Odisha HRD

Adventure diving training institute to come up in Cuttack: Samaja

March 20th, 2010

Institute of Mathematics & Applications at Bhubaneswar may be the only place in India offering a Masters in Computational Finance

Expressbuzz has a report on the success of this program. A yahoo answers posting on this did not lead to any definitive answer. One of the answers there said:

The available course in IIT & IGNOU are not extensive and only covers macro level that to for few hours . This is a combination of Computing,Maths,Physics & Finance (Derivatives & Risk Management) . Let us wait for some more info.

Following is an excerpt from the expressbuzz report about the success of IMA Bhubaneswar’s program.

… With a student of the Institute of Mathematics and Application (IMA) at Andharua getting a job of financial analyst with SunGard Technology, Pune with a package of Rs 9 lakh per annum, the institute is hoping that more students will replicate the success in future with its PG course in computational finance.

In fact, IMA’s computational finance is the only such course offered by any institution in India. With risk and return constituting the major concern for every investor, mathematicians can try to capture patterns vis-a-vis predictability, which may help the former to decide on his/her plan.

Computational finance, otherwise called financial engineering, deals with portfolio selection, options and features, asset pricing, managing derivative markets and hedging uncertainty.

… While another student got a research offer from University of Antwerp, Belgium, another has received an offer from a leading insurance service provider as a risk assessment consultant, he added.

IMA’s bachelor-level course attracts applications from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar besides Orissa. It is encouraging to see applications by some students this year, who had participated in the Rural Mathematics Talent Search examination by the institute way back in 2003, he informed.

With 30 seats in each course, IMA has also got a research exchange programme with University of Western Ontario, Canada and has produced 50 researchers so far in the field.

2 comments March 20th, 2010

Maharashtra preparing proposal for its 3rd medical college to be upgraded to AIIMS level

As per the report in http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59071 Grants Medical College, Mumbai is being upgraded to AIIMS level in the first phase and Govt. Medical College, Nagpur is scheduled to be upgraded to AIIMS level in the second phase. Following news item from Times of India mentions about a third proposal in the making with respect to BJ Medical College Pune.

Plans are afoot to upgrade the city’s B J Medical College and Sassoon hospital to the level of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

… The joint director of medical education and research has directed the dean of B J Medical College to submit a plan to this effect. Confirming this, BJMC and Sassoon hospital dean Arun Jamkar said the plan would cost approximately Rs 350 crore on execution.

… "We have started framing the proposal as directed by the DMER and the blueprint will be submitted in a few days. We hope that it will be translated into reality," said Jamkar.

As we have mentioned several times earlier, the Odisha government should propose the upgrdataion of one of its existing state medical college to the AIIMS level.

March 20th, 2010

Cabinet approves a much larger estimate for the AIIMS-like institutes and upgradations

Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59783.

March 20th, 2010

Some future plans of IIT Bhubaneswar

Following are excerpts from a report in expressbuzz.

IIT Bhubaneswar will have four more schools with inter-disciplinary approach by 2011-end.

While the first one would be on mines, minerals and material technology, the other three would include school of chemicals, school of design and creative arts and earth and ocean sciences.

While the campus construction will start by the year-end, within 10- 15 days the contract would be ready for awarding the architectural and design side of the new campus, said IIT-B Director Prof. Madhusudan Chakraborty.

… Prof. Chakraborty said, however, the institute plans to have a marine campus on the coastline for research on rise in sea-level, effects of climate change, extreme weather conditions, changing ecosystems, air quality and pollution and human health.

… The marine campus will be called Centre for Climate Change and would be established on the lines of marine centres of University of Massachusetts and University of California, he said adding even the varsities have expressed their desire to have future collaborations in research and exchange of faculties and students.

As the marine campus will be very close to the sea, the State Government would be requested at an appropriate time to provide adequate land, he said adding it would have specialists in geology, geophysics, atmospheric and ocean sciences, he added.

Following are some excerpts from a report in Telegraph.

IIT, Bhubaneswar, is planning a marine campus as part of its upcoming School of Earth, Ocean and Environment Science.

The campus, probably be the first marine campus in the country, will study climate, sea level rise, extreme weather events, changing ecosystem, fishery development and wildlife, air quality and pollution, water shortage, human health and hydrological cycles.

Such a campus exists for schools in the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and University of California, Santa Cruz, said IIT, Bhubaneswar, director M. Chakraborty.

Expected to come up by 2011, the school will be “interdisciplinary”, conducting research focusing on geology, geophysics, marine sciences, ocean science, atmospheric science, atmospheric change, disaster mitigation and management, he said.

… The IIT also plans to open three other schools — school of mineral, metallurgy and material engineering, school of chemical sciences and school of design and creative art,” he said.

… “IIT, Bhubaneswar, believes in a border-less academic environment. We do not have departments like other IITs. We are trying to break the barrier so that people from various disciplines come together and work in tandem,” Chakraborty said.

The above plan of IIT Bhubaneswar opens up opportunities for the South Odisha people who wanted the IIT to be located there. If they co-ordinate intelligently (and even offer their own land) they could now have a piece of the IIT. Other parts of coastal Odisha may also go after this.

I think similar opportunities will open up with respect to NISER and AIIMS. In particular, a branch of either in Gandhamardan hill foothills of Balangir/Baragarh in Western Odisha focusing on medicinal plants could be a possibility. (Dr. Sanjib Karmee was championing for an institute like that in that area.)

Water and rain forests are big attractors.

Other locations (such as next to Hirakud or Mandira Dam) could vie for a pie of these national institutes by coming up with an idea about an appropriate research center and approaching the leadership of these institutes.

2 comments March 20th, 2010