Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान गांधीनगर
Established	2008
Type	Education and Research Institution
Chairman	Baldev Raj
Director	Sudhir K. Jain
Location	Chandkheda, Gujarat, India
Website	www.iitgn.ac.in

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (also known as IITGN), located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, is a public institute of higher education declared to be an Institute of National Importance by Government of India.^[1] It is one of the eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India under The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 2011. IITGN comes under the brand-cluster of sixteen Indian Institutes of Technology classified by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.^[2] The Act was passed in the Lok Sabha on 24 March 2011^[3] and by the Rajya Sabha on 30 April 2012.^[4] IIT Gandhinagar was established in 2008 along with seven other new IITs.^[5] The institute started its operations in its temporary campus at Vishwakarma Government Engineering College, Chandkheda. The institute was originally mentored by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.^[6] The first batch of students were admitted in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.^[7]

Organization and Administration

The institute is managed by a Board of Governors, interspersed with a Senate. The board comprises academicians, researchers, industrial leaders and administrators. Dr. Baldev Raj^[8] is the current Chairman, Board of Governors of IIT Gandhinagar.^[9] Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar was the first Chairman Board of Governors of IITGN.

The four new members who have joined the board of governors (BOG) of IIT-GN include Prof. S P Sukhatme, former director, IIT Bombay & Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board,^[10] Prof. Surendra Prasad, Former Director, IIT Delhi;^[11] Prof. Deepak B Phatak Chair professor, Kanwal Rekhi School of Information and Technology Indian Institute of Technology Bombay;^[12] and Mr. Kamal Nanavati, President - Strategic Development at Reliance Industries Limited.

The other members of the board include: Shri P. S. Jani, Director of Education, U.T. Administration of Daman & Diu, Mr Suresh Neotia, Chairman Emeritus,Ambuja Cements; Mr Deepak Puri, Chairman & Managing Director, Moser Baer India Ltd.; Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Group Chairman, Religare & Fortis Healthcare Ltd, New Delhi; Mr Ashok Thakur, Special Secretary (Higher Education) Government of India Ministry of Human Resource Development; Prof. G. K. Sharma, Visiting Professor Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar; Prof. N. Ramakrishnan, Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar; Prof. Sudhir K. Jain, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.^[13] Mr P.K. Chopra, Registrar, is the Secretary of the BoG.

The Senate

The Senate^[14] is a statutory body responsible for all the academic matters of the institute including monitoring and improvements in course structure and curriculum. The current Senate of the IIT GN was constituted on April 5, 2010. It hosts members of faculty, and advisers from academia and industry. Prior to its constitution, the functions of the Senate were being performed by an Academic Council comprising the Heads of Departments at IIT Bombay, the mentor institute.^[15]

Key officials

Key officials of the institute are the Director, assisted by Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Student Affairs, Dean of Faculty Affairs, Dean Research and Development, and coordinators of individual Disciplines. Presently Prof. Sudhir Kumar Jain^[16] is heading the institution as the Director. He is on deputation from IIT Kanpur.^[17] Prof Jain is one of India's leading earthquake engineers. He set up the National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at IITK and developed the National Programme on Earthquake Engineering Education (NPEEE), supported by the Government of India. He is president-elect of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering.^[18]

Campus site at Palaj

The permanent campus of IIT Gandhinagar is under construction on the banks of Sabarmati near Palaj village.^[19] The institute took possession of over 400 acres of land in August 2012 and expects to move to the new campus by July 2015. The institute will function as a fully residential campus and will be constructed in phases. The campus will be run on solar power. It is envisioned to be a pollution-free, green zone.^[20]

Academics

IITGN offers Bachelor of Technology program in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. Admission to these programmes is through the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).^[21] Students are admitted after completing 10+2. The institute also offers Masters^[22] and Ph.D. studies in various fields in engineering, sciences and humanities and social sciences. Admissions to these programmes are through written test and/or interviews. IIT Gandhinagar has been offering a five-week rigorous Foundation Program for the Fresh JEE batches joining the Institute since July 2011.^[23] The July 2011 Foundation Program was inaugurated by Mr. N.R.Narayana Murthy on 19 July 2011.^[24]

• B.Tech. Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Civil and Materials Science and Engineering.
• M.Tech. Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.
• M.Sc Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Mathematics
• M.A Society and Culture
• Ph.D. Engineering (Chemical, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, and Materials Science and Engineering), Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Earth Sciences) and Humanities & Social Sciences (Cognitive Science, English, Philosophy, Sociology, History, Language & Literature, Political Science, Psychology, Social Epidemiology and Sociology, and other disciplines).

Hundred and Seventeen BTech students^[25] were admitted to the 2012 batch. Hundred and thirty-four students were admitted to the 2013 batch. Admission to IIT Gandhinagar's graduate programs are even more competitive than the undergraduate programs with a selectivity ratio 0f 0.5%.^[26] IIT Gandhinagar has instituted a five-week immersion Foundation Program for all new undergraduate students that nurtures creativity, ethics, communication skills, teamwork, social engagement and physical fitness. Students take almost 20 percent of their coursework in the humanities and the social sciences, as well as compulsory courses in design and the life sciences. Its undergraduate curriculum was awarded the World Education Award 2013 for innovations in higher education by the World Education Summit in April 2013.^[27] Nearly a third of all IIT Gandhinagar undergraduate students receive study abroad opportunities during their time at the Institute.

