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Volume XXIV, Issue No. 4, January, 2021

Contents1 IN FOCUS 6

1.1 Virtual Orientation Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.2 NIST Welcomes Freshers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.3 NIST Partners with RIIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.4 NIST-ESSCI Center of Excellence signs MoU with Tessolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.5 NIST Joins Hands with NHAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.6 NRC’s Robotics Workshop at IISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.7 Transformative Leadership Retreat at NIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.8 Interactive Lecture: Innovation in Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.9 Cloud Computing Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.10 NLP for Digital Humanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.11 State Level Faculty Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.12 Awareness on Trending Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.13 NIST Chairman Awarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.14 Workshop on Quantum Info & Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.15 Mathematical Analysis and Computing Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.16 PACPSG Training Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.17 Astro-Fest 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.18 Evolution of 5G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.19 FDP on ICT Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.20 Codathon-2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.21 STTP on Measurement Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.22 Workshop on Virtual Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.23 Electrokriti 11.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.24 AI & Machine Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.25 FUN-DE-BUG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.26 Importance of IoT & GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.27 Embedded Systems Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2 ACHIEVEMENTS 122.1 Winners of Model Exhibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.2 WayUp’s Top Intern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.3 Distinguished Faculty Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.4 Top Placements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.5 NISTian at BARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.6 Faculty Honored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.7 Student Exchange Program - Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.8 NIST @ Hackthon 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.9 Single Point of Incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.10 NISTian Creates Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.11 Great Business Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3 CELEBRATIONS 133.1 Engineers’ Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.2 National Mathematic Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.3 Republic Day Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.4 Sankalp 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 FOR THE COMMUNITY 144.1 Health & Hygiene Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144.2 Caring Senior Citizens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144.3 Beach Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144.4 Joy of Giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154.5 Blood Donation Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

5 FUN 155.1 Mini-Trekking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155.2 Catching the Eclipse Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155.3 Umang Lit-Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155.4 Club Excel’s Code Champ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155.5 Annual Sports Meet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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5.6 Other Fun Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

6 IN THE MEDIA 17

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE TO FRESHMEN

Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra

On behalf of NIST management, administration, faculty, staff and NISTfraternity, I welcome you all to National Institute of Science and Technology,Institute Park, Berhampur, Odisha. You had many options and opportunities,but you’ve chosen NIST for your better and brighter future. You have certainlymade the right choice and we’ll definitely not let you down your trust and faithon us. We will ensure that you’ll not just come out as bright engineers andmanagers, but also as better human beings who will contribute immensely forthe betterment of the society and the world at large.You’ll expand your capability and potential to the maximum at NIST. We atNIST do our best to ensure that you reach your best and full potential to acquireknowledge, learn how to learn for life, innovate, develop human values, andbecome the best global citizen.Let me share a couple of things about what we stand for @NIST. Our missionand vision is definitely for you to achieve the highest academic excellence, excel inresearch and innovation, develop entrepreneurship spirit, and most importantlystrive to accomplish better good for the community and society in addition to

helping yourself and your family.About the legacy of NIST - it was established in 1996, as the first NRI educational venture in the State of Odisha,and also the first engineering institute in southern Odisha. It is promoted by SM Charitable Educational Trust,a non-profit organization, in which I and my wife are donors and founders. Our focus has been on high qualityteaching, creative innovation, and mutual collaboration. It’s not about getting good grades, but training of the minds,developing creative innovation and universal partnership. So far as universal partnership is concerned, you’ll comeacross many people, scientists, thought leaders, and engineers from various cultures, and communities, and how youpartner and collaborate with them on a global scale is the key.Our values are:

� Belief: in respect, integrity, honesty, care, diversity, teamwork, and collaboration

� Excellence: in academics and research

� Encourage: for freedom of thought, expression, and view

� Spirit: of community, society, nation building, and inclusive growth

� Truth: in the pursuit, dissemination, application and use of knowledge

So, you’ll not only learn things like fundamentals of computers and principles of management, but you’ll learn how torespect, how to work with dignity and honesty in a diverse, collaborative environment. By the time you graduate, weexpect you to excel both in academics and research. Maybe, you’ll publish research papers and file patents; innovationis a very important aspect in our life and time. We always encourage freedom of thought, expression of views, in afair and transparent manner, regardless whom you’re talking/discussing with. We’re all for inclusive growth. You’refortunate to have good education due to your parents’ or guardians’ support/encouragement/guidance. But noteverybody is fortunate. So, for the growth of the society and for nation building, a spirit of community service isnecessary.What does NIST stand for? What are our foundational objectives? The most important part of our foundationalobjective is “Student First”. NIST faculty members and staff always work their best for you to achieve highestacademic excellence, do fundamental research and innovation, have a definitive career path before you graduate, andaccomplish holistic personal development. You will certainly transform and accomplish and achieve things muchbeyond what you think today. Our faculty as guides and mentors will help you to learn in the classroom and beyond.Last year, despite of Covid-19 situation, 86% of our students got job offers before they graduated. Many went forhigher studies in the premiere institutes of the country and overseas in Taiwan, Japan, USA, and Canada. You’ll behappy to know that many of our alumni are entrepreneurs, some are serving the country as administrative officers andsome are into movies/theater pursuing their passion. You barely got out of your home after 10+2 or class XII. You’llbe spending the most productive and important part of your life here. We’ll do everything possible to stretch you toyour utmost capacity and capability so that you excel at what you love doing.The second part of our foundational objective is that NIST is a Research Institute. We focus on research andinnovation. Be ready for that. You’ll be publishing papers, filing patents, participating in national and internationallevel competitions such as various hackathons, research projects etc. You might be assisting our faculty in variousfunded research work as paid research assistants. We also have strong partnerships with multiple industries. You’ll besolving real and practical problems. On campus, we’ve incubation and startup facilities. That’ll groom some of youas entrepreneurs so that you create jobs for others. You’ll be a job creator rather than a job seeker.The third part of our foundational objective is that we stand for the Community. It’s not about me or you, it’s aboutus, with a sense of giving to our society and community where we live. NIST fraternity, through its various programs,

