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ASNEngr
American Society of Nepalese Engineers
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Founded in 2007
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ASNEngr 19th Annual Conference Program Details (Tentative)
Date/Time:
Saturday, November 21, 2026, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Location:
DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Intercontinental Airport
15747 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Houston, TX 77032, USA
Highlights
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Keynote Address on Artificial Intelligence and Shared Prosperity
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Three Technical Sessions and Student Poster Session
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Panel Discussion on Engineering Entrepreneurship and Building Resilient Cities
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Awards, Recognition, Networking, Dinner and DJ
Program Schedule
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM | Breakfast & Registration
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM | Opening Session (1 PDH)
Welcome & Housekeeping Update, Sahas Shrestha, P.E., Local Chair
Opening Remarks & Conference Overview, Samir Rawal, MBA, General Co-Chair
Technical Program Overview, Kishor Shrestha, Ph.D., P.E., Technical Chair
Invited Session
- “Beyond the Blueprint: From Engineering Idea to Infrastructure Impact”
Ajeet Gorkhali, Executive Director, Standard Chartered Bank, Houston,
and Amit Pradhan, PMP, Lead Project Engineer, Bechtel Corporation
- “Infrastructure Development in Nepal.” Rajendra Shrestha, Ph.D. (Exclusive Sponsor)
9:00 AM – 9:50 AM | Ceremonial Session
- Society Programs, Ananda Paudel, Ph.D., President, ASNEngr
- Connecting Engineers, Umesh Parajuli, Chairperson, Society of Nepalese Engineers in UK
- Welcome to Houston, Gyanshor Shrestha, President, Nepalese Association of Houston
- “Infrastructure Resilience,” Subash Chandra Baral, President, Nepal Engineers’ Association
- “Government Policy and Collaborations,” Sharad Raj Aran, Act. Ambassador, Embassy of Nepal
Break: 9:50 AM – 10:00 AM
10:00 AM – 10:50 AM | Keynote Speech (1 PDH)
“Harnessing Advances in AI to Shape Shared Prosperity” Pravesh Rijal, Executive Vice President, Cross River
Break: 10:50 AM – 11:00 AM
11:00 AM – 11:55 AM | Technical Session 1 (1 PDH)
Session Co-Chairs: Rabin Bhattarai, Ph.D. and Nitesh Pant
- “Agentic AI: Autonomy, Longevity, and the Future Evolution of Cyber-Physical Security Systems” Sudeep Sapkota, Vice President, SMBC, Charlotte, NC
- “Texas Yield Explorer: ML-Based Prediction and Visualization of County-Level Corn and Cotton Yield in Texas”
Ripendra Awal, Ph.D., Oladapo Akintoye Ajike, Anoop Valiya Veettil, Ph.D., and Ali Fares, Ph.D.
- “AI as an Engineering Co-Pilot: A Nepal Trail Bridge from Sketch to Site, Generative and Vision AI in Engineering Practice”
Ujjwal Rajbhandari (Invited)
Break: 11:55 AM – 12:00 PM
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | Lunch and Recognition
Award Distribution
- Outstanding Performance Award
- Emerging Leadership Award (Even Year)
- Community Leadership Award
- Society Leadership Award (Past President)
- Lifetime Achievement Award (Every 2 Years)
1:00 PM – 1:25 PM | Student Poster Session (½ PDH)
Session Co-Chairs: Nirajan Mani, Ph.D., P.E. and Avinash Gautam, P.E.
- “Continuous Hydrotreatment of Waste Cooking Oil for Renewable Transportation Fuel: Optimization Integrating Experimental Data with Machine Learning” Chandra K. Khanal, Auburn University
- “A Multi-Layer AI-Enabled Early Warning Framework for Himalayan Geohazards” Ishwar Joshi, Utah State University
- “Detection, Mapping, and Spraying of Carolina Redroots in Cranberry Bogs Using AI and Autonomous Drones” Bishal Neupane, Rowan University
- “Geospatial Risk Assessment of Dumping Sites in Nepal and Proposing a Clustering Approach to Tackle Sustainability Challenges in Waste Valorization” Sagar Kafle, Auburn University
- “Wearable sEMG Fatigue Monitoring on Roofers in Hot Environments” Sujan Acharya, Texas State University
1:25 PM – 1:55 PM | Panel 1: Building Resilient Cities: Project Delivery Lessons from Greater Houston
(½ PDH)
Panelists
- Rajendra Shrestha, P.E., City Engineer, Pearland
- Prakash Luetel, P.E., Managing Engineer, Houston Public Works, City of Houston
- Alence Poudel, P.E., Senior Engineering Manager, City of Sugar Land
Break: 1:55 PM – 2:00 PM
2:00 PM – 2:55 PM | Technical Session 2 (1 PDH)
Session Chair: Krishna Kisi, Ph.D., P.E.
