cam for pdf 2016 - iit bombay...joshi, head, department of mechanical engineering, receiving the...

March - April 2017March - April 2017March - April 2017March - April 2017March - April 2017campus diary

I N D I A N I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y B O M B A Y

http://www.iitb.ac.in/en/activities/campus-diaryMarch - April 2017

campus diaryIIT Bombay Celebrates 58th Foundation Day* 11 alumni received Distinguished Alumnus Awards

* 2 alumni honored with Young Alumnus Achievers Awards* 2 faculty members awarded for excellence in research work

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay celebratedits 58th Foundation Day on March 10, 2017. Thefoundation stone for the internationally-recognizedInstitute was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, thenPrime Minister of India on March 10, 1959. IIT Bombaywas the second IIT to be established in the countryand the first one to be established with foreign aidreceived from UNESCO. Since then, the Institute hasgrown from strength to strength and is now countedamong the best engineering institutions across theglobe.

Like every year, the Institute felicitated its selectalumni for their achievements in diverse fields ranging

Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director,IIT Bombay, Prof. Ravi Sinha, Dean (Alumni & Corporate Releations) and Prof. P.V. Balaji, Dean (Research & Development) with theawardees on the Foundation Day

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from academics, research and entrepreneurship.Mr. Sanjay Mashruwala, Managing Director of RelianceJio Infocom Limited and the Chief Guest for thefunction, gave away the Distinguished AlumnusAwards, Young Alumnus Achiever Awards, the‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence inResearch in Pure Sciences’ and ‘Prof. H.H. MathurAward for Excellence in Research in AppliedSciences’.The Institute had long felt the need to recognize thealumni of IIT Bombay, who have excelled in their fieldof work and made the Institute proud. With thisintention, the Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) hadbeen instituted.


The ‘Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence inResearch in Pure Sciences’ was conferred onProf. Amiya Pani, Department of Mathematics. The‘Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence in Research inApplied Sciences’ was conferred on Prof. RintiBanerjee, Department of Biosciences andBioengineering.

The Young Alumni Achiever Awards (YAAA) are foralumni who have made outstanding achievements intheir chosen field of work and are below 40 years ofage. These awards were instituted in the year 2011.

The winners include:

••••• Prof. Pramod Reddy••••• Mr. Prashant MaliOn the occasion, Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director of IITBombay spoke at length about the achievements of the

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARDS

Mr. Paritosh K. Choksi (Mechanical Engineering,B.Tech., 1975), COO, ATEL Capital Group, BoardMember of Syntel, Inc. (A Nasdaq company) LeadDirector; ATEL Capital Group (US Company);Guidance ATEL Investments Limited (Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia Incorporated)

Prof. Ajit C. Tamhane, (Mechanical Engineering,B.Tech., 1968), Senior Associate Dean, McCormickSchool of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Northwest-ern University; Professor of Industrial Engineering &Management Sciences (IEMS), (Prof. Suhas S.Joshi, Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering,receiving the award on behalf of Prof. Ajit C. Tamhane)

Mr. Parag Saxena (Chemical Engineering, B.Tech.,1977), Founder and CEO of Vedanta Capital and NSRNew Silk Route Growth Capital, (Mr. DhananjaySaheba, Alumni receiving the award on behalf ofMr. Parag Saxena)

Dr. Narendra D. Joshi (Mechanical Engineering,B.Tech.,1979), Chief Scientist, General Electric GlobalResearch Center and Advanced PropulsionTechnologies Leader

Institute. Referring to the brain drain from India, he said,“Today, the situation is much different with more than86% finding work in India and making great contributions.Looking back over the 68 years, I feel that the hopesand dreams of the founders of the IITs are largely fulfilled.We have a lot to be proud of and celebrate on thisFoundation Day.”

Reporting about the Institute’s progress, he said, “Theprogress of the Institute on all fronts has been very good.Today we have more than 10,000 students on the rollsand more than Rs 300 crore of research funding per year.18% of the students are women. We have been able torecruit outstanding faculty over the years and have morethan 620 faculty members on the rolls at present. Lastyear, 41 faculty members joined, 30% of whom werewomen.” All in all, the event was a great success, withparticipation from students, alumni and faculty.

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Mr. Ardeshir Contractor (Mechanical Engineering,B.Tech., 1984), Founder & CEO of Kiran Energy

Dr. Mukta Ghate Farooq (Metallurgical Engineering,B.Tech., 1983), Fellow at Globalfoundries and thetechnology leader for Advanced Silicon Packaging

Prof. Nitin P. Padture (Metallurgical Engineering,B.Tech., 1985), Otis E. Randall University Professor inthe School of Engineering and Director of Institute forMolecular and Nanoscale Innovation at BrownUniversity, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Mr. Rajesh Subramaniam (Chemical Engineering,B.Tech., 1987), Chief Marketing Officer & ExecutiveVice President for FedEx Corp.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan (School of Management, PhD,2005), Chairman of 5F World Ltd./ Global Talent TrackLtd., Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation andPresident of HBS Club of India

Prof. Umesh Vasudeo Waghmare (EngineeringPhysics, B.Tech., 1990), Professor in the TheoreticalSciences Unit, and the Dean, Academic Affairs,JNCSAR, Bengaluru and Secretary of Indian Academyof Sciences, Bengaluru

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Dr. K. Sivan (Aerospace Engineering, Ph.D, 2006),Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center inThiruvananthapuram

YOUNG ALUMNI ACHIEVER AWARDS

Prof. Prashant Mali (Electrical Engineering, DualDegree 2003), Associate Professor in the Departmentof Bioengineering at the University of California SanDiego, USA.(Prof. B. G. Fernandes, Head,Department of Electrical Engineering receiving theaward on behalf of Prof. Prashant Mali)

Prof. Pramod Reddy (Mechanical Engineering, DualDegree 2002), Associate Professor in the Departmentof Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science andEngineering at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya Award forExcellence in Research in Pure Sciences

Prof. Amiya K. Pani,Department of Mathematics

Prof. Rinti Banerjee,Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering

Prof. H.H. Mathur Award for Excellence inResearch in Applied Sciences


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Delegates From Tokyo Institute Of Technology Visit IIT Bombay

A team of 4 members from TokyoInstitute of Technology, a nationaluniversity in Japan, visited IITBombay on March 1, 2017. Theinstitute ranks within 100 in theworld and ranks 14 in AsianUniversity ranking. The mainobjectives of the visit was topromote co-operation betweenTokyo Institute of Technology andIIT Bombay for MoU agreements,conduct joint workshops proposedin the areas of ChemicalEngineering and Materials Scienceas a start to build relationshipbetween the two institutions,become a pioneer to build relationsfor the various programmes andfacilitate joint supervision for PhD

International motivational speakerMs. Cathy O’Dowd interacted withIIT Bombay faculty, student, staffand alumni on March 15, 2017. Sheshared the challenges she and herteam faced while climbing the Mt.Everest, the failures they faced asa team and stressed on beingmentally flexible and team spirit toachieve heights. Ms. Cathy and herteam have discovered a new routeto climb Mt. Everest.

“Take failure in your stride, learnfrom your mistakes and continuethe path of achieving your dreams.Each of us has our own mountainof fear to climb, which we can withcourage,” she said.

The session was organised by theCounselling Care Centre, Women’sCell and Institute Cultural Council.

Cathy O’Dowd Impresses IIT Bombay Students

Delegates from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan at IIT Bombay to promotevarious academic programmes

programme and Dual Degree – PhD. Students Exchange programmes. The Japan Institute Cooperation Agency iscoming up with Innovative Asia Programme, which offers scholarship for students pursuing Masters and PhD. Theentire funding would be taken care by JICA. They will focus on 12 Asian countries with opportunities to conductresearch, enroll in masters and doctoral degree programs in Japan universities and intern in Japanese companies.

