Happenings at the Institute

New Faculty Members

Distinguished Lectures

Jagadishwar Mahanty Lecture Series in Physics

Samsonov Memorial Lecture

Student Events

New Faculty Members

Dr. Bushra Ateeq has joined the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering. She obtained her PhD from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
Homepage: http://www.iitk.ac.in/bsbe/bushra.html

Dr. Anand Kumar Jha has joined the Department of Physics. He obtained his PhD from University of Rochester, USA.
Homepage: http://www.iitk.ac.in/phy/New01/profile_AnandJha.html

Dr. Nitin Saxena has joined the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He obtained his PhD from IIT Kanpur.
Homepage: http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/nitin/

Distinguished Lectures

Petro-Tel Distinguished Lecture: Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) gave a talk titled “Neural stem cells in the making of the brain” on 27th February, 2013. In his talk Prof. Raghavan said that a fly landing on a ripe banana negotiates multiple sensory inputs- from odors, its landscape, sounds, the wind, your swatter- and makes an exquisite landing. The insect’s ability to deal with the real-world is assembled before it emerges from its pupal case, raising the natural question about how this developmental sophistication is achieved. He said that paring a behavior, his research group studies how each unit is made and connected to create a coordinated marvel. He said that regional specialization is one unit of examination: what, for example, makes the flight system different from the walking system? At the next level, specialized cell-types can be examined. At the final step, he said that they examine how the units, sense organs, nerves, muscles and tendons, connect to make a circuit that behaves in a particular way. At each level of examination, genes are the indispensable scalpels telling us the identity, function, and placement of ‘nuts, bolts and glue’ in the process of regional, cellular and circuit specialization. He first spoke about how animal behavior is put in place from the earliest stages of development, and then showed how the new results in the development, anatomy and function of neuronal stem cell lineages in the brain of the fly are important for modulating specific behavioral responses.

About the Speaker: Prof. Vijay Raghavan obtained his BTech in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1975 and obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology from Tata Institute in Bombay in 1983. After working in California Institute of Technology, USA as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, he returned to India in 1988 and worked with Obaid Siddiqi and other colleagues to start the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), which has developed into an internationally recognized laboratory for modern biology. NCBS has worked with the Indian Government to expand its campus to add in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), a major new institute for regenerative biology of which Prof. Raghavan was the interim Director. He also developed a research program in muscle and neural development using Drosophila. The Vijay Raghavan lab embarked on a study of motor neuron development and differentiation in collaboration with Prof. Darren Williams at King’s College London, the result of which led to an understanding of the birth order and dendritic positioning in the central nervous system. His laboratory continues to work in this area, in integrating the emergence of neural connectivity with function.
In 1998, Prof. Raghavan received with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur. He also received the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009. He has been conferred the prestigious Padma Shri Award by the Government of India for the year 2013. Since January 2013, Prof. Raghavan is Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

About the Donor: The PetroTel Distinguished Lecture series in Chemical Engineering at IIT Kanpur has been made possible by an endowment from Dr. Anil K. Chopra (B. Tech/ChE/IITK/1976 and recipient of the IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2010). Dr. Chopra obtained his PhD from the University of Houston, USA, in 1982. Currently, Dr. Chopra is the President, CEO and Chairman of PetroTel Inc., USA

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C. N. R. Rao Distinguished lecture: Prof. Debasis Kundu, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, IIT Kanpur gave a talk titled “Analyzing Periodic Data: Statistical Perspectives” on 6th March, 2013. In his talk Prof. Kundu said that we all observe periodic phenomena everyday in our lives; for instance the daily temperature of Delhi, or the number of tourists visiting the famous Taj Mahal, or the ECG data of a normal human being, are clearly periodic in nature. Sometimes, the observations may not be exactly periodic due to different reasons, but they may be nearly periodic. He said that the received data is usually disturbed by various factors. Due to the random nature of the data, statistical techniques play an important role in their analysis. Statistics is also used in the formulation of appropriate models to describe the behavior of the system, in the development of an appropriate technique for estimation of model parameters, and for the assessment of model performances. In his talk he discussed different techniques which have developed over the last twenty-five years for analyzing periodic data, other than the standard Fourier analysis.

