T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U EIIT KHARAGPURJANUARY 23 2008

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Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam visited the institute on 12th January on the occasion of National Youth Day. He addressed the students of both IIT and Kendriya Vidyalaya at 8 am in the morning and left right after the event at around 9 am for Jhargram where he was scheduled to meet school students. The talk was held in Netaji auditorium and broadcast live in SN Bose, Bhatnagar and R a m a n a u d i t o r i u m s , accommodating over 2000 people in all. The subject of his talk was "Role of technology in transforming society."

According to the former president there is a very high hance

of India becoming an economically developed nation in the coming years. But while we revel in the growing Indian economy, it is essential to simultaneously stress upon "national ethics" to create "a beautiful, prosperous and happy India". This ideal India should be a nation where

wRural and urban divide is negligible.

Energy and water supply is available to all.

Agriculture and Industry develop harmoniously.

Good medication is available to all.

Ta l en t ed s cho l a r s and researchers are duly acknowledged.

Everyone gets good education.The government is clean and

free of corruption. Poverty is eradicated.

There is a sustainable growth pattern.

There is creative leadership in Pa r l i ament and Leg i s l a t ive Assembly.

He mentioned that IITians with their excellent education and intellect are most capable to work towards this goal. He suggested that

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Placement Roundup

Kalam Visits KGP on National Youth Day

Jagriti YatraWhat Dreams may come

Page 4

Inside �

Fest Updates Page 2

RegistrationWhy this semester’s registration was surprisingly smooth

Page 5

Tech AveInterview of Astronaut E.M. Fincke

Page 6

New Academic RulesA roundup of the revamped academic rules

Page 3

Bhaat AveWhy did the chicken cross the road?

Page 7

the institute, in all its capacity, should promote research and technology that carry the potential to make India completely self-dependent.

Dr Kalam highlighted the necessity of having a mission in life and of properly managing time and resources to fulfill it. He tried to inspire the youth to have courage and devotion to their goals, and pointed out that a righteous heart in each of us is the key to world peace. He concluded his speech with an oath in view of the upcoming Republic Day. At the end of the speech questions were invited from the audience. In his answers Dr Kalam mentioned the need of moral education in schools and colleges. He commented that it was quite possible for science and spirituality to merge harmoniously and without contradictions.

The Director then offered an invitation to Dr Kalam to become a visiting professor to the institute, which he gladly accepted. The event came to an end with a vote of thanks by the Deputy Director.

Department In FocusChemical Engineering

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1

Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam will launch PanIIT's"Entrepreneurship Movement". The mission will be launched bysimultaneously mentoring 1000 entrepreneurs in 16 citiesof India on Jan 26th, 2008. This program will be conductedin association with TiE (The Indus Enterpreneur) and NEN ( N a t i o n a lEntrepreneurship Network).The PanIIT organization was formed as a federal body, coveringalumni of all 7 IIT's, to evolve a brand that would provide strongfraternity among IIT alumni.

Dr. Kalam, while inaugurating the Global event on Dec 23rd 2006,advised IITians to ignite the torch of entrepreneurship in India.He urged IITians to share their experiences and mentor young entrepreneurial minds so that they become "job creators" i n s t e a d o f " j o b s e e k e r s Mentors include B Muturaman (Tata Steel), Pradeep Baijal (Ex-TRAI,Pramod Chaudhari (Praj Industr ies) , R N Khanna (Contro l s & Switchgear) ,Saurabh Srivastava (Indian Angel Network) , Ashank Desa i (Mastech) ,Pradeep Gupta (CyberMedia), and 200 other s u c c e s s f u l I I T i a n s .

43rd Inter IIT meetA review of KGP’s performance in this edition Page 2

Alumni MeetTSA with an in depth coverage of the alumni meet

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Placements have surely been the talk of the town for quiet some time now. Not just the final years, the juniors have also been keeping a keen eye on the placements, trying to gauge what the future has in store for them. We present the summary

thof the placements till now (16 Jan) in the form of a few statistics.

rd’Almost 2/3 s of the total students have been placed at the time of writing this article. Evidently the scenar io has improved as compared to last year b o t h q u a n t i t a t i v e l y a n d qualitatively with an envious 400% rise in the number of people with salary more than Rs. 10 lakhs per

annum.We realize the fact that a few

numbers cannot sum up something as big and important as placements. Therefore, The Scholars' Avenue with the help of the placement committee members will be coming out with a detailed analysis in our February end issue. In a unique initiative the placement committee is also planning to have a system in place to record the interview experiences of students which could be helpful in the future. A survey to measure public opinion is also on the cards. Keep visiting www.scholarsavenue.org for more.

No. of students placed

Average Salary (lakhs of Rupees p.a.)

