“Science is a universal language that surpasses borders and cultures”

India has declared 2010-20 as the “Decade of Innovation”. With this background, a Workshop on Innovations in Science and Technology was organized to motivate our young budding engineers and researchers to involve themselves in the development of the nation. The objective of the Workshop was to give an overview of the present state of knowledge of science and technology as well as to generate innovative research ideas amongst the B. Tech. students and scientific community in general.

The workshop was aimed to strengthen and to raise understanding of capacity building of budding engineers, enabling them to proactively search for state-of-the-art technologies. The one-day workshop with resource person Dr. Krishan Kant, Principal, Aggarwal College, Ballabhgarh and participants from various departments of MRIIRS proved to be very constructive. The workshop began with traditional lighting of wisdom lamp by Dr. N.C. Wadhwa VC, MRIIRS; Dr. M. K. Soni, Pro-VC, MRIIRS; Dr. Krishna Kant, Executive Director & Dean, FET; Dr. S.K. Chakarvarti, Advisor – Research, MRIIRS; and HODs of various departments of MRIIRS. Dr. Devi Singh, HOD-Physics, delivered his opening remarks by focusing on the importance of innovations in science and technology and research prospects for the future generation.

Dr. N. C. Wadhwa, VC, MRIIRS said, “When creativity starts looking for a solution, forces of nature unite and help bright minds to find proper solution”. While taking a round of the model / poster exhibition, Dr. N.C. Wadhwa encouraged the students to transform their thoughts into reality and said that MRIIRS would always support them through Manav Rachna Innovation and Incubation Centre (MRIIC). Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr. M. K. Soni motivated the students and researchers to perform better in the field of technology innovations. He emphasized upon the effective functioning of MRIIC. Dr. Soni assured to all the innovators that they can avail the supporting facilities at MRIIC. Dr. S. K. Chakarvarti, Advisor, MRIIC shared his personal experience on how to convert ones’ innovations into Patents. To motivate the present gathering, Dr. Chakarvarti narrated a slogan “Be Innovative, Be Change” and also shared success stories of Thomas Edison and many Noble laureates.

In his talk on “Radiation Induced Malignancy in Humans: High Vs Low Level Radiation”, Dr. Krishan Kant, Principal, Aggarwal PG College emphasized to give some basic scientific facts about Radiation and Health, and how radiation pose risks to the health of the public.  He also discussed the effects of radiation on cells at atomic level, radiation exposure, radiation and environment, radiation effects on human cells, various hypotheses of radiation. Dr. Kant said, ‘New concepts raise new questions always’. During his visit to the exhibition, he advised the students to participate in competitions happening at higher levels to showcase their innovative ideas and talents. In addition to this, he also elaborated the three I’s: Imagination, Investigation and Implementation. He ended his lecture with a talk on the future research on basic sciences and its technological applications.

Around 135 students of First Year B. Tech. of various branches presented their working projects and posters with their unique ideas. Some of the ideas were very innovative like Electricity Generation from Running Vehicles, KO Purifier, Electrostatic Precipitator, Charging Shoes, Automated Soil Irrigation System, Hover Craft and Piezo-Electric Effect. The Posters were based on the applications of science and technology for the benefit of the society.

The evaluation of the displayed projects and posters was executed by the esteemed judges Dr. Ran Vijay Singh, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Shruti Vashisth, Professor, ECE, MRIIRS. On the basis of the judgment First, Second & Third Prizes were given to the projects: Automated Soil Irrigation System, Charging Shoes and Generation from Running Vehicles respectively. An appreciation prize was also given to the model Hover Craft. In the poster category, First, Second and Third Prizes were given to Godfathers of Physics, Superconductivity and Quantum Information respectively.

The fervent participation of faculty members and presentation by students along with the informative talk sessions by invited speaker testified to the success story of the workshop.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Devi Singh, Convener and Head, Department of Physics with a motivational enforcement to involve the students in innovative activities in the future as well.