Arsen Ivanov

I just saw on FOX News (Special Report with Brit Hume) that officials investigating the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are using a PhD thesis discussing (theoretically) different ways in which that particular bridge could be collapsed. They say that study could save them months of theoretical work.

It is amazing - I never thought of how useful existing doctoral theses might be useful in solving a practical problem!

When my father first heard about bridge collapse in Minnesota, his first question was : “Couldn’t these engineers build it well?”

While my father might be wrong - there might be other reason, besides bad engineering, due to which collapse has happened — still this is a nagging question that must be answered.

Is it possible, that collapse is a systematic failure, symbolic of how unimportant engineering, as a profession, is considered to be?

In a country that values education in Law as more valuable, than education in Engineering, are we to be surprised that engineering failures happen?

No! If we want our country to stay technologically and infra-structurally viable, engineering, as a profession, as a field of activity, must become more valued, popular, and attractive.

Unfortunately, it is not up to me to decide that. A major change in American culture would need to take place in order for that to happen.