Institute of Mathematics and Applications (Bhubaneswar) comes of age; has 9 regular faculty now

The Institute of Mathematics and Applications Bhubaneswar now has 9 regular faculty and several guest faculty. Its 9 regular faculty are:

In comparison, the more established Institute of Phyiscs (IOP), Bhubaneswar currently has 18 regular faculty and 4 open positions and the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar has 13 regular faculty and is recruiting.

In terms of academic programs, IMA offers a B.Sc(Hons) in Mathematics and Computing and an M.A/M.Sc in Computational Finance. It also supervises Ph.D and post-doctoral students. It has plans to introduce a 5 yr integrated Computer Science program and a 5 yr integrated B.Math/M.Math program. The National Board for Higher Mathematics, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India has agreed to fund the B.Math/M.Math programme. It is also involved in Math olympiads, RMTS (Rural Math Talen Search) and mathematics training camps for school students to prepare them for olympiads.

In contrast IOP offers predoc (M.Phil), doctoral (Ph.D) and post-doctoral programs and ILS offers only Ph.D and post-doctoral programs.

2 comments January 31st, 2011

Details emerging on Vedanta Science College in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

Prof. Gopabandhu Behera and Dr. A. K. Nanda, who are also the Governing Body member of Vedanta Science College were also present. 

Mr.C Joseph, in-charge of the Vedanta Science College, Nabakrushna Panda, Principal, Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, S P Nanda, Principal, Government, Women’s College, Bhawanipatna, Sudershan Rath, Principal, Bisamcuttack College and Bharat Rath, Principal Rayagada Government College also graced the conference.

The objective of the conference was to make the people conscious about the value of science education at degree level as well as to discuss about the proposed Vedanta Science College at Lanjigarh. 

Dr. Kumar, President and COO, VAL, said, “Vedanta Science College was a long pending demand of the people of Western Ordisha. 

He said that Vedanta is committed to create a state of art Science College that will promote quality science education in Western Odisha. 

Quality Science education can help in developing technical manpower for industrialization in the state, he added. 

The proposed Vedanta Science College will start its academic session from 2011. 

The institution will provide education in subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Mathematics, Zoology, and Environmental Science.

It should be noted that there are very few (could be zero) fully private (i.e., without depending on state grants) science colleges in Odisha. Even the government ones and private ones that depend on state grants do not have good infrastructure and do not have adequate quality faculty. The more well known private higher education institutions of the state focus on trade oriented disciplines like engineering, management, medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology etc. so that they can charge adequate amount of student tuition. This includes deemed universities like KIIT and SOA and the private state university Centurion. None have science programs at the Bachelors level.

So if the Vedanta Science college in Lanjigarh becomes a good quality science college, then it would be a big boon to Kalahandi and Rayagada districts and hopefully it will also encourage other private groups to establish similar colleges.

January 31st, 2011

IIT Bhubaneswar landscape in January 2011

January 30th, 2011

NISER Bhubaneswar boundary as visible from the Jatani – Khurda road

January 30th, 2011

Navadiganta trust proposes medical colleges at Baripada and Jharsuguda: Dharitri

1 comment January 29th, 2011

Vedanta University – Its importance to Odisha and India. Version 1.3 (Report by Odisha World-Class Universities Support Group)

The report is at http://bit.ly/vu-report .

Current Members of “Odisha World-Class Universities Support Group” that are listed in that report are: 

Academics

1. Dr. Abani Patra, Professor, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA
2. Dr. Amiya Kumar Rath, Professor and Director, College of Engineering (CEB), Bhubaneswar
3. Dr. Arun Pujari, Professor, University of Hyderabad (Currently Vice Chancellor, Sambalpur University, Odisha)
4. Dr. Chitta Baral, Professor, Arizona State University, USA
5. Dr. Chitta Ray, Professor, University of Hawaii, USA
6. Dr. Dhanada Mishra, Chairman, Human Development Foundation, Bhubaneswar
7. Dr. Durga Mishra, Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
8. Dr. Gautam Das, Professor, University of Texas at Arlington, USA
9. Dr. Manmohan Mohanti, Retired Professor (Emeritus), Geology, Utkal University (Currently at Nimapara near Bhubaneswar)
10. Dr. Nihar Ranjan Das, Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi
11. Nitai Dhal, Trustee, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar
12. Dr. Pranay Swain, UNICEF-OPEPA, ex-faculty IIM Calcutta (Currently at Bhubaneswar)
13. Dr. Prasant Mohapatra, Professor, University of California at Davis, USA
14. Dr. Rabi Mahapatra, Professor, Texas A & M University, USA
15. Dr. Rabi Nayak, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (retired), Currently at NISER Bhubaneswar
16. Dr. Ramakrushna Pradhan, Research Scholar, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi
17. Sahadeva Sahoo, Ex-Vice Chancellor OUAT, Ex-Chief Secretary Government of Odisha (Currently at Bhubaneswar)
18. Sanjeev Nayak, Trustee, Silicon Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar
19. Dr. Sumanta Swain, Senior Research Officer, International Institute of Health Management Research New Delhi
20. Dr. Siba P. Misra, Retired Professor and Director, Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar, Ex-President Orissa Bigyan Academy, Ex-President Orissa Information Technology Society (Resides in Bhubaneswar)
21. Dr. Sunil Sarangi, Professor, IIT Kharagpur, Ex-Director, NIT Rourkela, Odisha
22. Dr. Supriti Mishra, Fullbright Scholar, Professor, HDF Business School, Bhubaneswar
23. Dr. Trailokya Nath Naik, Ex-Deputy Director, National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, Currently at Bhubaneswar after a stint at NISER, Bhubaneswar.

