Musa PM Chunge
Senior R&D Engineer, Laing O'Rourke
Expertise
Bridges, Design, WaterLocation
United KingdomMy highlights
Volunteering with Bridges to Prosperity to build the Kucyaruseke bridge in Rwanda
Working on signature bridges with COWI
ICE President’s Apprentice under Sir John Armitt
A day in my life
Every day seems to bring a new challenge. I spend most of my day communicating and collaborating with clients and colleagues, looking for solutions to problems of all sorts. These problems can be technical – how do we get a bridge structure to work and be buildable and sustainable. Sometimes the problems are more administrative – how do we manage our time and money in the best way and plan for the future. It's a good mixture.
I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also ... A Christian. I have a faith which underpins my life and my work. My faith points to a God who’s a master engineer and that’s inspiring. It defines the inherent value of life and the environment in absolute terms, which is extremely grounding. Because of this, it forms the basis of my (and I believe humanity's collective) responsibility to the world.
My career inspiration
None really. I came to civil engineering naturally, following my skills and enjoyment of STEM subjects, my desire to do something big, something visible, and something that would allow me to make meaningful contributions to society. As I explored these desires, civil engineering seemed to open up naturally.
We asked Musa…
what’s one great thing that you love about civil engineering that you didn’t know until you started working in the industry?
How many people it takes to make our infrastructure work.
which civil engineering myth(s) you would like to bust?
It's all about concrete and muddy boots.
which civil engineering project (past or present) do you wish you’d worked on?
The Kenya-Uganda railway (or sometimes called the Lunatic Express). The original railway across Kenya from Mombasa to Uganda, famous for the man-eating lions of Tsavo.
what about being a civil engineer inspires you?
The joy of solving problems and finding good solutions. The sense of enabling others through my work. The scale of the problems that I must wrestle with.
would you recommend a career in civil engineering?
… of the real things you can point to when the job’s done. There’s a great satisfaction in seeing your work come to life, especially when you can also recognise the positive impacts that our work can bring forth. Civil engineering has been and will continue to be a crucial part of how we manage our environment and take care of our world.
Education
University of Waterloo, BASc
University of Cambridge MPhil
Laing O'Rourke (first job)
ICE President's Apprentice
COWI (current job)
Hobbies
Building community in London through local church, doing park runs, playing football, sound engineering and live mixing, and local council engagement.