IIT Kanpur alumnus honoured by American Physical Society

Here is an email from Prof. Manoj Harbola:


2014 APS Leo Szilard Lectureship Award Recipient

M.V. Ramana
Princeton University

Citation:

"For outstanding contributions to promote global security issues,
through critical analyses of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy programs in India and associated risks in the subcontinent, and efforts to promote peace and nuclear security in South Asia through extensive engagements and writings."


Background:

M.V. Ramana received his undergraduate degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1988 and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Boston University in 1994. He has held research positions at the University of Toronto, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development, Bangalore, and taught at Boston University, Princeton University, and Yale University. He is currently with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. His research interests span a broad range and include topics related to energy, environment, security, and science and technology policy. Currently, he has been involved in the ongoing debates surrounding the expansion of nuclear power in the context of nuclear disarmament and climate change. Ramana is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India (Penguin Books, 2012) and co-editor of Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream (Orient Longman, 2003). He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials and the Science and Security Board ofthe Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2003, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Selection Committee: Pushpalatha Bhat, Chair; J. Bernstein; G. West; L. Krauss

IIT Kanpur wins General Championship in Inter-IIT

Something remarkable happened in the Inter-IIT sports meet this year in Guwahati. For the first time in half a century, IIT Kanpur sports team were declared the General Champion. I recall my days as a student, when there were only 5 IITs. The joke was that IIT Kanpur team never left anyone behind. So a joint 4th position was the one we celebrated. It was better than being a clear number 5.

But all that has changed now. I think this may have something to do with not attracting even one student from top 100 of JEE. We are now attracting students who are not interested in just the academic pursuits, but are equally interested in extra-curricular activities, leading to an overall development of mind and body.

The Director has promised a treat at his residence to the entire contingent.

Congratulations to all the team members, captains, sports secretary, coaches, and all others associated with training or any other aspect of the sports. I hope we won't have to wait another 52 years for a repeat performance. Of course, we are willing to wait for 52 weeks.

Faculty Shortage

How serious is faculty shortage. The faculty-student ratio 30 years ago was 1:6. The faculty-student ratio today is 1:16. And the small increase that we have seen in the faculty in the last 30 years (going up from about 300 to about 350) is due to two reasons - increase in retirement age from 60 to 65, and opening of new disciplines which allowed us to recruit some faculty members in areas that we would not have considered 30 years ago.

If we consider the number of faculty members who are above 60 years of age, and faculty members in newer programs, this number is equal to the net increase that we see in our numbers for faculty.

So, all the older departments put together have recruited only at the replacement levels (to replace  those who retire or resign)  for over three decades. And given that some departments like Computer Science and Engineering have actually grown in this period, it means that some other departments have actually shrunk in size.

People who talk about difficulty in faculty hiring due to lack of opportunities for spouses in Kanpur city, due to shortage of available talent pool, due to increased competitions from other IITs, including new IITs, and so on, forget one small little fact. All these difficulties are of recent origin. Our problem is that for several decades we haven't focused on faculty recruitment. The effect of that lethargy (or the attitude that we are the best and faculty will come to us) was felt slowly over this long journey by the Institute. Every now and then there will be a small increase in student strength. The faculty-student ratio will become slightly worse, and we will adjust with that. Since the impact was slow, we did not react.

It was only in 2008 that the increase in student strength happened very suddenly, 50 percent increase within 5 years. Student intake had gone up by 54% by 2010 (over 2007 numbers), and every year, a small batch graduates and a large batch takes admission. This increase is so large and so sudden that we are unable to adjust, and hence faculty recruitment has become a prime focus area.

The problem is similar to a situation where a prestigious Mumbai-Pune train used to take 3 hours for the journey 100 years ago. Every 10 years, the running time was increased by 5 minutes. A small increase in time, and hence people adjusted. So 100 years later, the train would take 3 hours 50 minutes for the same distance. If you ask Railwaymen, they would blame increased number of trains, increase in population, and everything else. But the real reason for this is that you did not care for 100 years. There was enough time and there were enough resources to put additional lines, improve signaling, build better coaches and more powerful locos, and so on. Complaints of recent origin are just to hide the ineptitude of the last 100 years.