Ms. Cathy O’Dowd, International motivational speaker during her visitat IIT Bombay


Mozilla Declares IIT Bombay’s ‘Project Gram Marg Solution for Rural Broadband’Winner of Equal Rating Innovation Challenge

Dr. Sarbani Banerjee Belur, Senior Project Research Scientist in the Gram Marg TV White Space project at the Department ofElectrical Engineering, IIT Bombay presenting Gram Marg Solution for Rural Broadband at Mozilla’s Equal Rating Conference in NewYork City

Global non-profit organization Mozilla announcedIIT Bombay’s project ‘Gram Marg Solution for RuralBroadband’ the winner of its ‘Equal Rating InnovationChallenge’. The Mumbai-based Project Gram Marg willreceive USD125,000 (INR 82 lakhs) in funding for itsunique affordable broadband initiative.

The project won by an overwhelming margin. Thecompetition called for initiatives to make affordableInternet available to all. The challenge received 100submissions from 27 countries. The final shortlist ofbest five entries was prepared after deliberations by anesteemed panel of expert judges from around theworld. Nearly 6,000 votes were polled in the onlinecommunity voting in the final phase of the competition,with Gram Marg and Zenzeleni emerging as the leadingvote-getters.

Gram Marg, which roughly translates as “roadmap” inHindi, seeks to bring 640,000 villages in rural Indiaonline. Spearheaded by professor Prof. AbhayKarandikar and Institute Chair Professor of ElectricalEngineering Dr. Sarbani Banerjee Belur, a SeniorProject Research Scientist, the project reinforces theremarkable progress such communities could achieveonce they have access to information pertaining toeducation, health and the political process.

In its bid to both bridge the digital divide and empowerunconnected communities, the Gram Marg team has

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created an ingenious and “indigenous” technology thatutilizes unused white space on the TV spectrum tobackhaul data from village wifi clusters to providebroadband access (frugal 5G). The team of academicsand field workers leverages what people already havein their homes, and creates rugged receivers andtransmitters to connect villages in even the mostdifficult terrains. The solution has been rolled out in 25villages on a pilot basis so far.

Reacting to the honour, Prof. Karandikar said, “We arehumbled by the judges’ decision and the communityvotes that choose our solution as the winner. Allsemifinalists were equally competitive. It was really achallenge to pitch our solution among them.”

He further added, “We will continue to improve ourtechnology solution to make it more efficient. We arealso working on a sustainable business model that canenable local village entrepreneurs to deploy andmanage access networks. We believe that adecentralized and sustainable model is the key to thesuccess of a technology solution for connecting theunconnected. We are also evaluating an applicationsand services model to enable local village populationsto reap the full benefits of broadband access. We hopethat our model can be aligned with our Prime Minister’svision of ‘Broadband for all’ under the government’sDigital India program”.


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Following the announcement, Katharina Borchert, ChiefInnovation Officer at Mozilla, noted in a blog post,“Mozilla started this initiative because we believe inthe power of collaborative solutions to tackle bigissues. We wanted to take action and encouragechange. At Mozilla, our commitment to Equal Ratingthrough policy, innovation, research and support ofentrepreneurs in the space will continue beyond thisInnovation Challenge, but it will take a globalcommunity to bring all of the internet to all people.We’re incredibly honoured that part of this globalcommunity came together and engaged with usthrough this Innovation Challenge. We’re excited andoptimistic about the road ahead.”

Lauding project Gram Marg’s initiative, one of theJudges, Nikhil Pahwa, founder of Medianama.com andco-founder of SaveTheInternet.in observed, “Whatimpressed me particularly about Gram Marg was thefact that they were able to bring the cost of thetechnology for delivering broadband over the TV WhiteSpace spectrum down to a fraction of the cost. This

spectrum allows delivery of broadband without line ofsight connectivity. As a result, it is more useful acrosshilly terrain, and can help bring cheaper Internetaccess to those areas. The technology will be opensource, which means that it will be accessible toanyone anywhere.”

The runner-up award of USD 75,000 went to Afri-Fi:Free Public WiFi, led by Tim Human from South Africa.The project is an extension of the successful projectIsizwe, which offers 500MB of data for free per day.

The key goal of Afri-Fi is to create a sustainablebusiness model by linking together free wifi networksthroughout South Africa and engaging usersmeaningfully with advertisers so they can “earn” freewifi.

The “Most Novel” award worth USD 30,000 went toBruno Vianna and his team from the Free NetworksP2P Cooperative, which is building on the energy offree networks movement in Brazil to tackle the digitaldivide. Rather than focusing on technology, the Coophas created a financial and logistical model that can betailored to each village’s norms and community. Theteam experiments with ways to engage communitiesthrough “barn-raising” group activities, deploying “opencalls” for leadership to reinforce the democratic natureof their approach, and instituting a sense of “play” forthe villagers when learning how to use the equipment.

Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind the opensource browser Firefox, launched the ‘Equal RatingInnovation Challenge’ in October 2016 as part of its

endeavour to helpcatalyze new thinkingand innovation forproviding openinternet access tocommunities livingwithout it. It calledout to entrepreneurs,designers,researchers andinnovators from allover the world topropose creative andscalable ideas thatcan cultivate digitalliteracy and provideaffordable access tothe full diversity ofthe open internet.Mozilla offeredawards totalling USD250,000 (INR 164lakhs) in funding andexpert mentorship tobring these solutionsto the market.

About Mozilla:

Mozilla is a pioneer and advocate for the Open Web formore than 15 years. They create and promote openstandards that enable innovation and advance the webas a platform for all. Today, hundreds of millions ofpeople worldwide use Mozilla Firefox to experience theweb on computers, tablets and mobile devices.

Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Dean (Faculty Affairs) and Professor in Department of Electrical Engineering,along with Gram Marg team


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IIT Bombay Releases Report on“Estimating the Rooftop Solar Potential of Greater Mumbai”

Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, Secretary of the Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy (MNRE), Goverment of Indiavisited the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay onApril 10, 2017 to release a Report entitled,“Estimating the Rooftop Solar Potential of GreaterMumbai”. The National Solar Mission of theGovernment of India envisages an ambitious target of100 GW of solar energy to be installed in the countryby 2022. This would not only provide a green and cleansource of energy for the country and provide access toelectricity in remote areas but also enable India tomeet its commitments made at COP-21 in Paris.

Of the 100 GW, it is planned that 40 GW would comeup on rooftops across the country. With the cost ofsolar energy having come down significantly over thelast few years, and most states having implementednet-metering policies, rooftop installation has becomevery viable. Many urban as well as semi-urban areascan generate a lot of power.

In order to assess the solar rooftop potential of GreaterMumbai, and to simultaneously develop a methodologythat could be used anywhere in the country, fiveorganizations got together to work on this problem.

Release of the report “Rooftop Solar Potential of Greater Mumbai” by Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, Secretary of the Ministry of New andRenewable Energy (MNRE)

They are the National Centre for Photovoltaic Researchand Education (NCPRE) at IIT Bombay, the Centre forUrban Science and Engineering (C-USE) at IITBombay, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF),Bridge to India and IEEE Bombay Section. Each entityprovided a unique capability and expertise which madethe work possible. The team employed a variety ofinputs and techniques, including GIS mapping of allstructures in Mumbai, ward-by-ward division, existingland use (ELU) maps of BMC and 3D mapping todiscount areas covered by shadowing. The computerbased analysis was supported and verified by sitevisits to some locations (conducted by studentvolunteers), and discounting of ‘weak’ structures whichwould not support solar panels.

The result of the exercise is that the team could showthat Mumbai has a potential of 1,720 MW of solarenergy across rooftops on residences, educationalinstitutions, commercial buildings, governmentbuildings and industry. Furthermore, the team usedonly open-source software and have described themethodology in detail, so that a similar study could bereplicated in urban and semi-urban areas across thecountry.


