Statement of Purpose

As a child, I always used to wonder where my father would disappear

every morning. One morning, after a lot of hue and cry, I managed to go
with him to his workplace. My father is a civil engineer by profession and it
was a construction site. I was amazed to see how putting together of mere
bricks transformed into a wall, how a huge rolling bucket transformed
cement and stones into a paste like mixture and how this mixture
eventually took shape into beams and columns. From that day onward,
Civil engineering has never stopped fascinating me.
In School, where I was relentlessly challenged academically, I was
besotted by the enigma of Mathematics and Physics, which sedimented
and concretised my childhood dream of taking up Civil Engineering one
day. Eventually when I managed to get into the prestigious National
Institute of Technology, Durgapur as a student of Civil Engineering, my
dream seemed to have come true. I decided to make the most of the
opportunities being offered. Naturally, Structural Engineering appealed
the most to me because of my childhood fascination for structures. Apart
from buildings, I dwelled into the secrets of designing multifarious
structures like Retaining walls, Water tanks, Bridges and a lot more. I
chose Advanced Structural Analysis as my elective, which exposed me to
matrix methods of structural analysis and its applications thereof. I also
explored the modern tools of Computer Aided Structural Analysis- STAAD
PRO and ABAQUS.
In my third year, I dabbled in and interacted with structures, when I joined
LEA Associates of South Asia (LASA) as an intern in a private public
partnership fly over project (Jatrabari-Gulistan Flyover Project) in Dhaka
metropolis, being the first BOT endeavour in the country. This experience
was life changing, because here I got to see how theories are practised on
ground. I was also exposed to modern construction methods and
equipments, like Soil Bucket for soil excavation and use of Launching
Girder for placement of Bridge segments, which are seldom used in a
country like Bangladesh. I became familiar with construction equipments
and sequence of use in the project along with quality assurance plan. An
opportunity to interact with the finest professionals in this field was
invaluable. These interactions and experiences gave me a deeper insight
into the modern developments in the field of Civil Engineering.
Motivated by this experience, I chose Bridge Engineering as my project in
the final year. I explored the behavioural differences of a simply supported
RCC Bridge with increasing skew angle and their design implications. The
project work demanded a deep understanding of the multiple physical
forces at work in a bridge system and to imitate them aptly in the 3D

bridge model generated in ABAQUS for accurate analysis. It also required

me
to
distinguish
between
conventional
and
computer-aided
structural analysis and appreciate them. During the evolution of the
project, it became evident to me that there are multiple avenues of
research still unexplored and hence available in this area which with
profound knowledge and zeal are not impossible to dwell in. Though I
have interest and inclination in the subject, my lack of profound
knowledge seems to be detrimental in contributing significantly to the
field of structural engineering.
My country, Bangladesh, is a developing country. It needs to accelerate its
infrastructural growth to compete with other leading countries of the
world. Unfortunately, owing to its geographical location, it is severely
affected by natural disasters like floods and cyclones. These repeated
disasters lead to huge economic losses, and more importantly, the tragic
loss of human lives. Fighting such constraints calls for an intricate analysis
of structural design and requires state-of-the-art expertise during nascent
design considerations. A higher degree in Structural Engineering will not
only help me fulfil my dream of becoming a successful Civil Engineer, but
will also help me contribute towards my country and my people.
My undergraduate coursework along with the experience I have gathered
from my project have helped me identify my areas of interest and
developed the confidence in me to pursue them. I feel confident that I
possess the right aptitude, passion and inclination for research. I have
made numerous presentations on my areas of interest and feel confident
of my abilities to articulate ideas well. My School and College, Mayo
College and NIT Durgapur respectively, have endowed me with both
leadership and organizational skills. I actively took up Quizzing and
Debating in school and won an All India Science Quiz Competition in 2006.
I was also appointed the College Monitor at Mayo College for the year
2007-2008. In College, I was a member of the Official Science Club of NIT
Durgapur, Centre for Cognitive Activities (CCA), where I conceptualised
and organized Blame the Builder, a dedicated event for the civil
engineering students. I was elected the Creative Head of CCA for the year
2011-2012. These varied experiences have made me confident of my
ability to handle responsibility and deliver under pressure. I am sure these
essential assets are indispensable while pursuing graduate studies.
I now feel that a good graduate program will assist me in deepening my
insight and broadening my knowledge base. Apart from its outstanding
teaching and research programs, Concordia University is acclaimed for
promoting intellectual integrity and funding its graduate students.
Additionally, It is situated in Montreal known for its cultural diversity and

never ending festivities. If given a chance to pursue MASc in Structural

Engineering in this prestigious university of Canada, I will make the
best out of the opportunity.

18th April,2013

Arindam Dhar