Tapan K. Datta

Last updated

Tapan K. Datta is a Wayne State University civil engineering professor and researcher who highly specializes in transportation engineering and safety. After receiving his early schooling, undergraduate degrees, and field experience in Calcutta, India, he moved to the United States to complete his master's and doctoral degrees. [1] [2] While in Detroit, MI, he worked for and later owned Goodell Grivas, Inc., a structural engineering consulting firm, and became a full-time faculty member at Wayne State University in 1973. His most notable contributions include work on the roof of Cobo Hall, in Detroit, MI, and the steel structural work done on Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Datta has also claimed to be the inventor of the double-drive thru at fast food establishments. [3] Dr. Datta also founded the Transportation Research Group at Wayne State University; this group is composed of undergraduate and graduate students that complete transportation-related research grant projects for the State of Michigan. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Dr. Tapan Datta grew up in India as the youngest child out of four. His father was an electrical and mechanical engineer in India. He earned his diploma from South Calcutta National School in Calcutta, India, in 1955. [1] In 1957, Dr. Datta graduated from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, then under the University of Calcutta, with a general two year math and science degree. [1] [3] He cites his reasoning for pursuing civil engineering, and later transportation engineering instead of mechanical or electrical engineering as, “a want to do something different, so that my father could not oversee me all the time”. [3] Dr. Datta also obtained an Urban Planning degree while studying in India, before applying to the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur (now named as IIEST, Shibpur), also in Calcutta, India. In order to gain admittance to the IIEST Shibpur, he had to compete with 40,000 applicants, of whom only 400 were admitted. [3] Dr. Datta was originally disqualified for being, “too lean and thin...and underweight.” For the next four weeks, he did nothing but eat rice and sleep. Right before his next physical, he drank two gallons of water. He made the weight requirement by one pound, and was then admitted to the college to begin his civil engineering studies. [3]

By 1965, Dr. Datta had earned his B.E. in Civil Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Town & Regional Planning from Bengal Engineering College. [1] [2] He then moved to Detroit to complete his Masters of Science in Civil Engineering from Wayne State University. [1] [3] He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a focus in Transportation from Michigan State University in 1973. [2]

Employment

In 1962, after getting his bachelor's degree in math and science from Vivekananda College, Dr. Datta was employed by Kuljin, an American civil engineering company in India. [3] While working for this company, he was faced with a very competitive work environment which fostered in him the feeling that he could do something though his experiences there. [3] Working for Kuljin was also very important in his academic pursuits; in order to be accepted to the prestigious Bengal University's College of Engineering, experience in the field was required among many other rigorous tests. [3] After a few years of working for Kuljin, Dr. Datta applied to Bengal University and was accepted. [3] After acquiring his degree in Civil Engineering at the Bengal Engineering College of the University of Calcutta, he traveled to Detroit, Michigan, in 1967. [3] While studying for his master's degree at Wayne State University, he worked in the Wayne State mailing room to support himself. [3] He was eventually hired as a part-time professor at Wayne State. [3] Dr. Datta was hired as a full-time faculty member in 1973 by Wayne State. [3]

While at Wayne State, Dr. Datta has worked on many research projects for MDOT, in addition to being a professor of Transportation Engineering. [3] After his first year of employment, he received a grant to run safety training programs throughout the state. [3] Dr. Datta then created the Transportation Research Group (TRG) at Wayne State and has led numerous grant projects through this group. Some projects the TRG completed in recent years include “2005 and 2007 Child Restraint Device Use and Misuse Survey,” the “Susan Harwood Training Grant – OSHA Training Material Development for Highway Construction Work Zones and Traffic Control Hazards,” and a study on the “Identification of Targeted Enforcement Locations for the Reduction of Speed-Related Crashes”. [4]

Around the same time he was hired as a full-time faculty member at Wayne State, Dr. Datta also began working for Goodell Grivas Inc., a structural engineering consulting firm in Southfield, Michigan. [3] This company was responsible for engineering the structural steel of Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) as it was being constructed in Cleveland, OH, as well as the roof on Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. [3] In 1981, Dr. Datta became the sole owner of Goodell Grivas Inc after one of the existing owners died. [3] Dr. Datta walked away from the company in the early 1990s to fully dedicate his time to research and teaching at Wayne State. [3]

Achievements

In graduate school, Dr. Datta was a member of both Chi Epsilon, the National Civil Engineering Honor Society, and Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society. [2] He earned the 1992 Michigan State Safety Commission Award for long-term contribution in Traffic Engineering and Safety. [2] He received the 2000 “Arthur Carr” Professorship Award from Wayne State University, [2] the Wayne State University Safety Award for Service on the ‘Drive Safety to Wayne State’ Campaign from WSU's Loss Prevention Committee for 2005, [2] and the Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award for 2006 from The Wayne State University College of Engineering. [2] Dr. Datta has earned numerous professional awards such as the Outstanding Individual Engineering Excellence Award in Engineering Education from the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers in 2007, [2] and the Outstanding Contribution to Traffic Safety Award from the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission in 2007 for the ‘Drive Safely to Wayne State’ Campaign. [2] In 2009, at the annual Traffic Management and Work Zone Safety Conference in Orlando, FL, he was awarded the National Work Zone Safety Awareness Award for the FHWA-sponsored project “Utility Work Zone Traffic Control Guideline Development and Training". [2] That same year, he also received the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, [2] as well as Membership into the Hall of Fame at Wayne State University, College of Engineering. [2] In March 2009, Governor Granholm and the State of Michigan appointed him to the “Construction Safety Standards Commission”. [2]

