Varun Gupta Masters Applicant (Construction Management & Engineering)

Department of Civil Engineering

My professional goals build upon my fascination for the construction industry and the wonderful
opportunities at IIT helped me explore my interests. It was only after taking academic courses that I
found myself deeply interested in the field of construction management. This interest has developed
into a deep passion with various experiences, projects, and internships. It also resonates with my
childhood predilection of making scaled models. For me, construction management is the same Lego
model I was enamoured with in my childhood, but when the pieces are more complex. Having pursued
multiple research projects and internships at TU Delft, The Netherlands, Shapoorji Pallonji, etc., I now
know that a master’s programme is my calling.

My interest finally crystallized when I was selected as one of the few students for an internship at
Shapoorji Pallonji Construction Ltd., which is one of the largest construction companies in India. My
specific focus was on installation methods of MIVAN and design of conventional formworks. I spent few
weeks on the site of two residential projects (high rise buildings) in Mumbai and I was fascinated by the
large number of inter and intra department collaborations and the interactions. Here, I gained insight on
the challenges such large collaborations result into on a micro-managerial level. I was inspired by the
vision and the thought process that drives the completion of a project. The imperative utilization of
resources caught my attention and is what lies in my pursuit of higher education in construction
management.

In order to gain experience of the backend of business processes, I undertook a business development
internship with Hvantage Technologies, a New York based company with its outsourcing office in Indore.
As a research analyst, I identified opportunities for potential business openings. Here, I got to work and
interact with different team managers on a daily basis, which enriched my understanding of business
development. I was always keen to ask questions, make case studies, and pitch potential scenarios. It
turned out to be a great learning experience, where I saw the backend of running a business with
particular focus on client acquisition. This experience furthered my resolve to pursue management in
construction as a firm career choice.

In my junior year, I interned at the water management section of Civil Engineering & Geosciences at TU
Delft, The Netherlands under the guidance of Dr Nick van de Giesen. My experience, both academic and
cultural, broadened my vision and expanded my thought process. My internship focused on creating and
executing concrete objective measures for successful automated identification of similar valleys using
global elevation data alone. I developed several crowdsourcing techniques and automation procedures
using python (GRASS). The algorithm developed will be further used for more accurate and scalable
reservoir characterization on a global level. My work at TU Delft will be presented at the 2017 AGU
(American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

I did not want to restrict myself to construction management so, as a part of my undergraduate studies,
I did my minor thesis with the Department of Irrigation and Public Health, Shimla, India in my junior
year, “Project Shimla: Continuous Pressurized Water Distribution Network”. Shimla faced a severe
outbreak of Hepatitis E in the fall of 2015. The obvious interventions such as disconnecting the sewage
treatment plant, changing water source; over-chlorination had proved ineffective. Other features such
as the elevation differences between the end user and pumping station, intermittent supply, and large
floating population might have worsened the situation quickly. The first challenge was to identify the
source of contamination in the water network that was more than 150 km long. I identified specific
clusters in the network that were susceptible to virus intrusion using EPANET and calibrated it via field
observations. A continuous pressurized system was proposed to improve the situation. After

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Varun Gupta Masters Applicant (Construction Management & Engineering)
Department of Civil Engineering

installation, Shimla will be the 4th city in India having a continuous pressurized water distribution
network.

Despite cutting-edge research in construction technology, more than 50% of the projects get delayed
and the numbers are much worse for mega projects. Moreover, micromanaging of such projects is not
possible, economically or otherwise. I intend to look for solutions using both my faculties of Civil
Engineering and Data Science towards dynamic monitoring of construction projects. The problem lies in
its nascent stages and has a gamut scope of affecting the construction industry worldwide because
employing data science on a micro-managerial level will not only require a solid algorithmic approach of
analysis that is scalable and reliable in the first place, but also a concrete and scalable approach of
collecting the relevant data in a highly functional environment such as a construction site itself.
I have explored the field of data analytics through academic courses and an internship at Positron
Internet (an Indian start-up company). I believe that my unique combination of skills (both in civil
engineering and data science) make me an apt candidate to pursue research of such interdisciplinary
nature.

I now understand that engineers, especially civil engineers are key not only because they design
structures that complement our existence second to none but also serve as leaders, influential scholars,
and visionaries who open new avenues for a better life. For myself, I plan to dedicate my career to the
necessary shift of the construction industry from conventional methods of analyses such as BIM, and
probabilistic models to more dynamic monitoring of construction processes, either through active
involvement in the industry itself or by doing a PhD and following my ideology in academia.

I believe that Stanford has the best environment for me to achieve my goals while gaining exposure to
and experience with a diverse student body and faculty. Stanford’s diversity offers an environment for
learning, both inside and outside the classroom. It offers a plethora of opportunities both research
based and industrial to its students. The environment nurtures a perfect amalgam of intra-disciplinary
and multidisciplinary research. It is a place where research through innovation drives the aura of
fecundity, driving it among the top universities in the world. Its outstanding academic reputation,
mingled with its diverse environment, creates an opportunity for growth that is second to none. I have
many ambitions for myself as I embark at this stage of my life. I believe that an education from Stanford
will provide invaluable experiences and skills that will allow me to become a successful and innovative
leader and researcher in the new millennium.

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