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Students Celebrate AAKAAR Technical Festival

AAKAAR, the annual technicalfestival of the Department of CivilEngineering in IIT Bombay, washeld on March 4-5, 2017 this year.AAKAAR lays foundation for theemerging technologicaladvancements, provides a much-needed lift to ideas and innovationsand creates a platform for buddingengineers across the country tocreate, innovate and learn variousaspects of civil engineering. In theprevious year, AAKAAR witnesseda footfall of 15,000+ studentsrepresenting their colleges andshowcasing their talent. In its ninthedition, AAKAAR achieved newmileages.

Symposium: International CivilEngineering Symposium (ICES)is a platform for young and buddingresearchers of the nation to presenttheir work before the mostexperienced professors of thecountry in the respective field ofcivil engineering.

Competitions: AAKAAR givesstudents the opportunity to interactand compete with the brightestminds of the country. Theorganizing team tries to initiateinnovative competitions every yearto develop a keen interest amongparticipants for civil structures.Competitions lined up for this yearwere Bridge-IT, Conquer-IT andSeismiC. Smart Pitch Competitionwas a unique competition, whichoffered a unique opportunity tostudents to directly get involved inthe development and grooming ofsmart cities.

Events: AAKAAR also providedstudents a fine opportunity to trytheir hands at professionalsoftwares and get insight fromeminent industrialists andacademicians. This year’s eventsincluded CENEx, workshops andlectures by:

· Mrs. Ashwini Bhide,Managing Director, Mumbai MetroRail Corporation

· Prof. Mahesh Tandon,Managing Director, TandonConsultants Pvt. Ltd.

· Mr. Nilotpol Kar, BusinessDirector, South Asia, BASF IndiaLtd.

Aakaar is a great platform forstudents across the country toshowcase and enhance their skillsat the highest level. Since itsinception in 2009, the main purposeof the festival is to promote cross-cultural miscellany and provide ajoint platform for students of thecivil engineering fraternity from allstrata of society to interact andassist the flow of knowledge.Various informal events are held toconnect the participants with eachother and expand their socialgroup.


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By heating dried mango leaf extract, researchers havesynthesized fluorescent graphene quantum dots thatcan be used for bioimaging and as intracellulartemperature-sensing probes. Existing fluorescentmaterials, such as organic dyes, metal clusters andquantum dots, are toxic to biological cells and unstablewhen exposed to light.

In search of a biocompatiblefluorescent material, scientistsled by Rohit Srivastava from theIndian Institute of TechnologyBombay prepared fluorescentgraphene quantum dots byheating dried mango leaf extractin a domestic microwave oven.They then explored the quantumdots’ potential for bioimaging andtemperature-sensing in specificmice cells.

When incubated with the micecells, the quantum dots easilypermeated the cell membranewithout disrupting theproliferation and viability of thecells. This shows that the dotsare biocompatible.

The dots’ fluorescence intensity peaked at 25oC andthen decreased when the temperature rose to 45oC.The dots lost 95% of their fluorescence intensity within

a temperature change of 20°C, indicating theirsuitability for detecting minute temperature variationinside cells.

The quantum dots also retained their fluorescenceintensity up to fifth cycle of temperature-variationexperiments.

“Since the quantum dots emitred light, this property couldpotentially be exploited tomake light-emitting diodesfrom a natural source likemango leaves. Such diodescan function as temperaturesensors,” says lead author,Mr. Mukesh Kumar Kumawat.

References1. Kumawat, M. K. et al.Graphene quantum dots fromMangifera indica: application innear-infrared bioimaging andintracellular nanothermometry.ACS. Sustainable. Chem.Eng.5, 1382-1391(2017)

This article appeared inNature-India. For more details visit: http://www.natureasia.com/en/nindia/article/10.1038/nindia.2017.40

The Women Cell of IIT Bombay celebratedInternational Women’s Day on March 8, 2017 at theInstitute. Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, IITBombay was the chief guest for the occasion.

“Why can’t I?” was the theme of the event. TheWomen Cell had invited two students Aditi Laddha andPalak Jain. They have achieved AIR 6 and 26respectively. Upon completing their B. Tech., they willjoin Uber and Google. In addition, Prof. Preeti Rao, analumna of IIT Bombay and currently a Professor in theElectrical Engineering department, spoke of herjourney from being the sole woman student to anacademic and entrepreneur whose company SensiBoldesigns apps based on her research in MusicInformation Retrieval and Speech ProcessingTechnology.

Mango Leaves Yield Fluorescent Graphene Quantum Dots

International Women’s Day Celebrations

Young girls from the campus school were special invitees to this event. The event also included a cultural programby students and staff and an energetic Zumba performance by women residents of the campus.

Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay during theWomen’s Day celebration in the Institute


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Open Learning Initiative (OLI), an initiative by the students of NationalService Scheme (NSS) of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, hascrossed the 10,000 landmark subscriptions point within a year. OLI is aYouTube channel hosting Science and Maths videos in regional languagesand it caters to students studying in vernacular medium schools.Launched in May 2015, OLI aims to make quality education available tostudents across India, irrespective of a language barrier.

Crossing the 10,000 subscribers mark within a year is laudable because itreflects a 4000% growth. The channel currently features more than 170educational videos in 8 regional languages (Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati,Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Oriya). Yash Sanghvi, founder ofOLI said, “My happiness is soaring past the rooftop. No one had expectedthis kind of growth”.

The seed of the fruit was laid when Sanghvi was coordinating with NGOVidya two years ago. The NGO expressed a need for regional languageeducational videos for their audio visual module. Since students failed tofind suitable videos on the internet, NSS decided to start its own channel.“We wanted to help as many students as possible,” he added.

A fourth year UG student in the Mechanical Engineering department,Sanghvi currently serves as the Overall Coordinator of NSS IIT Bombayand has been leading the OLI team. Many schools in rural areas are nowusing this channel daily to teach students.

Sunil B, one of the coordinators of OLI recollects, “One day, the WebLearning coordinator of the Giridih district, a naxal-affected district inJharkhand, commented on our channel. She told us how the videos arehelping them educate students in the absence of permanent teachers inremote areas of Jharkhand. We were simply overwhelmed. The number ofstudents benefiting from OLI in each class ranges from 40 to 100.”

Sanghvi attributes OLI’s growth to three factors: Quality, Regularity andViewer-Interaction. “We followed very strict quality protocols. Each videowas reviewed for the clarity of voice, organization of content and overall

aesthetics. We also checkedwhether a particular video is goingbeyond the textbook and givingextra insights into the topic or not.Most of the videos uploaded onthe channel have been approvedonly after 2-3 iterations,” he said.

OLI uploads at least 2 videosevery week and runs specialprograms like December Bonanza.Viewer-interaction in the form ofcomments, answering theirqueries, creating videos based ontheir demands, has also been animportant factor in building the10,000-strong community.Interacting with the audiencebuilds trust and adds credibility tothe channel, believes the OLIteam. Elaborating on theDecember Bonanza, Guru Vamsi,another coordinator for OLI said,“December Bonanza is achallenge for the team. We uploadone video everyday throughoutDecember. Also, we try to launcha new language”.

Archit Sanadhya, one of theheads of the EducationalOutreach Department of NSSIITB, under which OLI falls, feelsthat OLI has benefitted a lotthrough word-of-mouth publicity.“We haven’t spent a single rupeeon advertising. People discoveredour channel when they weresearching for educational contentin regional languages. When theyfound the content to be good, theyspread the word. That’s how thechannel grew.”

