Objectives

• SEFI shall provide a vibrant platform to Structural Engineers and professionals from related fields for knowledge sharing, information access and utilizing the Internet as a tool for growth.
• SEFI aims to enrich the understanding of the structural systems and work towards its further development by facilitating technical interaction and widespread meaningful dialogue.
• SEFI aims to serve to enhance the role of designers and planners to improve the construction quality.
• SEFI shall give content to public discussion on major issues concerning the safety of structures and creating special interest groups to formulate guidelines/blue books etc.
• SEFI shall endeavor to expose Structural Engineering Design and Planning to a wider audience by accessing other mediums and also creating a communication channel for representation of Structural Engineering concerns and issues to the government.
• SEFI shall support initiatives that are identified as being aimed at its mission objective.

Format

The structure of the forum is an independent one, which requires no previous membership or affiliation. Members can interact through discussion groups; articles, query submissions and responses.

The People

• Dr. Sudhir.K.Jain - Director, IIT Gandhinagar
• Alpa Sheth– Consulting Structural Engineer – Mumbai, Ahmedabad
• Dhirendra Tripathi - C.E.O. Karmyogi Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - Ahmedabad
• Sudhir Badami - Structural Engineer - Mumbai
• Pankaj Gupta - Consulting Structural Engineer – New Delhi

Brief History

The structural engineering profession in India, formally and informally, deeply impacts urban and rural life across our vast country. Our society places on it a serious responsibility towards ensuring design and implementation of quality, safe, affordable and functional structures.

Yet the structural engineering profession is currently assailed by many problems. There is a growing sense of disillusionment and lack of motivation in the members of this profession. Problems of poor perception of structural engineers in the society, poor professional remuneration, poor interaction between fellow engineers, lack of ethics plague the profession. There is presently no structural engineering association at a national level, which adequately addresses the needs and problems of the profession.

During the e-conference organized by the National Information Center of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE, www.nicee.org) on professional issues in Structural Engineering in August 2002, a large number of participants felt the need of a forum where they can interact and share views on a regular basis. Hence this web site has been created as our contribution to the profession, and launched on Jan 26, 2003, the second anniversary of the Bhuj earthquake.

This is only a modest beginning, and by the continuous support, interaction and contribution from the members, it can become an effective One Stop Resource Center for the Structural Engineering community & allied fields. We would appreciate and welcome any suggestions you have regarding the web-site. We are also looking forward to volunteers & contributors for maintenance of the site.