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is continuously working in the areas of rural health and sanitation, education, environment, and disaster relief. You’llalso learn how to care for the community beyond yourself and your family.Last, but not the least, we are One Family - One Team, i.e., NISTians. You’re part of one big and proud family ofNIST. It consists of our alumni, students, faculty members, and staff. NIST is a platform that can be leveraged forthe best interest of the NIST family. You can make every use of NIST infrastructure - research facility, swimmingpool, gym, auditorium, labs, etc. for yourself and other NISTians, so that we grow as a family through collaborationand teamwork. You’ll be pulled out of your comfort zone, you’ll be tasked with much hard course work/projects. Youmay experience or land a fear zone with apprehension about yourself. But that will gradually change to a learningzone and growth zone. Finally you will be in a growth trajectory by the time you are ready to step out of NIST.NIST is a NAAC and NBA accredited autonomous institute that ranked 60th all India in 2019 (by Outlook), and 69thall India by NIRF in 2016. Our students have been constantly winning many national and international competitionsand hackathons. Our students have published over 80 research papers in the last five years. I expect you to be partof NIST’s glorious past and tradition.Again, I welcome you to join talented scholars, academicians, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and thought leadersin the NIST family. I am sure you will leverage endless opportunities at NIST to study, innovate, perform, transform,realize your abilities to the fullest extent and cherish unforgettable friendship, the most enjoyable moments, value ofcollaboration, sharing, and caring for all the time to come.Welcome to NIST!I commend the entire editorial team for their hard work and dedication for publication of this edition of NIST Chronicle.

Dr. Sukant K. MohapatraChairman, NIST

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1 IN FOCUS1.1 Virtual Orientation Program

The instituteorganized a virtualorientation programto assimilatebatch-2020 on 12th

Dec., 2020, in thepresence of ChiefGuest, Prof. RanjanKumar Swain(Principal, PMEC),Dr. Sukant KumarMohapatra (FounderChairman, NIST),Dr. Sudkakar Das(Principal, NIST),

and Shri Kshirod Mohapatra (Registrar, NIST). Mostfaculty members of NIST participated in the programwhere around 400 freshers joined the virtual Zoommeet. Chairman, Dr. Sukant Mohapatra briefed thestudents about the institute’s functioning that’s beyondacademics. He emphasized on holistic development,student first mantra, and the institute’s initiatives forbuilding entrepreneurs and encouraging higher education.Dr. Mohapatra also introduced the office-bearers -principal, registrar, and HODs.

PMEC Principal, Prof. Ranjan Kumar Swain told theparticipants how NIST is continuously rising in successsince its inception for its Chairman’s vision and support.On placement fronts, the institute is as good or evenbetter than the NITS. He also stressed that students andother stakeholders must stay updated with technology.Principal Dr. Sudhakar Das, assured students that theyshould feel proud for choosing NIST. The institute isknown for its values, academics, research, and of course,placements. He said, “You’ll learn a lot. Right aftergraduating NIST you’ll be ready for the world - you’llbe able to bring positive change in yourself and theworld around.” Registrar Kshirod Mohapatra ensuredmaintaining student-first culture on the campus. Assuredthem of their overall safety and wellbeing.

Fresh graduates Ajit Dash and Simran Raj shared theirsuccess stories with the freshmen. They explained thestudents why they chose NIST, and how discipline anddedication helped them achieve success. At the end, VicePrincipal Dr. Pradyumna Kumar Patra extended vote ofthanks. He said to students, “NIST is now your secondhome, and every faculty is like your parent.” He wishedthem all the best.

1.2 NIST Welcomes FreshersNIST organised a Grand Virtual Welcome Ceremony forthe fresh & budding students of BTech, MBA, MCA,MTech on 22nd Dec., 2020. Most NIST faculty werepresent to grace the occasion wherein 400 1st yearstudents participated on Zoom. Prof. Siva PrasadAdhikary, an eminent academician, innovative researcherand extraordinary speaker motivated the students bysharing the institute’s success story and noble thoughtbehind its establishment. Dr. Sukant Mohapatra briefedthe students about the institute’s functioning stating itsvision and mission statements. He emphasized on holistic

development, student first mantra, and the institute’sinitiatives for building entrepreneurs and encouraginghigher education. Kshirod Mohapatra, Registrar extendedthe vote of thanks. He wished the students all the best. Healso thanked the entire NIST fraternity for pulling off theGrand Welcome Ceremony and ending it on a successfulnote.

1.3 NIST Partners with RIIIIIn an excitingnew development,NIST has signedan Memorandumof Understanding(MoU) with RIInstruments &Innovation INDIAa leading massproducer of researchinstruments andNano materials, to

achieve excellence and lead the state in Nano Technology.Principal of NIST, Dr. Sudhakar Das, and MD of RIIII,Rajendra Prasad Joshi signed the MoU on 2nd Oct., 2020.NIST faculty Mr. Nilesh Dalai will coordinate the jointefforts while Dr. Souren Mishra, Dr. Duryodhan Sahu,Dr. Sandipan Mallick are the core members. Underthis MoU, both the parties will work in the developmentof new technology and instruments, and share rightson the developed intellectual property for publicationsand patents. Scientists/researchers/officials from RIIIImay on request participate in the research programme inNIST. This MoU will help NIST become a Nano-materialResearch Center and lead the state in this technology.

1.4 NIST-ESSCI Center of Excellencesigns MoU with Tessolve

NIST-ESSCI Center of Excellence,a leader in chip design, simulation,and verification and testing, signed amemorandum of understanding withTessolve (P) Ltd, a global leader inIC, PCB and system design, failureanalysis, and product engineering.

Under this industry-academia partnership, NIST-ESSCIwill train Tessolve recruits in testing and verification, andNIST students will get real world exposure to the siliconindustry. In a similar development, NIST has also set upa NIST-ESSCI Center of Excellence in BBSR with thehelp of Shri N K Mohapatra, CEO, Electronic Sector SkillCouncil of India (ESSCI), and Mrinal Das, ex-CEO ofSankalp Semiconductors and adjunct Faculty at NIST.

National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)has had a strong academia-industry partnership modelsince its establishment in 1996. Academic excellence,research, and innovation are the key differentiators atNIST. Through such true industry-academia partnershipswith leading national and international companies andeducation institutes, the institute looks beyond academiccontributions to stay relevant with various industries.

1.5 NIST Joins Hands with NHAINational Highways Authority of India (NHAI) selectedNIST as its partner for its industry-to-institution (i2i)initiative. By this partnership NIST hopes to be

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instrumentalin realizingthe dreamsof AtmaNirbharBharat throughits academics,tech-enablement,and i2icollaborations.Both theparties NIST

signed an MoU on 13th July, 2020 to share expertisefor the betterment of highway infrastructure. NISTCivil Engineering Department offers the best options inhands-on learning with many industry collaborations andinternship offers planned for this year. It often collabswith govt. agencies such as NHAI for nation building andtech-enablement. This i2i program is valid for 5 yearswhich may be extended. Its scope includes:

� NHAI shall bridge industry-institution gap, upgradeNIST labs, and facilitate the faculty, researchers andstudents of the institute to familiarize with the latesttrends in the highway/transportation sector.