There is also a section onscientific experiments and asection on English, becausetraining students in English is akey objective. The OLI teamenvisions to cover all the regionallanguages of India and also coverother subjects apart from Scienceand Maths in the future. Morepeople of India will surely benefitas OLI expands its outreach andincreases the number of videos onthe channel.

Open Learning Initiative, OLI Crosses The 10,000 Landmark Point Within A Year

IIT Bombay’s regional educational video channel gets 10,000 subscribers


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Research Scholars Confluence and Alumni Meet(ReSConAm 17) was conducted by the Indian Instituteof Technology Bombay on March 18 and 19, 2017. Thisglobal confluence and exhibition provided researchers,researchpreneurs, scientists, startups, alumni andindustrialists an opportunity to interact, present andexchange scientific research and ideas. CoordinatorsMr. Nikhil Jain and Mr. Pankaj Sharma along with theirteam planned the confluence leaving no stone unturnedto bring together the research fraternity under one roof.

Events included paper presentation, posterpresentation, design exhibition and alumnus talks.There were sessions on scientific researchcommunication, research tools, startup pitch, 3 minutetalk and a guest talk by Lt. Colonel Ashish Dogra on“Obstacles and solutions for improving the country’sinternal security systems”.

This year, the involvement of IDC and SOMdepartments increased with design exhibition andsession on “Changing dynamics of marketing”. Theparticipants from within and outside IIT Bombay got a

Research Scholars Confluence and Alumni meet (ReSConAm) 2017

chance to interact many influential alumni such asMr. Anshuman Verma, Founder and Managing Directorof M1L and Dr. Vikas Karade, Fouder of AlgoSurg. Thestudents also attended workshops on “mind mappingand innovation” by Mr. Dharmendra Rai, Mumbai’s firstmind map trainer and on “research to entrepreneurship”by Mr. Puneet Raman, Founder and Director ofProwisdom Growth.

The event also provided an excellent opportunity tocompeting start-ups to win prizes worth upto Rs 10lakhs from various investors such as Mr. Navnit JKrishna, founder of iYantras and Mr. Abhijeet Kumar,Founder of ah! Ventures.

ReSConAm was a new and refreshing turn from theregular scientific conferences. It provided the scientificand research community an opportunity to step out oftheir comfort zones into the world of entrepreneurshipto break the ice between the two fraternities. Studentsand researchers from IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Madras, IITBHU and other institutes participated.

Research Scholars Confluence and Alumni Meet (ReSConAm 17) meet at IIT Bombay


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IIT Bombay Stands Second in ‘Engineering’ category in NIRF

IIT Bombay has secured third position in ‘Overall’ category with a score of 71.78 and second position in‘Engineering’ category with score of 87.87 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which wasinitiated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India last year.

Last year, all the IITs had participated only in the Engineering category. The remaining three categories werePharmacy, Management and University. This year, there were six categories, namely Overall, Engineering,Universities, Colleges, Pharmacy and Management. Out of six categories, IIT Bombay had participated in ‘Overall’and ‘Engineering’ categories.

The results were announced by the Minister of Human Resource Development Mr. Prakash Javadekar during apress conference in Delhi on March 3, 2017.

Contrasting Influences Of Aerosols On Cloud PropertiesDuring Deficient And Abundant Monsoon Years

The Indian monsoon is influenced by many complexfactors, from large-scale atmospheric motion to localand regional physical processes. While large-scaleprocesses have been traditionally well studied, the roleof local processes, especially those related toaerosols, or the mix of atmospheric pollution particlesand dust, have been largely overlooked. A studycarried out at the Interdisciplinary Programme inClimate Studies at IIT Bombay found that atmosphericaerosols WERE present over the monsoon regionaltered cloud properties in diametrically opposite waysduring years of deficient and abundant rainfall. Theresearch, which appeared on 24 March 2017 in thejournal Scientific Reports of the Nature PublishingGroup (NPG), was carried out by PhD students Mr.Nitin Patil and Mr. Prashant Dave and Prof. ChandraVenkataraman.

Using a 10 year dataset, from 2000-2009, of satelliteand ground-based observations of aerosol abundanceand cloud properties, over the core monsoon region ofIndia, the study found that in deficient rainfall years,higher levels of atmospheric aerosols correlated withsmaller cloud drop sizes, shallower cloud heights andless cloud-ice formation. In contrast, in abundantrainfall years, higher levels of aerosols correlated withlarger cloud drop sizes, taller clouds and greater cloud-ice formation.

Deficient rainfall years typically have lower moistureavailability, less upward wind motion or convection,along with lower cloud fractions or cloud coverage. Thechanges in cloud properties found in these years withincreased aerosol levels, could further inhibit clouddevelopment and subsequent rainfall. However, whenoverall higher vertical wind and moisture transport, inabundant rainfall years, coincided with increasedaerosol levels, the changes observed in cloudproperties could intensify rainfall. In describing thework, Prof. Chandra Venkataraman said, “The questionwe asked was whether aerosols affect clouds in similaror dissimilar ways, under broadly differentmeteorological fields, which occur in deficient andabundant monsoon years. The opposing influencesfound here confirm that local physical processes exertimportant effects.”

Observations of monsoon trends in the last 50 yearsshow decreases in frequency of moderate and lowrainfall but increases in frequency of higher intensityrainfall. More work is needed to link relationshipsobserved in this study to consequent changes inrainfall development. “Understanding aerosol-cloud-rainfall interactions could help improve the physics ofclimate models for future climate prediction,” addedProf. Venkataraman.


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USD 500 along with travel sponsorship for participating in international level in USA. The team is mentored byProf. Abhishek Gupta, Department of Mechanical Engineering. This is one of the student technical projects (STP)supported by IITB/IRCC under the STP initiative.

Team Of IIT Bombay Wins ASME SDC-2017

Team ASME of IIT Bombay -Innovation Cell has won all theevents of ASME Student DesignCompetition (SDC) with a hugemargin along with AdvanceManufacturing Challenge andPredictive Design & SimulationChallenge, beating all the teamsacross Asia Pacific region.

ASME floats different problemstatement for SDC every year. The2017 SDC problem statement wasto create a robot that is fast,strong, and agile. Team ASME ofIIT Bombay built a remotelycontrolled device to competeagainst others in the robotpentathlon consisting of Sprint, Lift,Hit, Throw and Climbing.

The team has won a cash prize of ASME Team

IIT Bombay Designs Swarachakra Keyboard To Make Chatting Easier

India has about 340 million smartphone users. Research indicates thenumber of users typing in Indian languages on smartphones is more thanthe number of users typing in Indian languages on personal computers,because typing in Indian languages on personal computers is mostly doneby professionals.

Many homes in India now also have more than one smartphone today.While chatting on Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Hike, Viber and others,the user sees the chat on only half of the screen, while the other half iscovered by the keyboard, especially in case of use of Indian language dueto the script.

Under the main project titled ‘Re-shaping the Expected Future’ initiated byFuture Interaction Technology Lab in Swansea University, UK and fundedby EPSRC, the ‘Better Together’ framework was developed. This frameworkallows users to run an application on multiple phones at the same timewhile providing the overall interaction of a single application.

Under the ‘Better Together’ framework, the Industrial Design Centre in IITBombay has designed Swarachakra, a free Indian language keyboard forAndroid phones. Currently, Swarachakra is available for twelve Indianlanguages on Android playstore. Swarachakra is now integrated with BetterTogether. This allows users to type on one phone using the Swarachakrakeyboard and see the conversation on the second phone.

Swarachakra, a free Indian languagekeyboard for Android phones

The Better Together toolkit and Swarachakra keyboard was launched recently at the Microsoft Research inBangalore. The project is supported by a range of partners including IIT Bombay, Microsoft Research India, IBMResearch India, iHub Research, Microsoft Research UK, MercyCorps, Social Impact Lab and University of CapeTown.


