the uvceian, october 2014
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Welcome to the Voice of the UVCE Community ! Insightful articles by alumni and students on our theme of the month - impact of Information technology on core engineering. Also an invite to a fundraising musical event by our alumni in the Bay Area - Welcome !TRANSCRIPT
The UVCEianVoice of the UVCE Community | Bi-monthly Newsletter
Volume 1, No 4 October 2014
Is IT taking over all forms of core Engineering.
CONTENTSSTUDENTSTheme Article- Rahul K Raghu
Art - Urmila A Koti
SAE_UVCE Updates
FACULTYChalk & Talk A delightful column by Prof. Krishna Vinayak Sharma that talks about a variety of interesting topics .
THEME OF THE MONTHIS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TAKING OVER ALL FORMS OF CORE ENGINEERING?
Societal Information Systems- Sanjay M
Kabe
They shoot horses, don’t they? - Rajesh Joshi
A Happy Marriage! -Sagar Moudgal
QUIZ-TRON
Is Pure Engineering Dying.. -Mayank Kamboj
UVCE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE
Sundara Swapna - Invitation to
Musical Concert in Bay Area, USA
"Howdy @MarsCuriosity? Keep in touch. I'll be around", tweeted our Mars Orbiter in
response to Curiosity Rover’s tweet, "Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to
@ISRO and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit."
A jubilant science fraternity celebrated the success of Mangyalyaan a few weeks
ago – a culmination of the steadfast efforts of thousands of hands and superior
technology. The event was telecast live, with the twitteratti proudly trending the
launch in no time. What a change from when Aryabhatta was launched in 1975!
All that we had was an announcement in the All India Radio and headlines in the
newspapers only 24 hours later!
This change is a testimony to the giant leap of technology in the last few decades.
The rapid growth in the field of hardware led to great acceleration and evolution
2 The UVCEian, October 2014
The emergence of
Information
Technology has seen
unprecedented
transformation in the
world, more
specifically in
traditional science
and engineering
fields.
WE WOULD LOVE TO FEATURE YOU IN The UVCEian !
We welcome articles and photographs of alumni, current students, current and former faculty. Anything UVCE !
Do share your slice of nostalgia and help us feature it online and in print. Write to us at [email protected]
Editorial Board of The UVCEian
Dr. Alice Abraham ( 1991 E&E)Ragini H S (1991 E&C) Kshama Jayanth (1991 E&E) Suresh Chivukula (2002, E&C) Sagar Moudgal, (2008, Mech) Chinmayee Nagaraju ( 2008, IS)Gayathri S (2008, IS)Veeresh K (2014, Mech)
Advisors
Dr. B R Niranjan, Dr. Vinayak Sharma Professor, Dept. Civil Engg. Professor, Dept. of Mech Engg.Dr. Narendra Kumar G Dr. E G Shivakumar Professor. Department of E&C Professor, Department of EE Prof. Dilip
Professor, Department Computer Science
in the realm of software. The emergence of Information Technology has seen unprecedented
transformation in the world, more specifically in traditional science and engineering fields. The
advancement of IT has contributed to an unending permutation and combination of
development in so many fields, that the human race is now so heavily dependent on science
and technology.
In this edition of the UVCEian we explore the impact of IT on core engineering. Articles from
seasoned seniors to young students make a very interesting mix of facts, experience and
perceptions - “Has information technology completely taken over core engineering?” “The
impact of IT on core engineering.” “Information Technology – defining new paradigms for
pure engineering” etc. etc.! We are indeed happy to share that the participation from our
Alumni and students is gaining strength with every edition of the UVCEian.
UVCE Foundation hosted the Scholarship selection interviews for the year 2014-15. Over 130
students were shortlisted for the interviews from almost 450 applicants. Alumni who were part
of the panel of judges were overwhelmed to see the aspiring youngsters, their need and their
urge to work hard and prove themselves. It is our humble appeal that our UVCE family across
the globe participate in this noble cause and give a new dimension to our youngsters who will
inherit the mantle from us.
As we progress with great speed in this world of technological advances, we have to
understand that the aim of technology should be to contribute to a better world - that which
complements nature and not harm it; that which offers mankind better options of a
meaningful living.
A very Happy Diwali to you!
The UVCEian
Cover art by
Urmila A Koti,
II year B.Arch
3
Rahul
ART
The UVCEian, October 2014
IS IT TAKING OVER CORE ENGINEERING???
RAHUL K. RAGHU5th Semester ECE
Apparently the IT
industry is rapidly
taking over core
engineering. Various
studies support this notion.