No. of companies on campus

No. of students with salary above 10 lakhs pa

As of 16th January 2006-07 2007-08

663

82

6.45

32

800

7.46

102

167

NASA FLIES DOWN TO KGP

Colonel Edward Michael Fincke, USAF, is an American astronaut, who spent the months of April 2004 through to October 2004, on board the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer. He is scheduled to be the Commander of ISS Expedition 18, launching on a Soyuz spacecraft in October 2008. ICTACEM brought him to IITKGP in December 2007, and we at Scholars' Avenue, never too far behind from the flurry of any venerable activity in campus, caught up with him. Excerpts on from an Interview on Page 6.

Fest Season is here!KGP gears up for two thrilling weekends back to back

Executive Editors � Saahil Bhanot, Umang Jain

Editors � Aditya Marathe, Anuj Dayal, Arish Inam, Robin Anil, Sheekha Verma, Sreeja Nag, Suvrat Bafna

Asst. Editors � Anup Bishnoi, Deepak C h e r i a n , J S D e e p t h i , M i t h u n Madhusudan, Pranesh Chaudhary, Srinath Sinha, Vinayak Pathak

AVN Murthy, Bharat Bhat, Dheeraj Golla, Mayank Kedia, Pallavi Jayannavar, Sankhya Mohanty, Siddharth Singh, Siddharth Prabhu

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ONLINE NEWSTo read these articles online and to give your feedback on them, please visit our website at www.scholarsavenue.org. scholarsavenue.org also provides the latest campus news through our coverage of events as they happen.

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E NEWS AVENUE JANUARY 23 20082

The Spring Fest 2008 website says 'Spring brings to mind images of charming weather, beautiful sunsets, blooming flowers and loads of fun!' Well if you are really looking for loads of fun, then that is exactly what SF '08 promises to deliver! Spring Fest promises to make us all whirl and whiz with UK based Pink Floyd tribute band Breathe and arguably India's best rock band Pentagram. Grammy winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt completes the line-up with a yet-to-be disclosed second StarNite entertainer. For the dramatics enthusiasts, there will be a play based on Hamlet and for all those who wish to laugh till their stomachs ache, there will be a repeat of last year's success story, the Hasya Kavi Sammelan. A tangible effort has been made this time to improve the quality of the

bigger fest with a substantial rise in budget. The omens look bright with the increase in prize money from Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 7 lakhs and the huge turnout of first years for the volunteer selections. On the flip side, Fine Frenzy, the Fashion Parade, has been done away with, owing to the directives from the authorities. And just as the website says… 'the wait's worth it'!

At the other end of the week, Kshitij, the techno-management fest and the grandeur associated with it seem to be at an all time high. Forty events, a whopping Rs 2.5 millions in prize money, a Nobel laureate's lecture, a workshop on Microfinance by the World Bank, all promise to make the show a big one. The list is impressive, the class is opulent and the enthusiasm infectious. Laser show by Jason

literary events and this will hopefully translate into better participation in these events. A real life simulation of Counter Strike, Paintball, will be held in the Jnan Ghosh Stadium and there will be numerous guest lectures and workshops in a packed schedule of four days from 24th to 27th January. All of this translates into a much

Latimer and new events like Economic-Modeling and JavaWise look exciting. Then there is the social initiative, Project Green Earth, which is a first of its kind and focuses on Global Warming. Guest lectures by Dilip Chhabria, better known as DC, MC Mehta, a Magsaysay award winning 'one man enviro-legal brigade', Lawrence Krauss, cosmologist and author of 'The Physics of Star Trek', and many more people will add stars to the beautiful horizon set up by Kshitij. The total expected participation including the online events is being estimated by Kshitij heads to be anywhere around the 15k mark.

With both fests trying to outdo each other in terms of glamour, the next few weeks promise to be everything the KGP junta has been waiting for.

AttractionsSF

Breathe, Marathon, Kalari Payattu,

Youth Marathon, India Calling

KshitijJimmy Wales (founder of

Wikipedia), Dr. Roger Kornberg, Project Green

Earth, Workshops on Rocketry and Cryptology

Paintball, Lit

43rd Inter IIT MeetInter IIT contingent returns disappointed amidst allegations of biased refereeing

The 43rd Inter-IIT meet held at IIT Bombay was a disappointment for the KGP contingent as we had to settle for a joint 4th in the overall men's General Championship and 2nd in the women's championship. The hosts, IIT Bombay lifted the cup with an aggregate of 90 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up IIT Madras at 60 points.

T h e s p o r t s m e e t coincided with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of IITB and the festive spirit was there to be seen throughout. The inauguration ceremony was truly a star studded event, marked by the presence of ace hockey player Dhanraj Pillay as the chief guest and the directors of all the 7 IITs. Scintillating dance performances enthralled the players. The games went underway soon after, setting things rolling for jam-packed action in the next few days.

