Indian Institute of Science

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Indian Institute of Science, Bengalooru
Established 1909
Type Research Institution
Location Bengalooru, Karnataka, India
Website www.iisc.ernet.in

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a premier post-graduate institution of research and higher learning located in Bengalooru (previously Bangalore), India. It offers postgraduate and doctoral research programmes to over 2,000 active researchers working in 48 specialized departments ranging from aerospace engineering to molecular biophysics to management. IISc is the best in India in terms of research output (citation and impact factor) by the journal Current Science.[1] It also ranks first among Indian universities (and South Asian universities) in the "Academic ranking of world universities" conducted by the SJTU, China.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Founder
Founder

[edit] The Founder

The Institute owes its existence due to a seed of thought which sprung from a talk between the Jamsetji Tata and Swami Vivekananda. The industrialist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (1839-1904) constituted a Provisional Committee to prepare a plan for setting up of an Institute of higher education. On 31 December 1898, a draft prepared by this committee was presented to Lord Curzon, the Viceroy-designate. The Secretary of State for India requested the Royal Society of England for an expert opinion. The Royal Society in turn, sought the opinion of Prof. William Ramsay, a Nobel Laureate and the discoverer of Noble Gases. Prof. Ramsay toured the country and recommended Bengalooru as the ideal location for the proposed institute. On the initiative especially of the Diwan of Mysore, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, His Highness Shri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore donated 372 acres (1.5 km²) of land in Bengalooru. Subsequently, the Government of Karnataka had gifted lands during the Golden Jubilee and Platinum Jubilee of the Institute making the current land holding of the Institute up to 443 acres.

The constitution of the Institute was approved by the Viceroy Lord Minto, and the necessary Vesting Order was signed on 27 May 1909. Early in 1911, the Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the Institute and on 24 July the first batch of students were admitted in the Departments of General and Applied Chemistry under Norman Rudolf and Electro-Technology under Alferd Hay. Within two months, the Department of Organic Chemistry was opened. With the establishment of the University Grants Commission in 1956, the Institute came under its purview as a deemed university.

[edit] Directors: past and present

At the time of the inception of IISc in 1909, Morris Travers FRS, William Ramsay's co-worker in the discovery of the noble gases, became its first Director. The first Indian Director was the Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman, and the current Director is Padmanabhan Balaram. The following is the complete list of the directors of IISc since its inception:

[edit] The Institute

The Institute has been able to make many significant contributions primarily because of certain uniqueness in its character. It is neither a National laboratory, which concentrates solely on research and applied work, nor a conventional University, which concerns itself mainly with teaching. However, the Institute is concerned with research in frontier areas and education in current technologically important areas. Because it is a relatively small institution, it is able to innovate and introduce newer systems of imparting knowledge and educational reforms such as offering courses under a unit system and trying out methods of evaluation, which are highly reliable.

The Institute was the first to introduce (i) Masters’ programs in engineering; (ii) more recently, the Integrated Ph.D Programs in Biological, Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences for science graduates; (iii) the new IISc Young Fellowship program for the first 20 rank holders at the + 2 level; and (iv) IISc Young Engineering Fellowship program for merited III year BE/ B Tech students.

But in recent times a sharp fall of citations from IISc has been observed, forcing IISc away from the standard of globally ranked institutes. In 2003, the institute ranked in the top 300.[3]

[edit] Location

The IISc campus is located in North Bengalooru. Known popularly as Tata Institute in the city, IISc is located on the way to Yeshwantpur from Majestic. IISc is easily accessible from Kempegowda Bus Station (known as Majestic) by bus or by auto-rickshaws (Distance=7km). Bus routes 252, 256,258,273 and 276 serve this Institute from Majestic.


[edit] Campus

The IISc campus is full of greenery. The campus harbors both exotic and indigenous plant species with about 110 species of woody plants.[4]

The campus houses more than 40 departments, six canteens, a gymkhana, three dining messes, nine men's hostels, five women's hostels, an air strip, a library, two shopping centers and residence areas for faculties and other staff members.