Due to the IT boom, the grass
appears greener on the
other hand for core
engineering students. The
number of IT are far greater
in number when compared
to the number of core
companies for each branch
of core engineering. Also,
due to the boom, these
companies require a massive
workforce due to which the
employment opportunities are way
higher in the IT industry. The IT industry
generally requires less effort and the
salary is relatively higher. Hence,
graduates are increasingly choosing IT
over core companies. The new
graduates prefer to walk their senior’s
footsteps and choose to opt for IT
companies.
But, on the brighter side, interested
and enthusiastic students still choose
to pursue core engineering in spite of
the hardships. But, there are thorns to
such pursuits. Lesser demand for
workers, requirement of extra hard
work, taking away most of their time,
relatively lower salary and lesser
opportunities make the students think
twice. But the scope of research is
higher in the case of core
engineering. Also, the students will be
really contented that there are
working in the field of interest that they
have in the first place chosen to study
in.
Though, there is apparent takeover by
IT companies, hardworking and
interested students will still pursue core
engineering in large numbers. Let’s
not forget “CORE IS ALWAYS CORE”.
ART
Urmilla A Koti
II year B.Arch
FRO
M TH
E CA
MPU
S
THEME OF THE MONTH
SAE
The UVCEian, October 2014
SAE UVCE UPDATES
UVCE Foundation is proud to have sponsored
the GO-Karting team of SAE-UVCE Having
been placed 7th in the all India semi-finals,
the Team competed at the finals held in
Coimbatore on October 19, 2014
represented by 20 SAE members.
Amidst fierce competition from 80 plus go-
Karts, UVCE’s eMPOWER was placed SIXTH in
the finals!!! Kudos to team SAE-UVCE!
GO SAE-UVCE! GO UVCE!
Dear UVCE Foundation,
We have successfully built our Go Kart and also
raced it in Kari Motor Speed Way in Coimbatore
from 17th-19th October 2014. It was a proud
moment for our team and our College. We would
not have achieved the success and recognition
of making our Go Kart and racing the little
machine in one of the finest racing tracks in India
without your help and support. Thank you for
providing us Financial Assistance for procuring
various crucial parts in the Go Kart without which
it would not have been a success.
The Ranking of the contestants will be shortly be
put up in the ISNEE website. We will also put up a
detailed article about our Go Kart and the event
in the magazine soon.
Thank you for all the Financial and Moral Support
from UVCE Foundation, for the spending your
crucial time and money for our humble project.
Regards,Mohammed Aamir VTTeam Captain,Team eMpowerUVCESAE_INDIAUVCE
FRO
M TH
E CA
MPU
S
Chalk and talk
The UVCEian, October 2014
Chalk and Talk
Prof. Krishna Vinayak SharmaDept. of Mechanical Engineering, UVCE
T h e f l o o d s i n
J a m m u a n d
Kashmir and its
d e v a s t a t i o n i s
something that should
have all of us worried. It’s
most definitely Not an Act
of God. Such flooding’s
have been happening very
frequently the past few
years in India. The massive
deforestation of the trees in
the Himalayas
by the forest thekedars and
their well-wishers which
were reported extensively in the media sometime in the 1980
is one of the culprits. Encroachers have reduced the original
size of the Dal lake to 15 % of its original size Were it not for
Sundar Lal Bahuguna and his Chipko movement, who knows
what the extent of depredation and its consequences would
have been.
Sometime during the past 2 months, I was invited to a
networking dinner hosted by the State Government of
Victoria and the University of Melbourne (UoM), Victoria in
Australia. The theme was - India Science, Education and
Research Partnership. The invitation came to me from the
Govt of Victoria. The food was excellent, this being held in Taj
West End and the Mutton Biryani, Baigan ka Bharta and the Firni
would have had many discerning Khansamas from Oudh nod in
appreciation. Coming to the nub (food apart!!) of the matter,
the University of Melbourne has entered into an agreement with
IISc and IIT (Kanpur and Chennai) in what is being referred to as
the Melbourne-India Postgraduate Program (MIPP). The
University of Melbourne has contributed AUD 3 million to this
effort. MIPP aims at creating the next generation of Indian and
Australian researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs access the
best research and training opportunities available in both
countries. The Regional Director-Education, State Government
of Victoria, Australia who works from Bangalore was very
informative and helpful. She has also been associated with
other projects (notably in the area of Vocational Training). The
professors who were well represented from UoM were very
informative about the prospects for our students in various
colleges in Vic, Aus. The areas that were of topical interest
were Sciences, Chemistry (Advanced and Functional
Materials, Transient Spectroscopy of Photovoltaic Materials),
Optometry and Neurosciences, Neural Science and Neural
Engineering, Polymer Chemistry and Engineering, Polymeric
Soft Nanoparticles for targeted applications and Big Data -
Codes for Distributed Data Storage that Supports Big Data, Big
Data Computing Environments, Analyticals etc. For anyone
interested in exploring options in Victoria they usually
recommend that they v is i t thei r websi te - http://
www.studymelbourne.v ic.gov.au/.Further, extens ive