Things began on a sour note for the KGP contingent as they found themselves on the losing side in most games on the opening day. Many of the final year students had arrived in Bombay on that day itself due to the placement season causing a serious dip in their performance levels. The team never really recalled from this setback and ended its competition without a single gold in its kitty.

Badminton was the only high point in the meet. The Baddy team, improving on its performance last year, climbed up a notch to claim the silver medal. Bombay proved their mettle yet again with a brilliant performance to retain the gold. KGP found fresh talent in

Aquatics in the form of Chirag Fialoke who bagged 3 gold, 11 silver and 1 bronze medals. The team however was placed second overall while the women's team topped their category. The Water Polo team had to settle for a bronze.

The weightlifting team was hit by the absence of its two main competitors Bhaben Deori and Gaurav Taneja who couldn't make it to the meet. Nevertheless, the team came up with a commendable performance to win the bronze. A good performance by the Cricket team secured it the bronze which it had narrowly

a podium finish. The women's team fared better here, bagging silver. Lack of experience did the men's Table Tennis team in, and KGP lost another of its strongholds.

The event witnessed its own share of chaos. Hockey and Basketball were plagued by poor

refereeing decisions and double standards to favour the home team. As many as 4 unwarranted fouls were awarded in KGP's Basketball semifinal against Bombay, which we lost despite an initial lead. The raw deal angered most of the players, who once even considered boycotting their next fixture in protest. Things were eventually brought under control and the team won the next match to bag the bronze. The contingent captain, Deepak Rathee summed up his feeling in the following words – 'I have been to 4 Inter-IITs but haven't seen this kind of refereeing before. We didn't like the unsportsmanlike behavior of the home team'.

But in the end, one has to accept that this is all a part of the game. You win some, you lose some. And KGP, like it has done so many times in the past, will surely rise again and bring home that coveted shield.

missed last time.In football, the team

registered a spirited 4-0 victory over eventual finalists IITK in an initial outing. The team however ran out of luck and subsequent defeats saw it getting ousted in the league stages itself. It was a similar story in Volleyball where a tough fight with eventual champions Delhi in a league match could not transform into concrete results and the team had to return empty handed. Although athletics saw some excellent individual performances in Pole-Vault, javelin-throw and high jump, the team couldn't secure

The contingent during the Inauguration ceremony

Pole vaulters in action

Mr Ranveer Singh Gupta ('72 batch B. Arch) is donating an eye popping $ 1 million to IIT Kharagpur to set up the Ranveer a n d C h i t r a S c h o o l o f Infrastructure Design and Management (RCSIDM). It will begin operations from the next academic year, and has been set up considering the infrastructural needs of an India on the road to becoming a developed nation.

TSA Snippet

The Institute recently released new rules relating to promotion to the next year and discontinuation of studies at both Under-graduate and Postgraduate levels. These rules were first discussed on 9th August, 2007 at a joint meeting of the UGPEC and PGPEC, chaired by the Director, and held at the S.N. Bose Auditorium.

According to the new rules, a student has to clear 2/3rd of the registered credits every year to enable him/her to register for the next year. For the first year students at least, this is a major relaxation from the previous requirement of clearing 37 out of 48 credits. Failing this criterion, a student will have to

repeat that particular year and if he doesn't clear the required credits even then, he will have to leave the institute. Hence, a student gets two years at the maximum to complete one normal year. In straight terms, first year students now get an extra year before they are forced to leave the institute.

This fixes the total time to earn the B.Tech degree to 8 years and for Dual Degree and 5-Year Integrated M.Sc. courses to 10 years, both of which are an extension of the limits of 6 and 7 years respectively, as imposed by the old rules.

Moreover, backlog courses must be taken again, in addition to the

regular courses, after being promoted to the next year. In any year, the student must clear all of the backlog courses in addition to 2/3rd of that particular year's credits, failing which a repeat of the year is necessary. The new rules and relaxations are clearly aimed at reducing the number of repeaters so that students need not spend a whole year to take another couple of courses again. Furthermore, grade P credited courses can be taken again the following year if the student seeks to improve his CGPA while grade F credits are no longer included in the calculation for SGPA and CGPA.

If the CGPA after a particular

year is between 5.00 and 6.00, then that particular student's program moves into slow pace mode which means that his/her course load is limited to a maximum of 21 credits per semester after including the backlog subjects. The rest of his courses then get postponed to the next semester of availability.

The new rules do appear to be more comprehensive and student friendly on face value than the old ones as they impose checks on a student's performance after every year and increase the threshold time for graduating as well. It remains to be s een how the s tuden t community responds to these changes.