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A four weeks orientation cumexposure training to the resourcestaff from Science and TechnologyResource Centre (STRC) wasconducted at BambU studio ofIndustrial Design Centre, IITBombay in March 2017. Thetraining was a capacity buildingactivity for the programmecoordinators (resource staff) for theproposed 1 year diploma course inbamboo craft envisaged at STRC,Gondwana University, Gadchiroli(GUG).

STRC has been formed at GUG bythe support from Rajiv GandhiScience and Technologycommission (RGSTC). STRC ismandated to help in local areadevelopment through the GUG.GUG would offer diploma anddegree courses for various trainingprograms for artisans via theSTRC.

IIT Bombay has been identified asthe primary mentoring institution forSTRC. IIT Bombay will specificallyhelp in establishing applicable R&Dambience inclusive of incubation,innovation and suitably tailoredacademic programs with vocationalslant. BambU Studio (IDC) andCTARA are the two participatingentities of IIT Bombay having vastexperience of the kind required forestablishing such a centre.

Dr. Prakash M. Dolas, Advisor, RGSTC and Mr. Ashis Gharai (CPO, STRC - GUG)with Prof. A.G.Rao and Prof. R.Sandesh, Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay(Project Investigator) in BambU studio, IDC

Mr. Kantilal Gajbhiye and Dr. Prashant Bharne (Resource staff, STRC-GUG)during the training session

IITB And Gondwana University-Gadchiroli Collaboration For Diploma In Bamboo Craft


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The Institute Valedictory Function was held on April 26,2017. The last event in the life of any graduatingstudent in IIT Bombay, it was indeed a time of mixedemotions for everyone. Prof. Viral Acharya, DeputyGovernor, Reserve Bank of India was the chief guest.World-renowned economist, Prof. Acharya hascompleted B.Tech from IIT Bombay (1991-1995) and heis also President of India Gold Medallist for highestGPA and for best academic & overall proficiency at IITBombay. He is also the recipient of Young AlumnusAchiever Award from the Institute.

Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, Prof.Soumyo Mukherjee, Dean (Student Affairs), and Prof.Ravi Sinha, Dean (Alumni & Corporate Relations), werealso among the dignitaries. The program was introducedby Prof. Soumyo Mukherjee who congratulated thestudents for completing the tough journey of graduation.Prof. Devang Khakhar and Prof. Ravi Sinha alsoaddressed the audience during the event.

Institute Valedictory Function

The respective representatives also shared memoriesof their Institute life. Mr. Sarthak Jain, under graduaterepresentative, gave a heartfelt graduating speech. Ms.Abhisha, M.Tech representative, also shared herexperiences at IIT Bombay. Ms. Nanditha Rao, PhDrepresentative, threw light upon the life and journey ofPhD students in the Institute.

The chief guest, Prof. Viral Acharya, also spoke to theaudience in the valedictory address, telling them about

the pointers which he considered important in his life.He emphasized the importance of being ready forunexpected opportunities. He quoted various examplesfrom life and stressed on how one should always thinkof innovating and improving oneself. He also sharedsome of his life experiences in his inspiring speech.

The gathering was also addressed by Ms. DamayantiBhattacharya, CEO, IITB Alumni Association. Shethrew light on the activities of the Alumni Association.The proceedings also included the ceremonial transferof the student list from Prof. Soumyo Mukherjee to thealumni list with Prof. Ravi Sinha.

The Outstanding Contribution Awards were also given tofelicitate members of the student alumni relations cellwho have contributed substantially to the Institute asmembers of Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations)Office. The list of awardees is as follows:Ajinkya PatilSaurav MishraHarsh PatelPrasoon KumarShreeneet Rathi

The valedictory function thus ended with the last adieuto the graduating batch of 2017. A total of 2364students are likely to graduate this year out of which629 are B.Tech students and 365 PhD and the rest fromthe different post graduate disciplines. This is mostlikely to be the highest number of graduating studentsat a time over the years.

(L-R) Prof. Soumyo Mukherjee, Dean (Student Affairs),Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, Prof. ViralAcharya, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India,Chief Guest and Prof. Ravi Sinha, Dean (Alumni & CorporateRelations), IIT Bombay during the Valedictory Function


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Student News

March and April are high points inthe year for the burgeoningcommunity of 250 e-YantraRobotics Labs throughout thecountry –set up by the e-Yantraproject at IIT Bombay. On March24-25, 2017, IIT Bombay hostedsome 150 finalists from over22,608 students from across thecountry to compete in the finals ofthe e-Yantra National RoboticsCompetition. What makes thiscompetition special is itsdemocratic nature where even aresource-poor student from a smalltown can compete on a level-playing field with students from richmetropolitan colleges. A team of 4students from a remote WestBengal Polytechnic – diplomaholders – came to the finals lastyear at IIT Bombay and won firstprize in their theme againststudents from more affluentcolleges. Similarly, a group of 4girls from Mepco SchlenkEngineering College in Sivakasi,who had never travelled out of theirhometown, came to IIT Bombaywith a teacher and won third prizein their theme. A robotics revolutionis in the making where e-Yantra, an

e-Yantra Robotics Competition and Symposium– eYRC

e-Yantra Robotics Competition

IIT Bombay based project led byProf. Kavi Arya in ComputerScience Engineering Department ismaking waves by enabling talentedengineering students stand up andbe counted.

A total of 35 teams (150 students)across 7 themes from eYRC-2016were selected for the finals at IITBombay. The prize is a coveted 6-week “transformational” internshipat IIT Bombay in summer. Thecompetition has grown

exponentially in popularity from 4500 registrations in 2012 to some 22608last year in the latest edition.

On April 7-8, 2017, the e-Yantra Symposium was organized, where some200 teachers from 100 newly minted e-Yantra labs and some 100 studentfinalists of the e-Yantra Ideas Competition came to IIT Bombay to attend aprogram comprising inspiring talks and workshops and the finals of thee-Yantra Ideas Competition. The talks were from leaders in Indian Industrysuch as Dr. Anand Deshpande (CMD, Persistent Systems Ltd.) andMr. Ashank Desai (Chairman, Mastek Ltd.) amongst others. The audiencewas enraptured by a talk by Mr. Somya Sarkar, Deputy Director, SensorsDevelopment Area Space Applications Centre, ISRO responsible for thepayload of the Mangalyan Mission. He described how ISRO manages high-quality, high impact at low cost. Prof. K. Ramasubramanian, Department ofHumanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay described Indian traditionsof excellence in basic sciences and engineering. He illustrated this withreferences to original sources showing us how “Pythagoras Theorem”originated in India much before it was “discovered” in the West. Nobodysaid this before.

An exhibition of the finalists of the e-Yantra Ideas Competition was alsoheld. This competition is open to the community of e-Yantra labs whereeach lab submits upto 4 project proposals for machines to solve a problemin society. Some 300 proposals were reduced to 150 and proposers wereinvited to build their systems using e-Yantra lab facilities. Videos ofworking prototypes were uploaded and regional finalists were identified.Regional finals were held in Coimbatore, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune andMumbai. Finalists were brought to exhibit in Mumbai. It had an ingeniouswindow-cleaning robot, and also a machine that does away with the needfor plastic money using fingerprints as ID proof and a paper-bag makingmachine, to name a few. All these projects were conceptualized andimplemented in the space of 6 short weeks.

There was a display of mass empowerment of engineering collegestudents through a competition-based paradigm using robotics. Thecompetition empowers students with the ability to solve problems usingmachines - through project-based learning pedagogy developed at IITBombay. These skills are taken to the next level by the e-Yantra Ideascompetition available to the community of e-Yantra labs. Here, studentsturn problems into opportunities by building machines to address theseproblems. These are but baby steps along the path of innovation andentrepreneurship. It can be said that e-Yantra is helping make the resourcethat will “Make in India” while the project itself is “Made in IIT Bombay!”