information regarding the scholarships and endowments are
available on the following websites:
Victorian International Research Scholarship - http://
www.studymelbourne.vic.gov.au/study-options/scholarships/
victorian-international-research-scholarships
Joint Academic Scholarship Online Network - http://
www.jason.edu.au/browse/browse.html
Victor ian Internat ional Education Awards - http://
www.studymelbourne.vic.gov.au/study-options/scholarships/
victorian-international-education-awards
Endeavour Awards - https://aei.gov.au/Scholarships-and-
Fellowships/Pages/default.aspx
My experience of students is that they usually head out to
USA and then UK for their studies. Since recently Germany,
Netherlands and France are being looked into by the
students. It might be worth their while if students have a
FRO
M TH
E CA
MPU
S
look at the options in Australia. By all accounts, Sir
Robert Menzies and his White Australia policy as has
been junked a long time back. Besides, you don’t
HAVE to be a convict to qualify to go to Australia,
anymore .Recently, when their PM was here; there
was an agreement between the GOI and GOA
regarding vocational training. Now, with the nuclear
deal done, things seem to be moving forward. After
everything is said and done you must remember you
are not moving to a country to study.You are moving
to a continent which has so much more resources
than a country. The standard of education and living
is comfortable and the pace of life is said to be much
more relaxed than in USA and Europe. Over to you
guys for whatever you decide….
5
6
I
Invitation to Scholarship Award Ceremony
THEME OF THE MONTH
The UVCEian, October 2014
Sometime, during the past few two months, one of the
world’s most iconic magazine shut shop. MAD Magazine,
started by Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines in 1956
was an iconic magazine in satire on both political and
day to day events.You could say it was perhaps the
comic magazine version of today’s TV show “Simpsons”
which seeks to spoof on various things that is happening
around us. It had reached a peak circulation of about 2
million copies in the 1970’s and its extremely talented
artist writers like Sergio Aragones, Don Martin and Al Jaffe
were regular contributors. Its iconic “face”, Alfred E
Neumann with his “What, me worry” was one of the most
well recognised face during those times. In fact, one of
its writer artistes was at the Comic.Com show in
Bangalore recently. He used to power the Spy Vs Spy
page in the magazine. It finally gave up its ghost
sometime the past 2 months.
For lady students with an attitude I suggest a read of the
book “The Mists of Avalon “written by Marion Zimmer
Bradley. It retells the story of the legendary English King
Arthur, Merlin and Excalibur with the emphasis being on
the Pre Christian Celtic religion that was being practiced
at that time, witch (pun intended!) may have been the
forerunner of the Wiccan religion. This book retells the
story from the point of view of his (Arthur’s) half-sister
Morgainne. Quite simply put, it seeks to tell the story of
the Arthurian legend from the point of view of women
and the two most important women in his life were his
wife Guinevere and his half-sister Morgaine of the
Faeries.Worth a read but be warned the number of
pages runs well past 850. It is published by Random
House Publishing Company.
The most gratifying event the past 2 months occurred in
K R Circle. I was in the Department for the Sunday
evening class a few weeks back and a group of students
(Not from UVCE) invited me to a guitar and meet the
press show inside the underpass connecting both the
buildings. I could not go but did venture into the under
pass later. What the students had done was quite
astounding. They had cleaned the entire passage which
was once filled with urine and excrement. They had
cleaned it perfectly and it was probably the cleanest
underpass I had seen in Bangalore. I suggest students to
use them to go back and forth to the main building.
Apart from being safe it will discourage people from
We cordially invite our dear alumni to participate and grace the occasion of
UVCE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP AWARD CEREMONY 2014-15
Scheduled on
Sunday, November 9, 2014 11.30 AM
Venue
JNANA JYOTHI AUDITORIUMCentral College Campus, Palace Road, Bangalore – 560001
______________
Program includes interacting and networking with alumni from different batches, meeting over 100 bright young scholars from UVCE.
Click here for RSVPFor information write to: [email protected], or call -9448270489 /
9900141970
UVCE FOUNDATION&
ROTARY BANGALORE SOUTHRI Dist 3190
polluting the under pass if it is used regularly because of the
people passing through it.
Suggest you all see the movie “Finding Fanny”. It is funny, nice
movie with beautiful shots of Goa and gives a good look at the
leisure pace of life in an obscure Goan village, Pocolim or
something. Nasiruddin Shah and D. Kapadia are outstanding in
their acting prowess as is Pankaj Kapoor. Depeeka Padukone is
as wooden as the specimens you find in the carpentry section. I
frankly think the lady should have been a constitutional lawyer
or a neurosurgeon or something. She is a fish out of water in this
profession. See it at the Rex theatre. There is no other better
place to see it. And while at it have your lunch at the Thai
Dhabha @ the 5th Avenue. More about this place in the next
issue
Take care…and be seeing you around.