But, better late than never. There are many initiatives, including taking help from alumni, and hopefully we will actually start growing soon.
 

Agriculture Leadership Award to IIT Kanpur

Here is the announcement from Dean, Research and Development:

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I am vey happy to inform you that this year IIT Kanpur is a recipient of the Agriculture Leadership Awards. These awards were given on 19th Sept, 2012 by the Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Agriculture Sri Harish Rawat at a function in New Delhi. Dr. M S Swaminathan was the Chairman of the Jury.

The award is in recognition of the innovative knowledge management model in agriculture extension developed by Prof. T V Prabhakar, Department of Computer Science and Engineering through several projects funded by ICAR, NAIP, BITCOE etc.

The detailed citation of the award says "IIT Kanpur, a premier engineering and research institute of the country, has successfully implemented various agricultural projects with innovative technologies and capacity building for sustainable development. Its Agropedia, a semantically enabled agricultural knowledge management repository is a first of its kind in Indian agriculture. The Institute’s yet another product, Openagri, an open access agriculture research repository, is a focused research space for hosting agriculture documents. IIT-Kanpur’s Voice-Krishi Vigyan Kendra (vKVK), developed to facilitate communication between extension personnel and farming communities is presently reaching to the extension personnel of 90 Krishi Vigyan Kendras and likely to be up scaled by ICAR to all 630 KVKs in the 12th Five Year Plan. KVK-Net and Agrotagger was also developed by this prestigious institution."

Other awardees include:

National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources for exceptional work in conservation of genetic resources

Nuziveedu Seeds Limited for exceptional work in agriculture extension

Suguna Foods Limited for exceptional business leadership in poultry sector in India

Indian Oil Corporation Limited for environment friendly products and farm sustainability

State of Kerala for innovative policy initiatives towards transforming horticulture

State of Madhya Pradesh for visionary leadership and exceptional performance in farm production

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Here is the link to agropedia
And here is the link to openagri
Finally, you can find more about Prof. T V Prabhakar at his homepage

New Director of IIT Kanpur

Here is the communique issued by IIT Kanpur yesterday regarding the appointment of its new Director.

The Institute is pleased to inform that the Hon’ble President of India in his capacity as Visitor of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, has approved the appointment of Prof. Indranil Manna as Director of IIT Kanpur for a period of five years on contract with effect from the date he assumes the charge or till he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down in the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 and the Statutes of IIT Kanpur. An appointment letter in this regard has already been issued to Prof. Manna by the Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Kanpur, which has been accepted by Prof. Manna.

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A brief Curriculum Vitae of Prof. Manna is as follows:

Dr. Indranil Manna
FNAE, FNASc, FASc, FIE, FIIM, PRS

Prof. (Dr.) Indranil Manna is working as Director of Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) with effect from March 1, 2010. Born on January 22, 1961, Prof Manna obtained his B.E degree from Calcutta University (B.E. College) in 1983 and M Tech degree in 1984 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. After a brief stint at Mishra Dhatu Nigam, Hyderabad, he joined IIT, Kharagpur in 1985 as Lecturer and rose to the position of Full Professor in 2003. He was in this position till he joined CGCRI as Director.

Prof Manna is a metallurgical engineer, a renowned educator and a prolific researcher. His significant contributions in the studies of amorphous/nanocrystalline Al-alloys, nano-fluid and laser/plasma assisted surface engineering greatly inspired the scientific community. His early contributions in moving boundary phase transformation are still widely cited. As a teacher, Prof Manna has developed several new courses and taught subjects related to phase transformation, materials engineering, surface engineering, thermodynamics and X-ray diffraction. His research interest spans from structure-property correlation in engineering materials including synthesis/application of nano-materials, surface coating/engineering, phase transition, fuel cells, sensors, bainitic steel and mathematical modeling.

