On Wednesday, 24^th May at 12:00 PM, in the seminar room of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), a seminar titled "Slope stabilization using Recycled Plastic Pin & Magic Box for Subsurface Investigation" was held. The seminar was organized by AUST Civil Engineering Society (ACES). The seminar speaker was Mr. Asif Ahmed, PhD candidate from University of Texas at Arlington, USA. Prof. Dr. A.M.M. Safiullah, Vice-chancellor of  AUST graced the seminar as chief guest. The seminar was chaired by Prof. Dr. Md. Mahmudur Rahman, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, AUST. Faculty members along with the students from final year of Civil Engineering Dept. were present in the seminar.

PhD candidate Mr. Asif Ahmed organized his presentation in two sections. He shared his innovative idea to use plastic material as reinforcement for improving slope stability which contributes mainly to recycle wastes at landfill. Detail mechanism of slope stability was discussed where addition of plastic increased the factor of safety as it resists additional moment. Inserting plastic pins made failure plane going to a deeper depth. This technique was used at Texas to improve slopes. Mr. Asif Ahmed showed layout & installation process of Recycled Plastic Pin (RPP). He later shared that over 3 lakhs of plastic bottles were used to make plastic pins. He also added that how some plastic pins failed during installation process and how they fixed that by using steel beam pins.

Second presentation included using "magic box" for resistivity imaging by applying small electric currents across electrodes. Different values of resistivity can be used to identify different types of soil. Inserting boreholes cannot identify discontinuity of moisture, but resistivity imaging can mark the layers. Mr. Asif Ahmed also told how soil properties can be known from resistivity imaging.

Mr. Asif ahmed also encouraged students for maintaining a healthy relationship between students and supervisors. Followed by the presentation a question answer session was conducted. The seminar was concluded after speeches from Chairman Dr.Mahmudur Rahman & honourable chief guest Dr.A.M.M.Safiullah. They inspired the students for creating innovative ideas & to execute them.

Chief guest Dr. A. M. M. Safiullah & Chairman, Dr Mahmudur Rahman along with faculty members during seminar