(The views expressed in this work are the personal views of the
author. They do not represent the views of UVCE or Bangalore
University or any other organization)
7
Societal Information
Systems
THEME OF THE MONTH
The UVCEian, October 2014
The revolution has started. Long live the
revolution! We are talking of the
Information revolution engulfing the
entire society. Information Technology
is now part and parcel of everyday life
– yes, every moment of our life and it
has pervaded in all walks of life and
profession. We have reached the
strategic inflection point and may well
have reached the tipping point. A new
breed of Information Systems, what I
call, -Societal Information Systems –
where companies, teams, individuals
are now designing information systems
for the entire society – local, regional
and global, are taking shape. And
society is embracing these new
information systems – hardware and
software - in all its avatars – from apps
to mobile phones to internet of things.
Examples are Google, Facebook,
Amazon, Smart Cities, UID, etc.
What are Societal Information
Systems?
Societal Information Systems is a new
and evolving field. There is no clear cut
definition of what it means. Broadly
speaking, Societal Information Systems
is a socio-technical information eco-
system comprising of hardware, data
centers, information infrastructures,
software, applications, apps – all
architected together as an Information
System that serve the society – local,
regional and global – at large. They
are both technical and social in nature
and involve a lot of interaction with
millions of people. These systems are
also ubiquitous in nature in both
physical and time dimensions. That is,
you can find it everywhere in the day
of a life of a person in the form of
mobiles, tablets, embedded in
gadgets, etc.; and, we start our day
with these and end our nights with
these and they are in action almost all
the time. They cater to the various
needs of the society – be it
automating, educating, governing,
informating, socializing, empowering,
entertaining, buying and selling, etc.
Evolution of Information Systems and
how we got here
As the famous adage goes – Rome
was not built in a day. Similarly, this
revolution has happened due to a series
of interdependent and interplay of
discontinuities – in semiconductors,
hardware, software past several
decades. One can model these
discontinuities/(r)evolutions of the
Information Systems by using the
sigmoid curve. The “S”, sigmoid curve is
a good way of explaining these series of
(r)evolutions. Many natural processes,
such as those of complex system
learning and adoption curves, exhibit a
progression from small beginnings that
accelerates and approaches a
saturation/maturity over time.
At the core are the tremendous
discontinuities in semiconductor
technology and its ability to produce
silicon chips in a broad variety of access
devices – from mobiles, tablets. Next,
these access devices have been
innovatively married, and popularized
by Apple, into hand-held smart mobiles
which has shrunk the PC into a mobile.
This has been backed by the continuous
improvement and reach of global
information infrastructures/networking. A
synergy of all this has resulted in new
innovative companies to be spawned
past this decade with applications and
apps that have resulted in people at
large and from all walks of life,
irrespective of their color, creed, age,
sex and economic status embracing
the new gadgets and accessing/using
information like never before.
The evolution of the application of the
Information systems started with military
applications and scientific applications
and it remained so for several decades.
Later, information systems for businesses
were built. Initially, and for many years,
these information systems were localized
in a separate Computer Department. As
the technology progressed, and the
applications evolved, a new breed of
Information systems called
Management Information Systems
evolved. These included, Decision
Support Systems, which helped
executives to take informed decisions
based on the information of the
markets/business/organization modeled
by computers. Slowly and steadily,
again driven by the technology trends,
the information system spread across
the entire organization and Enterprise
Information systems, involving almost all
employees, was born. These were also
“informating” systems and were also
getting a bit more social – in the form of
email systems – where employees would
exchange information, chat, etc. As
competition became fierce and
globalization became a reality,
Strategic Information Systems evolved.
These systems were explicitly supporting
executives to formulate, shape and
execute their corporate strategies
Societal Information Systems
Sanjay M KabeBatch of ’84, E&C
Founder, Techniche Consulting
The UVCEian, October 2014
through the design and implementation of information
systems. Meanwhile, due to continuous innovations and
discontinuities coming out of military labs, networking and
the internet slowly moved out of the military, R&D realm into
the open world in the form of the internet. The
development of the browser was a revolution in access
technology. The continuous interplay between the
evolution of semiconductor technology and software led to
the smart mobile revolution and was a game changer. With
the growth of the internet and the Web browser, Access
devices and Information Infrastructures there was no
stopping of Information systems being slowly embraced by
more number of users in the society and gave birth to
Societal Information Systems
Characteristics of Societal Information Systems
Large user base- One of the distinguishing characteristics of
Societal Information Systems is its wide and varied user
base. Literally, the user base may runs to hundred millions of
users of all age groups, sex, languages, and so forth.