 Others (some associated with academia)

1. Basant Barik, Credit Suisse, Singapore
2. Devasis Sarangi, Invest Bhubaneswar and the upcoming TIE Odisha Chapter, Bhubaneswar
3. Dhirendra Kar, Entrepreneur, North Carolina USA and Bhubaneswar
4. Nirakar Sahoo, NRO in Maryland, USA (VSSUT Graduate)
5. Pradosh Sahoo, Student at an IIT, Bhubaneswar
6. Priyadarshi Mishra, Chairperson, Skill Odisha Initiative, Bhubaneswar
7. Purna Mohanty, Technology Entrepreneur and SEED Investor, Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Member, TiE Silicon Valley, Member, Invest Bhubaneswar Silicon Valley
8. Sujeet Jena, Financial Controller, University of New South Wales Foundation, Australia
9. Surya Rath, Editor of Artfair, Bhubaneswar/Puri
10. Tejeswar Parida, President, Delhi Odisha Students Association (DOSA), Delhi
11. Umashankar Das, Entrepreneur Hyderabad/Bangalore  

(Note: A facebook site in support of Vedanta University has about 1200 “likes” and its companion facebook account has about 500 “friends”; about 300 of them are common. The site is http://www.facebook.com/vedantau and the account is http://www.facebook.com/vedantauniv.)

2 comments January 29th, 2011

India’s Supreme Court takes up the appeal by the Odisha government and Vedanta University against the high court judgment

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

 

The Supreme Court on Friday admitted petitions of Anil Agarwal Foundation and the Orissa government challenging the Orissa High Court , which ruled acquisition of over 6,000 hectares for an international university in Puri was illegal. …

The state government and Anil Agarwal Foundation, in separate special leave petitions told the apex court that the appellant foundation is a public limited company under the Companies Act.

The state government argued that the land acquired for the mega university was not illegal. The high court had held that land acquisition was not permissible under Section 40(1)( a) of the Land Acquisition Act. Earlier, two different benches of the apex court refused to hear the case as one judge, each, was linked to the adjudication of the issue earlier. The petitions were admitted by a bench comprising Justice DK Jain and Justice HL Dattu.

… Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had made a statement in the assembly denying that an ordinance was passed to build the university. "The reference to the ordinance is baffling. The fact is that no ordinance has ever been promulgated by the government for establishing the proposed Vedanta University. Under the UGC Regulations , 2003, a university can be set up by an Act of Parliament or state legislature by a Section 25 company or a trust or a registered society. The promoter of the proposed university, the foundation is a "not for profit" company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act" .

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indian Express. 

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Orissa government to maintain status quo on acquisition of 6,000 hectares of land for setting up an international university by UK-based Vedanta group in the holy city of Puri.

A Bench of Justices D K Jain and H L Dattu passed the order on appeals filed by the Orissa government and the Anil Agarwal Foundation against an Orissa High Court decision that land acquisition procedures for the proposed university project was illegal.

This has been widely reported in various media but most have not analysed the ruling properly. The best analysis is done in the Odia paper Sambada. Following are screen copies from its site.

January 29th, 2011

IIT Bhubaneswar gets the largest endowment for a chair professorship in India?

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The State-based MGM Group, which is one of the oldest mines operators and setting up an integrated steel plant in Dhenkanal district, has upgraded its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the city-based Indian Institute of Technology in July last year, for establishing a chair professor of Eminence for five years to MGM chair professor on a permanent basis.

The revised MoU was signed here on Monday between director of IIT Bhubaneswar Prof M Chakraborty and MGM group chairman Dr RL Mohanty for establishing the MGM chair professor in Minerals, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering in the IIT on a permanent basis. For the purpose, the MGM group has agreed to raise the corpus of `1.5 crore promised earlier to `3 crore. It is the largest endowment for a chair professorship in India.