� NIST shall adopt and use the nearby stretches ofhighways as specified in the MoU as a field of studyfor faculty, researchers and students. NIST internsand researchers will make traffic studies and givesuggestions on maintenance of the allotted strip ofNH as mentioned in the MoU.

� NHAI shall pay undergrad interns Rs. 8000 andpostgrads Rs. 15000 per month for their work intransportation, structural engg., geotechnical engg.,hydraulics engg., infrastructure systems, earthquakeengg., urban and rural planning, and disastermitigation & management

1.6 NRC’s Robotics Workshop at IISERCreating yourown robothelps you learnengineeringin all itspracticality.In such aninitiative,NRC (NISTRoboticsClub) inassociationwith IISERPhysics Club

organized Automatic Robotics Workshop at IISERBerhampur on 3rd Nov., 2019. As a training partner, NRCdemonstrated the art of creating robots by combiningconcepts from multiple engineering disciplines. Over60 BS and MS students of IISER participated in theworkshop. With the guidance of NRC Faculty Advisor Dr.Swagat Samantaray and Mr. Aswini Kumar Khuntia, 3rd

Year Core members of NRC gave IISER students hands-onlearning and training by involving them in creativeactivities that motivates them for future studies. This

workshop detailed the ideas about robots, types of robotsand their applications. The workshop introduced Arduinoand Bluetooth RC Car, and demonstrated buildingBluetooth RC car, test-running the car, and line-followingrobot. At the end, there was a question-answer andnote-taking session. The workshop was well-received byIISER faculty members and students. IISER studentsshowed their interest to explore further by participatingin robotics projects, research and competitions.

1.7 Transformative Leadership Retreat atNIST

The 2-dayworkshop“TransformativeLeadershipRetreat”at InstitutePark, NISTconcludedon 16th

Nov., 2019.Mr. ShankarHemmady(CEO, GreenHorizons, SanFrancisco, and

Mentor & Visiting Faculty, MICA, Ahmedabad) delivereda series of talks on the topic in this program.

At the inaugural function, NIST Chairman Dr SukantKumar Mohapatra told the gathering, “For everyresponsible person, it’s important to know what onebelieves in and what one values. This motivates us toalign our mindset to our goals. Workshops such as thishelp us improve our professional and personal lives. It’slike re-engineering the self for better. And it’s a continuoustransformative process.”

Through various fun and creative activities, the mentorMr. Shankar Hemmady gave NIST faculty members anew perspective about “learning how to Learn, and howto unlearn.” That’s how one can bring positive change inthe body and the mind. He also discussed at length howto transform the self from rationalizing beings to rationalbeings, and overcome the instincts to take control of theself.

1.8 Interactive Lecture: Innovation inPower

On 7th

Nov., 2019,IEEE-EDSNIST StudentChapterorganized aninteractivetechnicallecture,“Innovationin Power,” oncampus. Mr.

Ranjit Kumar Dash, who has worked in semiconductorindustries for over 20 years at various positions in TexasInstrument and National Semiconductor, talked aboutthe switching of the regulators during the standby mode

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to reduce the power consumption by adopting variousmethods such as using electronic shut-down circuits,and line and load regulations. He also spoke about thechallenges in circuit design to maintain the maximumcurrent and support high input and output voltage. 30participants attended this lecture. He emphasized on theindustrial approach for real-time solutions and innovativethought processes to take the research and developmentactivities in power to a new level. Later he gave a glimpseof innovations by the students. IEEE ED-NIST StudentChapter acknowledges Mr. Dash for such an industryinteraction session with all student members.

1.9 Cloud Computing WorkshopNIST CloudComputing Cluborganized a 2-DayWorkshop on CloudComputing on 8th

and 9th Nov.,2019. Around 125BTech students and37 MCA studentsactively participatedin this workshop.

Participants got to know about Cloud Platform Services,AWS & AZURE fundamentals, job opportunities in thefield of Cloud Computing, and interlink between Cloud,IoT, DevOps, and BlockChain. Many industry expertsspoke on the topic. At the end, NIST principal felicitatedthe experts. Industry Experts spoke in the workshop were:

� Rudra Prasad Tripathy, A.I. Architect, MindtreeLtd., Bangalore

� Mr. Agneetra Banarjee, Engineer, CTO Function,Mindtree Ltd., Bangalore

� Mr. Akshaya Jain, Engineer, CTO Function,Mindtree Ltd., Bangalore

� Mr. Bibek Ranjan Paramanik, BerryBook TechnoSolutions

� Mr. Harish Mohanty, OGH Solutions, Bhubaneswar

� Mr. Swadesh Sampad Mohanty, SGC Infoways,Bhubaneswar

1.10 NLP for Digital HumanitiesSchool ofComputerScience andEngineering,NIST, Berhampuris organizedAll IndiaCouncil forTechnicalEducation

Sponsored Faculty Development Program, “NaturalLanguage Processing (NLP) for the Digital Humanities,”from 3rd to 13th Dec., 2019. Experts from IITs andCentral Universities on Machine Learning, ArtificialIntelligence, Natural Language Processing, technology andsentiment analysis on Social Media, Digital Humanities

and Social Science delivered lectures and demonstratedtheir work on NLP during this 2-week long workshop.NIST coordinators thanked AICTE for giving NIST theopportunity to organize the program on such a big scalewherein faculty members and researchers from all overIndia participated. These days AI/NLP is the buzz.It gives us shopping suggestions, election predictionsand much more basis pattern analyses on social media.However, the participants were excited in the ways NLPwill serve the society better. The program was one of akind NLP-in-action, filled with activities and exercises.Chief guest, Prof. Ashish Ghosh, ISI, Kolkata, andguest of honor, Dr. Susmita Ghosh, Jadavpur Universityintroduced the program. Dr. Ashish Ghosh definedDigital Humanities as something “for the society” andnot “social studies per se.” Dr. Susmita Ghosh told,“Computer hardware has improved leaps and boundssince Deep Blue defeated Kasparov. The challenge nowis to improve the existing algorithms, and create new andbetter algorithms for the Digital Humanities.”