[edit] Main building

The architecture of the main building, which today houses the administration and the prestigious Faculty Hall, is in classical style, carried out in a grey handsome tower. In front of it stands the work of Gilbert Bayes, a noble monument erected in memory of J. N. Tata.

At its feet is an inscription which will serve to remind future generations of the generosity of Jamsetji Tata and the persistence with which he worked for the welfare of India.

Inscription
Inscription

[edit] Library

The library was established in 1911 and it is one of the first three departments started in the Institute (the other two are Departments of General and Applied Chemistry and Electrotechnology). It is regarded as one of the best scientific and technical libraries in India. Apart from the main library, the Institute also has independent departmental libraries. The library moved in to the present premises in January 1965, built out of grants provided by University Grants Commission (UGC), in commemoration of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institute in 1959. In 1995, the library was renamed as "J. R. D Tata Memorial Library". The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) has recognised this library as Regional Center for Mathematics for the south region and continued to award a special grant towards subscription of Journals in Mathematics.

The annual budget of the library is over Rs. 10 crores of which subscription towards periodicals alone is about 9 crores. The library currently receives over 1734 periodical titles of which 1381 are subscribed while the remaining titles are received as gratis and on exchange basis. About 600 titles are accessible online due to library subscription. In addition, over 10,000 journals are accessible due to INDEST subscription. The total holdings of the library exceeds 4,11,000 documents.

[edit] Central computing facility

The Computer Centre, established in 1970 as a central computing facility, became Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC) in 1990 to provide state-of-the-art computing facility to the faculty and students of the Institute. The Centre is created and fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of the Institute.

The SERC is the country's leading computing centre having the state-of-the art computing facilities, catering to the ever-increasing demands of high performance computing for scientific and engineering research. The supercomputing facility at SERC is a symbiosis of computing, network, graphics, and visualization. The Centre is conceived of as a functionally distributed supercomputing environment, housing state-of-the-art computing systems, with sophisticated software packages, and connected by a powerful high-speed network.

Apart from functioning as a central computing facility of IISc, the SERC is engaged in education and research programs in areas relating to supercomputer development and application. The Centre is also involved in several sponsored research projects in collaboration with several high-profile government and private agencies.

[edit] Gymkhana

The IISc Gymkhana, through its 26 associated clubs, caters to the varying extra-curricular interests of the students. The clubs range from several indoor (chess, yoga, aerobics, gymnasium, billiards, etc.) and outdoor (cricket, football, tennis, etc.) sports/fitness activities to cultural/artistic activities (Music, photography, movies, drama, etc.). The day-to-day activities of these well-equipped clubs are maintained and run by student conveners.

Gymkhana conducts regular tournaments in almost all sports activities and several literary and fine arts activities for folks in the IISc campus. The major annual cultural event of IISc Gymkhana - Vibrations attracts a large number of participants.

[edit] Academic structure

Departments and centers in the institute are broadly assigned to two categories: science and engineering. Two Deans, one each for Science and Engineering administer their respective category.

The faculty of science comprises three divisions:

  • Division of Biological Sciences
  • Division of Chemical Sciences
  • Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

The engineering faculty are divided into two divisions:

  • Division of Electrical Sciences
  • Division of Mechanical Sciences

Each of these five divisions are administered by a divisional chairman. Each department or centre, under these divisions, is administered by a Chairman of the department or centre.

The following centers are directly under the director (without a divisional chairman):

  • Centre for Continuing Education
  • J. R. D. Tata Memorial Library
  • National Centre for Science Information
  • Supercomputer Education and Research Centre
  • BioInformatics Centre
  • Digital Information Services Centre

[edit] Degrees offered by the institute

Degrees offered by the institute may be broadly classified into two categories: Degrees by Research (Ph.D, integrated Ph.D and M.Sc. (Engg.)), and degrees by coursework (M.E./M.Tech./M.B.A./M.Des.).