As of 2019, Dr. Datta has retired from his teaching position at Wayne State University as well as his role in leading the Transportation Research Group.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne State University</span> Public university in Detroit, Michigan

Wayne State University is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 24,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Wayne State University, along with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, compose the University Research Corridor of Michigan. Wayne State is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IIEST, Shibpur</span> National Institute of Technology in West Bengal, India

Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, abbreviated as IIEST Shibpur is a public university located at Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal. Founded in 1856, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance under MHRD by the Government of India. It is controlled by the Council of NITSER.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shibpur</span> Neighbourhood in Howrah in West Bengal, India

Shibpur or Sibpur is a neighbourhood in Howrah city of Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).

Sumit Sarkar is an Indian historian of modern India. He is the author of Swadeshi Movement.

The systems of secondary and post-secondary education in Kolkata are listed as follows:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Institute of Technology Agartala</span> Public engineering institution in India

National Institute of Technology Agartala is a technology-oriented institute of higher education established by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India in Agartala, India. It was founded as Tripura Engineering College in 1965 and declared a National Institute of Technology (NIT) in 2006, thus being recognized as an Institute of National Importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapan Raychaudhuri</span> British-Indian historian (1926–2014)

Tapan Raychaudhuri was a British-Indian historian specialising in British Indian history, Indian economic history and the History of Bengal.

Brajendranath Dey was an early Indian member of the Indian Civil Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tathagata Roy</span> Indian politician

Tathagata Roy is an Indian politician who served as the Governor of Tripura from 2015 to 2018 and the Governor of Meghalaya from August 2018 to the end of his term in August 2020. He was the 6th president of West Bengal state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 2006 and a member of the BJP National Executive from 2002 until 2015.

Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri was an Indian historian, known for his studies on ancient India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bimal Kumar Bose</span>

Bimal Kumar Bose, also known as B. K. Bose, is an electrical engineer, artificial intelligence researcher, scientist, educator, and currently a professor emeritus of power electronics in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dipankar Datta</span> Judge of Supreme Court of India

Dipankar Datta is a Judge of Supreme Court of India. He is the former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and the Judge of Calcutta High Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinesh Mohan</span> Indian academic (1945–2021)

Dinesh Mohan was honorary professor at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi since 2017. He was distinguished professor at Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar (India) from 2016 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 he was Emeritus Volvo Chair Professor for Transportation Planning & Safety at IITD. He was head of Centre for Biomedical Engineering (1991–1996), Coordinator of the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (1998–2010) and head, W.H.O. Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Safety Technology at IIT Delhi (1991–2010). He was also Director, Independent Council for Road Safety International (www.icorsi.org).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asok Kumar Barua</span> Indian condensed matter physicist

Asok Kumar Barua was an Indian condensed matter physicist and the honorary Emeritus Professor of Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, who focused on research in optics and optoelectronics. He was honoured by the Government of India in 2003 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subhas Datta</span> Indian environmental activist

Subhas Datta is an environmental activist, and has been so for over three decades. He is a qualified chartered accountant by profession. Since 1995, Datta has aired the grievances of the masses before the judicial forum through filing Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swapan Kumar Datta</span> Indian scientist (born 1953)

Swapan Kumar Datta is a (Professor) of rice biotechnology who focuses on genetic engineering of Indica rice. Datta has demonstrated the development of genetically engineered Indica rice from protoplast derived from haploid embryogenic cell suspension culture. Golden Indica Rice with enriched Provitamin A and Ferritin rice with high iron content were developed by his group with a vision to meet the challenges of malnutrition in developing countries. Datta has been named as one among the top 25 Indian scientists from all fields of science by India Today.

M. A. Rashid was a Bangladeshi educator. He served as the 1st Vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology during 1962–1970. He was awarded Independence Day Award in 1982 by the Government of Bangladesh.

Amitabha Bhattacharyya was an Indian production engineer and the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He was credited with the establishment of the department of production engineering at Jadavpur University. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture</span> Science College, Kolkata, West Bengal

The University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture are two of five main campuses of the University of Calcutta (CU). The college served as the cradle of Indian Sciences by winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 and many fellowships of the Royal Society London.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "International Spotlight: Dr. Tapan Datta". Engineering.wayne.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Tapan Datta Homepage". Eng.wayne.edu. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Dr. Datta Interview Audio Files". Mediafire.com. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  4. 1 2 "Wayne State Transportation Research Group". Eng.wayne.edu. 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.