Information Eco-system - First of all, Societal Information
Systems are veritably an Information eco-system. They
consist of huge information infrastructures – server farms,
huge data centers, backed by networking infrastructure -,
supported by an eco-system of applications that cater to
an eco-system of access devices. For example, Google has
its own data centers spread across USA, Europe and APAC
and a variety of applications that together cater to the
needs of the global customers. Google works on PCs,
mobiles, tablets, laptops and a wide range of devices.
Vertical Integration - More often than not, the information
infrastructures and applications are all vertically integrated
and are built in-house. For example, Google designs its own
hardware, has its own operating system, owns and runs its
own data centers, has developed most of its applications and
software in-house. Similarly too with Facebook. Even in India, UID
runs its own data centers, although the hardware and the
infrastructural software is third party, and has developed its own
architecture.
Glocalisation - Another characteristic of these Information Systems
are that they are “Glocal” in nature. That is they, are Global in
scope and Local to specific regions. For example, Google
application runs on the same core algorithm but it can search
contents in languages local to a certain region – US, Europe, Asia,
etc.
Big Data and Unstructured Data - Due to the large reach of these
information systems, they are huge data guzzlers and data
generators. Enter, Big Data revolution here. Capturing all the
information transactions and needs of millions of customers’ needs
huge amount of data and these data are not necessarily relational
data. They can be huge unstructured data.
Ubiquitous and Pervasive- These information systems are ubiquitous
– in time and space. These applications are used all the time, at any
time of the day, and manifest in various forms and form factors.
Socio-Technical systems- Societal Information Systems are socio-
technical systems. They have elements of technology, computing
blended with social uses and social contexts. For example,
hundreds of millions use these systems, and ease-of-use of the UX
( User Experience ) and the interactions with each other makes
these applications very social. The conventional technical/
computing perspective has thus to be expanded to embrace the
social uses of technology.
Conclusion
Societal Information Systems are the new building blocks of the
Information Society. Designing these systems needs a combination
of mind-sets, as Howard Gardner suggests, – a disciplined mind, a
synthesizing mind and a creating mind. The disciplined mind should
marry Eco-system thinking with the conventional Information System
design thinking that we have followed so far. The synthesizing mind
should integrate rich information from a variety of disciplines
ranging from Electronics, Pure Sciences, Design, Social sciences,
etc. As always, the sky is the limit, and the creative mind has to get
more creative to come up and reach out the systems to more and
more people in an ethical and responsible manner. Just as
discontinuities in technology have contributed to the evolution of
the Societal Information System, a discontinuity in Design Thinking
and Systems Methodology will drive the future of designing Societal
Information Systems.
( The author welcomes feedback on this article by email at [email protected] )
Figure summarizes the evolution of Information Systems and how we have got to Societal Information systems now.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
The UVCEian, October 2014
“Take me to your
leader”, said the green
extraterrestrial clad in silver
suits, as the shocked human stared
at his UFO in confusion. That was
childhood to us. Star Wars and Star
Trek made monotonous voice
synonymous with alien invasion.
Fast forward to the twenty first
century, the phone in our hands is
smarter than the biggest
computer of the seventies, and
the gadgets we saw in Science
Fiction are a part of our lives. We
wake up to the monotonous voice
of Siri, and have a good laugh
when we accidentally try to touch
a screen to operate. Information
Technology has changed the
world. But with that comes the
new fear. Is Information
Technology taking over the world?
Is core engineering dying?
What is Core Engineering? It is an
implementation of science,
supported by the power of all
mathematics. Sometimes
expressed in the form of
mathematical equations,
sometimes as theorems as proof
to their scientific findings. Although
engineering seems to be
independent, each discipline has
direct or indirect impact on other
disciplines of engineering, and society.
History has it that before the advent of
IT, these effects were minor, or
happened over the course of time,
thereby delaying progress.
Michael Faraday. For us Electrical
Engineers, this is a discovery close to
our heart. In 1821, Michael Faraday
with very little formal education
discovered the Principle of Magnetism.
He continued his work with other
inventions such as the effect of
magnetism on light, electromagnetic
induction, and the law of electrolysis.
But, his mathematical abilities were
limited. He couldn’t express his
inventions into quantifiable
achievement that could cause
excitement in related engineering
fields. It was a good concept, but it
didn’t become a great concept until
1861. James Clerk Maxwell was
probably born with a purpose when he
was born on the same day as Faraday
announced the discovery of
Electromagnetic induction. He
quantified Faraday’s discovery into a
series of differential equations. All it took
was a set of twenty equations with
twenty variables to express the ideas of
electromagnetism.
And that redefined core engineering.