Research programmes leading to M.Sc.(Engg.)/Ph.D. degrees are the main thrust in many departments. The programme has a limited amount of course work, essentially to prepare the student to carry out the research, but the main emphasis is on the thesis work. Research students constitute the largest group on the campus and the Institute awards about 200 Ph.D and M.Sc.(Engg) degrees each year, which is probably the largest for any institution in India. The annual intake of research students is approximately 250 with several candidates sponsored from educational institutions and industries.

The Integrated Ph.D. programme is designed to offer exciting opportunities to motivated and talented B.Sc. graduates with a keen sense of scientific enquiry for pursuing advanced research in frontier areas of Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences leading to the Ph.D degree of the Institute.

Two year programmes leading to M.E. or M.Tech by course work are available in almost all engineering departments. A unique feature of the ME/M.Tech. programmes at the institute is the credit system which allows students to tailor the courses to suit their aptitude and interest. Every ME/M.Tech. programme has a set of hard core courses specified as an essential requirement whereas students can take rest of the credits from many courses available in their parent or other departments and also do a dissertation work on the topic of their choice. These courses attract highly motivated accomplished students, in addition to several sponsored candidates from R & D labs./industries and also from educational institutions under the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP).

The Department of Management Studies, one of the oldest management schools in the country (established in 1948), offers an MBA programme exclusively for engineering graduates. The Center for Product Design and Manufacturing offers the Master of Design (MDes) course. Started in 1996, the M.Des programme is a two-year full-time graduate programme.

[edit] Admission Procedure

Admission into IISc is highly competitive. Cutoff for M. E. / M. Tech. admissions is usually higher than 99 percentile in the GATE examination. Admission to research programmes of the Institute is based on career analysis and interview in the campus. Candidates are called for interview based on the entrance test of the Institute or any other test recognised by the Institute (which depends on the choice of department and specialization). For M. E. or M.Tech., the admission is through the GATE examination conducted every year. In addition, a personal interview may also be required. For Master of Business Administration(M.B.A.), which has a ceiling strength of only 25 seats across India, the admission is through the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) examination, conducted jointly by IISc and IITs. In addition, a group discussion and personal interview is also conducted to select the candidates.

[edit] Institute-Industry interaction

The interaction of the Indian Institute of Science faculty with the industry is mediated by two specialized centers, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Consultancy (CSIC) and the Society for Innovation and Development (SID).

CSIC was established in 1975, with the responsibility of promotion of institute-industry relationship for mutual benefits and advancement. CSIC provides the interface through which industries and organizations can quickly and effectively gain access to the expertise and facilities of the Institute in the fields of science, technology and management. The centre also promotes the formation of a network of informal contacts between scientists and engineers in the Institute and those in industry allowing for a continuous and easy flow of information and ideas.

The SID was founded in the year 1991, in close collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. The mission of SID is to enable India's innovations in science and technology by creating a purposeful and effective channel to assist industries and business establishments to compete and prosper in the face of global competition, turbulent market conditions and fast moving technologies.

The SID and the Indian Institute of Science adopted a unique program known as the Faculty Entrepreneurship Program. The program supports startup initiatives wherein faculty members participate by providing their intellectual property (not necessarily a patent, but knowledge) to run the start up company. The program enables the Institutes faculty to explore their intellectual property in a business proposition, provide support and employment to people, earn revenue and bring research closer to society's needs.

Simputer is a product of this Faculty Entrepreneurship Program, with participation by the faculty of the Department of Computer Science and Automation.[5][6]

[edit] Distinguished Alumni

Distinguished alumni awards are conferred on IISc alumni in recognition of their excellent contribution towards growth of science and technology. The following is the list of IISc's distinguished alumni, with a brief mention of their contributions/positions held, along with the year in which the award was conferred upon them.

