Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BiT) School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering

(SCWRE)
Assessment Sheet
As you know, BiT and SCWRE have changed from the departmental approach administration of curricula and staff
to the chair system. Nowadays the chair system approach is getting more acceptances and popularity in many
universities in the world. Hence, BiT has a strong desire and motivation to strengthen the chair system further. For
this purpose the Scientific Director of BiT requested all schools to group existing staff within the chair system. A
staff must have a chair as a home base. To achieve this, the school AC has decided to conduct a very quick
assessment to make it participatory and incorporate the interest of the staff themselves so that the chair appointment
process will be somehow justifiable and rational. This sheet is therefore developed to assess the staff educational
background and their research and anticipated future career development. Besides, it is also appropriate to give a
chance for individual staff to express his/her interest in which chair system he/she wants to belong. Please spent
some few minutes and help us by filling and signing this form and give it back to the secretary of the school director.
The description of the chairs within the school is provided at the end of this form.

1. Personal Information

_________________ ________________ ___________________

First name Middle Name Surname

Circle or underline the appropriate Educational Level BSc MSc PhD

Underline your Current Status Staff on duty Staff on Study

2. Describe below your research interest and your anticipated future further study plan or
interest of specialization if any

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

3. With due consideration of your research interest and future academic career and with the
consideration of the chairs description attached herewith this assessment may you please
indicate your first and second choice of the chair system you want to belong?
I. Construction Technology & Management_______________
II. Geotechnical & Highway Eng___________________________
III. Hydrology________________________________________
IV. Hydraulics_______________________________________
V. Structural_________________________________________
VI. Water Supply and Sanitary_________________________________

Date________________________________ Signature__________________________
Construction Technology & Management chair description
General description:
The Construction Technology and management chair, under school of civil and water resource
engineering, prepare students for technical careers and managerial knowledge in the construction
industry through the courses for designed for the students and deliver services for the society by
consultancy and trainings. Under this chair courses are designed to equip students for
construction materials, material handling and quality assurance, civil engineering technology of
construction, drafting techniques, overall planning, coordination, and control of a project from
beginning to completion.
Courses delivery
As one cell of the school, the construction technology and management chair deliver courses for
civil engineering and water resource engineering under graduate programs and for postgraduate
program. Undergraduate programs includes the following courses: Workshop practice;
Construction materials; Building construction; Fundamentals of architecture; Contract
administration; Specification and quantity surveying; Project management
Post Graduate
There is a postgraduate MSc program in construction technology and managemnt that is
administered under this chair. The chair deliver courses for graduate students that focuses o
Project and resource management and planning, Construction materials and Technology,
Analytic techniques, contract and business law.
Research and community service
This chair performs research , consultancy and community service work, professional training,
mainly in the following areas: new construction technology, construction project management
techniques, estimation the quantity and specifying works to be done and constructed works,
Drafting tools and techniques, producing and administration of construction contacts, pointing
out construction problems and propose solutions.
Laboratory
The chair administer one construction materials laboratory for testing of materials both for
teaching learning process and for the society as testing unit for quality assurance and design
proposal.
Geotechnical and Highway Engineering Chair Description
Background
As a branch of Civil Engineering, Geotechnical and Highway Engineering programs have a great
role in the teaching-learning and consultancy services of the school. Both graduate and
undergraduate programs are being managed in this Chair.
Courses under the chair administration
Based on the basic disciplines Geotechnical and Highway Engineering, the following course
areas are being offered under the chair for the undergraduate program: Surveying; Traffic
Engineering; Railway Engineering; Highway Engineering; Engineering Geology; Soil
Mechanics; Foundation Engineering
Postgraduate
Moreover, regular Geotechnical Engineering and summer Road and Transport Engineering
graduate programs are launched to solve the critical shortage of skilled professional in area.
The postgraduate program in Geotechnical Engineering deals, primarily with the necessary
advanced theoretical backgrounds to handle the analysis of directing and performing site
investigations and soil laboratory testing as well as evaluating and interpreting investigation
results for building and bridge site, dam sites, roads, highways, etc. The modules covered in this
program include: Computational Methods; Mechanics and Properties of Earth Materials; Design
and Construction of Geotechnical Structures; Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering.