Michael Faraday’s inventions were
communicated to the society in the
form of radio, telephone, telegraph,
microwaves, x-rays, televisions and a
plethora of devices that have in turn,
redefined the way we live. It was all
possible thanks to the mathematical
equations of Maxwell that helped us
predict the behavior of electricity and
magnetism under different
circumstances. The differential
equations that Maxwell wrote were
the means to represent the findings of
Faraday. They were never an end. By
quantifying the findings into simple
equations, he did not curb new
inventions. He provided a foundation
to build future inventions on. He
opened a whole new world of
possibilities. There were clashes
between theorists and
mathematicians then, and theorists
were threatened by mathematicians
just as core engineering today feels
threatened by information
technology.
These equations represented findings.
They quantified the discoveries and if
anything helped validate finding,
analyze the behavior under different
conditions. And what did the person
doing this analysis miss? The
mechanical setup, the cost incurred
to configure the apparatus. Imagine
the convenience of penning down
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Rajesh Joshi
( Batch of 1991, EE)Senior Principal, Software Development, Tyco Retail
Solutions
9
THEME OF THE MONTH
The UVCEian, October 2014
the cause-effect on a piece of paper vs. setting the
apparatus. And cut to the modern times, we the lucky ones
of this century have taken it a step further, computerized
the calculations. From the laptop of your kitchen table, you
can fire Wolfram Alpha, feed any equation to the system
and check out the behavior – graph it, analyze it and draw
your conclusion. We have the discoveries, analysis, findings
at out finger tips. Not only has the computerization
eliminated the setup cost, it has eliminated the repetitive
actions/jobs. This may seem as taking over the world, but,
no! In reality it has made the field more efficient and error
free.
If Faraday and Maxwell dominated the 19th century,
Einstein dominated the 20th century. His Theory of Relativity,
E=mc2. His findings changed our views of gravity, light
diffraction, time, matter and space. A new age the
“nuclear age” came into existence. Till date his explanation
of time relativity guides our GPS. Our computers and their
gigabyte speeds are nothing but accelerated applications
of his findings.
Often discoveries and inventions lead us to a path that is
quite different from what it is intended to. The discovery of
Higgs Boson particle led to (fostered) the world of Cloud
Computing and Big Data crunching. The 3 billon DNA
sequences can be crunched and fit into a computer
memory. A new world of intelligent software has evolved;
one that can teach itself, and evolve. It can upgrade it’s
knowledge-base with every problem it solves. This leads to
new and more fantastic discoveries in the world of
medicine and DNA. This is yet another example of
computers influencing your decision making, never over
powering the core engineering of Biology. Understanding
and digesting this big a discrete data is beyond human
comprehension, and computers, computer Algorithms
help us in understanding the data.
What is overwhelming in the above context is the speed
at which software changes. The speed is phenomenal for
anyone to understand and grasp the change. This makes
us mute followers of Technology, and increases the fear or
technology. Fear breeds a blind belief. What should you
do under this situation? Back to the basics, rely on your
math, keep the kid in you curious, and plan your course.
Information Technology and Core Engineering simulate
one another. Core engineering has changed the world;
Information Technology has guided it, and will continue to
do so in the ages to come.
On a lighter note, Sir M Vishweswaraiah gave the society
KRS with an idea to conserve and harvest water, and
thought of Brindavan as a side effect. Raj Kumar pranced
around with beautiful women around the colorful
fountains of Brindavan and gave the society memorable
romantic songs!
!Good Old UVCE
A cyclostyled μP test paper from the IEEE UVCE Chapter, 1990!
A course completion certificate from 1927!!
10
Sagar Moudgal
Quiz
The UVCEian, October 2014
There could be several
definitions of
Engineering. I would love to
put it as “Engineering is
COMMON SENSE in a highly
advanced format with a
structured and probable and
repeatable entities”.
Engineering is a confluence - a
beautiful mix of science, maths
and philosophy
Engineering exists from the stone
age or even before, right up to
the invention of wheel. Further
inventions not only made life
simpler and comfortable but it
started the want for more.
For many many years now Civil,
Electrical, Mechanical enjoyed
importance The branches of
engineering but of late there are
engineering and technological
branches for or many disciplines as
you can think of. Of the more recent
introductions, one of the biggest
glam up and a catalyst branch of all
engineering is the Information
Technology (IT) or Information
Science or more simply the
Computer Science branch..
The way IT has transformed every
branch of engineering is amazing.
There used be days when the khakhi
clad mechanical guys used this
contraption called “Drafter”This
used be an iconic weapon for
drawing the fundamentals of any
designs. For the present day kids this
seems to be a vintage product, as IT
has gifted them Autocad,
Unigraphics, Pro E, Solidworks.. The
same has been the case with the
civil and architecture sectors.