  • Prof. G. N. Ramachandran, 1977. Widely acknowledged as one of the most important Indian scientists of the 20th century, best known for the creation of the Ramachandran Map for understanding peptide structure. He was also a faculty member at IISc.
  • Dr. Sukh Dev, 1978. Former INSA S. N. Bose Research Professor, IIT, Delhi & Director, Malti-Chem Research Centre, Vadodara
  • Sri C. R. Subramanian, 1979. Former Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
  • Prof. Harish-Chandra, 1980. Well-known mathematician and physicist.
  • Sri T. R. Satish Chandran. 1981. Former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and former Governor of Goa.
  • Prof. T. R. Anantharaman. 1982. Former Director, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.
  • Prof. C. N. R. Rao, 1983. Former Director, IISc and Former President, JN Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
  • Prof. Satish Dhawan. 1984. Former Director, IISc and Former Chairman, Space Commission.
  • Dr. V. Jagannathan. 1985 Former Head, Biotechnology, Tata Energy Research Institute, Delhi.
  • Dr. S. R. Valluri. 1986. Former Director, NAL.
  • Prof. B. V. Sreekantan. 1987. Former Director, TIFR, Bombay.
  • Prof. Rodham Narasimha. 1988. Former Director, NAL and Former Director, NIAS.
  • Prof. P. Somasundaran. 1989. Former Chairman, Henru Krumb School of Mines, Columbia University; Director, IUCRC for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants, Director, Langmuir Center for Colloids and Interfaces, Columbia University.
  • Dr. P. Rama Rao. 1990. Former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
  • Prof.R. Chidambaram. 1991. Currently Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India; Former Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India.
  • Prof. V. J. Modi. 1992. Former professor, Researcher in space dynamics, control, fluid mechanics, and biomechanics. University of British Columbia.
  • Dr. N. Seshagiri. 1993. Former Director General, National Informatic Centre, New Delhi.
  • Dr. M. Ramamoorthy. 1994. Former Director General of Central Power Research Institute and former Director of Electrical Research and Development Association, Vadodara).
  • Prof. R. Kumar. 1995. Emeritus Professor, Department of Chem Engineering, IISc.
  • Prof. M. A. Viswamitra. 1996. Emeritus Professor, Department of Physics, IISc.
  • Dr. R. R. Tummala [1]. 1997. Director, Packaging Research Center, Georgia Tech.
  • Dr. V. K. Aatre. 1998. Former director, DRDO, Former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, and Former Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi.
  • Prof. G. Padmanabhan. 1999. Former Director, I.I.Sc.
  • Dr. Ramadas P. Shenoy. 2000. Former Director of Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) and 'Distinguished Scientist' of DRDO.
  • Prof. P. Ramachandra Rao. 2001. Vice-Chancellor, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
  • Prof. S. S. Iyengar. 2001. Chairman and Professor, Computer Science Dept., Louisiana State University, USA.
  • Prof. Satya N. Atluri. 2002 Director, Center for Aerospace Research and Education, University of California, Irvine, USA.
  • Prof. A. Sridharan. 2002. Formerly Deputy Director and Advisor, IISc.
  • Prof. K. R. Sreenivasan. 2003. International Center for Theoretical Physics.
  • Prof. Brij M. Moudgil. 2003. Director of the Engineering Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, University of Florida, USA.
  • Prof. H. S. Mukunda. 2004. Honorary Advisor, ABETS, Combustion, Gasification & Propulsion Laboratory of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science.
  • Prof. B. L. Deekshatulu. 2004. Former director, National Remote Sensing Agency, India, Hyderabad. Former Director of Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP), Affiliated to the United Nations, Indian Institute of remote sensing Campus, Dehra Dun. Visiting Professor, Department of Computer & Information Science, University of Hyderabad.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/
  2. ^ http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm
  3. ^ http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2003/rank-Asia.mht
  4. ^ http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/fish/floraFrame.html
  5. ^ http://www.simputer.org/simputer/people/trustees.php
  6. ^ http://picopeta.com/about/team.php

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Divisions of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Seal of IISc
Division of Biological Sciences • Division of Chemical Sciences • Division of Electrical Sciences • Division of Information Sciences • Division of Mechanical Sciences • Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
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