AUS hosts second symposium on buildings, bridges and geotechnical engineering

As part of its commitment to provide professional engineers the latest information and knowledge in technological advancement, American University of Sharjah (AUS) hosted the 2013 Symposium for Buildings, Bridges and Geotechnical Engineering recently.

The symposium focused on the theoretical and practical aspects of structural engineering as well as geotechnical engineering. Several speakers presented their current research and case studies, such as the soon-to-be highest structure in the world, The Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. Renowned keynote speakers delivering presentations included Dr. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who spoke about steel shear walls, and Dr. Khalid Mosalam, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who gave a presentation about the hybrid simulation of RC box-girder bridges. In addition, several faculty members from the AUS Department of Civil Engineering gave technical speeches about their current research, including Dr. Sami Tabsh, Dr. Rami Hawileh and Dr. Magdi El Emam.

"It is not very often that we have events such as this, in which many world-class experts are gathered from diverse fields such as structural, geotechnical, bridge and railway engineering," said Dr. Leland Blank, Interim Dean of the AUS College of Engineering, as he welcomed the attendees.

As today's modern structures increase in complexity and as the advancements in research reach new realms, this symposium aimed to introduce the latest developments to the engineering community as well as offer an opportunity to learn a suite of new software: Midas Gen, Civil and GTS.

"This symposium is another successful event in a series of activities that are targeted at improving the design and construction practices in the UAE and the region," said Dr. Sameh El-Sayegh, Interim Head of the AUS Department of Civil Engineering.

"The civil engineering outreach program is very excited to organize this event. It provides the medium that facilitates the introduction of the state-of-the-art advances to the practitioners through the presented research projects and feeds back the state-of-the-practice to the researchers through case studies," said Dr. Mohammad AlHamaydeh, organizer and chair of the civil engineering outreach committee at AUS.

Attendees took part in the Midas workshops in order to familiarize themselves with this software and to further grasp the inner workings of the software. The hands-on training workshops included three modules: the Midas Gen, which focused on the analysis and design of buildings; Midas Civil, which dealt with the analysis and design of bridges; and Midas GTS, which focused on the geotechnical applications.

"I am very impressed with the level of sophistication in the presented topics and case studies, and look forward to further collaboration with AUS faculty," said Dr. Khalid Mosalam, professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

The symposium was co-sponsored by Midas Information Technology Co., Ltd. (MIDAS IT), an international software company with market shares in over 40 countries across the globe and the developer of a suite of software modules in civil, structural and mechanical engineering fields; as well as Khatib & Alami (K&A), a multidisciplinary architectural and engineering consulting company operating in various countries spanning several continents including the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the USA.