January 28th, 2011

VTU to start 180 crore Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technologies (VIAT), an exclusive graduate school offering cutting-edge research-incentive programmes

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

In the 17 years of its existence, one of India’s largest technical universities — Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) — hasn’t had a constituent institute to call its own.

Come August, the Belgaum-headquartered university with nearly 180 affiliated engineering colleges, will start Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technologies (VIAT), an exclusive graduate school offering cutting-edge research-incentive programmes.

To be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 180-crore, VIAT will be located on a 200-acre campus at Muddenahalli, birthplace of Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya. In the maiden year, VIAT will offer MTech programmes in at least five areas at four campuses in Bangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga and Belgaum.

"VIAT will be designed on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science. Some of the programmes we have drawn up are exclusive to the institute; no engineering college in the state is currently offering them," says VTU vice-chancellor H Maheshappa.

All four campuses of the proposed institute will have a dedicated centre specializing in a chosen area. IT capital Bangalore will house Centre for C3 Technologies — Control, Communication and Computation. Centre for Materials and Manufacturing Technologies will come up in Mysore and Centre for Engery and Environmental Technologies will be housed at the Gulbarga campus. At Belgaum, the Centre for Resources and Geosystems Technology will be set up.

… "To ensure quality research, we have designed a new model of autonomy for VIAT. While a full time director will look after the overall affairs of the institute, each centre will have a research council headed by an eminent scientist or a technocrat," adds Maheshappa.

WHAT’S ON OFFER

* Bangalore (Muddenahalli) campus: MTech in cyberphysical systems, biomedical engineering and biotechnology

* Mysore campus: MTech in advanced engineering materials and advanced manufacturing technologies

* Gulbarga campus: MTech in energy and environmental engineering, renewable energy engineering and management and energy and sustainable development.

* Belgaum campus: MTech in water resources engineering and management and geosystems engineering

When BPUT, Rourkela was formed there were plans for 5 institutes under BPUT. I am not sure what the status of those proposed institutes are. I think 1-2 of them started in BPUT’s constituent colleges. But I could not find any information in BPUT’s website.  Perhaps BPUT can borrow some ideas from VTU and establish similar centers.

January 27th, 2011

Test taking enhances learning; So regular tests given by coaching classes are good

The latest issue of the Science magazine talks about research that establishes the importance of test taking to learning. See http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/01/19/science.1199327 for the abstract of that study. The New York Times article on that Science article at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=1 says it in simpler words. Following are some excerpts.

Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.

… But “when we use our memories by retrieving things, we change our access” to that information, Dr. Bjork said. “What we recall becomes more recallable in the future. In a sense you are practicing what you are going to need to do later.”

It may also be that the struggle involved in recalling something helps reinforce it in our brains.

Maybe that is also why students who took retrieval practice tests were less confident about how they would perform a week later.

“The struggle helps you learn, but it makes you feel like you’re not learning,” said Nate Kornell, a psychologist at Williams College. “You feel like: ‘I don’t know it that well. This is hard and I’m having trouble coming up with this information.’ ”

By contrast, he said, when rereading texts and possibly even drawing diagrams, “you say: ‘Oh, this is easier. I read this already.’ ”

… Testing, of course, is a highly charged issue in education, drawing criticism that too much promotes rote learning, swallows valuable time for learning new things and causes excessive student anxiety.

“More testing isn’t necessarily better,” said Dr. Linn, who said her work with California school districts had found that asking students to explain what they did in a science experiment rather than having them simply conduct the hands-on experiment — a version of retrieval practice testing — was beneficial. “Some tests are just not learning opportunities. We need a different kind of testing than we currently have.”

Dr. Kornell said that “even though in the short term it may seem like a waste of time,” retrieval practice appears to “make things stick in a way that may not be used in the classroom.

“It’s going to last for the rest of their schooling, and potentially for the rest of their lives.”

What the above study means is that the coaching classes of India, especially the ones that coach for IIT have it somewhat right. The regular tests they do indeed make the students learn better.

However, many of the coaching classes take up so much time that students do not participate in other scientific activities such as doing experiments. As a result many students coming out of the coaching classes do not have much idea about doing hands-on experiments. Another criticism of coaching classes is that many students just learn the problem solving patterns without really learning the basics.

January 24th, 2011

Private State Universities of India as listed in the UGC site as of 18th Jan 2011

Following is from http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/privateuniversity.html.

