Expert: Arshad Khan - 11/8/2008

Question
I'll be starting my final year (undergraduate level) in civil engineering from Pakistan.
I am seeking help for the selection of my final year project. My primary field of interest is structural designing. And i am looking forward to work in USA as a structural engineer.
my queries are:

1. Will it be benificial to select a practical project which is actually being designed by any firm?

2. Generally seniors do project on high rise building, brigde design, seismic design of a building. Can u suggest some more areas/topics i can do a little research on??

3. with only 3 year undergraduate education of civil engineering, what target should i try to achieve??

4. Will it be possible for me to work on a massive highrise structure??

5. what softwares should be used or learnt for professional life??

My question are not very specific but kindly give ur suggestion in detail and name wide range of topics/fields.

Thank You

Answer
Hi Sadia,

Good to hear that you are doing your final year.

Here are my answers:

1. Yes, if you can find a friendly firm in your city that can let you use a simple building for your project that will be beneficial, as you can compare your results with what they do (but do not copy what they do, please!)

2. You can do research on subjects such as high-strength concrete or structural optimisation or pre-cast construction techniques, all which will be relevant for Pakistan.

3. I am not sure what you mean, but after graduation, you should strive to get a balance of both full-time site experience as well as office/design experience. If you can strive towards becoming a UK chartered engineer, you will be successful throughout the world, including USA.

4. Initially you will only be allowed to be part of a team working on a high-rise project, but after some years of practical experience you could end up leading such a team.

5. The sort of software you should learn are STAAD.Pro, ETABS, SAFE, SAP2000 and PROKON. Also, AutoCAD is very useful, as well as Excel for doing spreadsheets/calculations.