1.11 State Level Faculty ConventionNIST, Berhampurorganizeda statelevel facultyconventionsponsored byIndian Societyfor TechnicalEducation(ISTE) on 7th

Dec., 2019. 70 faculty members from various fieldsattended the convention. Chief Guest A J Janathanan,Chief General Manager and Head Odisha Sands Complex,IREL Chatrapur and Guest of Honor Bimal KrisnaMishra, Industrialist and Director of Tiki EngineeringPvt. Ltd. spoke on “Recent Innovations and Challengesin Renewable Energy for Nation Building,” the theme ofthe convention. A souvenir was released on the occasion.ISTE felicitated NIST faculty Prof. Mihir Hota with theBest ISTE Faculty Advisor award, and Dr. Pallab KumarKar with the Best Science Faculty award. Both facultymembers were chosen from among all the engineeringand polytechnic colleges of Odisha. NIST faculty Prof.Mihir Kumar Hota coordinated the convention. ISTE alsoawarded NIST ISTE Chapter as the best in Odisha. NISTISTE students Chapter organises techno-managementevent SANKALP every year.

1.12 Awareness on Trending TechnologiesFaculty Development Program “Deep Learning andApplications” through National Knowledge NetworkWinter Courses under Electronics and ICT Academy, NITPatna in association with NIST from 9th to 13th Dec.,2019. IIITDM Jabalpur was the Principal CoordinatingAcademy and NIT Warangal was the Co-principalCoordinating Academy. Fourty six participants fromNIST actively participated in the FDP. Ranjit KumarBehera, Asst. Professor coordinated the program.

1.13 NIST Chairman AwardedNIT Rourkela honors Dr. Sukant Kumar Mohapatra,Founder Chairman of NIST, with DistinguishedAlumni Award. NIT Rourkela felicitated its alumnus

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Dr. Mohapatra,at its 19th

Convocation on18th Jan., 2020.This award isa recognition ofDr. Mohapatra’ssignificant contributionto the communityand world at largein the area oftechnology, research,management,education anddesignated for

his outstanding professional and philanthropicaccomplishments.Dr. Mohapatra had a dream to establish a World ClassCenter for Academic Excellence and Research in his homestate of Odisha. He realized this dream by establishingNational Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) in1996. He has been guiding the institute ever since.It’s noteworthy that NIST is the first NRI educationalventure in Odisha, and first-ever global standard privateengineering college in South Odisha. Started as anengineering institute, now it has been turned into aninstitute park having world class facilities for education inareas of engineering, basic science, management; researchand entrepreneurship.Dr. Mohapatra graduated in Mechanical Engineering withHons from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela,Odisha in 1981. Later he received MS (ComputerScience) from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,and PhD with specialization in Telecommunicationsfrom Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey,United States of America. He has over 30 yearsof professional experience with leadership positions atAT&T, Lucent Technologies - Bell Laboratories andEricsson (as Chief Technology Officer), leading appliedresearch, system architecture, technology strategy, andbusiness development in telecommunications industry. Heis also the chief patron of Indian Energy Congress.Dr. Mohapatra’s research interest include NextGeneration Networks, Digital Transformation, NetworkPlanning and Optimization, Network Virtualization(NFV/SDN), Cloud Computing, and Internet of Things(IoT). He has published extensively in the areas ofdata networking, network management, optimization,congestion control, network virtualization and IoT inreferred journals and conferences. Dr. Mohapatra hasa prolific career in academics, research and industry. Hehas taught graduate program at Rutgers University, NewJersey. He is recipient of multiple awards and recognitionincluding prestigious DMTS award at Bell Laboratories,Strathmore’s global Who’s Who, Distinguished OdiaAward by Odisha Society of Americas - NYNJ (OSA)among others. He has been invited an speaker at variousconferences and forums around the globe. He is a SeniorMember of IEEE.

1.14 Workshop on Quantum Info &Computing

The School of Computer Science and Engineering,NIST, Berhampur organized a 2-Day National workshop

on “Quantum Information and Quantum Computing”sponsored byTEQIP-IIIBPUT Rourkela,in its campuson 28th

and 29th

Feb., 2020.Many facultymembers,researchersand studentsfrom all over

India participated in the workshop. The sessionwas inaugurated by honorable Chief Guest, FrenchMathematician, Prof. Olivier Ramare, Research Director,CNRS / Institut de Mathematiques de Marseille, AixMarseille Universite, France and Guest of Honor, Dr.Kasi Viswanadham G, IISER Berhampur.

Dr. Prof. Olivier Ramare, delivered a technical talk on“Modern Mathematics for Modern People.” He explainedthe RSA algorithm and the beauty of number theory.He also added the importance of Quantum Computingin number theory, particularly in Cryptography. Prof.Victor Mukherjee, IISER Berhampur, delivered a series oftalks on “Quantum Technologies based on Open QuantumSystems.” Dr. Ritabrata Sengupta, IISER Berhampur,delivered a talk on “Introduction to Quantum Informationand Quantum Computing.”

1.15 Mathematical Analysis andComputing Conference

NIST inassociationwith OdishaMathematicalSociety (OMS)organized a2-day NationalConference on’MathematicalAnalysis andComputing’on 15th and

16th Feb., 2020. It was conducted along with 47th

Annual General Body meeting of Odisha MathematicalSociety. Prof. R.N. Mahapatra of University of CentralFlorida, USA inaugurated the conference in presence ofProf. Ramsankar Rath, OMS President, Dr. SukantK. Mohapatra, Chairman NIST, Retd. Prof. V.P.Srivastav, Delhi University, and Dr. Tushar KantTripathy, OMS General Secretary. Many eminent teachersof Mathematics from various schools were felicitatedfor their contribution towards popularizing the subject.The conference explored diverse areas of Mathematicsand witnessed the amalgamation 15 keynote speakersand 50 oral presentations. Over 150 delegates fromall over Odisha attended the event. They discuss therecent innovations, trends, and challenges in the fields ofMathematics and Computing. OMS President Prof. Rathand Prof Gokulanand Das, an eminent Mathematician ofOdisha were present at the valedictory ceremony. NISTis proud to host this event for the 2nd time. Prof. PallabKar coordinated the event.