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Justice Gautam Shirish Patel, Bombay High Court, delivered the fifth lecture of the ‘InstituteLecture Series on the Indian Constitution’ titled “Technology and the Constitution: EmergingChallenges” on March 25, 2017

Institute Colloquium /Lectures

Mr. Utkarsh Patange, Alphagrep Securities,Mumbai, delivered an Institute lecture on “JointSeat Allocation 2015 And 2016: Challenges AndImpact” on April 12, 2017

Dr. Viral Acharya, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank ofIndia delivered an Institute lecture on “Banks, Marketsand Financial Stability” on April 8, 2017


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Other Lectures

Dr. Mark Fox, DistinguishedProfessor of Urban SystemsEngineering, Professor of IndustrialEngineering and ComputerScience, and Director of the Centrefor Social Services Engineering atthe University of Toronto gave atalk on “University Of Toronto’sNew School Of Cities” onMarch 1, 2017

Dr. Bernhard Lechner, aDistinguished Professor of Chairand Institute for Road, Railway andAirfield Construction at theTechnical University Munich gave aScience Lecture on “Making theInfrastructure Work – PublicTransportation” on April 8, 2017.The lecture was arranged by theOffice of Dean (InternationalRelations) along with DAAD(German Academic ExchangeService)

Departmental Lectures

Department of Computer Scienceand Engineering

Ms. Poornima Dore, ThematicLead, Data Driven Governance,Tata Trusts gave a talk in a seminaron “Data Driven Governance: TheIntricate Art Of DevelopingScientific Solutions” on March 27,2017

Department of Humanities andSocial Sciences

Prof. Charles Willemen, Rector,International Buddhist College,Songkhla, Thailand gave a talk in aseminar on “Is Sri LankanTheravada Buddhism Really TheTraditional Sangha?” on March 15,2017

Mr. Kusminder Chahal, VisitingResearch Fellow at Arizona StateUniversity, USA, gave a talk in aseminar on “Is Caste-BasedViolence A Form Of Hate Crime?”on March 15, 2017

Dr. M.P.Singh, a MemberSecretary, of the Indian Council of

Philosophical Research, Delhi gavea talk on “Kantian Jurisprudence”on March 16, 2017

Sameera Iyengar, co-founder ofJunoon, an organisation that aimsto make theatre/arts an integraland powerful part of our everydaylives gave a talk on “Seeking AnArts-Inspired World: ReimaginingCommunity” on March 17, 2017

Dr. Nitin Williams, currentlyfunded by the flagship HumanBrain Project (HBP), on a post-doctoral project to infer the brain-wide pattern of functionalinteractions in the human brain,being done in University ofHelsinki, Finland gave a talk in aseminar on “A Matter Of Time:Analysing Time-Varying FunctionalBrain Networks In Eeg Task-Related Data” on March 23, 2017

Prof. Ravi Vasudevan, Centre forthe Study of Developing Societies(CSDS, New Delhi) gave a talk in aseminar on “The Film/MediaArchives And Political Imaginaries”on April 5, 2017

Dr. Varsha Singh, IIT Delhi gave atalk in a seminar on “Emotion-Cognition And Decision Making:Exploring Gain-Loss Asymmetry InDeception Choice” on April 5, 2017

Dr. Amit Ranjan, Delhi Universitygave a talk in a seminar on “Indo-Australian Colonial Connections,Mid-19th Century British Empire,And Struggles With Lives AndTimes Of Revenants” on April 6,2017

Ms. Rashmi Gupta, Independentscholar in Cognitive Neuroscientistgave a talk in a seminar on “RoleOf Attention On Our Ability ToIgnore Emotional Distracters AndDevelopment Of A DiagnosticClassification System For AttentionDeficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) Children” on April 6, 2017

Dr . Sumitava Mukherjee,Independent Scholar in domains ofCognitive Science, Psychology andManagement gave a talk in aseminar on “Prospective AffectiveValuation Of Gains And Losses” onApril 7, 2017

Dr. Apurva Kumar Pandya,Manager – Grants Implementationwith ChildFund International leadingthe project operations in Udaipur.gave a talk in a seminar titled“Hiv/Aids Counselling Practices:Experiences And Perspectives OfCounsellors Working with TargetedInterventions in Gujarat” on April10, 2017

Dr. Shiju Sam Varughese, Centrefor Studies in Science, Technologyand Innovation Policy (CSSTIP) inthe School of Social Sciences ofCentral University of Gujarat,Gandhinagar gave a talk on“Biopolitical Transformations OfThe Social Contract Of Science:Endosulfan Survivors As ‘Non-Publics’ In Kerala” on April 10,2017

Dr. Mohd Hussain Kunroo,National Institute of Public Financeand Policy, New Delhi, gave a talkon “Empirical Testing Of TheVarious Criteria Of OptimumCurrency Area” on April 11, 2017

Dr. Aparna Pandey, Kristu JayantiCollege, Bengaluru gave a talk in aseminar on “Tracking Alpha-Syllabary Reading Through EyeMovements: Some ExploratoryStudies” on April 12, 2017

Dr Bharatee Bhushan Dash,National Institute of Public Financeand Policy (NIPFP), New Delhigave a talk on “ExpenditureVisibility And Voter Memory: ACompositional Approach To ThePolitical Budget Cycle In IndianStates, 1959 – 2012” on April 13,2017

Dr. Deva Raj P, Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT-ISM), Dhanbadgave a talk in a seminar on “SolarPhotovoltaic TechnologyDevelopment In India: A CriticalAnalysis Of Culture Of ScienceAnd Science Policy Making” onApril 19, 2017

Dr. Mallica Mishra, consultant atnational council of rural institutes(a central government of indiaorganization under MHRD) gave atalk on “Tibetan Refugees In India:Learning For A Future” on April 20,2017


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Dr. Mainak Mazumdar, NITIE,Mumbai gave a talk titled “Title:Growth, Regional Disparity andClub Convergence in India: ASectoral Level Analysis andDecomposition” on April 21, 2017

Dr. Antara Chatterjee,IndianInstitute of Science Education andResearch), Bhopal, gave a talk on“Remembering Bangladesh:Narrating the Nation from theTransnational in Tahmima Anam”on April 28, 2017

Dr. Bhangya Bhukya, University ofHyderabad)gave a talk in a seminaron “British Empire and its Peripheryin India” on April 28, 2017

Centre for Policy Studies andDepartment of Humanities and

Social SciencesMr. Subrat Das, ExecutiveDirector, Centre for Budget andGovernance Accountability(CBGA), New Delhi gave a talk on“Development Discourse - IV Whatdo the Numbers Tell : UnionBudget 2017-18”

Department Of MetallurgicalEngineering & Materials ScienceProf. Yoke Khin Yap, MichiganTechnological University, USA gavea talk in a seminar on “TransistorsWithout Semiconductors ByFunctionalized Boron NitrideNanotubes” on April 3, 2017

Department of Civil EngineeringMr. Omar Wani, PhD Researcher,ETH Zurich and Eawag,Switzerland gave a talk on“Uncertainty Analysis ForEnvironmental Models – AnIntroduction” on March 20, 2017

Mr. Alexandre Wadoux, PhDResearcher, WageningenUniversity, The Netherlands, gave atalk on “Sampling DesignOptimization For SpatialProcesses” on March 21, 2017

Ms. Sanda Dejanic, Early StageResearcher, Aquatic Institute,Eawag, Switzerland gave a talk on“Sampling Algorithms - Purpose,Construction And PerformanceMeasures” on March 22, 2017

Ms. Sanda Dejanic, Early StageResearcher, Aquatic Institute,Eawag, Switzerland.gave a talkin a seminar on “SamplingAlgorithms - Purpose,Construction And PerformanceMeasures” on March 22, 2017

