The IEEE Computer Society, the world's oldest and largest membership association of computer professionals, held the 2nd Annual Computer Society International Design Competition in Washington DC from 23rd to 26th June 2001. This year a new Microsoft sponsored prize for innovation was announced and the first winner of this prize is the team from IIT Bombay for the project "Sky Mobile: Safe In-flight Mobile Connectivity".

The team members were Aditya Dua, Aman Kansal, Arjunan R, Sumitra Ganesh, and Vivek Raghunathan and the team mentor was U. B. Desai. Their project is a system they designed to allow passengers on commercial airlines to use their personal cell phones and laptops without affecting airplane controls and systems.

The Microsoft Prize was a new addition. With 75 teams completing, the judges from last year's panel felt there should be a prize for innovation to encourage innovation and the creative use of computer science. The prize of $5,000 was awarded to the team (IITB) whose report included the most imaginative ideas. Since IITB wasn't one of the top ten teams, Microsoft also paid for the mentor and two team members to come to CSIDC 2001 to receive their award and to give a 15 minute demonstration.

The McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University signed a MoU with IIT Bombay for Academic Collaborations in Engineering Research and Education.

John R. Birge, Dean of McCormick and Prof. Ashok Misra, Director, IITB signed the MoU on the 1st June at Northwestern.

The exclusive 5-year agreement will allow faculty to teach short seminars and courses at the partner institution, enable undergraduates and graduate students to study abroad for upto one year and facilitate research collaborations in areas of mutual interest. Special emphasis will be given to the fields of advanced materials, biotechnology, catalysis, computing and manufacturing and technology management.

D. Parthasarathy, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, presented a paper titled "New Technologies, Scientific ideologies and Social Exclusion: the case of genetic engineering in the developing world" at the 5th International Conference on "Domination and Ideology in High-tech-capitalism" organized by the Berlin Institute for Critical Theory in co-operation with the Institut fur Philisophie der Freien Univeristat Berlin, held during 24th to 27th May 2001.

Prof. Parthasarathy also presented a paper title "Tracking Adoption and Impact of a Natural Resources Management Technology: Poverty, Equity and Gender Implications", at the research colloquium of the Department of Resource Economics, Institute of Economic and Social Sciences, Humboldt University in Berlin on the 29th May 2001.

Prof. Madhav N. Kulkarni, Dept. of Civil Engg., has been nominated as a member of the "National Expert Committee on GPS" constituted by DST, Govt. of India, on 7th June 2001. The Expert Committee will oversee the National GPS Programme for a period of 2 years.

Prof. K. Munshi, IDC was invited to Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, where he spent one semester teaching courses in "Design Management " to graduate students of Industrial Design. He was also invited to the "International Symposium on street Furniture" at Istanbul (9 & 11th May 2001), organized by Istanbul Technical University & Municipal Corporations of Istanbul where he presented a paper titled "Indian Streetscape - Mohenjadaro at Mumbai"

Prof. Atanu Ghosh, Associate Professor, SJM SoM made two presentations on "E-commerce" and "Vedor Managed Inventory System" at the Instructor Enhancement Programme held at IMPACT Lab, CSE department. The programme was sponsored by Intel.

Prof. D. M. Dewaikar, Dept. of Civil Engg., has been nominated as a member of advisory Committee of IEOT( Institute of Engineering & Ocean Technology), a R&D wing of ONGC( Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.)

Dr. B. Krishna Mohan and Dr. S. S. Gedam, both from CSRE, visited School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK for a period of one month from May 18, 2001 to June 18, 2001. The visit was part of a research project funded by DST and British Council under the UK-India Science Technology Research Fund (UISTRF). During this visit they were working on analysis of high resolution earth resources satellite images acquired over different cities. They also visited Department of Geography at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dr. Mohan and Dr. Gedam met several faculty members, Post-Doctoral Fellows and graduate students and held discussions relating to the research in progress at CSRE and the above UK universities on image analysis, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and remote sensing applications. The UK teams evinced keen interest in the research and development activities at CSRE and it was suggested that avenues for cooperation and funding should be explored for joint research on topics of mutual interest.

• A two-member team consisting of Mr. Rolf Koehler, Director, South East Asia and Dr. Hans Jochen Huchting, Member of the Board, Freudenbrg & Co., Germany visited IIT Bombay on the 6th June 2001 and met with the Director, Dy. Director, Dean (AP) and Head, SJMSoM.
  
  
• Prof. Dr. H.J. Muhammad Yahaya, Director, Research Management Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, along with other facilty members visited IIT Bombay on the 25th June 2001. The focus of the visit was on collaborations between Kebangsaan University and IIT Bombay.
  

Shri. Narsingh Varma, Assistant Engineer, Civil Maintenance Division has been elected as Associate of The Institution of Engineers (India) having passed Section A and b examination conducted by the Institution of Engineers (India).

"Natural water cooler", designed by Shri Hrishikesh Deshmukh, IDC student of 1998-2000 batch under guidance of Prof. K. Munshi has been taken up for manufacture by M/s. Nature Products, Ahmedabad. The project was sponsored by Gujarat Grassroots Innovations & Augmentation Network (GIAN), Ahmedabad. The product was a part of the M. Des project of Shri Hrishikesh.

A talk was organized under the auspices of the IEEE AP/ED Bombay Chapter by Dr. Prasda Raje, an alumnus of IITB (Gold Medalist in 1986) and the founder and CEO of Instantis. The topic of the talk was "A Silicon Valley Startup Story - an ongoing perspective", held on the 29th June at the Electrical Engineering Seminar Hall.