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U EFEATURES AVENUEJANUAR Y 23 2008 3

Few Institutes in the world are as shaped by their alumni as the IITs, it's no surprise then that the Annual Alumni Meet features high on the list of important things this semester. Held every year in the first week of January, the meet has become a popular event where in scores of alumni make their way to the In s t i tu te mee t ing o ld acquaintances and friends, reliving memories and at the same time discussing and participating in the future of the Institute.

Inauguration and Award Ceremony

The 5th Annual Alumni meet kick started with the lighting of the lamp and a short speech by the Dean of Alumni Affairs, who spoke about the need for Kgp to reach out to its alumni in a better way. Dr Rajagopal Reddy was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Science, while Prof Supriya Dutta and Dr Surendra P r a s a d w e r e a w a r d e d t h e Distinguished Alumnus Award. Every year the Institute honours two of its batches for their contribution to society and to IIT

Kgp, this year the batches of '58 and '83 were so honoured.

The Director asked them to periodically lend their expertise in various fields and donate towards what he called the 'Intellectual Capital'.

Prestigious Turing Award winner Prof Rajagopal Reddy delivered the keynote speech on "Technology in the service of society". Prof Reddy is currently the Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at CMU. He said that upliftment of the society would be a "grand challenge" for the IIT community.

Prof Supriyo "Source" Datta, professor at Purdue University, delivered a technical talk entitled "In search of a better switch". Batchmates of "The Source" were not left disappointed – it remained clear to them that he was the ultimate source of all knowledge.

Panel discussion – What can alumni do for their alma mater?

The panel discussion was an interactive session chaired by Prof

PP Chakrabarti. The panel was composed of eminent alumni: Sunil Gaitonde, Ranbir "Ron" Singh Gupta, Prof Surendra Prasad (currently Director, IIT Delhi) and Prof Raj Reddy. A lot of pertinent points came out of the talks given by the panelists, and from the interactive session that followed:

wA comprehensive database must be made of all the alumni and their contact details in order that more people be reached for help. Small contributions from many people will probably be more helpful than higher contribution from a precious few.

wAlumni help is required not just in the form of cash, but also time and resources.

wThe funding system should be operated as a business for it to be sustainable.

wThere should be a streamlined system whereby alumni can, at the click of a button find out what they can help with and exactly how.

wFaculty incentives should be given high priority in order to improve the quality of Post-Graduate and Doctoral studies at

IIT Kgp. wAlumni should have the

option of sponsoring particular fields and posts in the Institute.

Post-lunch the students were treated to speeches by Mr Ron (Ranveer) Gupta ('72 batch BArch) who has agreed to donate $1 million to Kgp, and Mr Daniel D'Souza ('77 batch ECE) from San Jose, who has 5 patents to his name. Students from Spring Fest, e-Cell and Kshitij gave presentations to the alumni, each expounding how they best contribute to the legacy of Kgp and urged the alumni to pour in funds.

Having done away with all the official functions on the first day itself, the meet took upon a noticeable informal look, wherein the alumni made visits to their respective halls and departments and allowed themselves to be soaked in to the nostalgia of their days in Kgp. Throughout the next day the alumni could be seen all over the campus savouring their visit to their alma mater.

Alma Mater CallsAlumni pour in from around the world to the Fifth Annual Alumni Meet

New Academic RulesIIT Kharagpur just got a little easier to scrape through!

In 1997, history was made when about 200 young Indians got together, hired a train to take them across the length and breadth of India, to take them beyond their immediate surroundings and introduce them to India that they had not seen. The travel shook their beliefs, their opinions and pushed them into meaningful debates on the present and the future of a nation that had just arrived at the fiftieth milestone of its journey.

History will repeat itself in May 2008. A train carrying 400 young Indians will leave Mumbai to cover 8000 kilometers meeting the real heroes who have taken up huge challenges and with perseverance and determination, made an impact. Known as Jagriti Yatra, it does exactly what its name indicates. It aims at awakening the spirit of entrepreneurship among the young of India. Jagriti Yatra will let the young Yatris live the struggle and thereafter the success of great karmayogis and the hathyogis that it showcases.

Why Jagriti Yatra: The young

today need change but there is a dearth of role models that can tell the young to BE THE CHANGE that they want to see. Yatra is needed to answer the need of emboldening the youth of India to think laterally and evoke originality; to encourage the young of India to think of promoting sustainable growth, avoiding the environmental pit falls of merely mimicking the western model of industrialisation, encouraging social and economic entrepreneurship, building a knowledge based industry and establishing global institutions. Most of all, to try and fix in a constructive manner what they perceive is wrong.

How to be on the train: About 20,000 applications from across the country are expected. The applications will then go through a rigorous three stage selection process comprising of screening of the registration form (available at www.jagritiyatra.com ) and resume and a telephonic or a face to face interview.

