Dr. Bijendra Kumar
Assistant Professor (Civil Engineering)
Dr. Bijendra Kumar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Bakhtiyarpur College of engineering, Patna. He has done his M.Tech and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad. He has about 5 years of Research experience in the field of Environmental Science and Engineering including R&D and consultancy projects. He has published over 18 Research papers, 9 book chapter and 10 national and international conference. He is member of 25 national and international professional bodies. He is reviewers in many reputed journals. He is Editorial Board member in national/international Journals. He has also organized and participated in the training program and also were invited speaker in seminar /conferences.
Q1. Please share your educational and professional journey?
I was born in Patna and brought up in a simple and well-educated family. My family is well settled. The basic ideology of my family is “Study with good marks”. As a result, I achieved good marks in my studies. “Marks judge our performance, so study to achieve good marks” concept was very helpful in my entire life. Blessings of elders are remarkable in life. I completed my schooling from St. Paul’s Academy, Patna (ICSE Board). I used to participate in general knowledge quizzes, and cultural activities at school. As a child, I was very conscious of how many times I flushed the toilet. For every 0.1 gallons of waste, I flushed six gallons of clean, usable water down the drain. It is no secret that freshwater is a scarce resource. Growing up in a developing country made me very aware of the struggle for fundamental necessities, such as potable water and sterile sanitary facilities. So, after lots of research, I did B.Tech in Civil Engineering as only in Civil Engineering with specialization Environmental Engineering having the resources to get about the solutions of these things. I completed my M.Tech and Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, India. I visited Curtin University, Malaysia and Hanyoung University, South Korea for research activities. By the blessing of elders, I cleared Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) in 2018 and I started my teaching career as Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bakhtiyarpur College of Engineering, Patna under Department of Science and Technology, Patna. I wanted to focus my efforts at the community level and serve humanity to build the nation by developing our students. I feel privileged to see success students and the respect from them. Further, in Academics I contributed society by published 18 Journals papers, 9 Book Chapters and 10 National/International Conferences about the emerging problems/solutions. I have accredited member of 25 International/national professional bodies. I was also fortunate to appear in many online courses organized by NASA, UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF and other foreign universities/organizations. All these courses have helped me in enriching my knowledge. I have also organized and attended many workshop, seminar, conferences.
Q2. What did attract you towards teaching instead of any corporate job?
The best part of teaching job is building optimistic relationships with students in the class and watching them learn more and more as the year goes on. In corporate, there is always on high alert of office politics. In teaching (whatever you teach) your students shower respect over you. You are paid for sharing your skills. When I meet my students even after a long time they show immense pleasure in introducing me to their family. Teaching is a noble profession indeed. Unlike much of the private sector, teaching offers great job security! Nothing encourages to continue to learn more about a topic than when you’re teaching it! Children are inquisitive, often asking questions you’d never thought of. This allows you to constantly research new finding and technologies to introduce to your students.
Q3. You are a member of an Editorial Board Member of IJASRW and Science Publishing Group and Agrarian Academic Journal. What kind of role do you play there?
As an Editorial Board Member I Review, edit, and approve the technical content of the journal. Identify and suggest key topics to include in the journal and invite important authors to submit an article. Also, identify important research, workshops, or panel discussion topics from meetings and conferences suitable for publication in perspectives and invite them to submit an article.
Q4. You have done a training program in Remote Sensing and GIS. How Remote Sensing and GIS is helpful in Civil Engineering?
I attended several training program from renowned institutions like NASA, IIRS and IIT/NIT etc. I published several paper on the different aspects and features on Remote Sensing and GIS like morphometry, land-use, land-cover, etc. Remote sensing is widely used in civil engineering activities, especially to assess the damage caused during the earthquake and tsunami, to know the soil moisture, and precipitation and evapotranspiration. It imparts a great role in tracing the water resources and estimation of land use and estimate rainfall–runoff in the areas of drought assessment. Water quality monitoring and identification of geological sites in the areas of groundwater studies have prominent uses in Remote Sensing and GIS. Apart from above remote sensing is also used in survey works likes roadways, railways and waterways.