About the Speaker: Prof. Debasis Kundu received his BStat in 1982 and MStat in 1984 from the Indian Statistical Institute. He obtained his PhD in 1989 from Pennsylvania State University, after which he worked for a year at the University of Texas at Dallas as a tenure track assistant professor, before joining IIT Kanpur in 1990. Prof. Kundu is currently the Arun Kumar Chair Professor and is also the Head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. His research interests include statistical signal processing, univariate and multivariate probability distributions, statistical computing and data analysis. Prof. Kundu is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 200 research publications and two books. He is on the editorial board of four international journals in the field of Statistics.

About the Donor: Prof. Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao was born on June 30, 1934 in Bangalore. He completed his PhD in 1958 from Purdue University. From 1963-76, he was a Professor of Chemistry at IITK. From 1984-89, he was the Director of IISC Bangalore. Dr. Rao has published more than 45 books and 1500 research papers with more than 42,000 total citations. He was appointed as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister in 2005. He has won several international prizes and is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Royal Society (London). He has also been given the high honors of Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan by the
Government of India. The annual C. N. R. Rao Lecture is supported by a generous donation from Prof. Rao.

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Jagadishwar Mahanty Lecture Series in Physics: Prof. Vinay Ambegaokar, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York gave a lecture titled “Entropy and Time” on 13th March, 2013. In his talk Prof. Ambegaokar discussed the emergence of direction of time in elementary statistical mechanics from an underlying motion-reversal invariant dynamics. He used the urn model of P. and T. Ehrenfest, generalized to finite temperature, to illustrate the main points. The manner in which time-reversal symmetry is preserved and the role of initial conditions were emphasized. The transformation of the principle of no decrease of entropy for an isolated system to the principle of no increase of free energy for a system at fixed temperature was demonstrated using simple analytic and numerical methods, including reliable estimates of errors.

About the speaker: Prof. Vinay Ambegaokar is currently the Goldwain Smith Professor of Physics Emeritus, Cornell University. He obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics, from Carnegie Institute of Technology, USA in 1960. Prof. Ambegaokar has received several awards and honours like the Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1965-1967; medal of the University of Helsinki, 1971; Fellow, American Physical Society, 1979; J. S. Guggenheim Fellow, 1983-84; medal of the College de France, 1986; Humboldt Foundation Senior U. S. Scientist, 1986, 1990.
His research interests are in the area of low temperature and condensed matter physics. His current work focuses on some aspects of disordered metallic conductors, on quantum information and its loss through ‘decoherence', and on mathematical ways of describing these phenomena.

About the donor: Prof. Jagadishwar Mahanty Lecture Series in Physics has been instituted by Dr. Siddharth Mahanty in memory of his father, Prof. Jagdishwar Mahanty, who was a faculty member in the Department of Physics at IIT Kanpur from 1961-1972.

About Professor Jagadishwar Mahanty: Prof. Mahanty was born on 20th July 1932 in Puri, Orissa. After his MSc in Physics from Calcutta University, he worked for several years at the National Physical Laboratory. In 1956, he went to the University of Maryland, USA for his doctoral degree. After completing his PhD in 1960 he joined Punjab University, Chandigarh and subsequently joined the Physics department of IIT Kanpur in 1961. He was instrumental in shaping the Physics department during its infancy. He made important contributions to condensed matter physics, particularly to the study of many body physics, lattice dynamics, van-der-Waals interactions and the electronic structure of solids.
He was the Head of the Physics department from 1967 to 1972. In 1971, Prof. Mahanty decided to concentrate on his own research and gave up the administrative responsibility. In 1972, he joined the prestigious Australian National University and superannuated from there in July 1995 due to ill health.
Prof. Mahanty was an excellent physicist with a very modest and kind personality. His helpful nature to both students and colleagues was a great asset of his character. He was a warm and caring person who is greatly missed by his family and friends.

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Samsonov Memorial Lecture: Prof. G. S. Upadhyaya gave a talk titled “Sintering Research: Past, Present and Future” on 1st March, 2013. In his talk Prof. Upadhyaya said that sintering is a major step in forming material from particulates, starting from ores, metals or composites. It can be performed without pressure or under pressure. In his talk he discussed the former – material forming without pressure. He said that pressureless sintering can be again classified into solid state or liquid phase sintering. There are many approaches for the theoretical analysis of solid state sintering viz. scaling laws, analytical models, numerical simulations, topological models, statistical models, phenomenological equations and the electronic model for sintering. In his talk Prof. Upadhyaya spoke more about the analytical models, which involve three stages of sintering i.e. the initial, intermediate and final stages. He said that in liquid phase sintering the mechanism involves contact flattening and pore filling. Each one of these was explained at length in his talk. He concluded his talk by explaining the sintering aspects of nanostructured materials and said that in activated sintering, the role of the electronic structures of the component atoms is very crucial.