The unique thing about this selection procedure is that no one who wants to be a part of Jagriti Yatra is rejected. There is no orthodox pass-fail scene. Those who do not make it to the train are

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E FEATURES AVENUE JANUARY 23 20084

also kept in the loop and are asked to contribute. Instead of being a competition that one has to crack, it is a movement to involve millions to become enterprising in their thought and deed.

On board the Jagriti Rail: Jagriti Yatra offers a whirlpool of thoughts, opinions, plans, theories, success stories, solutions, window to unseen and undiscovered problems and much more. During the journey, the Yatris will face and be a part of an avalanche of discussions related to various aspects and issues of entrepreneurship. They will get a chance to have a face to face talk with legendary entrepreneurs. These legends will speak out their stories, the challenges they faced, the limitations they worked against, and how they were very much like most of us before they took up their challenges. Our platter includes Bunker Roy of Barefoot College, Tilonia, Dr, Bindeshwara Pathak, the man behind Sulabh Internatinal, Anna Hazare of Ralegaon Siddhi, Jyoti Naik of Shri Mahila Gram Udyog (Lj jat Papad) , N R Narayanmurhty of Infosys, E. Shreedharan, the man who dared to visualise the Metro Rail and the Konkan Railway and Kiran Bedi, the famous national icon.

Jagriti Yatra Team: Akhil Bhartiya Rail Yatra (ABRY) 1997 and Jagriti Yatra are the brainchilds of Shashank Mani Tripathi, an IIT Alumnus. He has summarized the experience of actuating ABRY 1997 i n a b o o k p u b l i s h e d b y Harpercollins, called as 'INDIA: A Journey through a Heal ing Civilisation'. A dynamic IITian, powered by the will to give back to India, guides the team as the chairman of Jagriti Yatra. The executive team includes Gitanjali Banerjee, an environmentalist who is directing the project, Swapnil Kant Dixit, an IIT KGP 2006 pass out who is the Director of Operations for the project. We are very well supported by about 200 Yatris of the ABRY 1997, volunteers from across the world and some corporations and foundations.

Where we go from here: Once the Yatris have been finalized to be on board Jagriti Yatra, we ask the Yatris to identify problems relevant to them and come up with solutions. At the end of Yatra, these solutions will stand much more refined and mature. Some of those

solutions will get support from Jagriti Yatra in terms of arrangement of logistics, funding and mentorship.

The Yatra in medium term aims at establishing the self sustaining Jagriti Institute of Entrepreneurship that will impart the skills and the mental frame required to plunge into being an entrepreneur. This institute will be based out of a small town and will focus on creation of local entrepreneurs.

The Yatra will also see actuation of a Jagriti Entrepreneurship Network ( JEN) that would comprise the Yatris, the dignitaries, the successful entrepreneurs, and everyone else who has been involve in Yatra. JEN will become the support ground for entrepreneurs at the semi urban and rural level. It will be a breeding ground and incubation cell for many small and

contributed by Swapnil Kant Dixit.)

SWAPNIL KANT DIXIT (Patel 2006) completed his B. Arch. from IIT Kharagpur in 2006. He currently works as the Director of Operations for Jagriti Yatra. Those who saw him during his IIT days remember him mostly as a creative workhorse who was neck deep in his involvement with independent on campus theatre group called Banjara. He was instrumental in starting the theatre chapter at SF known as Nukkad and was the writer director of the first play of IIT that went to Pratyancha and won the first prize. A true entrepreneur at heart, he runs two startups besides his role in Jagriti Yatra. Of course, sometimes the professors remember him for reasons best left to your fertile imagination and Champa remembers him for being one of the very few who could squeeze a free chai out of him.

Jagriti Yatra: What dreams may come!

On board the Jagriti Rail...

� Why Jagriti Yatra?

� How is it aboard the train?

� Who are we?

� Where we go from here?

� How can you be a part of it?

big enterprises. We plan to involve IITs and

IITians in a big way. We are in discussion with several IITs on the possibility of a semester on rail. Othe r than tha t we s eek endorsement from the various universities. We appeal to the IIT crowd to get involved, come up with ideas, write to us, give us feedback and most of all, register for Yatra in as great numbers as is possible. This will support us in mobilizing the brilliant minds towards nation building by making you all a part of the Jagriti Yatra.

To be in the loop: To be in touch with us, you can visit our website www.jagritiyatra.com or email any one of us. The email addresses can be picked up from the website. Our blogs are out there on the internet and we also have communities on orkut and facebook. A video on 1997 Akhil Bhartiya Rail Yatra is on KGP LAN.