Q5. Which issues are the most concern to you as an Environmentalist?
Many issues are we are facing such as climate change, biodiversity loss, overpopulation, and depletion of resources, pollution, and more. The list is so long, and it’s hard to separate any one issue from the others because there are all inter-related, so it’s difficult to pick any one thing that is of the most concern to me. Poor distribution of wealth and resources has led to an ever-growing gap between the world’s richest and poorest people. We have seen throughout history that environmental disasters and concerns that, would everyone was affected equally? Probably not. Unfortunately, I think that the enhanced rate at which we are facing environmental problems will ultimately reach a height, where there was no chance of return. It is therefore of absolute necessity that we engage everyone, break the glass ceilings, and strive to give everyone a voice at the table when it comes to tackling these issues.
Q6. What was your Thesis topic in Ph.D.? Please share a brief about it?
I did my Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad. The title Ph.D. thesis is “Phosphorus fractionation in surface sediments: An implication in conservation and restoration of Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, Singrauli, M.P.” As Singrauli is Energy Hub of India, and the only source of water is GBPS reservoir. The reservoir is very essential for the sustainable development of northern coalfield, thermal power plants, chemical industries, hydropower generation, fishery, and agriculture activities. Unfortunately, the greed of peoples and improper disposal of industries were led to pollute the reservoir. The research was carried out in and around the reservoir for two years and based on research carried out the huge baseline data on phosphorus fractionation in surface water and sediments in GBPS Reservoir were collected. After rigorous data analysis, some major issues were pointed out that the inflow polluted channels will pollute the reservoir upstream and some specific points of the reservoir. Some major suggestions were made to conserve and restore the reservoir. Further, the future restoration and conservation of GBPS reservoir for the sustainable development of industry need treatment of wastewater and effluents, and implementation of the zero discharge concept to control P load in the perennial streams and tributaries of Rihand River.
Q.7 Tell us about some of your milestones in research?
I like to write research papers and review papers. I published 18 research papers and 02 papers communicated so far, in various international/national journals, 10 full paper published in proceeding of national/international conferences and 09 book chapter published in renowned books. I were the reviewer of many international/national journal. Reviewed more than 30 articles as a reviewer for national/International Journals. I gave institutional training related to my work to B.Tech students. Several research project and consultancy were done as PI/Co-PI/Team Members. As coordinator organized several training program and guest lectures also, attended many training program from esteemed organizations. I were always privileged to give my thoughts as invited speaker in seminar/conferences. I were fortunate to contribute my experience and on the same time learn new things in Science Frontier Research Council (FSFRC), USA as Fellow Member. As research experience always works the betterment of students, I contributed small amount to act as a Mentor in DST & Texas Instrument, India Innovation Challenge. As a coordinator for youth member program, strives to conduct activities in environment, peace and human rights to serve humanity. Serving the society by contributing in research by dissemination noble quality of papers, “Excellent Researcher” awarded by GISR Foundation and “Young Researcher” in Environmental Management by World Research Council, Dubai in 2019. Professional bodies always provide opportunity to learn and implicate in research activities throughout the world, accredited member of 25 International/national professional bodies. Technology progresses research, “Tech Research” Award by Tech Prolabz for integrating novel technology into research as research articles.
Q.8 Your advice to students based on your experience?
Curiosity for the study is the first basic step towards learning. Careers with traditional courses take more time as compared to professional courses, but there are many career options available with the traditional study. Research is one of the most interesting fields for careers with traditional courses. Have and ask questions in student life. Either you get perfect answers by others or you will involve yourself to find that answer. Every person faces ups and downs in their life, so don’t be afraid of failures in life. Learn something new every day that makes you knowledgeable, because knowledge is the only thing that you can keep with yourself life-long. Keep trying for what you want to achieve in life.
