Short Biography of Professor Dipak Sengupta

Short Biography of Professor Dipak Sengupta
Compiled during some informal talks with him by Asim Deb, 1977 Electronics & Tele Communication Engineering.

Title photo: Professor Dipak Sengupta along with Professor Ranjit Roy (Metallurgy) and Professor Baidyanath Patra (Mathematics) at the 2023 annual get-together of 1972-1977 batch of students.

Prof. Dipak Sengupta was born in the district of Barishal in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Due to his father’s transferable service, he had his schooling at different places – Tamluk Hamilton High School, Jhargram K. K. Institution, Assansol Ramkrishna Mission School, Mekhligunj High School and finally he completed his schooling (School Final Examination) from Dinhata High School, Cooch Behar district.

In 1961, he took admission in B. E. College as a student of Civil Engineering and graduated in 1965. Afterwards he joined Ramakrishna Mission Polytechnic, as a lecturer in Civil Engineering, a place that was deeply aligned with his mind where he thought he would finally settle. However, he was counselled for a better career by his parents and well wishers. He met Prof A. C. Roy, the then Principal of B, E. College and he influenced Prof. Sengupta for teaching in mainstream engineering. Immediately Prof. A.C. Ray arranged for a temporary faculty position for him in the Applied Mechanics Department (at present converted to the Department of Aerospace Engineering).

Prof. Sengupta had his Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Calcutta. Though he had an opportunity to join the Columbia University in USA for his Ph D, however he decided not to leave India and completed his Ph D thesis staying in the college and did his Ph D from the Jadavpur University.

It was July 1966 when he joined the Applied Mechanics Department of B.E. College and from that day on, he continued without any break and formally retired in 2001 as a Professor of Applied Mechanics. He was given extension for 5 years and thereafter continued to serve the Institution as a Visiting Professor till July 2018. In his long teaching carrer he was entrusted with teaching various subjects like Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Hydraulics and Hydraulic Machines, Theory of Plates and Shells, Theory of Elasticity, Finite Element, and also Computer Programming and Numerical Analysis, etc.

So, as a student and as a teacher, he had 58 years of active association with his B.E. College, when he finally bids teaching and adieu to his beloved institution.

Looking back, while studying I.Sc., Prof. Sengupta stayed at the Rammmohan Hostel adjacent to the City College, Calcutta and there in the hostel, he came in contact with a senior student who was also a magician. The magician boy had a liking for Prof. Sengupta who was a first year student then. The magician trained him with some of the tricks. With great difficulty and perseverance. Prof. Sengupta mastered the tricks staying in a four-seated room and appeared in a hostel programme with a few of the magic items that earned him much appreciation.

During his 3rd year in the B. E. College, he was a resident of Hostel No 10 and was invited to perform a magic show in a hostel function where Principal Prof. A. C. Roy, Dr. S S Baral, Dr. A K Seal and others attended and appreciated his show. He also presented his shows during Saraswati Puja functions in the Pandya Hall where he, like many other junior faculty members, used to stay.

In his long stay of 58 years both as a student and as a teacher, he witnessed changes, upheavals and student’s unrest particularly during 70’s when there was an all round political turmoil in the state. During his entire period of his service carrier, he was received very well by the students and his colleagues as well as by the administrators of this institution. Prof. Sengupta remembers his association and working with Prof. D. Banerjee, Prof. P. K. Roy, Prof. A. K. Seal, Prof. B. Sen, Prof. S. M. Chatterjee, Prof. Amaljyoti Sengupta and Prof. N. R. Banerjea and finally Prof. Ajoy Roy who had served the Institution as Principals, Directors or Vice-Chancellors across the years.

It will take a long time to mention all the activities with which he was associated over the years. Only a few may be mentioned though not in sequential order of time. He was nominated as a member of the undergraduate Board of Studies and also as a member of Postgraduate Faculty Council in the University of Calcutta. On several occasions, he has contributed as a member of a committee working for the modification of syllabus of different departments of the Institution. He was a committee member nominated by the Education Department, Govt of W.B. for preparing the Statutes for the State University BESU (Bengal Engineering and Science University). He was the Chairman of the committee entrusted to bring out a handbook for the Institution and also preparing a documentary film illustrating and highlighting the activities of different departments of the Institution under the able direction of the noted film director Sri Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

In 1975, he was sent to ECIL, Hyderabad along with four other faculty members to get training in computer operations. Next year, BE College had its first digital computer, TDC 316. It was installed in the department of Electrical Engineering. Prof. Sengupta was inducted in the working group, the entire project being steered by Prof. S. K. Sen, the then head of the department of Electrical Engineering.

In 2001, with the financial assistance from the Institution, Prof. Sengupta set up a full fledged Computer Centre in the 3rd floor of block III which was later transformed to PDSIT (Purabi Das School of Information Technology). For four long years he arranged evening classes in the Computer Centre teaching different computer languages. The course was very demanding at that time particularly in the wake of introducing Information Technology as an important subject.

Prof Sengupta fondly remembers his working as a Chairman of a ten-member committee that was entrusted for preparing the necessary report for the expert team comprising Prof. Anandakrishnan, Prof Amitabha Ghosh and Prof. D. V. Singh. They all visited the Institution on several occasion to evaluate the available infrastructure and amenities and finally recommended for the conversion of the State University BESU to a national level institution, IIEST.

Prof Sengupta published a good number of research papers in National and International journals. Amongst the major projects handled, mention may be made of checking the Analysis of bridge slab decks for the Vidyasagar Setu, and Developing a full-fledged computer software for analysing the elasto-plastic stress analysis of structures, sponsored by ISRO, Thiruvanatapuram etc. He received a research grant from NASA, USA along with Prof. Suman Dasgupta of Civil Engineering department. Such a project was the first of its kind in India. On satisfactory completion and publication of the findings, a second project was also sanctioned. But at that time Govt. of India decided to explode atom bombs leading to immediate withdrawal of the grant from USA.

Prof Sengupta got the Distinguished Teachers’ Award in the 15th Annual Convocation handed over to him by Sri Pranab Mukhopadhyay, the then President of India in the presence of the Governor of WB Sri M. K. Narayanan.

As Prof Sengupta reiterates “I am grateful to my students from whom I received unblemished love and respect over the years This is something which no money, no coveted position, no reward can surpass. Wherever my students are, I pray for their success and peaceful life. Most off my intimate friends with whom I used to share my pleasant moments and who, on many occasions, stood by me on days of distress have left this world. I often recall and reminisce the sweet memory of the days I had left behind in my good old Alma Mater and am patiently waiting to shuffle my mortal coil.”

Timeline photo: Prof. Amalendu Ghosh & Prof. Dipak Sengupta at the 2015 annual get-together of 1972-1977 batch of students, at Wolfenden Hostel.