(Th i s a r t i c l e ha s been

School of Entrepreneurship in KGP

IIT Kgp is setting up a School of Entrepreneurship (SOE) in what would count as a quantum leap in i t s e f f o r t s t o p r o m o t e Entrepreneurship. SOE would induct students through JEE and these students at the end of the 5 years will be awarded their B Tech in Engineering and Masters in Entrepreneurship. Each Student would have 2 mentors, one a faculty and the other a s u c c e s s f u l e n t r e p r e n e u r , repor ted ly over 30 such individuals have given their consent to mentor students from IIT Kgp. A prerequisite to the completion of the course would be approved funding for their innovation by a Financial Ins t i tut ion or a Venture Capitalist. Mr Vinod Gupta has agreed to pay 50% of the expense incurred for this school.

In a unique initiative, the Colloquium of the Department of Mathematics has introduced "Equation", a move to create 'On Semester' Research groups.

This initiative aims to inform students about the kind of research

work being undertaken by the Department and generate interest in various topics of research. This enterprise is aimed at students looking for research projects under faculty members of the Department over the duration of the semester. A list of ongoing active projects, has a lready been prepared and circulated amongst the students. The reaction to this project has been encouraging with a lot of students coming forward to work with faculty of their choice.

The duration of the project will be decided by the faculty in charge of the particular research group and

will conclude with an oral presentation and the submission of a written report. The program aspires to increase undergraduate research participation within the Department and formalize future research opportunities. The project will, in later stages, create a network that will publicize internship opportunities for interested students and also enable cross discipl inary research opportunities.

The full list of projects can be f o u n d a t http://www.webmath.iitkgp.ernet.in/~maths_colloquium.

Equation The Maths Colloquium moves to create ‘On Semester’ Research groups

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U ENEWS AVENUEJANUARY 23 2008 5

http://10.15.1.50/ugs---------------------Registered and Registrained ?

The Department of Chemical Engineering, since its inception in 1951, has been committed to achieving excellence in its primary mission of educating undergraduate and graduate students, and discovering and disseminating knowledge through research. With an effectual combination of quality, innovation, and visibility, the department has throughout been in the foref ront of Chemica l Engineering education in India.

The first post graduate degree course with specialization in Combustion Engineering and Fuel Economy was started in 1952 under the leadership of Professor Weingartener. The department today offers as post graduate specializations, M.tech, M.S. and Ph.D degrees. There are presently a total of 124 B.Tech, 95 M.Tech and 70 Dual degree students along with 30 Ph.D scholars.

To name a few, the thrust areas of research that the department is involved in include areas like Catalysis, Environmental Pollution Control , Fuel and Minera l Processing, Membrane Separation, Micro-reactor studies, Plasma Assisted Materials Processing, Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition, Polymer Surface Engineering and Simulation, Optimization and Control. Several of the R&D work and technology developments in the department are in use in process industries including Indian Oil and TISCO. The department thus maintains a strong alliance with the industry through consultancy projects from companies like ONGC, BHEL, NTPC, TATA Steel, etc. The Regional Service Centre for National Bio-Gas project operating from the department consolidates technical support to rural areas of eastern India. The institute also has a long tradition of taking up collaborative projects with R&D

While the f i r s t day of registration was smooth sailing, online registration continues to be the ordeal for many students.

Long serpentine queues, the whirl of Breadth Selection, trips to departments on campus you'd have never been before, endless paper work and data crunching for the administration. The registration process for every Semester has become something of an obligatory p r o t o c o l t h a t s t u d e n t s , Administration and faculty would like to avoid, but cannot. However, thanks to multiple fee payment and F&A counters, department and year wise registration at Vikramshila, and also a lack of unnecessary rush on students' part to get their names on roll, helped in a smooth and hassle free registration this semester. For students who had already paid their fees through ATM or Internet Banking, Registration was a two step stroll at Vikramshila.

As always, for a majority of students, online breadth/elective course selection was marred by confusion and disorder. There were many courses offered whose curriculum could not be viewed either at the Institute's website or at the UGS server. However, the one week gap po l i cy be tween registration day and final online registration was employed to help the students to get an idea of the course-curriculum (by exposure to one or two lectures). Throughout this one week "try and taste" period, misuse of the additional course option to block the possible breadth courses was also observed. Last moment hurry for an unregistered

student was obvious when such "blocked" courses were let free a day or two before the closing date.

It is not surprising to see that a popular option was choosing subjects which have become synonymous with easy grades defying the very purpose of breadth courses .Breadths were brought into the academic system with an intent to widen the scope of student's understanding beyond the major courses for an interdisciplinary insight. Unfortunately some of them have become no more than shortcuts towards a better GPA. With number of seats reserved for such courses falling terribly short of demand, there is a constant pressure on the Instructor to increase the same which leads to further uncertainty. Cases of tinkered UGS accounts were also prominent this time owing to the casual, easy to guess passwords kept by some (popular ones being the name, nickname, roll number etc ).

