those on the bottom rung end up with topics in which the more meritorious students of the class
may be interested. The following specific inputs are provided by the students: (a) There is a
shortage of electives; Many of the listed electives are in effect unavailable, (b) When course
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material is not available, if the prepared course material (PPT) could be made available in
advance, the students would be better prepared, (c) Books in library are not always available, (d)
Access to computers needs to be improved, (e) More technical visits to construction sites and
projects would be welcome.
Discussion with Research Students
The general morale of the research students is high: they are excited about the work they are
carrying out. A few more facilities such as individual PCs – and especially increased working
space - will enhance their ease of working. Centralized facilities for sophisticated equipment
such as SEM, XRD etc. may be created. Length of time for completion of the degree for QIP
students is rather short, but this is a common problem in all institutes in the country.
Discussion with Technical Staff Members
One of the main issues brought out by the staff was lack of enough space in the workshop. A
strong opinion was voiced in favour of augmentation of space. Additionally, the following inputs
were received : (a) Recruitment of temporary staff for short duration seems to adversely impact
the quality of work especially in workshops, (b) It would be worthwhile to train the staff for
maintenance of sophisticated imported equipment - the present arrangement of maintenance by
the supplier appears to be not quite satisfactory because technicians who come for maintenance
keep on changing, (c) Staff training is not available to support staff in Civil Engg Dept. This is
available only to staff in central administrative block, (d) There is no possible upward
mobility for the staff, after a certain stage in career. It is desirable to impart some training to the
staff to facilitate upward mobility, and (e) Ratio of support staff to number of researchers /faculty
has diminished over the years, putting more workload on the staff.
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