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1.16 PACPSG Training ProgramThe electricity domain and the grid that were almostunchanged for long will undergo radical change in thenext few years. To add value to the system, the futureSmart Grid will be supported by a complex ecosystem

withseverallayersofmonitor-and-controlenabledbyInternetofThings

(IoT) and Internet of Services (IoS). That’s why theEEE department of NIST, Berhampur, organized a5-day Short-Term Training Program on “PredictiveAnalytic-Based Cyber-Physical Systems for Smart Grid(PACPSG)” from 3rd to 7th Feb., 2020. The programwas sponsored by TEQIP-III, BPUT with a funding ofRs. 3,26,500. The course was designed to instill in theparticipants a basic understanding of the applicationsof predictive analytics to the Smart Grid environmentand to brief possible research directions in the domain.The participants of the program were enlightened withmultiple research opportunities in the area of Smart Grid.The chief guest Prof. P.K. Hota, VSSUT, Burla, andguest of honor Sri. S.K. Das, Ex. General Manager,SLDC were present in the inaugural session. Theydiscussed the research-importance of PACPSG in ourtimes. Dr. Suvendu Rup, IIIT, Bhubaneswar distributedcertificates to the participants in the valedictory ceremony.Around 50 participants from eight engineering collegesparticipated in the program that was coordinated by Dr.B. Rajanarayan Prusty and Prof. Preeti Ranjan Sahu ofthe EEE department.

1.17 Astro-Fest 2.0NIST Astronomy club in association with Skifi Lab(a startup by IIT Kanpur alumni) organized a 2-dayworkshop “Astro-Fest 2.0” in the Institute Park on 22nd

and 23rd of Jan., 2020. In the workshop, NIST studentsbuilt and demonstrated RC helicopters. NIST chairman,Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra inaugurated the workshop. Onthis occasion, students of St. Xavier School and SankalpSchool participated in drawing, GK, model exhibitioncontests organized in the institute premises.

The workshop was divided into 3 parts: Theory, hands-onand testing. In the first session the experts from Skyfi labstaught the concepts of aeromodelling and RC aircraft tothe participants. It was followed by participants buildingtheir very own aircraft in the guidance of Lab expertsand club co-ordinators. The structure of the aircrafts wasmade by the participants at the end of the workshop onday 1. On day 2 they started where they left off. Theelectronic components were attached in the aircrafts andwere ready to fly.

Then came the most interesting part of this event, flighttesting the aircrafts made by participants. All theassembled aircrafts were taken to the ground and theflying started in the presence of Dr. Mohapatra, Prof.Hota, other faculty members, and NIST students. TheRC aircrafts flew stunningly and did beautiful manoeuvres

while soaring high in the sky.

1.18 Evolution of 5G

On 23rd Jan.,2020, Dr.Sukant K.Mohapatra,FounderChairmanof NIST,delivereda talkon “Hyper-connectedWorld andSociety:Evolutionof 5G” toNIST facultymembers.He built upthe topic bydescribing thefundamentalshifts inwireless

communication technology over five decades leading to5G. He described foundational principles, use cases,standards, architecture, virtualization and network slicingapproach of 5G to the gathering. Dr. Mohapatra alsogave a clear picture of how 5G is ramping up in theUSA, Europe and rest of the world. He said, “whilethe new technology may disrupt existing businesses, itwill create new opportunities too.” It is expected that5G will fundamentally change how people will live andwork in future, providing an opportunity to enhancetheir lives in many ways, most importantly through IoT,Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality applications. Whenasked about the health hazards, he said, “there will alwaysbe various views, but rest assured, international healthauthorities and various regulatory bodies (e.g., FCC inUS) will take care of such concerns.”

Dr. Mohapatra has been working in thetelecommunication industry with leadership positions over30 years. He has worked at AT&T, Lucent Technologies- Bell Laboratories, and Ericsson as Chief TechnologyOfficer (CTO).

1.19 FDP on ICT ToolsOne-weekFDP throughNKN WINTERCourses on“ICT Toolsfor Teaching,Learningprocess &Institutes”completedsuccessfullyat NIST,Berhampur on

17th Jan., 2020. MNIT Jaipur was the PrincipalCoordinating Academy and NIT Patna was theCo-principal Coordinating Academy. 45 participants

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attended this course from NIST, Berhampur and RolandInstitute of Technology, Berhampur. In this courseparticipants learnt various open source tools used forthe teaching learning process.

1.20 Codathon-2020

School ofComputerScience &Engineeringwith thehelp of ClubExcel, MultiMedia Club,Quizzardsclub, NISTMusicalSociety, andMCA deptt.organizedNationallevel codingworkshop,Codathon-2020,

for BCA and B.Sc students on 1st Feb., 2020. Thisprogram comprised Coding, Web Designing and Quiz.Around 250 participants from Berhampur and the nearbylocality attended the program. NIST alumnus, Er. K.V.Reddy gave keynote talk on “Anything is possible.” Theprogram was coordinated by Prof. K.L. Narayan withthe support of Prof. P.K. Jena, Prof. S.K. Kar, Prof.B.S. Gouda, Prof. T.K. Mishra, Prof. A.K. Dass, Prof.D. Kanhar, Prof. A.K. Tripathy, P.K. Mohanty, S.P.Tripathy, and Prof. R. Padhi. The founder chairman ofthe institute, Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra, felicitated thespeaker and distributed prizes to the winners.

1.21 STTP on Measurement Issues

Dr. ParameswarDash (Coordinator)and Mr. NileshDalai (Co-Coordinator),School of MechanicalEngineering, NIST,Berhampur in associationwith NITTTR, Kolkotaconducted the ICT(13),STTP on “Measurement

Issue of Labs and Workshop Class” during 4th to 8th Nov.,2019. Forty-three faculty members and technical stafffrom different departments participated in this trainingprogram. Prof. Dipankar Dube, Head and Prof. of MEdept., NITTTR, Kolkota was the spokesperson for thistraining program. The duty and responsibility of facultyand lab technicians during the lab class was demonstrated.The application of rubric for effective evaluation of labmarks was emphasized. It was suggested that teachersneed to be present for the entire lab class and correlate thetheory with the lab for a better theoretical understanding.This training program provided the essential inputs to thefaculty members and lab technicians to carry out the labclass more efficiently and effectively.

1.22 Workshop on Virtual LabsWorkshop on Virtual Labs (A Ministry of HumanResource Development, Government of India Initiative),a National Mission on Education through Informationand Communication Technology (NME-ICT) was held atGalleria Auditorium, Institute Park, NIST, on 21st Sept.2019. Prof. Alok Kanti Deb of IIT Kharagpur coordinatedthe workshop.

1.23 Electrokriti 11.1NIST ElectronicHobby Cluborganizedworkshop“ElectrokritiVersion 11.1”from 16th

to 19th

Sept., 2019.Meant for3rd semester(2018 batch)

students, the workshop consisted of both theoretical andpractical sessions to provide the students with hands-onexperience. It dealt with different electronic componentsand their interfacing with microcontrollers.