1. What is the etymology of the word "Engineering"?2. Who produced the first cellular phone and when?3. What type of signals does the microphone capture?4. When is Engineer's Day celebrated in India?5. Which was the first Engineering College established in India?6. Who is India's first women chief engineer?7. What does GigaFLOPS measure?8. Name the co-founder who along with Bill Gates founded Microsoft. 9. Which was the first car manufactured in India?10. Name the Indian who created the world's first web based email.Answers:1. Cleverness in Latin 2. Ericsson, 1979 3. Compression Waves 4. Sep 15th 5. IIT Roorkee, 1847 6. P K Tresia Nangeeli 7. Floating point operations 8. Paul Allen 9. Hindustan 10 (Morris 10) 10. Sabeer Bhatia
QUIZ-TRON Sagar Moudgal
Batch of 2008, Mech
Managing DIrector, Tetrad India Ltd
On the other hand, the IT sector gained a
whole lot from these engineering branches
as it added onc whole vertical and a
product line to itself!
Is IT therefore completely taking over all
forms of pure engineering? Or should we
say that pure engineering actually gave a
breather to the IT companies? Yes it’s a
fact!
Both the forms of engineering do have
space for each other and coexist on the
same platform at the same time. They
compliment each other very well.
A good collaboration is what is going to
make life simpler, comfortable and
enjoyable.
11
A Happy Marriage!
Sagar MoudgalBatch of 2008, Mech
Managing Director , Tetrad India Ltd
THEME OF THE MONTH
Mayank Kamboj
The UVCEian, October 2014
“Somebody rightly said
that in India we become
Software engineers first and
then think what we really wanted to
do”
What is the first thing that comes in your
mind when somebody tells that he/she is
an Engineer? Which company/Domain/
language? Why doesn’t anybody think of
anything apart from Software
companies? Well that is the condition
today even after 200 various forms of
engineering existing in this world and at
least in more than 30 of them you can
get a degree from reputed institutions.
Way back in late 90s and towards the big
millennium year when the whole scenario
changed and the trend of shifting
towards IT companies came into picture.
But did we ever think why suddenly the
maximum percentage of students turned
towards Information Technology and
Computer Science courses to fetch Jobs
in the so called IT Industry and to be
known as a “techie” going forward. What
about their original interest in those
scintillating physics facts, interesting
chemical reactions and mind boggling
mathematical puzzles. I personally know
so many people who are mad behind
physics or are even teaching
mathematics then why didn’t they
choose it as their career option. All their
interests and likings convert to their
hobbies and apart from working for a
living they pursue those in their left over
time to please themselves. What if the
case was otherwise?
I remember in my times during 2005 the
most possible options in the science
field were first to choose between
Engineering and medical and those in
Engineering chose the branches like
Electronic, Computer science etc. Well
there were exceptions as some of them
exclusively wanted Electricals,
Electronics or Mechanical Engineering
branches but the general trend was to
choose the best branch available as
per the campus placements
possibilities to get a Job. Earning a
Handsome salary at a young age of 22
unlike your commerce and other pure
science counterparts was also one
added factor to this sudden change in
trend. I as a Computer science
graduate used to think why take some
other engineering branch to again
come back to IT and unlearn what you
learnt all the four years of engineering.
Well the answer was when you see 10
software companies coming to college
against one mechanical or pure
electronics/electrical for placements
then under the family pressure to get a
Job you had to choose the former to
be safe of not landing out of the
engineering college in this big IT world
with just a degree and not a Job. But
will things change?
The answer lies within ourselves, how
much we believe in ourselves to let us
chase our dreams. Make career out of
our likings and just not let them be our
hobbies. Above scenario is the case
way back in first decade of this century
and now I see suddenly other career
options have come up and the
percentage of people choosing
Information technology has come
down. Let it be due to the social media
or the existence of Jobs and Money in
other fields as well but people are
thinking about their likings before
jumping on to software engineering. I
see people choose Music, Journalism,
Fashion designing and pure sciences to
become what they really had dreamt
to become. The support from family
and society is tremendous and most
importantly there are enough
opportunities for all to be part of this
big world and not just get carried
away in the rat race. I see many of my
friends opting to choose higher studies
abroad in pure or applied sciences in
continuation with their bachelor
degrees to follow their instinct. So here
is the time as you have the platform
and opportunity. Let those physics
concepts still surprise you, let those
chemical reactions still excite you and
let those mathematics facts and
formulas still amaze you. Wouldn’t it be
fun if are doing what you really like to
do and not forced to and upon that
getting paid for it. My piece of advice
to all the young guns will be to turn
towards your interests and likings and
make a career out of it. Turn towards
pure science and let your dreams be
just not dreams as somebody rightly
said...“Do what you like or else Like
what you do”
Has Information Technology taken over all forms of Engineering?
