Padma Bridge, an extreme and extreme engineering feat: ASCE president

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has hailed Padma Multipurpose Bridge as an enduring symbol of engineering progress and a symbol of Bangladesh's ingenuity and determination.

"There was an US television programme titled Extreme Engineering, but I would say Padma Bridge is a proof of an extreme and extreme engineering feat," ASCE president Maria C Lehman said during an interview with Prothom Alo on Friday.

She added that there is a lot to learn for the world from the challenges Bangladesh faced during the construction of Padma Bridge.

Maria Lehman has been visiting Dhaka to attend the 11th International Perspective on Water Resources and The Environment-2023 (IPWE) conference.

Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of ASCE in collaboration with the Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) organised the three-day summit in Dhaka which was concluded Friday.

Maria said she along with ASCE-ERWI's president-elect Shirley Clark and managing director Brian Parsons visited Padma Bridge to see the mega construction.

It is fascinating to see how the challenges were tackled during the Padma bridge construction and how it is being overcome even today, she said.

Maria said there is a lot to learn from the challenges with river training during the bridge's construction and this sort of knowledge sharing would benefit the engineers.

On behalf of the ASCE, Maria Lehman, on 5th January handed over a crest of recognition on the Padma Bridge to the project's director engineer Shafiqul Islam.

The Padma Bridge has demonstrated the ingenuity and determination that Bangladesh represents to the world, the ASCE president said, adding that the bridge is a testament to international collaboration with a multinational engineering team of 4,000, including over a thousand from Bangladesh.

ASCE is one of the oldest civil engineering organisations in the world founded in 1852. The organisation has over 150,000 members in 177 countries.

Maria and two of her colleagues from the organisation were also elated to meet with budding engineers and students of BUET and other institutions.

Maria said ASCE will start research collaboration with BUET and thinks that knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas will help both sides immensely.

"I think we have begun a new chapter of collaboration with BUET. We are trying to bring the best practices from around the world to Bangladesh and vice versa."

Maria felt that women's participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields is in a sorry state even in the US.

The workplace environment should be more conducive to women and society should do away with all stigmatisation, regarding the women in the STEM field, she said.

"There is also a stigmatisation that makes it (STEM) sound like it is really hard but I don't think it is harder than any other profession."

Emphasising the need for outreach on engineering education, Maria said the US will face a shortage of around 80,000 to 100,000 civil engineers over the next decade.

"We were on a lab tour in BUET and found the equipment is much more modern than many institutes. So, the Bangladeshi students must be very competent and the programmes here are very good. There should be lots of student exchange programmes between Bangladeshi and US universities," she added.

In the end, Maria advocated that the modern-day engineering programmes should be more focused on climate change and social issues.