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IAC News No.93, July 2020

Japan Society of Civil Engineers  International Activities Center July 1, 2020 IAC News No.93

FY2020 International Student Network Group Activities

The International Student Network Group, International Activities Center of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers is engaged in activities aimed at supporting and building networks of international students studying in Japan. The main activities are holding an International Summer Symposium and an International Workshop for Young Civil Engineers at the JSCE Annual Meeting, holding a Joint Company Information Session for international students, and issuing Student Voice (a series of essays on the experience of international students studying in Japan).

The International Summer Symposium (ISS) has been organized every year as a stage for research presentations by international students studying in Japan, and it would be the 22nd time in this year. It became a part of the JSCE Annual Meeting since the 14th event in 2012. Presentations in English by international students and young civil engineers can make great opportunities for presenters to interact with one another and get new research ideas. Also, as part of the ISS, the International Workshop for Young Civil Engineers for international students and young civil engineers was launched in 2013 and then held every year. . At the past workshops, themes were set based on the latest trends in the civil engineering industry, such as “technological innovation” and “disaster prevention and mitigation”. Domestic and overseas participants exchanged opinions with one another actively.

This year's workshop was titled as “Utilization of AI in Civil Engineering for Future Society”, and while a workshop on this theme was penciled in, the event had to be canceled due to the impact of COVID-19. For international students and young civil engineers, it will be no doubt a very unique experience to engage in discussions on the theme of AI, which is the latest trend in the civil engineering industry, together with people who speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds from oneself. Unfortunately, this year’s event was canceled, but we are considering holding a workshop on the same theme at next year’s JSCE Annual Meeting. We hope that many international students and young engineers will join us for next year’s event.

Since 2013, the International Student Network Group has also held Joint Company Information Session for International Students every year for the purpose of providing information on corporate activities and employment for international students who wish to develop their career at a Japanese company. It is a great oppotunity for international students to get to exchange the information directly with the representatives of Japanese companies, and it is recognized as a valuable opportunity for companies that are actively considering recruiting overseas students to communicate directly to potential candidates.

This year, we are planning to hold this event in early December 2020. Every year, the event includes two parts: presentations introducing the companies participating and discussions held at company booths (individual meetings). However, a few ideas are under discussion including the possibility of holding the Joint Company Information Session online given the circumstances with social distancing and society’s “new normal” resulting from the impact of COVID-19.

For further details of the International Student Network Group, please visit http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai11/ 

 


Participants Prepare for Their Presentation (FY2019 Workshop)


Interaction at Company Booth (FY2019 Joint Company Information Session)

【Reported by International Student Network Group, IAC, JSCE】

Bangladesh Dhaka MRT Line 6 Contract Package No.1 Construction of Civil Works for Soil Improvement, Land Development


Mitsuaki Okuda
(International Division, TOKYU CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD.)

The Dhaka metropolitan area in Bangladesh is one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, but the development of transportation infrastructure has not kept pace with the increase in population and automobiles, andchronic traffic congestion has caused serious pollution from automobile exhaust gas. For this reason, with the aim of reducing traffic congestion by switching to public transportation and suppressing air pollution in the Dhaka metropolitan area, the first full-scale urban high-speed railway line in Bangladesh (about 20 km, 16 stations) has been constructed with the support of the Japanese government. The project introduced in this report is the first portion of the construction work in this railway project, which is the construction of land development for a depot with the construction period of 25 months, and was completed in October 2018. The main types of works are ground improvement work and embankment work. The ground subjected to the improvement is a soft fine sand layer which is about 5 m from the ground surface and a soft cohesive soil layer below it. Sand Compaction Pile method (SCP) and Dynamic Compaction method (DC) were adopted for the upper sand layer as liquefaction measures, and Prefablicated Vertical Drain method (PVD) combined with surcharge embankment method was adopted for the lower cohesive soil as a measure against consolidation settlement.