While the student count steadily on the rise, the Institute has definitely progressed in making the registration process more student friendly and streamlined, electronic registration and fee payment being the high points. However, there remain many issues in the later stages of online registration which need to be dealt with very carefully. Restructuring the curriculum to retain the significance of breadth and elective courses and creating an efficient medium for the course selection is what will restore the tedious registration ritual back to just a convenient academic procedure.

In Focus

Dept of Chemical Engg

institutes like Haldia Refinery and SAIL. There are several research projects sponsored by government agencies namely MHRD, DST, MNES, DBT, etc.

The department has excellent experimental and computational facilities for research. It now offers several specialized new subjects like Real Time Intelligent Systems, CFD, Green Technology, Polymer Science, Biochemical Engineering, Petroleum Refinery Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, Multiphase Flow and Composite Applications to undergraduate and post-graduate students, keeping in view the up-to-date requirements of industries. S o m e o f t h e instruments/equipments/facilities present in the department include a n A t o m i c A b s o r p t i o n Spectrometer, High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, a Trinocular R e s e a r c h M i c r o s c o p e , a Pycnometer, a Malvern Particle Size Analyzer, a Radio Frequency Plasma Reactor, a Six-axis Spinning Machine, Hydraulic Machine and Film Tester and others.

The department organizes from time to time, different seminars, workshops and short term courses in specialized areas. Large scale workshops conducted include the 2004 CRSYS conference of junior scientists and research scholars that witnessed participation from all national laboratories and academic institutions within India. The department also organizes an annual technical symposium called CHEMINSIGHT. The fifth version of the fest will be held this year from March 14 to 16. During the symposium, students from various engineering colleges across the country get to present their theoretical and practical work, to a diverse audience which includes industrialists, academicians and the student community. Last year Cheminsight saw participation from 43 chemical engineering colleges through out India. This year, it is being organized on a larger scale, seeing increased participation in all the events.

Recent achievements of the department include those of Mr. Sanjay Biswas (M.Tech student, batch of 2007) and Prof.B.C.Meikap receiving the GE Ecomagination Awards. Also, Prof.Mihir Purkait, Prof. Shishirendu De and Prof. Sunanado Dasgupta were conferred the A.V.Rama Rao Best Thesis Award by the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The department has thus successfully directed its research to the understanding and applications of chemical engineering science and aims to continue using technology for socio-economic progress in the years to come.

He greets us with a typically foreign accented "Namaskar" and ample not-so-typical warmth. While waving at everybody present, he entertains the endless requests of people trying to share a frame with him. The beaming smile never falters. He punctuates his conversation with an occasional "theek ache", which he says is one of the few Bengali words he has picked up. Decked up in a spacesuit, he stands out amongst the crowd. The man has spent six months in space but surely has his feet firmly grounded. In the more comfortable and quiet setting of his guest house, we fire away.

SA: Have you come to India earlier?

MF: Yes, I was here in 2003 with my family. We went to visit my wife's relatives in Assam and had a traditional Assamese new year celebration. I am learning Assamese as well and want my kids to learn about the culture their mother hails from.

SA: You've wanted to be an

Astronaut since you were 3 years old. Some specific incident inspired you?

MF: I was pretty young when Neil Armstrong went to the Moon. One day there was something related to the Apollo moon mission on the television. My parents made me watch it and I said to myself, "This seems to be something really important". It was then I think I decided to be an astronaut.

SA: If an Indian student, say

someone here at IIT Kharagpur, wants to be an astronaut, what is the career path he should take?

MF: It is unfortunate that India does not have an astronaut program of its own. Kalpana Chawla got US citizenship, and then got into NASA. Another avenue is to be SUPER RICH! Like the Indians they show in bollywood movies.

On a more serious note, the NASA selection procedure is very strict, only the best people get in. The trick here is what skills you should have and what courses you should take up. I would say just follow your heart. I have degrees in astrophysics and astronomy and in planetary geology. These are fields which I thought would help me in becoming an astronaut but these were also what I wanted to study and enjoyed. If you blindly emulate somebody else you will end up doing a job you don't like, you will put on lots of weight, lose hair and probably be claimed by a heart attack.

SA: You graduated in 1985 and

got onto the ISS expedition in 2004. Wha t we r e t h e s i gn i f i can t experiences in between?

MF: I served in the US Air Force with over 800 flying hours. You have to mind the controls, listen to

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E TECH AVENUE JANUARY 23 20086

ground support, watch your trajectory closely and several things are happening at once. So it mentally prepares you. But I failed my pilot training test. Then it seemed like the worst, but in retrospect I consider it's the best thing that could have happened to me. I decided to become a flying engineer. It was a valuable lesson on dealing with failures. I succeeded through my failures and now I am 5 years ahead of my astronaut colleagues. It was still 8 more years at NASA before I could get into space . Dur ing th i s t ime I contributed in the best possible way I could. I spent some time in Russia, where I helped in getting the ISS started. When you are working in a team, the right attitude is to help the team in every possible way and benefits for the individual will come along.

saw 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' and 'Lagaan' on-board.

