Thesis Defense in Details:

The thesis defense of the July-December 2019 session of the Department of Disaster Resilience and Engineering was held on 3rd October 2020. The defense took place at the faculty dean’s office of the faculty of Environmental Science and Disaster Management.

The exam had started at 9.00 a.m. and it lasted till 11.30 a.m. Five students of the July-December 2019 session participated in the exam and successfully defended their work.

All the respective teachers and members of the Department of Disaster Resilience and Engineering were requested to attend the defense examination. The defense committee consisted of 4 members two members were invited from two different universities.

Dr. Raman Kumar Biswas, Professor and Chairman of The Department of Disaster Resilience and Engineering was the chairman of the defense board.

Moments during the thesis defense

During the thesis defense

The thesis defense is designed so that the members can ask questions and make sure that students actually understand their field and focus area. Students were asked questions by the members of the thesis defense committee during the defense. Questions were mostly open-ended and required critical thinking about their work. A defense took about 20 minutes, or some more in some cases.

Thesis Topics on the Thesis Defense Program

All students who prepared a thesis were required to submit hard copies of the thesis for evaluation beforehand. The students were allowed to defend their work after the topics and contents had been approved by the supervisor and the committee had been formed.

The research topics were cyclone preparedness, forest ecosystem, river bank erosion at Jhalakathi and its socio-economic impacts assessment and mitigation approaches, climate change impacts on slum dwellers of Barishal city corporation: vulnerability assessment and coping strategies, assessing women’s vulnerabilities to disasters and women engagement towards resiliency: a study at Gournadi upazila, Barishal.

Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU)

The PSTU main campus is situated at Dumki Upazila under Patuakhali District. This is the only science and technology university and the first public university in the Barisal division. It is one of the fastest-growing public universities in Bangladesh.

The Patuakhali Science and Technology University was developed at the private initiative of the local people through the establishment of a higher secondary institute in 1972 as a private college.

The university was inaugurated on 08 July 2000 by the then Honorable Prime Minister, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, and started its academic activities on 26 February 2002.

The main campus of the PSTU is located about 20 km north of the district town of Patuakhali and about 38 km south of the divisional city of Barishal. The outer campus is situated at Babuganj under the Barishal district.

Being the lone university in the southern region of the country, the PSTU was established primarily to facilitate easy access to quality higher education to a populace who had been deprived of this prime right for a very long time since the independence of our beloved country.

The Department of Disaster Resilience and Engineering

Department of Disaster Resilience and Engineering was established in 2009. This department offers a bachelor’s degree jointly with the Faculty of Environmental Science and Disaster Management. This department also offers master’s and Ph.D. degrees separately.

Now there are 10 running master’s students in the Disaster Resilience and Engineering Department. This department has seven dedicated, and resourceful Teachers and other staff members. It has a research lab where students are allowed to perform different research works.

Author

Ismat Ara Muna, MS Student, the thesis Defense JD-2019 at DRE Department, PSTU