Prof. Manna worked as guest scientist in several institutions of excellence and universities abroad such as Max Planck Institute at Stuttgart, Technical University of Clausthal, Nanyang Technological University, Liverpool University, University of Ulm, etc.

Prof. Manna is a recipient of INSA Medal for Young Scientists, Young Metallurgist and Metallurgist of the Year Awards, MRSI Medal, AICTE career award, DAAD and the prestigious Humboldt Fellowships. He is also a recipient of the Acta Materialia Best Referee Award for years 1999 and 2003, respectively. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Bonn appointed Prof Manna as Honorary DAAD Advisor in India for three years, INAE selected him for Indian National Academy of Engineering-All India Council of Technical Education (INAE-AICTE) Distinguished Industry Professorship for 2007-08 to work with Tata Steel, and the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) conferred upon him the GD Birla Gold Medal for 2008.

He has published about 225 peer-reviewed papers, supervised 14 Ph.D, 35 M. Tech. and 50 B. Tech. theses, carried out 32 sponsored projects worth over Rs. 16 crore and also obtained a patent on amorphous AlCuTi alloy.

Prof. Manna is a Fellow (FNAE) of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi; a Fellow (FNASc) of The National Academy of Sciences of India, Allahabad; and a Fellow (FASc) of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.

Prof. Manna was the President of the Materials Science Section of the 97th Indian Science Congress held in Trivandrum during January 3 - 7, 2010. The INAE has recently awarded him the prestigious "INAE Chair" for two years. To date, he remains the third recipient of this prestigious chair. 

IIT Kanpur Retains Premier Position in India Today Rankings

India Today has announced the 2012 rankings. Amongst the engineering colleges, IIT Kanpur has once again retained its top position. Here is the link to their story.

Even though I believe that it is very difficult to differentiate between the top few institutes in the country, it feels good to have some one of the stature of India Today rank IIT Kanpur as number one.

The ranking has come at a time when the very existence of the Institute as an institute of excellence is at stake, and when its autonomy is being challenged. I hope this sends out a strong message that something which is working fine can be improved but only with care and compassion, and after a lot of data, experimentation and analysis.

Convocation 2012

The 44th Convocation of the Institute was held on 2nd June, 2012. A record 1135 students graduated this year, thanks to the first under-graduate batch of enhanced strength (admitted in year 2008) graduating this year. The number is going to increase further over the next 3-4 years. The number of PhDs were 101, maintaining a 100+ number for the 4th year in a row. We are hoping that next year too, we will be in the 100-110 range for the number of PhDs, but year after that, we should cross 125 (considering the pipeline - how many admissions took place 4-5 years ago).

More than 80% of the graduates received their degrees in person, which is a very high fraction.

The function was held in three parts of about 2 hours, 1 hour, and 1 hour. This is to make sure that parents of all the students receiving degrees can be accommodated in the auditorium when they go on the stage to receive their degrees. In the first, we gave out only the PhD degrees, which is the highest degree that the Institute awards. Along with that, some of the awards, including President's Gold Medal, were given in the first ceremony. Director's report of the last academic year and the convocation address by the Chief Guest, Dr. E Sreedharan, were also in the first ceremony. The first ceremony was held from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

The second ceremony was from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM, and in this part, we gave away MTech (2-year), MSc (2-year), MBA, and MDes degrees, and PG Diploma for EXVLM.

The third ceremony was from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and in this part, we gave away, BTech, BTech-MTech dual, and MSc (Integrated) degrees.

 The coveted President's Gold Medal given to the student with the best academic performance in the graduating class among all disciplines of under-graduate programs of study was given to three students this time. Shubhayu Chatterjee (MSc, Physics), Ankit Kumar (BTech, Computer Science and Engineering), and Ashish Gupta (BTech, CSE). Overall, more than 100 students received awards and medals during the convocation.

There is also a nice tradition in IITK that the graduating under-graduate students elect the best teacher, and that faculty member is given what is known as "Gopal Das Bhandari Distinguished Teacher Award." This year, the award went to Dr. Swagato Kumar Ray of Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Here is the link to convocation website.