Prof. B. S. Mazumder, FormerProfessor, Indian StatisticalInstitute gave a lecture on “TwoPhase Flow Over Loose Boundary-Experimental And TheoreticalStudies” on March 23, 2017

Department of MechanicalEngineering

Dr. Devendra Sharma, Scientist,Basic Theory and SimulationDivision, Institute for PlasmaResearch, Bhat, Gandhinagargave a talk in a seminar on “DustyPlasma: An Interesting Medium ToModel Dynamics Of ComplexFluids” on March 22, 2017

Prof. Subrata Roy,Department ofMechanical and AerospaceEngineering, University of Florida,Gainsville, gave a talk titled“Serpentine Geometry PlasmaActuator for Effective FlowControl” on April 12, 2017

Centre for Environment Science& Engineering

Dr. David Werner, School of CivilEngineering and Geosciences,Newcastle University, Newcastleupon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK gave atalk in a seminar on “Developing ATheoretical Framework For TheUse Of Activated Carbon AndBiochar In Sediment And SoilRemediation” on March 20, 2017

Dr. Upal Ghosh, Department ofChemical, Biochemical, andEnvironmental Engineering,University of Maryland BaltimoreCounty, Baltimore, MD, USA gavea talk in a seminar on “NewAdvances in Managing LegacyPollutants in Sediments” on March20, 2017

Centre for TechnologyAlternative For Rural Areas

Dr. Shrikant Jagtap, US basedconsulting company GlobalClimate Technology forDevelopment gave a talk on

“Technologies for Climate SmartAgriculture” on April 4, 2017

Climate StudiesProf. Aromar Revi, Director, IndianInstitute of Human Settlementsgave a seminar on “Key FindingsFrom IPCC’S” on April 5, 2017

SJM School Of ManagementProf. H. Raghav Rao, AT&TDistinguished Chair in InfrastructureAssurance and SecurityDepartment of Information Systemsand Cyber Security, University ofTexas at San Antonio gave a talk ina seminar on “Phishing EmailClassification Mechanisms UsingGain And Loss Framing Cues” onMarch 10, 2017

Invited Talk / Lectures /Visits

Prof Chetan Singh Solanki,Department of Energy Sciene andEngineering was invited to giveTEDx talk on Solar Urja Lamp(SoUL) Program.The Video of the TEDx talk link isavailable on :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1NztnTHoTM&t=398s<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1NztnTHoTM&t=398s”t=398s>

TED is a media organization whichposts talks etc online for freedistribution. Under TEDx talks,speakers are invited to talk aboutgreat ideas which have lastingimpact.

Prof. Dharamveer Singh,Department of Civil Engineering hasbeen the Visiting Research Scholarduring May 2013-June 2013 at theUniversity of Oklahoma, Norman,USA

Prof. U. A. Yajnik, Department ofPhysics presented a seminar“Stability, longevity and all that :False vacua and topologicaldefects” at Theoretical PhysicsDivision, Saha Institute for NuclearPhysics, Kolkata March 20 2017


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Awards and Distinctions

SoUL Project Receives Prime Minister’sAward Under Innovation Category

Prof. Nina Sabnani, Industrial Design Centre,won the Rajat Kamal Award for the animation film“HUM CHITRA BANATE HAIN” at National FilmAward. It was produced by IDC, IIT Bombay andanimated by Mr. Piyush Verma and Mr. ShyamSunder Chaterjee.

Prof. Phani Tetali, Industrial Design Centre, haswon the runner up in the nation wide ‘CartoonistHunt’ competition held by the Times of IndiaGroup

Two short films/ documentary on proteomicsbased on the work of Prof. Sanjeev Srivastava,Department of Biosciences & Bioengineeringhave been selected for screening in internationalfilm festivals.

Following are the details:

INDIA BECKONS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc1yW-BKdic

• Berlin World International Film Festival

• New York International Film Festival

• Equality Festival

• EduDoc: Stories of Edupreneurs

• Festival de Cortometrajes “Jose FranciscoRosado” PACAS

• New York Film Screenings

PROTEOMICS: TRANSLATING THE CODE OFLIFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4U9bcnGtg4 feature=youtube• International Children’s Film Festival (ICFF)• This documentary is hosted on HumanProteome Organization (HUPO) home page

National Geoscience Awards – 2016

The Solar Urja Lamp Project (led by Prof. Chetan SinghSolanki, Department of Energy Science andProf. Jayendran Venkateswaran, Industrial Engg. andOperations) as implemented by the District Collector in thedistrict of Dungarpur, Rajasthan received the prestigiousPrime Minister’s Award (certificate and trophy) underInnovation Category. The award was presented by theHon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to the CollectorDungarpur, on the occasion of Civil Services Day 2017 heldin New Delhi on April 20-21, 2017.

District Collector, Dungarpur receiving award from Hon’ble PrimeMr. Minister Narendra Modi at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi

Prof. Santanu Banerjee, Department of Earth Science,receiving the National Geoscience Award-2016 at the awardceremony in New Delhi

Prof. Santanu Banerjee, Department of EarthSciences has been conferred National GeoscienceAwards 2016 by the Hon’ble President of IndiaMr. Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of the Minister ofState (Independent Charge) of Power, Coal, New &Renewable Energy and Mines Mr. Piyush Goyal onApril 12, 2016 at New Delhi

Installation of ERP at IIT Bombay

After two years of intense effort from allstakeholders, IIT Bombay has startedphased release of ERP on April 3, 2017.Initially, only stand alone and low-impactSAP modules have been released.More details will be published in the nextissue of Campus Diary.


Research in focus

A Novel Point-Of-Care Detection Device Using Nanotechnology ForDiagnosing Periprosthetic Infection Following Orthopedic Surgery

Periprosthetic infection becomes adilemma when the signs andsymptoms that commonly coincideare absent, or when infectionoccurs in the immediate post-operative period when the usualbiologic markers such aserythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) and C-reactive protein(CRP) are still elevated from thesurgical procedure. The use ofinterleukins has becomeincreasingly utilized in the clinicalsetting, and their use, asprognostic and diagnosticmarkers in sepsis, trauma, and

Prof. Rohit SrivastavaDepartment of Biosciences and Bioengineering

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critical care have started to expand. The interleukins, specifically interlekin-6 (IL-6), have been shown to besuperior indicators of a post-operative inflammatory response due to its return to baseline levels forty eight toseventy two hours postoperatively whereas CRP and ESR levels are typically elevated well above normal forweeks.

Our major objective is to measure levels of IL-6 and CRP from blood / serum / synovial fluid / lavage fluidsamples taken from human patients with a periprosthetic joint infection with our novel multiplex quantum dots(QDs) or colloidal gold nanoparticles (CGNs) based lateral flow immunoassay. Development of the fluorescenceor colorimetric reader device, and prove our detection ability has improved sensitivity compared to standardELISA techniques. In proposed work, we are trying to develop the lateral flow immunoassay using QDs andCGNs for diagnosis of orthopedic implant associated infection. We have successfully synthesized the MPAcapped CdTe QDs by hydrothermal method and CGNs by salt reduction method. QDs and CGNs werecharacterized by various techniques. Following the optimization of synthesis process, QDs were bio-funconalized by SPA conjugation on the surface. Conjugation of protein on QDs was characterized by AFM, gelelectrophoresis, circular dichroism, TEM analysis and FTIR. The biosensor i.e. IL-6 antibody bound on SPA-QDsand CGNs was developed. This biosensor has been used for the development of LFIA and we have tested IL-6and CRP concentrations on the nitrocellulose strips.