- “Construction Intelligence and Market Review of AI-Driven Technologies: A Framework for Productivity, Progress, Safety, and Project Performance” Sanjeev Adhikari, Ph.D.
- “Protecting Infrastructure from Lightning Hazards: Safeguarding the Long-Term Investment”
Shriram Sharma, Ph.D., Chairman, Aegisflash Inc., Texas
- “A Lab-to-Field Comparison of Muscle Fatigue During Construction Activity” Sujan Acharya, M.S. and
Krishna P. Kisi, Ph.D., P.E.
Break: 2:55 PM – 3:00 PM
3:00 PM – 3:50 PM | Panel 2: Entrepreneurship (1 PDH)
Moderator: Sambit Bhattarai, CEO, RevKeter.ai
Panelists
Break: 3:50 PM – 4:00 PM
4:00 PM – 4:55 PM | Technical Session 3 (1 PDH)
Session Co-Chairs: Sushil Kanel, Ph.D. and Narayan Baral
- “A Comparative Analysis of Road Traffic Safety in Nepal and the U.S. States of Oregon and New Jersey” Kishor Shrestha, Ph.D., P.E., Mohan Dhoj KC, M.Sc., and Nirajan Mani, Ph.D., P.E.
- “Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Traffic Crash Hotspots in the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska” Sandesh Karki and Nathan Belz, Ph.D.
- (Invited)“Civil Engineering Infrastructure on the Moon and ASCE ASD Guidelines Initiative” Ramesh B. Malla, Ph.D., F. ASCE, F. EMI, A. F. AIAA, Professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Break: 4:55 PM – 5:00 PM
5:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Closing Remarks & Group Photo
Closing Remarks: Suroj Lamichhane, Technical Co-Chair
Conference Awards and Certificate Distribution and Group Photo: Ranjan Pokharel, VP
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM | Mixer & Networking
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Dinner, DJ & Volunteer Recognition
Facilitator: Prashanti Pandit
Artists: Binod Rai (2024 Voice of Nepal Winner), Local Artists, and Open Dance Floor
Conference Volunteer Team
- Program Facilitator: Mohina Sharma
- Fundraising Committee: Raju Joshee, Mangal Maharjan, Ranjan Pokharel, Surya Thapa, Ananda Paudel, Sahas Shrestha, and
Samir Rawal
- Networking Coordination: Pratibha Phuyal
- Guest Welcome & Seating: Amit Pokharel and Aaron Paudel
- Hotel & Parking: Avinash Gautam
- Event Registration: Suman Aryal, Raju Regmi, and Utsav Pokharel
- Food and Beverage Management: Dipraj Bista and Sahas Shrestha
- Vendor Management: Toya Acharya
- Audio Visual Management: Binod and Avinash Gautam
- Student Poster Presentation: Hari Kharel and Arjun Subedi
- Cultural Program: Prashanti Pandit
- IT Support: Roshan Bhattarai, Binod Adhikari, Rajesh Bhatt, Amit Neupane, and Padam Bahadur Karki
- Media Partner: Sujan Pandit, Himalaya Khabar
- ASNEngr 19th Annual Conference Steering Committee, ASNEngr Executives, BOD, and Chapters
- Smarika Editors: Toya Acharya, Manoj Baniya, Hari Kharel, and Sachin Paudel;
Advisor: Samir Rawal
- Medical Desk: Dr. Elina Shakya and Reeta Dawady, FNP
College Information Desk
- UT Austin: Jay Rawal and Shreya Dawady
- Texas A&M: Subhay B Thapa and Niharika Shrestha
- University of Houston: Ashna Shrestha
- Rice University: Arpan Neupane
- Prairie View A&M: Wasif H, Puskar K, and Sarita B
Prepared by 19th Annual Conference Team
General Chair: Ananda Paudel, Ph.D.
General Co-Chair: Samir Rawal, MBA
Technical Chair: Kishor Shrestha, Ph.D., P.E.
Technical Co-Chair: Suraj Lamichhane
Local Chair: Sahas Shrestha, P.E.