The project started on September 8, which was immediately after the the terror attack on a restaurant in Dhaka on July 1, 2016. After the construction started , we participated in the safety measures meeting held by the Government of Bangladesh and the Embassy of Japan, ensuring the safety of construction site and accomodations by continuously sharing safety information and requesting security support, etc., and, we were able to reach completion without any safety problems.

This was the first project in Bangladesh for our company, and in addition to the application of advanced safety measures, the project was started under difficult environments from the beginning, where we needed to use construction methods such as the SCP construction method and DC construction method, which had not been often applied in the local area. With the maximum support from the clinent Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd. （DMTC） and the consultant, the project had been successfully completed within the prescribed construction period. As for the MRT in Dhaka City, in addition to Line 6 which is currently under construction, plans for Line 1 and Line 5 are underway byJapanese financing. We hope that the experience of this project will be useful for similar future project in Bangladesh and will contribute to the development of Bangladesh.


SCP Work 


DC Work 


Dhaka MRT Line 6 Contract Package No.1 Construction of Civil Works for Soil Improvement, Land Development Completion

【Reported by Mitsuaki Okuda, International Division, TOKYU CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD.】

FY2019 JSCE Awards

Twenty-six civil engineers including six non-Japanese engineers were recognized with International Lifetime Contribution Award, Continuing International Contribution Award, and International Outstanding Collaboration Award on June 12, 2020. The recipients by award are listed in the table below.

The JSCE Award Ceremony was scheduled to be held at JSCE General Assembly on June 12, 2020, but the ceremony was canceled due to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

For further details, please visit http://www.jsce-int.org/a_t/international.

< International Lifetime Contribution Award: 5 recipients >
The Award recognizes (1) Japanese civil engineers for their significant contributions to the development of civil engineering technology and/or the infrastructure development through their professional practices in and outside Japan; (2) non-Japanese civil engineer(s) for his/her commendable achievements to the progress and promotion of Japanese civil engineering.

NAME AFFILIATION
Takeshi Kawakami IHI Corp.
Hirotaka Sato NIPPO Corp.
Satoru Tsutae Taisei Corp.
Kiyofumi Yoshino Aero Asahi Corp.
Lou Kim Chhun Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the Royal Government of Cambodia

< Continuing International Contribution Award: 16 recipients >
The Award recognizes young professionals who have made and will make a significant contribution to the development of civil engineering and/or the development of infrastructure outside Japan with their unique and inspiring perspectives and solid technical skills.

NAME AFFILIATION NAME AFFILIATION
Koji Asakura IHI Infrastructure Sysmte Co., Ltd. Kazuyuki Gono Kajima Corp.
Go Adachi Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co., Ltd. Toshihiro Goto CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd.
Yuji Ikeda National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, MLIT Takayuki Sakai Shimizu Corp.
Yoshinori Izawa Hazama Ando Corp. Keiji Tominaga Obayashi Corp.
Osamu Iwata Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ltd. Hiroyuki Mizui Japan International Consultants for Transportation Co., Ltd.
Tomoki Kanenawa Japan International Cooperation Agency Masafumi Miyata National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, MLIT
Jun Kamon

Dai Nippon Construction

 Shusaku Yamashita

JFE Engineering Corp.
Masaki Kawaguchi The Kansai Electric Power Inc. Shinichiro Watanabe Taisei Corp.

< International Outstanding Collaboration Award: 5 recipients >
The Award recognizes foreigners who has made contributions to the development of civil engineering in Japan or other countries, through the exchange and collaboration with Japan, and is expected to play an active role in the progress and development of civil engineering field.

NAME AFFILIATION
Sato, Gloria Edullantes Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd.
Javed Awan TAISEI CORPORATION
Nicholas Sandeep Felix Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.
Nguyen Hoang Giang National University of Civil Engineering
Sudarmanto Budi Nugroho The Institute for Global Environment Strategies

 

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