PorFloRTM - is the name of the device we have developed, it is portable fluorescence LFIA strip reader. It is asmall hand held device that records the fluorescence spot and change in fluorescence intensity of the spot onthe NCM strip. Detection of fluorescence as well as visual color change on the nitrocellulose strip, calibrationand valida on of the technique is being done using control, standard, infecttious samples. We have startedtesting our LFIA as well as the reader system for the detection of the standard CRP as well as IL-6 anti gensand clinical samples; the results are promising and we are in process of comparing the sensitivity of thedeveloped system with the gold standard techniques such as ELISA.

The detection technique may be extended to detect more biomarkers such as polysaccharide intercellularadhesin (PIA), poly—1,6-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG), etc. that are involved in process of implant associatedinfectionns specifically. This nanodiagnostic technique utilizes unique optical properties of QDs as well as CGNs.The antigenic biomarkers used for detection will provide sensitivity and specificity. This point-of-care (POC)nanodiagnostic test might be very useful for orthopedic surgeons to ensure about infection status of implanteddevice. We received the prestigious Tata Innovation Fellowship Award from DBT for this translational work ondiagnosing orthopedic implant related infections.

Lateral flow immunoassaystrips showing fluorescencespots and PorFloRTM

http://www.ircc.iitb.ac.in/IRCC-Webpage/rnd/PDF/GlimpseIITBResearch/A_NOVEL_POINT-OF-CARE_DETECTION_DEVICE_USING_NANOTECHNOLOGY_FOR_DIAGNOSING_PERIPROSTHETIC_INFECTION_FOLLOWING_ORTHOPEDIC_SURGERY.pdf


Blood Donation Camp

SAMWAD, student team of IIT Bombay and Sthaniya Lokadhikar in association with TATA Memorial Hospitalorganized a blood donation camp on April 18, 2017 in the Institute. Students, faculty, staff and their familiesparticipated in the event. 392 bottles of blood were collected through this drive. Dedicated efforts by Mrs. NeelamChoudankar and her team from Tata Memorial Hospital, along with SAMWAD volunteers and Institute authoritiesmade it a successful drive.

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Prof Amitava De, Department of MechanicalEngineering) has been appointed as the DeanAcademic Programme w.e.f. March 17, 2017

Prof. Narayan Rangaraj has been appointed as theConvener of Industrial Engineering and OperationResearch w.e.f. March 29, 2017

Prof. Ravindra Gudi has been appointed as theHead, Department of Chemical Engineering w.e.f.March 1, 2017

Prof. Avijit Chatterjee has been appointed as theHead, Department of Aerospace Engineering w.e.f.April 3, 2017

Prof. T. N. Singh has been appointed as the Head,Department of Earth Science w.e.f. April 3, 2017

Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Department ofElectrical Engineering has been appointed as theProfessor In-charge, IITB-Monash ResearchAcademy w.e.f. April 3, 2017

Prof Rajesh Zele, Department of ElectricalEngineering has been appointed as ProfessorIn-charge of IIT Bombay Research Park w.e.f.April 11, 2017

Prof. P. C. Pandey, Department of ElectricalEngineering has been appointed as the Dean(Administrative Affairs) w.e.f. April 17, 2017

Prof. S. B. Agnihotri, CTARA has been appointedas the Head of Centre for Policy Studies w.e.f.June 1, 2016

NOTIFICATION

Prof. M.O. Garg, Department of Chemical Engineeringhas been appointed asProfessor w.e.f. January4, 2017.

Appointment


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Retirements onMarch 31, 2017

Mr. L. S. Mombasawala, Sr. Research Engineer,C.R.N.T.S retired after 32 yearsof service

Ms. Usha Krishnamurthy, Trained Graduate Teacher(Sr. Scale), Campus Schoolretired after 25 years of service

Ms. Chhaya B. Tatkare, Jr. Superintendent,Administrtion, retired after 41years of service

Mr. Vijay L. Jadhav, Attendant (SG), HCU, retiredafter 39 years of service

Mr. Sikander P. Solanki, Sr. Cleaner, Hospital, retiredafter 36 years of service

Mr. Kachru G. Kusher, Superintendent, AccountsSection retired after 37 years ofservice

Mr. Suresh S. Jadhav, Sr. Cleaner, Vehicle Sectionretired after 32 years of service

Retirements onApril 30, 2017

Prof. Anil K Singh, Department of Chemistry retiredafter 34 years of service

Ms. Kiran R. Patwari, Trained Graduate Teacher(Selection Scale), CampusSchool retired after 38 years ofservice

Mr. Sanjay D. Dalvi, Superintendent,Cash Section,retired after 41 years of service


Date Duration Course Name Faculty Department

Open Programmes : (May - June)

29-5-2017 12 days Piping Engineering Prof. A. S. Moharir Chemical Engineering

29-5-2017 12 days Certificate Course on Piping Prof. Arun S Moharir Chemical EngineeringEngineering

2-6-2017 1 day Fundamentals of Prof. Animesh Kumar Electrical EngineeringGraph Signal Processing

5-6-2017 5 days Biology for Engineers Prof. Ambarish Kunwar Bio-Medical Engineering

7-6-2017 2 days Leadership Development Prof. S. Bhargava School of ManagementProgramme(LDP) onEntrepreneurial Leadership forTransformation

8-6-2017 2 days Best Practices for Service Provider Prof. Ashwin Gumaste Computer Science &Network Design in India Engineering

12-6-2017 5 days Laboratory and Ergonomic Safety Prof. Ambarish Kunwar Bio-Medical Engineeringfor Engineers

19-6-2017 5 days Introduction to Space Prof. Ashok Joshi Aerospace EngineeringFlight Mechanics (Spac eMech_17)

19-6-2017 5 days Advanced Heat Transfer Prof. Sandip Kumar Sahu Mechanical Engineering

26-6-2017 5 days Finite Element Method & Prof. T.I. Eldho Civil EngineeringApplications in Civil Engineering Prof. Y.M. Desai

27-6-2017 5 days Proteomics: From Protein Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava Bioscience andPurification to Characterization BioEngineering

28-6-2017 3 days Research Approaches and Prof. Ashish Pandey School of ManagementMethods In Management andSocial Sciences

In House Programmes : (June)

5-6-2017 3 days A-Mot Program nn People Prof. Ashish Pandey School of ManagementManagement

29-6-2017 3 days Mahindra & Mahindra : MLU Prof. Makarand S Kulkarni Mechanical EngineeringAlchemy Workshop on Industry 4.0

Open Programmes : (July)

1-7-2017 5 months Analytics for Management Prof. Usha Ananthakumar School of Management

3-7-2017 5 days Advances in Transportation Prof. Gopal Patil Civil EngineeringPlanning and Traffic Management

20-7-2017 2 days Electrochemical Techniques for Prof. Vngaranahalli S Raj Metallurgical EngineeringResearch : Theory and Practicalal & Materials Science

23-7-2017 7 days Parallel Computing with GPUS Prof. Paluri Satya V Nataraj Systems & ControlEngineering

28-7-2017 3 days Expo CD Prof. Ravi Poovaiah Industrial Design Centre

29-7-2017 10 months XV Batch Of Executive Programme Prof. S. Bhargava School of Managementin Management with Specializationin Marketing and HRM

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CEP courses scheduled during May - June - July 2017


BOOK POST

March - April 2017

Campus Diary is edited and published byPublic Relations Officer,IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai - 400 076.

Printed at IITB Printing Press

For Private Circulation Only.Material for publication in Campus Diaryshould reach PPR section by the 25th ofevery month

(email : [email protected])

campus diary

26

Photo Credit :by Mr. Batu S. KambaleHospital, IIT Bombay

Salt’n Pepperby Dr. Arun Inamdar

WildernessIn the

cam for pdf 2016 - iit bombay...joshi, head, department of mechanical engineering, receiving the...

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