The M.Sc. Program in the Road and Transport Engineering focuses on; designing highways,
evaluation of pavement conditions and their management, designing pavements on problematic
soils like expansive soils, etc. Studies in Road and Transportation Engineering include topics on;
Transportation planning, Pavement design and management, Economic evaluation of transport
projects, Traffic safety and Environment impacts, Geometric design and traffic engineering.

Research and community services activities in the chair

Different consultancy and community services are also being conducted under the chair. These
includes, materials testing, foundation recommendation and design, design and supervision of
road projects etc... The possible research areas under the chair include but not limited to the
following Traffic flow modeling; Road economics, road pavement design and performance;
Experimental investigations of rutting and bleeding of asphalt concrete mixes; Highway
condition monitoring and data collection; Road maintenance management; Road safety and
accident modeling; Road failure investigation; Soil modeling, numerical analyses and testing;
The static and seismic stability of natural and excavated slopes; Characterization of Engineering
and Physical properties of soils; Landslide modeling and risk analysis; Behavior of unsaturated
soils and ground movements of compacted fills; Static and dynamic Soil-structure interaction;
Physical and Engineering properties, construction problems of soils; Ground improvement
methods and their effect on structures
Laboratory: The chair administer three laboratories: Soil lab, Highway Eng Lab and
Surveying lab for teaching learning process and for the society as testing unit for quality
assurance and design proposal.
Hydraulic Engineering Chair Description
Background
Hydraulic Engineering chair deals with investigation and description of water flow to help
solving research and professional problems in civil engineering and water resources
engineering. In addition, it deals with the design of water infrastructures for various uses such as
irrigation and hydropower engineering.

Courses Under the chair administration

The chair gives lectures for undergraduate students in civil engineering and water resources
engineering at the School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering. The courses that are being
administered under the Hydraulic Engineering Chair are Hydraulics I, Hydraulics II, Open
Channel Hydraulics, Hydraulic Structures I, Hydraulic Structures II, River Engineering,
Hydropower Engineering, Irrigation Engineering I, and Irrigation Engineering II.

Postgraduate programs administer by the chair

There is one MSc graduate program which is Hydraulic Engineering. Graduate level courses that
are under the Hydraulic Engineering Chair includes Design and Analysis of Embankment Dams,
Computational Hydraulics, Hydraulic Structures I, Sediment Transport Mechanics, Hydropower
Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering Design, Hydraulic structures II. The chair is in preparation
to open another graduate program in Irrigation Engineering.

Research and community services activities in the chair

The chair has so far offered professional trainings and consultancy works for various
organizations. Most importantly, we can mentioned the training on Design, Supervision and
Contract Administration of Small Scale Irrigation schemes for various professionals from all
over Ethiopia. Apart from this the chair is known for coordinating these kinds of consultancy
works. The chair performs research work in the following fields: Hydraulic and Flood
Modelling, Sediment transport in Rivers, Geomorphology of River Channels, Modelling and
Analysis of Scour Depth in Bridges and other River Engineering infrastructures, Sustainable
design of River Engineering Infrastructures, Benchmarking and Performance Assessment of
Irrigation Systems, Reservoir Sedimentation studies, Failure analysis of various Hydraulic
Structures.

Laboratory
The chair owns one fully equipped Hydraulics Laboratory with multitude of facilities including a
10 m long multi-purpose teaching research flume. We have also a much wider sedimentation
tank that we use it for various researches related with sediment transport in rivers. We possess
field scale equipments as well. Graduate students are, at the moment, using some of the
equipments for their research.
Hydrology Chair brief description
Background
Hydrology chair is one of the six chairs in the school of civil and water resources engineering of
Bahir Dar Institute of technology. In general both civil and water resources and environmental
engineering programs are all about people that give us quality of life. Hence they must deal with
water. Besides, understanding the fact that freshwater water resource is indispensable finite
natural resources it has to be assessed and managed properly. With due consideration of these
facts and principles, courses that leads the students to acquire the required knowledge and skill
in assessing and managing water resources are identified and incorporated in both civil and water
resources and environmental engineering programs. Hydrology chair is therefore established to
effectively manage and administer courses and staff related to the chair.