1.24 AI & Machine LearningOne-week(23rd to 27th

Dec., 2019)FDP throughNKN WinterCourse “AI& MachineLearning”completedsuccessfullyat NIST. IIT

Roorkee was the Principal Coordinating Academy andNIT PATNA was the Co-principal Coordinating Academy.The FDP had a massive participation of 56 participants,53 of which were from NIST. Asst. Prof. Siba PrasadaTripathy coordinated the program at NIST. Dr. SatyaRanjan Patnaik and Mr. Ranjit Kumar Behera helpedthe program run hassle-free.

1.25 FUN-DE-BUGAround 100NIST BTechstudentsparticipated inFUN-DE-BUG(sponsored byLECTURENOTES,conducted byNIST CloudComputingClub), a

Techno-fun event about debugging programs while havingSHOTS. The event had 2 rounds:

� Elimination: Each group had to answer 5 questions.Every correct answer brought them a tasty shot, andevery wrong answer a healthy shot.

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� Debug: This event was conducted in 2 phases. In thefirst phase, groups had to debug 5 programs within15 minutes. After its completion they had to drinka healthy shot. In the second phase, they had tocomplete a program as soon as possible.

From each batch the groups who successfully completedthe program first were declared the winners.Congratulations, winners:

� Amrut Patro, Priti Sankar Senapati (BTech 3rd

Year)

� Jyotirmayee Naik, Faizan Azim (BTech 2nd Year)

� Rupesh Raj Tripathy, Sunny Kumar (BTech 1st

Year)

1.26 Importance of IoT & GUIDepartment of Electronics and CommunicationEngineering, NIST in association with EdgateTechnologies and Texas Instruments conducted a webinaron “IMPORTANCE OF IoT & GUI” on 11th Nov., 2020.Mr. Kushal Nesarkar, Embedded Systems Engineer, wasthe keynote speaker of the event.

1.27 Embedded Systems DevelopmentDepartment of Electronics and CommunicationEngineering, NIST in association with EdgateTechnologies and Texas Instruments conducted a webinaron “EMBEDDED SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT” on 5th

Dec., 2020. Mr. Javad Baig D, Senior Embedded SystemsEngineer, was the keynote speaker of the event. Mr. MituBaral, Asst. Prof., NIST co-ordinated the webinar.

2 ACHIEVEMENTS2.1 Winners of Model Exhibition

Projectsby NISTstudents camefirst andthird atthe EverGreen Forumorganizedmodel exhibitionon 15th

Sept., 2019at Jayadev

Bhawan, Bhubaneswar on the eve of Engineers’ Day 2019.PV Bot (panel cleaning bot) by NIST EEE studentsAbhijit Biswas and Yuvraj Kumar won the first prize,and AQI Monitor by Pawan Kumar won the third. NISTPrincipal, and final year student Bhumik Varu were amongthe panelists of the discussion “Role of Engineers in anautomated world” that was held after the exhibition.

2.2 WayUp’s Top InternWork speaks for itself, so does academics at NIST.NISTian Shiva Patro (2014 Batch Graduate) was NamedOne of WayUp’s Top 100 Interns in America.

2.3 Distinguished Faculty AwardNIT Silchar conferred Distinguished Faculty Award onNIST alumnus (graduate batch-2000) and our colleagueDr. Trupti Ranjan Lenka. Out of around 300 faculty ofNIT Silchar, he is the only one to get this award in theyear of its establishment.

2.4 Top PlacementsNIST students JasmantKumar Jena and SimbranPatro got the highestpackage, 18.75 LPA atWestern Digital, in NISTcampus placement 2019.Our final year student,Simran Raj, made it toTexas Instruments at alucrative package of Rs.21LPA, during this lockdown situation also.Amar Sona landed a job at

Jaro Education at Rs. 12 LPA.73 Students from Core (Civil, Mechanical and Electrical)branches were placed at Megha Engineering &Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), Hyderabad. This is thehighest ever core branch placement.In 2019-20, NIST students got over 730 job offers.

2.5 NISTian at BARCTushit Sinha, a student memberof NIST Device Group, wasselected for Summer ResearchFellowship 2019 at BhabhaAtomic Research Centre,Mumbai. That fellowshiphelped him present the paper“Multicomponent GarnetScintillator Powder Synthesisand Characterization for X ray

Detection” at 64th DAE Solid State Physics Symposiumorganised by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre andsponsored by Board of Research in Nuclear Science andDepartment of Atomic Energy, India.

2.6 Faculty HonoredNIST faculty member Asesh K Tripathy was honoredwith Best Paper Presenter award for presenting“Multifunctional Holographic Grating for SimultaneousCoupling and Beam splitting Applications in PhotonicIntegrated Circuits” at 4th IEEE Conference on Electrical,Electronics, Communication, Computer Technologies andOptimization Techniques (ICEECCOT) organized byGSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women(Grade A, NAAC), Mysuru in association with IEEEBangalore Section on 13th and 14th Dec., 2019.

2.7 Student Exchange Program - Japan� NIST student Varun Kumar had an amazing

experience during a week-long Student Exchangeprogram in Japan, the Sakura Science Plan(SSP). He first-hand witnessed the technologicaladvancements and ongoing research trends withinThe University of Electro-Communications, aNational University of Japan. He also experiencedJapanese culture. There his primary activitiesincluded attending a prestigious internationalconference IRAGO and visiting labs and @TsukubaScience Center, JAXA, and Miraikan - The NationalMuseum of Emerging Science and Innovation wherehe saw HONDA ASIMO in action. He was alsotaught lessons in basic Japanese language. Healso visited prominent tourist destinations in Japan

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such as the Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Skytree andAkihabara Japan.

� NIST student Sachitra Kumar Patra visited theThe University of Electro-Communications, Japanfrom 26/10/2019 to 04/12/2019 in Sakura Scienceprogram, a student exchange/internship programthat gives students an exposure to Japanesetechnological advancements and culture. Theinternship was amazing filled with Japanesehospitality and visits to JAXA (Japan AerospaceExploration Agency), museums and Skytree.