Convocation

The first convocation of IIT Gandhinagar was held on 22 July 2012 within the temporary campus premises. 86 students graduated with Bachelor of Technology degrees in Chemical, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. The Chief guest for the occasion was Shri N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Ltd.^[28] Mr. Murthy spoke about patriotism^[29] in his Convocation address.^[30] Dr. Mashelkar, Chairman Board of Governors and Dr. Sudhir Jain, Director IIT Gandhinagar also addressed the graduating students. The President's gold medal, outstanding researcher's medal, and other performance awards were given away by Dr. Mashelkar. The degrees of Bachelor of Technology to the graduating batch were handed over by Dr. Sudhir K. Jain. Swetava Ganguli received the first President's Gold Medal of IIT Gandhinagar. The convocation attire^[31] for IITGN has been designed by National Institute of Design (NID).^[32]

India-Ki-Khoj

India-Ki-Khoj is an intensive module focusing upon the understanding and appreciation of India through diverse lectures and field visits. The program is designed and led by members of the Humanities and Social Sciences Program at IIT, Gandhinagar. It brings both overseas and IITGN students together to participate in this program for ten days. The first India-Ki-Khoj was held in December 2011 and hosted students from Caltech. India-Ki-Khoj 2013 was held from June 19, 2013 to 27 June 2013. The institute invites participation of students from different universities across the world. According to the institute authorities, India-ki-Khoj has been designed to help overseas students relate with this idea and the many layers that form identity in India. It will communicate the many imaginations about India, and provide a flavor of its multiplicity as well as some overarching generalities. Through a combination of academic lectures and field-visits, the module claims to be able to take the students through India of the past, present and future making them relate India’s ancient traditions of philosophy, science and technology to a present-day India and help identify continuities as well as shifts that India has made through centuries. The module also includes discussion on India’s economic trends, culture and history, poetry and films, caste and community structures and enables participants 'appreciate a country that eludes easy definitions'.

Research

IIT Gandhinagar and Physical Research Laboratory,^[33] Ahmedabad signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2011 that ensures research collaborations and exchanges between the two institutions at the level of advanced Ph.D. programs in theoretical physics, astro-physics, and atmospheric sciences.^[34] The collaboration facilitates exchange of research ideas between PhD students and faculties of both institutions.

NTT Facilities, Inc., Japan and Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA), Gandhinagar, have provided a 10 kW roof-top solar photovoltaic (PV) system each to the Institute . The system provided by NTT Facilities consists of sixty four thin-film modules (rated 150W) made by Solar Frontier, Japan while the system sponsored by GEDA consists of forty four multicrystalline silicon modules (rated 230 W) produced by Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, India. Each PV system is expected to generate about 15000 kWh of electricity every year and reduce total CO2 emissions by about 28 tonnes. These systems have already started to reduce the energy bills of the Institute and are being used for research in collaboration with Underwriters Laboratories.^[35]

Socio-Cultural Outreach

Sakar

An initiative by the students of IIT Gandhinagr to promote interest in Maths and Science among the school girls of standard 6,7,8 and 9. It is a humble effort to remove the nightmares of these subjects from their minds, by simplifying concepts and presenting them in way that causes everyone to participate and helps encourage innovative methods to understand cumbersome portions in the subject.

The team conducts weekend sessions, in the school premises on Saturdays and in the institute on Sundays. A typical session has a beginning activity that triggers the thought process through a puzzle/ math trick or interesting videos . Then, the team members turnwise take up topics maths and science, and present them in the form of activities, stories or real life examples. The ultimate aim of the sessions is to generate the ability to relate the learnt knowledge with their daily lives, and rise above the usual learning methods of cramming without understanding. The students too find the stories of the periodic elements, the live demos of calculation of simple interest & compound interest, the usage of ratios and proportions in the offers at malls, the activities of making pyramids, cones, cylinders and learning their areas/volumes by cutting them open, etc. very interesting. Regular quizzes, presentations and competitions with handsome prizes help in keeping the spirits of the students high all throughout the sessions. For certain science topics, the volunteers also demonstrate concepts through small experiments.

The project has completed phase I at Sakar English Medium School with a set of over 100 sessions over the last two years, and the plan now is to extend the activities to other nearby schools.

Sakar is not to force Maths or Science upon the students, but to raise them to a level where they take up subjects conscientiously, based upon their interests and not reject them merely out of fear. It is to spark their inquisitive minds with the true magic of Maths and Science, and to provide them the courage to delve deeper.

Nyasa

To promote the welfare of campus construction workers and their families, the IITGN community has started an initiative called 'Nyasa'. The Nyasa team distributed more than 100 woolen clothes to children in winter and organized a community lunch for 400 construction workers and their families on Republic day (January 26, 2011). Students, staff, and faculty come together to organize weekly educational engagement sessions for the children ranging from 3–10 years in age. The activities involve coloring, playing with building blocks, watching interactive and educational plays, and flying kites. During the session, food (like fruits and dairy) that is found missing in the diet of the workers, is also provided. A clothes drive for donation to construction workers has been started in conjunction with service day (May 7, 2011). Nyasa intends to expand its activities into literacy, and compilation of oral histories of these workers. Nyasa currently runs three schools for the children of construction workers. IIT Gandhinagar's construction workers welfare programs won the HUDCO Award for "Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment 2013-14" in April 2014.^[36]

See also

• Indian Institutes of Technology

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Official Website.

• Official Website
• IIT Gandhinagar Foundation

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