About the Author ---------------- Ram S. Gupta holds a master of engineering degree from IIT, Roorkee, India, and a PhD from Polytechnic University, New York. He is a registered professional engineer in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Dr. Gupta has 40 years of experience working on projects in the United States, Australia, India, and Liberia (West Africa), and is currently working as a professor of engineering at Roger Williams University (RWU), Bristol, Rhode Island. He has been a full-time faculty member at RWU since 1981. He was a rotary scholar professor at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal, and a Fulbright scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Dr. Gupta is president of Delta Engineers, Inc., an Rhode Island-based consulting company, specializing in structural and water resource disciplines. Besides contributing to a very large number of research papers, he has authored two very successful books: Hydrology and Hydraulic Systems, 3rd edition (Waveland Press, Long Grove, IL, 2008), Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science, 2nd edition (ABS Consulting, Rockville, MD, 2004), and Principles of Structural Design: Wood, Steel, and Concrete (Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL, 2010). Read more ( javascript:void(0) )