� NIST students Abinash Patnaik (2016 ECE), AjitDash (2016 ECE) and Piyush Pritam (2016 CIVIL)are selected to pursue Master’s in universitiesabroad. Abinash Patnaik has been selected for theInternational College of Semiconductor Technology,National Chiao Tung University with a monthlystipend of 10,000 NTD. He was undertaking hisresearch work under the guidance of Dr. RajeshKumar Patjoshi on the field of very-large-scaleintegration device designing. Ajit Dash hasbeen selected for the Institute of Photonics andOptoelectronics, National Taiwan University witha monthly stipend of 30,000 NTD/month and anadditional 40,000 NTD/Semester for the tuitionfee waiver. He was pursuing his research workunder the guidance of Dr. Sandipan Mallik onnanoelectronic device design and fabrication. PiyushPritam has been selected for the Department of CivilEngineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - Universita diBologna, Italy. His project guide was Dr. RomaSahu Biswal. He was pursuing his research/studyunder the guidance of Dr. P Dinakar and Dr.Padminee Samal.

2.8 NIST @ Hackthon 2020

NIST team “GlucoNIST” makes it to top 3 finalistsin Smart India Hackathon 2020 under the “HardwareEdition” of the problem statement “Non-invasiveglucometer” (PR183). We wish all the best to GlucoNISTteam members, Prakash Panigrahi (ECE), DebasishPanda (ECE), Shree Patnaik (ECE), K Devendra Reddy(CSE), Swosti Choudhury (EEE), and Anand KishenPujari (ECE), and the mentor Dr. Sandipan Mallik(faculty, ECE) for the grand finale!

2.9 Single Point of IncubationMinistry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprisesrecognized NIST as a Single Point of Incubation for SouthOdisha. Now on NIST will approve innovative ideas from

students, faculty members, and even the general publicbased on their merit for incubation at NIST infrastructureusing Govt funding upto Rs. 15 lakhs. NIST is oneamong 7 such Govt recognized centers each of which getsan annual grant of Rs. 1 crore. So far it has incubatedmany startups in the campus. Also NIST students havewon Smart India Hackathon 2019, and its faculty membershave got maximum awards from BPUT.

2.10 NISTian Creates RecordNIST Civil Engineering Graduate (2018), Abhijeet Padhyachieved a unique feat of writing 1000 poems each withonly 11 words. His anthology “QUETRY” was recognizedby HighRange Book of World Records 2020.

2.11 Great Business ManagerNIST alumnus SwastikMishra (1997-2001) wonthe Economic Times GreatBusiness Manager of theYear award. Every yearThe Economic Timeshonors managers who havea proven track record ofexcellence in managementfrom across India withthe Great Manager of theYear award. Swastik is adistinguished senior level

Service Delivery/Program Manager working at Infosys.He has an illustrious career post his graduation fromNIST. He has been offering an impressive record of takingon complex projects, developing improvement plans,executing to success, and eventually inspiring others.

3 CELEBRATIONS3.1 Engineers’ Day

NIST Club Innovacelebrated Engineers’Day on 15th Sept.,the birth anniversaryof Nation-Builderand Bharat RatnaSir MokshagundamVisvesaraya (popularly

known as Sir MV), India’s most prolific civil engineer, dambuilder, economist and statesman. Sir MV was born on 15September, 1861, in Muddenahalli near Chikkaballapur.He was also the Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. Dueto his outstanding contribution to the society, Governmentof India conferred him with ’Bharat Ratna’ in 1955. KingGeorge V also awarded him British Knighthood, and hencehis name bears the honorary “sir”. He is also credited withinventing the Block System – automated doors that closein the conditions of overflow.

3.2 National Mathematic DayIn a significant initiative to inculcate a positiveattitude towards learning mathematics among thestudents, Department of Mathematics, NIST, celebratedNational Mathematics Day (Birthday of great SrinivasaRamanujan) on 22nd Dec., 2019. In the event,Prof. Rankanidhi Sahu told the participants about thehistory, significance, and contributions of Ramanujanto Mathematics. The celebration was followed bya quiz competition among all participating students.

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3.3 Republic Day CelebrationNIST celebrated 71st

Republic Day amid muchpatriotic fervor. NISTFounder Chairman, DrSukant K Mohapatra,delivered his addressto the gathering ofNIST faculty, studentsand staff. Then NISTstudents performed inseveral patriotic culturalprograms.Dr. Mohapatra quotedMark Twain to explainwhat a great potpourriIndia is – India is the

cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech,the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and thegreat grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable andmost artistic materials in the history of man are treasuredup in India only! He said, “Our nation is large and diverseenough to qualify as a continent. On this day in 1950we crafted our constitution with lofty ideals of individualfreedom, liberty, and responsibility. Now it’s time tohold them dear to our hearts, and practise them in oureveryday life. Our brave soldiers have sacrificed their livesto maintain the security and sovereignty of our country.And 26th of January is not just another day passing by; it’sa reminder of the idea of India. Be righteous, stand up forthe righteous person, for the righteous cause, act withoutfear or favor. We’re a great nation already, but greatnessis something we need to maintain and take forward. Wecan do that if we realize rights and responsibilities gohand-in-hand.”

3.4 Sankalp 2020ISTE Students’ ChapterNIST organized itsintercollege technomanagementfestival “Sankalp 2020”on 13th and 14th Feb.,2020. Students fromdifferent engineeringcolleges participate indifferent events. This timeSANKALP was themedaround NETRA, Glistersof Innovation. Accordingto mythology, Netra

depicts the third eye of Lord Shiva, which symbolizes’the end of negativity and the start of a new era,’ it isalso an ’eye of wisdom’ which is free from illusion, looksbeyond the obvious with clear perception. Coincidentally

there are two different projects in India by this name,NETRA (NEtwork TRaffic Analysis) by DRDO andProject NETRA (NEtwork for space object TRacking andAnalysis) by ISRO. It was a grand event where around3000 students participated in 47 programs. The programsof NETRA were categorized in five pillars:� NIVISTA: Integration of many things on a commonplatform� EKAGRATA: To focus or to concentrate� TEJOVAT: Speed or energetic move� ANANT: Never-ending or Infinite� RIDDHI: Perfection

4 FOR THE COMMUNITY4.1 Health & Hygiene Camp

NSS Cell, NIST organizeda week-long (28th Septto 4th Oct) special campin the nearby Manikpurvillage. After surveyingthe village, NIST NSSvolunteers interacted withthe residents. The

volunteers educated the villagers about the importanceof plastic-free lifestyle, balanced nutritious diet, hygiene,road safety, and yoga. School students of the villageparticipated in the NIST organized Art/Craft and Sportsprograms. The cell also distributed sanitary pads to ladiesof the village.