The Shailesh J Mehta School of Management jointly organized a two-day Management Development Programme on Techno - Entrepreneurship along with Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Govt. of India and Maharashtra Center for Entrepreneurship Development (MCED). The programme was held at MCED's training center at Pune on 14th and 15th June 2001.
The programme addressed issues related to the process of entrepreneurship. Topics covered were product/market identification, developing the business plan, organization building, sources of funding etc. Experience sharing sessions with local techno-entrepreneurs provided a practical flavor to the program. Prof Karuna Jain coordinated the programme.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, 5th June 2001, a movie screening followed by a tree plantation drive was organised. The programme on 5th June 2001 saw a good response from students, faculty and staff. The programme was supported by the Students' Gymkhana, IIT Bombay. Two movies- an hour long `Race to Save the Planet' and a shorter animation film `Taru' were screened at lecture Theatre. This was followed by refreshments (arranged by Srushti).

The tree planting programme began at the Medicinal Plant Nursery (near culvert on the Vihar lake road). A total of 100 saplings (from neem, karanz, asaparagus, mango, kaju, sitaphal, jamun etc.) were planted. A number of saplings were also distributed to interested campus residents.

Subsequently, on 16th July, 2001, saplings of casurina, jamun, gulmohar, copper pod etc. were planted on the hill slopes, opposite to Tulsi complex. (Behing SAMEER)

Shri K. C. Srivastava, Municipal Commissioner, BMC was the chief guest at the Vahmahotsav 2001 which was held on the 1st July at the Step Garden in the IIT Bombay Campus. The dignitaries planted saplings of Fir & Ashoka at the garden. Trees were also planted along the wall between Middle Gate and Y-Point gate.

The annual summer swimming camps were held three phases in the months of April and May 2001, and certificated were awarded to around 350 participants on completion. The participants were taught the basics of swimming, as well as techniques to keep themselves a float, in case of an emergency as well as how to jump in the water. The swimming coach Dr. P. M. Reddy was largely instrumental in the success of the camp.

A flute workshop was organised at the Students' Activity Center (SAC) by Mohan. M. Waidande, Flute Instructor, SAC during 27th May to 11th June for students and campus residents.

The workshop aimed at giving introduction to the Indian Flute and its playing techniques. As also an introduction to Indian (Hindustani) Classical music was also given and thereby an attempt was made to cultivate interest in the same.

Department of Mathematics

Prof. S.S. Bhoosnurmath, Head, Department of Mathematics, Karnatak University, Dharwar spoke on "Riemann Hypothesis" in the seminar organised on the 6th of July.

Biotechnology Centre

A seminar titled "Cutting edge in genome technology" was organised on the 5th July where De. Bhaskaran Ramachandran, specialist Genomics gave an overview of the techniques covering the following : Micro array systems; MegaBase - automated capillary sequencers; Chemistry of both systems; Software; Support; Results.

      APPOINTMENTS

The tenure of appointment of Prof. S.L. Narayana Murthy , Department of Chemical Engg. as the Dean, Resource Mobilization has been extended for a further period of 2 years w.e.f 1st April 2001 to 31st March 2003.

Dr. (Ms.) Gargi Vishnoi has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Bio-medical Engineering Group w.e.f 4th June 2001.

Dr. Uday P. Khedkar has been appointed as an Assistant Professor (Contract) in the Department of Computer Science and Engg. w.e.f 30th May 2001.

Dr. (Ms.) P. Ramdevi has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics w.e.f 21st June 2001.

Dr. Shashank K. Mehta has been appointed as an Associate Professor (contract) in the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology w.e.f 11th June 2001.

Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Department of Chemical Engg. has taken over as Professor In Charge, CEP w.e.f 18th June 2001.

The following appointments are being made to the office of Warden / Associate Warden for a period of two years from the date of joining:

Prof. R. Murugavel, Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry as Associate Warden of Hostel No. 1 w.e.f 5th March 2001

Prof. M.S. Balakrishna, Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry as Warden of Hostel No. 4 w.e.f 1st January 2001

Prof. S. Mukherjee, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engg. Group as Associate Warden of Hostel No. 4 w.e.f 1st March 2001

Prof. A.V. Mahajan, Associate Professor, Dept. of Physics, as Associate Warden of Hostel No. 5 w.e.f 7th March 2001

Prof. Anil Kumar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, as Associate Warden of Hostel No. 6 w.e.f 1st March 2001

Prof. K. M. Bajoria, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engg., as Associate Warden of Hostel No. 8 w.e.f 18th January 2001

          RETIREMENTS ON 30^THJUNE 2001

1. Prof. M.V. Khemchandani, Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engg.
2. Prof. R. D. Angal, Associate Professor, Corrosion Science & Engg.
3. Shri P. Pramanik, Sports Office (SG), Students Gymkhana
4. Dr. M. S. Khanwalkar, Lab. Supdt. (SG), Dept. of Physics
5. Dr. J.P. Sheth, Lab Supdt. (SG), Dept. of Chemistry
6. Shri K.N. Anchan, O.A. (HS), Dept. of Chemical Engg.
7. Shri L. V. Chheda, Sr. Mechanic, Dept. of Mechanical Engg.
8. Shri V.T. Wakekar, Messenger Gr. I, Stores Section

EVENTS

19-20                      Orientation Programme for UG freshies
                                      Orientation Programme for PG freshies

CEP courses