Introduction to Discipline and Graduate Program:

My field of study is the core branch of Engineering and it deals with the design and analysis of civil infrastructures and it is generally offered by the name of “Civil Engineering” or “Civil and Infrastructure Engineering”. My discipline of study is further based upon the knowledge of highway infrastructures, concrete structures, water resources management, geotechnical issues and construction project management. My graduate program at GMU, in particular, is addressing the “Water Resources Engineering” under the degree name of “Masters of Civil and Infrastructure engineering”. This graduate program covers all the domains to allow me to not only to solve but also to design the complex water resources problems of the industry.

Academic Goals:

My top three academic goals which forced me to do higher studies in this particular field are very specific, meaningful, attainable, results-oriented and time-based. These are:

• Learning software like IRRICAD, EPANET and some specific programs related to flood modeling.
• To acknowledge me from all technical and theoretical background needed to design complex structures of water networks.
• Last but not the least, to learn the skills needed for forensic assessment of the water supply failures in the urban society.

Design of Course Plan:

Below is my plan for completing coursework of my master’s degree at GMU.

Total credit hours for coursework= 24 credits

Total credit hours for thesis= 6 credits

Masters of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Spring 2018	Fall 2018	Spring 2019
·       CEIE 601- Infrastructure Modeling ·       CEIE 641- Water Resources Engineering I	·       CEIE 605- Risk/Uncertainty System Analysis ·       CEIE-642 Flood Hazards Engineering ·       CEIE 690 Remote Sensing	·       CEIE 742 – Water Resources Engineering II ·       CSI 501- Intro Scientific Programming ·       CEIE-796 Coastal Engineering
Total Credits = 6	Total Credits= 9	Total Credits= 9

 

Pre-requisite Details are given as:

Subjects	Pre requisite Subjects
·       CEIE 605- Risk/Uncertainty System Analysis	·       CEIE 601- Infrastructure Modeling
·       CEIE-642 Flood Hazards Engineering	·       CEIE 641- Water Resources Engineering I
·       CEIE 742 – Water Resources Engineering II	·       CEIE 641- Water Resources Engineering I
·       CEIE-796 Coastal Engineering	·       CEIE 641- Water Resources Engineering I ·       CEIE 742 – Water Resources Engineering II

Disciplinary Resource List:

Below is the list is given of the literature related to the discipline of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering which I have gone through while studying this course:

1. Monica, N., & Schaffer, D. (2001). Walkerton’s Contaminated Water Supply System: A Forensic Approach to Identifying the Source. This primary study deals with the water supply related issues which are specifically related to the water quality. Research Exigency of this study was based upon the need of quality water supply to the community. Tests were performed to know about the driving factors towards the contamination of water supply.
2. Okeola,O.G., & Sule,B.F. (2011). Evaluation of management alternatives for urban water supply system using Multicriteria Decision Analysis. This article was in specific covering the water supply management problems as these problems really make the situation worse for the society. Different approaches were compared and hence fuzzy logic was adopted in the result of multiple decision criteria to prioritize the targeted locations for water supply to different communities.
3. Liu,H., Liu,N., & Liu,L. (2013). Risk evaluation approaches in failure mode and effects analysis: A literature review. This secondary source was covering different primary resources to discuss various tools in the construction industry for evaluating the risks related to the civil structures. Different methods which were proposed include fuzzy logic, FMEA, ANN, and AHP. These methods were compared on the basis of their applications and it was observed that traditional FMEA is no more a reliable tool for assessing the risks.
4. Holicky, M. (2011). Forensic engineering of Structures with durability problems. Author-specified his area of study in this article purely based upon the durability assessment of civil structures. He further discussed the limit state method which is entirely based on three phases to examine all the possible risk factors and consequences related to the occurrence of each factor. The whole study was based upon the formulations of ISO document.
5. Block, F.E. (2017). The Role of Forensic Engineering Investigations in Medical Device Reports. The author in his primary study discussed the failures which are common in medical devices and limit those devices from not performing the functions properly. The author cited different authors and explained the proximate causes of the medical devices failure. He further suggested the framework to carry out the forensic-based investigations.
6. Vecchio, F., Bentz, E., & Collins, M. (2003). Tools for forensic analysis of concrete structures. This article is the primary source of the study carried out by the authors to study the causes of concrete structures failures under different situations. The most common technique used in the forensic analysis is Failure Mode and Effect Analysis which in fact is a passive response forensic technique to identify the possible causes of failures.
7. Bowles, J., & Pelaez, C. (1995). Fuzzy logic prioritization of failures in a system failure mode, effects and criticality analysis. Authors in their primary study explained the application of fuzzy logic in prioritizing the failures in a system of failure modes. This article provides the platform to inform that which failure should be counted at first and then ranks the failures that occur. The value of fuzzy logic lies between 0 and 1 (ranges between false and truth).