4.2 Caring Senior CitizensWith the aim to sensitizethe society about theneeds of senior citizens,TEAM NSS NIST,celebrated the ChristmasDay, 25th Dec., 2019, inOld Age Home, Om JaraNivas Trust, Berhampur.NIST student volunteersinteracted with the

inmates. Besides, they donated grocery to them. The visitconcluded with lots of warmth and showers of blessingsfrom the elderly towards the volunteers. NIST NSS haslong been organizing such visits to create empathy in thestudents and to realise the social responsibilities towardssenior citizens.

4.3 Beach Cleaning

Expect an overwhelming amount of litter past the

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overwhelming fun and frolic of any event. A place ofattraction is almost a ubiquitous place of small pieces ofplastic – bottles, bags, nets and what not. It takes effortsto make the place as green and pristine as possible. That’sgiven! And that’s true for Gopalpur BEACH Festival2019.

TEAM NSS NIST takes up cleanup activities on a regularbasis at many places including the coastlines nearbymaking it a nicer, healthier place. TEAM NSS NISTBerhampur, along with Team NCS and other students ofNIST turned this Sunday into a Cleanup day. Togetherthey started the Beach Clean Up Drive at Gopalpur 29th

Dec., 2019, in collaboration with WAY YOU WANTFOUNDATION Berhampur, Helping Hands Never TireBerhampur and Robin Hood Army Berhampur. Thecampaign started under banner of WAY YOU WANTFOUNDATION, which brought RHA members, HHNTmembers, MKCG students, and NAC Gopalpur, Orissainto one fold and set example for many people of thelocality who vouch for the betterment the area.

4.4 Joy of GivingGiving is not just aboutmaking a donation, it isabout making a difference.TEAM NSS NIST,Berhampur organized“JOY OF GIVING 2.0”from 7th to 10th Jan., 2020when it collected woolenclothes and other winteritems. Around 250 staffand students donated theirunused clothes, blankets,

bed-sheets etc. The collected clothes were distributedamong the poor and homeless. It was a small attempttowards the improvement of the society.

4.5 Blood Donation CampTEAM NSS NIST organized Blood Donation Camp on18th Jan., 2020, in association with Sambad and AamaOdisha sponsored by HDFC Bank. Around 50 NIST NSSvolunteers made the blood donation camp successful. Theblood donation drive was organized at NIST-OCTAGONlibrary hall. A team of nurses and doctors came fromMKCG HOSPITAL, Blood Bank, Berhampur. Around200 donors, including students and faculty members,donated blood. The event continued till 4 pm. The Odishagovernment, BLOOD BANK, gave Donors certificateswith a badge.

5 FUN5.1 Mini-Trekking

Student Activity Center, NIST, organized a mini-trekkingexpedition on 2nd Feb., 2020. The students participated inthe expedition crossing 14 km – a combination of terrainsfrom Ramaiyha Patnam to Dhabaleswar. NIST Founderchairman, Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra, flagged the trek

at 7:30 am. The trekking took the participants closer tonature. It was a perfect event to break away from theroutine and helped the participants discover their ownfitness quotient.

5.2 Catching the Eclipse LiveWhen the Moon passesbetween Earth and theSun, it results in total orpartial obscuring of theSun for the Earth. Inan annular solar eclipse,the Sun looks like a ringbecause of the Moon’sapparent diameter whichblocks most of the Sun’slight and makes the Sunlook like an annulus. In

many parts of India, Annular eclipse appears as a partialeclipse. NIST Astronomy Club members observed andrecorded this astronomical phenomenon on the Atriumterrace of the NIST Institute Park, Berhampur. Theimages of the eclipse posted here were captured throughthe Meade telescope at 09:43 IST when the eclipse was atits peak.

5.3 Umang Lit-TechNIST organized Inter-School Lit-Tech competition,Umang 2020, on 19th Jan., 2020, to develop constructivecompetitive spirit among the students and to reward theirexcellence. Over 500 secondary and higher secondarystudents participated in the day-long competition thatcomprised 14 events including Debate, Open Mic, Collage,Painting, Story Writing, Coding, Model Presentation, andCloud Computing. Student team from St. Vincent’sConvent School, Berhampur was the champion of thecompetition, and Team De Paul School, Berhampur wasthe runners-up.

5.4 Club Excel’s Code ChampClub Excel organizedCode Champ competitions- Code-N-Play, YuktiNirman, Cryptic Docs,Code-O-Quiz underthe supervision facultyand club advisor GVivekananda supportedby B.Tech students RajKumar Kausik (3rd year),

Ashutosh Biswal (2nd year), and Abhishek Sahu (3rdyear). 48 students from St. Vincent convent school, andDe Paul school participated in the competitions.

5.5 Annual Sports MeetNIST Annual Sports meetstarted on 4th March withgreat zeal and excitement.This mega inter collegesports meet concluded on9th March, 2020. Itcomprised 4 tournaments:

4th - 7th: 16th AsimAbhinash MemorialEngineers’ Cricket Cup

6th - 7th: Kabbadi

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6th - 9th: Basketball7th - 9th: Volleyball TournamentRegistrar of NIST, Shri Kshirod Mohapatra, inauguratedthe event on a sunny morning yesterday. The inauguralwas followed by 16th Asim Abhinash Memorial Engineers’Cricket Cup’s maiden match between CIPET : CSTS,Bhubaneswar and Konark Institute of Science andtechnology. CIPET won the toss and chose to bowl.

5.6 Other Fun Programs� Club Excel, the NIST programming club, conducted

a Python Programming workshop at DAV School,Berhampur on 8th Nov. 2019.

� Club Excel organized a career development programon 19th Dec., 2019 for +2 students at NiranjanGovernment Women’s College, Aska, Odisha.

� NIST Astronomy Club (NAC) organized an astroworkshop at St. Xavier’s High School, Berhampuron 23rd Dec 2019.

� NIST Club Innova organized its talent huntcompetition, Rangmanch 5.0, on 28th and 29th Jan.,2020. Rangmanch is a NISTian effort to bring thebudding stars of the campus to forefront. It coverssinging, dancing, poetry, painting, cube solvers, beatboxers, group events, and more.

� NIST CAT CLUB organized the ChessChampionship, Grand Masters 4.0, on 21st Jan.,2020, for over 800 high school students.

� Department of Management hosted megamanagement inter college competition, TAKSHAK,on 1st Feb., 2020. 8 institutions including KIITUniversity, Astha Bhubaneswar, and KhallikoteCollege participated in the event. NIST founderchairman, Dr. Sukant K Mohapatra, distributedprizes to the winners.

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6 IN THE MEDIA

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