CAMPUS DIARY FOR SEPTEMBER 1997

35th Convocation of IIT Bombay

IIT Bombay held its 35th Convocation on Thursday, 7th August Shri Nani Palkhivala, Eminent Jurist and Industrialist was the Chief Guest and delivered the Covocation Address. Introducing the Chief Guest, Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Bombay said that Mr. Palkhivala is respected in his own right as a person of the highest integrity, who has championed free speech and fought for principles and values. Prof. Menon urged not to give way to pessimism but to take heart and look at the positive aspects of what has been achieved in India. Mr. Palkhivala started his address with a note of warning, that never had India in its entire history ever reached a lower level of degradation than it had reached now. The only achievement of the Indian democracy had been that it had survived unfractured for fifty years. We started our republic with three inestimable advantages, he said. First five thousand years of civilization behind us, second a political entity united under the British rule and third an excellent constition. But subsequent years saw in the country "too much government and too little administration; too many laws and too little justice; too many public servants and too little public service; too many controls and too little welfare", Mr. Palkhivala said. He called on all to celebrate the Independence Day as day of Inter-dependence and to take the task of creating a cohesive society with the cement of Indian culture. Earlier the Director, Prof. S. Sukhatme presented a report of IIT's activities during the year. Prof. Sukhatme mentioned that the last year had witnessed a blend of consolidation of past efforts and several significant achievements and initiatives for promoting Research, Development and Innovation. He also outlined the manpower development efforts through the Continuing Education Programme.

Results 1997 At this 35th Convocation the following degrees were awarded :

• B.Tech...................298
• M.Sc.....................105
• M.Tech..................401
• M.Des.................... 31
• M.Mgmt.................31
• M.Phil.................... 11
• Ph.D.......................98
• -----------------------------
• Total......................975
• ------------------------------

The President of India Medal which is awarded each year to the student who stands first, obtaining the highest cumulative Performance Index for the Degree of Bachelor of Technology was awarded to Amit Chakrabarti of Computer Science and Engineering. The Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal, awarded to the student adjudged to be the best for Academic and General Proficiency for the year went to Abhishek Agarwal, Computer Science and Engg. The Institute Silver Medals were awarded to the following students who were most outstanding in the respective branch of Engineering/Science :

• Satyakam Sudershan....................Aerospace Engineering
• Laheja Ashwin Prakash.................Chemical Engineering
• Pachlag Sachin Shridhar...............Civil Engineering
• Rohit Puri............................Electrical Engineering
• Mayuresh Yeshwant Oke.................Mechanical Engineering
• Poonawala Nazir Mohemedi..............Met. Engg. & Mat.Sci.
• Mukund Rangamani......................Engineering Physics
• Mahesh Anand..........................Applied Geology
• Athale Rahul Ramesh...................M.Sc. Mathematics
• Nilay Anil Pradhan....................M.Sc. Physics
• Ms.Lakshmi Prabha V...................M.Sc. Biotechnology
• Rajan Rahul Sunder....................M.Sc. Chemistry (5 yr.)
• Sauri Sen.............................M.Sc. Applied Statistics & Informatics

IDC

IDC project "SAMAS' was adjudged the best project and received awards for "Most Thorough Methodology & Creative Concepts" and "Best Visual Presentation" at the University Workshop '97, held at Interval Research Corporation (IRC), Palo Alto, California, from 13th to 17th July 1997. About eight institutions from around the world had been invited to work in the field of Interaction Design and challenged to design a computing device that could lead to humourous interaction. Teams from the Royal College of Arts (U.K), Stanford University, Carnegie - Mellon University, Hochschule for Gestalting (Germany), MIT Media Lab (USA) were among those who participated. The IDC team worked on a device to tackle the 'waiting' needs of people, to resolve boredom while waiting in places like railway stations, airports, etc. The product, called "Samas" is an inter- personal communication device that can be used to communicate through user generated symbols. The conversation using symbols becomes very engrossing and humourous as there is a built-in ambiguity and misinterpretation of each other's lingo. The student team members were Manoj Majhe (Visual Communication), Narendra Ghate (Product Design) and Prasanna Kulkarni (Visual Communication). This Interaction design project was co-ordinated by Prof. Ravi Poovaiah.

Patents

An Indian Patent Application has been filed on 16th July 1997 for "A Process for Sequential Supercritical Co2 extraction and fractionation of neem oil enriched with azadirachtin from neem kernels" by Prof. M. Mukhopadhyay and T.V. Kalyana Ram, based on the research work carried out in 1996 at the Chem.Engg. of IIT Bombay.

