3rd international e-conference on TRACE 2020 inaugurated at Amity University 

In a bid to provide information on the growing trends and modern technologies in the field of civil engineering to the students, 3rd International e-Conference TRACE 2020 (Trends and Recent Advances in Civil Engineering) was organized by Amity School of Engineering and Technology (ASET), Amity University. The two-day International Conference was inaugurated by Maj Gen Manoj Kumar Bindal, Executive Director, National Institute of Disaster Management; Prof. S.K. Singh, Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Delhi Technological University; Shri Arvind Arora, Chairman and Director General, Defence Infrastructure Planning and Management Council; Dr. D. Nagesh Kumar, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (IT & Highway Operations) in National Highways Authority of India (NHAI); Prof. (Dr.) Claudio Cameselle, University of Vigo, Spain; Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey, Global Vice President, UPL Limited and Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder President, RBEF & Chairman AKC Group of Companies.  

Addressing the virtual gathering, Maj. Gen. Manoj Kumar Bindal said that the role of civil engineering is very important in the development of any country. He affirmed that the present time is driven by technology and civil engineering students should be well-versed with modern techniques. He added that this international conference organized by ASET will be beneficial for the students.  

Prof. S. K. Singh declared that the education sector has witnessed a paradigm shift because of Covid-19 and all the teaching processes have moved from offline to online. He further added that while many sectors have been negatively impacted because of this deadly virus, there have been many positive changes as well primary being improved quality of the environment with air and water pollution levels going down. Prof. Singh averred that civil engineers have a big responsibility and play a major role in reducing pollution. He suggested for decentralizing the sewage system to reduce pollution of water and treat the sewage water and waste first. 

Addressing the gathering Mr. Arvind Arora said that the conference gives rise to new ideas and inspires us to find innovative measures & how the role of civil engineer is very important in any sustainable development. He shared that in the event of this epidemic, doctors and others are being constantly supported by engineers. He asserted that the right structure must be started from home and everyone must consider what is appropriate for tomorrow through this conference. 

Talking to the students, Dr. D. Nagesh Kumar said that technology makes our work easier and it is imperative that we understand and use new techniques. He claimed that the two problems in the field of water management include facing the challenge of floods during monsoons and shortage of drinking water in summers.  Dr. Kumar called for working with planned management and innovation to work in this direction. He acknowledged that artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data are playing an important role in the field of hydrological today with several opportunities available for civil engineering students in the field of hydrology. 

Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava said that there is a paradigm change in the field of civil engineering at the global level and with the increasing population and urbanization, civil engineers need to be more informed than ever before. He admitted that the infrastructure sector is the second largest employment-providing sector in the country and in the coming time, a large investment will be made by the Government of India in this sector which will increase the opportunities for all. Mr. Srivastava stated that people will have to consider whether they are ready for opportunities. He added that the construction sector shows great hesitation in adopting technology and civil engineers need to be taught to focus on technology so that they can promote technology based digital work. 

Dr. Claudio Cameselle called upon people to work on industry-based modern technologies to address industrial problems. He provided detailed information about his research work on removal of infection from industrial waste and electrophotochemical process. 

Sharing his views Dr. Chabe said that civil engineers should prepare permanent designs that can save energy and water and reduce the production of waste. He further added that the field of civil engineer design should be considered in the face of sustainable innovation where energy and water is saved along with providing benefits. Civil engineers play an important role in the field of wastewater disposal and opportunities are also available for students in this field. 

Addressing the guests, Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan shared that at Amity students are inspired to do research and innovation. Such conferences students receive guidance from a galaxy of experts and get information in the field of modern trends that are evolving. Dr. Chahan said that the students at Amity University are prepared to suit the expectations of the industry to provide results from the first day of the job. He averred that the conference will provide a platform for entrepreneurs, scholars, policy makers, academics and students to express their views. 

The online conference had sessions on Natural Disaster Resilience, Response and Recovery; Trends and Recent Advances in Civil Engineering: Perspective By Researchers of Liverpool John Moore's University, UK; Technical sessions on Advances in Water Resources Engineering, Advances in Geotechnics Engineering among others.  

The inaugural session also saw the release of TRACE 2020 – Abstract Book and also had the participation of Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, AUUP & Patron, TRACE-2020; Dr. R. K. Tomar, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, ASET & General Chair, TRACE 2020; Dr. W. Selvamurthy, DG, ADSI & President, ASTIF along with hundreds of participants through various online mediums.