SA: You are the commander of

Expedition 18 that is scheduled for launch on October 2008. Tell us something about this mission.

MF: The ISS, started in 1998, is currently humanity's only outpost in space. The next mission aims at completing the expansion of the I S S , a f t e r w h i c h , i t w i l l accommodate 6 members. We have a fully functional European lab. By

January 2008, there would be a Japanese lab too. The complete space station has been equipped with more life support system to facilitate research and pave way for newer discoveries.

SA: Where do you see space

research heading towards in the next few decades?

MF: It will be aimed towards achieving manufacturing in space considering the vast resources, the rare chemicals, isotopes of helium etc available in outer space. The microgravity environment helps in formation of big crystals that have huge application in the field of medicine. It's about human beings going beyond their limits. It's in human nature to explore. The scope is infinite and boundaries none in this field.

SA: With so much poverty and

illiteracy prevalent, how justified do you find pouring millions into space research is?

The Man From SpaceAn interview with astronaut E.M. Fincke who visited IIT Kharagpur in December

What astronauts do: A snapshot of Col Fincke’s 188

days in space aboard Expedition IX.

In his popular lecture, Col. Fincke shared his experiences onboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 9. Within 8 minutes of the launch the shuttle is cruising in space at 26,000 kmph, and one thing missing is gravity. Fluids behave differently, bones and muscles loose mass in the absence of strenuous work and wastes have to be literally vacuum cleaned out of the body. Time on-board is dicey too as the ISS is making almost 16 rounds of the Earth daily, giving an hour and a half between each 'sunrise'. The crew sticks to their regular bio-cycles, exercising for 2 hours daily, conducting experiments in the gravity-free environment and maintaining the facility. One truly absorbing episode is the spacewalk with vast open space all around and just a piece of plastic to hold onto. All this while, the ground support staff is monitoring every move and adeptly assisting each next one.

Col. Fincke recalled how he got soppy when they handed over the Station to Expedition 10 and after 187 days, 21 hours and 17 minutes in space, they reached Earth and he got to meet his 4-month old daughter, who was born while he was on-board.

SA: What was it like moments

before you were going to get on board?MF: I couldn't believe it was

happening. 2-3 hours before liftoff I was afraid something might go wrong. Like somebody would open the hatch and say all this was a mistake and I'd have to get down. Moments before liftoff, I was smiling. Nothing could stop me.

SA: 188 days in space. Some

memories you'd like to share?MF: Oh those were great days.

We carried out 4 spacewalks. My daughter was born when I was on board. On board after the news, we exchanged candy cigars and took the day off. I couldn't meet her for the next 4 months but we were in touch via video conferencing. I also

I hope some day I'd be able to take my whole family along on our space ship and show them outer space.

I n v e s t m e n t i n technology is a guarantee to better job, better living conditions. Moon program did that for us. Money spent on space cannot feed e v e r y b o d y b u t t h e technology developed will.

MF: Politics is funny and has nothing to do with logic. NASA has comparatively very small budget; roughly 1% of what is spent on defence. It does not cost much but builds technology which drives the economy. Investment in technology is a guarantee to better jobs and better living conditions. Moon program did that for us. Money spent on space cannot feed everybody but the technology developed will.

SA: To end on a lighter note, we

came across a trivia saying you have been a guest star on the TV series 'Star Trek: Enterprise'.

MF: Yes, it's a popular series in the US. I was quite excited when I was invited for the final episode. Sailing through stars in a starship looked really cool on TV. I visited them in Hollywood, put on a space suit and memorized my lines. But on a set everything is fake. The buttons are made of plastic. We pretend a thread is our enemy and fight out with it. It was a disappointment. Still I hope some day I'd be able to take my whole family along on our space ship and show them outer space.

Col. Fincke inaugurates ICTACEM

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DID YOU KNOW? Not all the chickens crossed the road. Some ‘flu’!

Hmm... why did I

cross the road indeed?

To prove he came first!

Elementary, my dear Watson.

)Cross it must, the chicken...

Et tu, chicken?

It stole my recipe!After it!

Very Good, Sir.

Well, it can bite my shiny metal ass!

Mu.

Oh dear! I shouldn’t have talked to it.

It’s come from the future to kill Sarah O’ Connor.

Because it friggin’ wanted to...

It's what God does... he sets the rules in opposition. He's a sadist!

An absentee landlord!

This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping

50 tons of nerve gas on it!

Is it a bird? It is! Damn.

I thot tat was a wabbit!

Everything is relative. It depends on your frame of

reference.

42

Monica Lewinsky: Hey! I haven't finished with it...

Basic Instinct.

Darwin : It was the logical next step after monkeys came down from

the trees.

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