January 24th, 2011

Update on Centurion University of Technology and Management Parlakhemundi, Odisha

Their website is http://www.cutm.ac.in/. The university name appears in the UGC website of private universities at http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/privateuniversity.html as well as in the Government of Odisha list of universities at http://www.orissa.gov.in/Portal/ViewDetails.asp?vchglinkid=GL014&vchplinkid=PL070. Their 2011 brochure is available at http://www.cutm.ac.in/downloads/public/CUTM-Brochure-2011.pdf. The university was inaugurated by the CM on January 22 2011.

3 comments January 23rd, 2011

International Management Institute New Delhi Requires Director for its Bhubaneshwar & Delhi Campuses

Following is from http://www.imi.edu/Admin/WhatsNew/Uploads/directorAD.pdf.

International Management Institute New Delhi Requires Director for its Bhubaneshwar & Delhi Campuses

Candidate should have

1. PhD/ Fellow in Management related Disciplines from a leading University/ Institute (India or abroad).

2. Age – 45 -60

3. Published research papers in Peer-reviewed Journals, e.g.: Journals of leading IIMs, referred International Journals, etc.

4. Experience – at least 15 years, teaching experience/ Research/ Industry Experience with minimum 10 years as Full Professor in a leading Institution.

5. Consultancy / MDP – desirable to have extensive experience in Consultancy and Training

6. Networking  — Should have done professional networking for business development with various professional bodies, Institutions, and or Government bodies.

7. High credibility in Education field and industry

Compensation is best in the industry. Interested applicants may apply by February 5, 2011 to director@imi.edu

January 22nd, 2011

Construction status of AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar

Following is from a report in TOI.

A barren stretch of land interspersed with a few rickety structures, construction equipment and promontories of red earth are all that greets a visitor at the proposed site for AIIMS here. While in Bhopal, Patna, Rishikesh and Jodhpur, the construction work of the hospital is nearing completion, Bhubaneswar is still struggling with bricks and mortar, making its ability to meet the construction deadline of mid-2012 an unattainable target.

At Sijua village on the outskirts of the city, where the speciality health centre is coming up, only foundation work was visible. The residential buildings are only 30 per cent complete. Even engineers felt the deadline for the 978-bed hospital, under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, with 15 super speciality and 18 speciality wards, would be difficult to meet.

The civil work for the residential buildings, including type-2, type-3 quarters and bungalows for the AIIMS director, which started in the last week of May 2010, is supposed to be completed by August 2011 (in 15 months).

Similarly, work for the medical college and hospital buildings, which started in the middle of September 2010, is supposed to be completed by September 2012 (24 months from the commencement of work). "The deadline will be hard to meet," said an engineer. …

But deputy secretary, Union ministry of health, Sube Singh, is confident the project will be commissioned in time in the second half of 2012. "The initial hurdles have been removed. The work is going on at a good pace," he said.

A fortnightly progress review of the Rs 820.49-crore project is being done by the health ministry.

The progress in the past two months has been satisfactory, another senior health department official said. Procurement of medical equipment and allied work are being undertaken simultaneously to avoid delay in commissioning of the hospital, he said.

I went to construction site. Indeed there has not been a whole lot of progress. But I could see construction going on in a break-neck speed. The person in charge seemed very hard working and it seemed like things were under control. My impression was that they could do enough construction to start classes in 2012. 

January 21st, 2011

12th plan spending on education to go up to $100 Billion from the 11th plan estimaite of $70 Billion

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

"We will be spending close to $100 billion on education in the 12th plan period. This will be in addition to around $20 billion investment on IT," Pitroda said at the ninth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) here.

He said the government was taking measures to open up the education sector for more private and overseas investments.

"We have to liberalise the education system. What we did to the economy in 1991 needs to be done to the education now," said Pitorda, who is also the head of National Innovation Council .

He said the government had shown commitment to revolutionise the education system but the pace of development was not satisfactory.

"We have made recommendations. Minister has to act. So far, they have not acted to my satisfaction," Pitroda said, referring to the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission .

January 9th, 2011

After successfully persuading MCL and NTPC, Odisha now aims to push SAIL and NALCO for medical colleges in Odisha

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The Orissa government has urged the central public sector undertakings (PSUs) operating in the state to help it set up medical colleges in the state.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the progress of various proposed medical colleges in the state.

At present, the state has six medical colleges. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Mahanadi Coal Field Limited (MCL) have agreed to set up two medical colleges.

MCL has agreed to set up a medical college at Talcher. NTPC too has agreed in principle to the proposal. It is yet to decide the location of the new college.

The state government has also approached Nalco and SAIL to help develop the state in this regard.

Investment to the tune of Rs 150 crore is needed for a medical college with a capacity to enrol 100 students per annum.

Pursuing SAIL and NALCO for medical colleges is a good step.

January 8th, 2011