Mayank KambojComputer Science, 2009
Consultant Engineer at Ariba
12
THEME OF THE MONTH
UVCE SCHOLARSHIPS 2014 - UPDATE AND EARNEST APPEAL
The UVCEian, October 2014
Dear UVCE Alumni,
We are in the final stages of awarding 2014 scholarships to UVCE students. This year, we had over 500 applicants and based on merit and financial needs we invited 150 students for interview. Each candidate was interviewed by 3 Judges, most of whom were alums of UVCE from 1962 batch through 2013. This year, a team of volunteers led by Ram Vasantharam also conducted field visits to homes of few students to further ascertain their eligibility for scholarships. We are sharing with you some of their stories.These students are distinction students at UVCE and got 90+% in their SSLC and PUC.
Mala Shree lives with her mother and younger sister in a 1 one bedroom <200 sq ft apartment neighboring a steel cutting operation and a scrap processing facility. Her dad, a bus conductor, died in an accident last year. Mom supports the family working as a tailor in a garment factory.
Varun Kumar lives with his mother and younger sister in a very small 1 bedroom apartment. They moved from Chennai to Bangalore after his dad died. Mother supports the family by doing tailoring job. Varun Kumar is the top student in his class at UVCE.
Chandrakala, a student at UVCE, earns little money by teaching neighborhood kids . Her father is very ill and brother dropped out of Commerce College to work and support the family.
Having met and interviewed many of the students personally we are even more convinced about our commitment to help our juniors. One could see the determination in their eyes to succeed. Their parent (s) or guardians are willing to sacrifice everything to make sure their children get ahead in their careers. And it works!. We are starting to see that, scholarship awardees graduating from UVCE, and working for companies like Goldman Sachs, are already coming back to support this cause.
For 2014, we have shortlisted a total of 125 highly deserving students like those mentioned above. These students would benefit from a Full ( Rs 15000 ) or Half (Rs. 7500) or Quarter (Rs 4000) scholarship.
We have received approx. Rs 9 Lakhs ($16,000) through various fund raising activities and donations from you. However, we are short of Rs.5 lakhs ($8K) in order to meet our aspiration to support 125 students. We urge you to come together and donate generously so we do not have to turn these students away.
Our goal to is to reach our vision of meeting the financial needs of 150 students, sustainably, for years to come. This year, by distributing scholarships to 125 students, we are one step closer to realizing that vision. Please contribute either towards this year's scholarship awards or towards the Endowment Fund.
You may send your donations either in INR or USD. We are a registered non profit organization in US [Tax ID : 73-1651482] and India.
We thank you for your support. Let us provide this important help to another deserving UVCEian.
Sincerely, B. V JagadeeshBatch of 1978
UVCE SCHOLARSHIPS 2014 - UPDATE AND EARNEST APPEAL
The UVCEian, October 2014
We are appealing to all our alumni to support these UVCE students full of promise by helping us raise the funds to sustain the program. We are grateful for your support by way of donation, of any amount.
All contributions are tax deductible under 80G of Income Tax act in India, and is 501C registered in the US.
Pay by Credit Card or PayPal
Go to http://konnectme.org/groups/profile/47109/uvce-foundation. Select from one of the listed donation amounts or enter an amount of your choice. Click on Donate and follow the steps to complete your payments on PayPal. A confirmation email will be sent to the email id provided in contact details
Pay by CheckMail your checks to UVCE Foundation USA, P O Box 0455, Cupertino CA - 95014 USA
Or if donating in INR, mail your cheques favoring of UVCE Foundation, to
UVCE Foundation, #17,2nd Main, Basaveswara Layout, 2nd Stage, Chandra Layout,Bengaluru 560040, India
Online transferAccount number: 17571450000026 Bank Name: HDFC BankIFSC Code: HDFC0001757Account Name: UVCE Foundation
Photographs of the judging process held in two rounds by UVCE alumni in partnership with Rotary at UVCE Alumni Hall, KR Circle on September 20th and October 11th, 2014.
Invitation to Scholarship Award Ceremony
UVCE SCHOLARSHIPS 2014 - UPDATE AND EARNEST APPEAL
14
Musical ConcertUVCE Foundation
Cordially invites you
to join
UVCE Alumni
and friends
in the Bay Area , California USA
for a Special Musical Concert
benefitting
UVCE Foundation Scholarship Fund
http://uvcefoundation.org In US; UVCE Foundation US, PO Box 0455, Cupertino, California – 95014, USA, Ph: +1 408 996 1022 |In India: UVCE Foundation,#17, 2nd Main, Basaveswara Layout, 2nd Stage, Chandra Layout, Bengaluru 560040, India | Ph: 0091 94482 70489.
Like our page on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/UVCEAlumni
UVCE Foundation US is a 501 (C) organization in USA. In India, UVCE Foundation is 80G certified. Registered in 2002.15