Courses Under the chair administration

The chair has principally consists of two major components: the assessment of water resources
and its planning. The courses that are related to these components and incorporated in the both
programs are listed below: Introductory hydrology; Engineering hydrology; Groundwater
hydrology; Water resources development; GIS and Remote sensing;Soil and water conservation
Engineering; Environmental pollution and Environmental Impact assessment; Environmental
Law; Flood and drought Management

Postgraduate programs administer by the chair

There is a postgraduate MSc program in engineering hydrology and PhD program in Integrated
Water Management in the school of civil and water resources engineering. The chair is fully
responsible to administer these programs. The responsibility involves managing and monitoring
effective delivery of the courses and facilitating and supervising the progress of students thesis
work and their final completion. The chair is also responsible to continuously review and update
the curriculum and if necessary develop other new curricula that are related to the chair and
proven to be in line with the national and regional human resources needs.

Research and community services activities in the chair

Like any other higher education academic units the chair is also expected to be actively involved
in research and community services. The research include the following fields: precipitation
processes, soil water infiltration and runoff formation, river basin response, hydrologic extremes,
flood runoff generation, flood-routing, and flood forecasting, hydrologic modeling, soil erosion
and sediment transport, climate change impact on hydrology and water resources, water balance
analysis and modeling, optimal allocation and management of water resources and geospatial
analysis with GIS and remote sensing of hydrological processes.
Structural Engineering Chair brief description
Background
The Chair of Structural Engineering provides the students with a solid knowledge on structural
systems. The education in this cover structural design of concrete, timber, steel and masonry
structures. It expands from building small structures to wide span and high rise structures with a
focus on a structural design approach and its respective tools. Besides theoretical basis, given in
lectures, students obtain experience of design by working on practical study projects.

Courses Under the chair administration

This chair delivers structural courses for Civil and water resources engineering programs of
undergraduate studies. The courses include Reinforced Concrete-I,II,III, Fundamentals of
Bridge Design, Structural Design, Theory of structures I,II, Strength of Materials, Design of
Steel and Timber Structures, Introduction to Finite Element Methods, and also advice students
with their final year projects.

Postgraduate programs administer by the chair

There is one MSc graduate program of Structural Engineering. The objective of the graduate
program is to train Structural Engineers who are equipped with the necessary advanced
theoretical backgrounds to handle the design of special structures such as high rise buildings or
bridges with special features made of reinforced concrete, pre-stressed concrete, steel or
composite steel and concrete construction.

Research and Community services

The research and community services under this chairs include alternative construction materials,
bamboo structures, composite materials, modular structural systems, lightweight structures,
temporary structures, historical structures, computer applications, structural optimization, etc.
Water Supply and Sanitation Chair description
The Water supply and Sanitary Engineering Chair is aimed to contribute to knowledge
development and capacity building in both the urban and rural water supply and sanitation field;
areas of interest include drinking water supply assessment, analysis and design, urban drainage,
wastewater collection, treatment and reclamation/reuse, and residuals management.

Courses Under the chair administration

The chair gives lectures for undergraduate students in civil engineering and water resources
engineering at the School of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, the courses are: water
supply engineering, water treatment, sewerage system and sanitation, wastewater treatment and
solid waste management, water supply & sewerage, and water treatment and waste management,
water distribution system modelling, and sewerage and urban drainage system modelling.

Research and Community services

The chair perform research and consultant work, professional training and teaching in the
following fields: water and wastewater quality analysis and modelling, water supply project
design, performance evaluation of water supply projects, water and wastewater treatment plant
modelling and design, household water treatment, urban water system, optimization of water
distribution system, urban drainage and sewerage system design, planning and design of
sanitation systems and technologies for rural, peri-urban and urban areas, ecological sanitation,
integrated solid waste management, liquid waste management, sludge management, biogas
digester and production, environmental (water, air, soil) pollution, water supply-sanitation and
hygiene (WASH), sanitary installation (plumbing fixtures), technical support for NGOs working
on sanitation in and around Bahir Dar.

Laboratory
The chair owns one well equipped water and wastewater quality and treatment laboratory for the
teaching learning process of our school and other universities as well. Graduate students and
PhD candidates are using the lab to analyze water and wastewater quality. Institutions and
researchers from other universities are also using the lab. Aerobic and anaerobic digesters are
available in the lab to check the biogas production of organic wastes.