Faculty News

Prof. Milind Malshe's book on Modern Linguistics in Marathi, ADHUNIK BHASHAVIDNYAN has been awarded the Govt. of Maharashtra prize for the best book on Linguistics and Grammer (1994-95). Prof. G. Nagaraja, Dept. of Com.Sci.& Engg. visited Universidad Politechnica de Valencia, Spain from 7.7.97 to 6.8.97. He was invited for research collaboration in the area of Pattern Recognition. Prof. Sudhir R. Ghorpade, Dept. of Mathematics participated in the International Conference on Combinatorial Commutative Algebra held at Universitat GH Essen, Essen, Germany in June 1997 end participated in the 9th International Conference on Formal Power series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC'97) held at the Institut fur Mathematik of Universitat Wien, Austria in July 1997. Dr. J. Adinarayana, Res. Scientist, CSRE, attended an International Conference jointly organized by the International Soil Science Society (ISSS) and International Institute for Aerospace Survey & Earth Sciences (ITC) on `Geo-Information for Sustainable Land Management', 17-21 Aug.1997, ITC - Enschede, The Netherlands. He also presented a research paper on "A systems - approach model for conservation planning of a hilly watershed" in the conference. APPOINTMENTS Prof. (Ms.) Rowena Robinson has been appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member (Lecturer) in the Dept. of Humanities & Social Sci. from 18.8.97. Prof. Sriram V. Pemmaraju has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Deptt. of Mathematics, from 18.8.97. Prof. S.C. Patel has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Deptt. of Earth Sci. from 30.7.97. Prof. Sambhu V. Panikkar has been appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member (Lecturer) in the Deptt. of Earth Sci. from 31.7.97. Prof. Rangan Bannerjee, Assistant Professor, Energy Systems Engg.Group has been appointed as an Associate Professor in the same group. Prof. S.S. Gaur has been appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member (Lecturer) in the School of Management, from 11.8.97. Prof. Prakash Gopalan, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of Met.Engg.& Mat. Sci. has been appointed as an Associate Professor in the same Department from 2.6.97. Prof. S.V.D. Nageswara Rao has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the School of Management, from 1.8.97. Prof. Soumyo Mukherji who has been appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member (Assistant Professor) in the Bio-Medical Engg. Group, from 7.8.97. Prof. T.K. Biswal, Asstt. Professor, Dept. of Earth Sci. has been appointed as an Associate Warden of Hostel No.1.

Prof. D.M. Dhamdhere has been appointed as the Head of Department of Computer Science & Engineering vice Prof. N.L. Sarda, from 21.8.97. Shri B.S. Punalkar, Asstt. Registrar (Accounts) has been appointed as Dy. Registrar (F&A). Prof. Rushikesh K. Joshi has been appointed as a Visiting Faculty Member (Lecturer) in the Dept. of Com. Sci. & Engg. from 25.8.1997. Seminars Dept. of Chemistry Dr. Kishan Khemani, Eastman Kodak, delivered a lecture on "Eastman Plastics in the Fullerone Chemistry" on 1st Aug. 1997. Dept. of Met. Engg. & Mat. Sci. Dr. Ramana G. Reddy, ACIPCO Professor, Dept. of Met. & Mat. Engg. Univ. of Alabama, delivered a lecture on "Thermodynamic Modelling of Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's) on 13th Aug. 1997. Dept. of Physics Dr. G. Ravi Kumar, Atomic Physics Group, TIFR, delivered a lecture on "Behaviour of matter in intense and superintense laser fields" on 27th Aug. 1997. Dept. of Humanities & Social Sci. Dr. Neelima Talwar of this department delivered a talk on "Report of International Colloquium on Albert Camus, Poitier, France" on 28th Aug. 1997. Kavi Sammelan A Kavi Sammelan was organised by the Student's Gymkhana on 15th Aug. 1997 on the eve of the golden Jubilee Celebration of our Independence. The following poets were present : Shri Krishna Tiwari, Shri Devmani Pandy, Shri Hariram Dwiwedi Shri Ravikant Tiwari, Shri Alok Bhattacharya, Pt. Kiran Mishra Dr. V. R. Prasad, Shri Puran Pankaj, Prof T. S. Rathore, Shri Kailash Sangen, Shri Ravikant Pathak, Smt Suman Sarin, Shri Sibban Baiji, Shri Mohit Singh, Shri Shishir Mittal. Staff News Ms. Ranjana, Jr.Research Fellow working with Dr. Nand Kishore of Chemistry presented her paper "Interaction of 4-Chlorobutan-1-ol with Cytochrome c:A Differential scanning Calorimetric Study" at the 52nd Calorimetry Conference held in Pacific Grove, California on 3-8th Aug. 1997. She was awarded with one of the five Giauque Memorial Student Awards. Shri Vinod Kumar Prasad, Tech.Asstt., Gen. Admn., has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for his research work entitled "Vigyan Aur Praudogiki Ke Kshetra Men Hindi Bhasha Ke Prayoga Ki Samasya Ka Vishleshanatmak Adhyayana" by the Univ. of Bombay.

Retirements

• Mr. R.G. Sharma, Foreman.................Elect.Engg.
• Mr. P.D. Lawate, Asst.Foreman (HS)......- " -
• Mr. P.V. Parameshwaran, Asst. Foreman (HS),Chemical Engg.
• Mr. V.G..Bhuj,O.A.,(HS), Accounts Section
• Mr. G.T.Butani,Sr. Mechanic, Printing Press
• Mr. G.G.Raut, Watchman(SG), Security Section.

Events/Honours

• -3.................1st G.S. Tendolkar Memorial Lecture
• -7................ Registration of New Students
• -9-11..............CEP Programme on Design for Reliability organised by Prof. P. Vasudevan, Mech. Engg.
• -15-19i........... CEP Programme on Leaded Stain Glass Window Workshop organised by Prof.(Ms.) Vanmala Jain, IDC
• -22................CEP Programme on Performance Tuning : A Relational Database organised by Prof. S. Seshadri, Com.Sci.&
• -24-26...........CEP Programme on Machinery Vibration and Noise organised by Prof. D.N. Manik, Mech.Engg.

Compiled by Aruna Thosar-Dixit ... edited by Ms Suranga Date ... re-edited by Ram Kelkar