About the Speaker: Prof. Gopal Shankar Upadhyaya joined the department of Metallurgical Engineering (now Materials Science and Engineering), IIT Kanpur in 1976 as Professor. Prior to that he was Associate professor at the University of Roorkee. He obtained his PhD from the Kiev Institute of Technology, Ukraine in 1969 under the guidance of the internationally renowned Materials Scientist Prof. G.V. Samsonov. Prof. Upadhyaya has published more than 300 papers and has authored/edited 16 books. He has served on the Advisory Boards of practically all the major conferences and journals in powder metallurgy. Prof. Upadhyaya retired from IIT Kanpur in 2001, and currently resides in Varanasi. Prof. Upadhyaya himself has initiated this lecture series in the memory of his mentor Professor G. V. Samsonov.

About Professor G. V. Samsonov (1918-1975): Prof. Grigorii Valentinovich Samsonov was born on 15th February 1918 in a town near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). After earning his first degree at the Nonferrous Metals Institute in Moscow, he joined the Soviet Navy. At the end of the Second World War, he was stationed in the Soviet occupied zone of Austria. It was here he became interested in extensive refractory metals and their compounds. After the cessation of the war, Prof. Samsonov returned to Moscow and resumed his higher studies and research under the guidance of Prof. M. A. Merson (Institute of Steel and Alloys), a noted powder metallurgist of the then USSR. After completion of his PhD degree, Prof. Samsonov joined the Institute of Metalkeramika (powder metallurgy) in the Ukrainian Academy of Science at Kiev as a senior scientist. The Institute was later renamed “Institute of Materials Problem.” Within a few years, he was elevated to the post of Deputy Director. Simultaneously, he was invited to head the Powder Metallurgy Department of the Kiev Institute of Technology. Prof. Samsonov made seminal contributions to the structure-properties-processing-performance relations of inorganic materials such as carbides, nitrides, borides, silicides, germanides, selenides, phosphides. Prof. Samsonov authored nearly 1500 papers. He also authored/edited 50 books and monographs including the seminal book “Configurational Model of Matter”. He has mentored several students who are now spread throughout the world.

Institute Lectures

Prof. Chaitanyamoy Ganguly, retired Distinguished Scientist, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India gave a talk titled “Nuclear Fission Energy, a Sustainable and Environmental friendly option for electricity – Challenges” on 1st February 2013. Prof. Ganguly obtained his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur. Dr. Ganguly has published more than 250 research papers and has guided several PhD and MTech students. He has served at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai as Head, Radiometallurgy Division and at the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad as Chairman and Chief Executive. He has also been the Director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), of Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI), Kolkata and was the Head, Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section at the IAEA in Vienna. Prof. Ganguly has received many honours and awards like the National Metallurgist Award of the Ministry of Steel and Mines, the Tata Gold medal, the Kamani Gold Medal and the Binani Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals, the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) medal and Vasvik Award. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Science, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Science, the Institution of Engineers, the Indian Institute of Metals and the Indian Institute of Ceramics. Prof. Ganguly was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002.

For details visit: http://www.iitk.ac.in/dord/institutelecture/2012/CGanguly.pdf

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Dr. Manvendra K. Dubey, Senior Scientist, Earth Systems Observations, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA gave a talk titled “Chemistry, Carbon and Climate Science to Meet the 21st Century Energy Challenge” on 12th February 2013. Dr. Dubey obtained his PhD in chemical physics from Harvard University. For 16 years, he has been at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Climate Observations Program Manager and the Climate Focus Lead. His project “Indo-US Science Collaboration to Guide Air Quality and Climate Policy,” in which IIT Kanpur is a leading player will expand state-of-the-art climate and air-quality observational networks in India. Dr. Dubey is an editor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. He was an editor for Geophysical Research Letters and helped the U. S. National Academies review the US climate research plan. He is an active American Geophysical Unit (AGU) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) member and has convened special sessions on timely topics at the nexus of energy and environment.

For details visit: http://www.iitk.ac.in/dord/institutelecture/2012/Manvendra_K_Dubey.pdf

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Prof. Ananth Dodabalapur, Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professor, University of Texas at Austin, USA gave a talk titled “Polymer and Printable Transistors: Recent Advances” on 14th March, 2013. Dr. Dodabalapur obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. Since 1992 he has investigated various aspects of the physics and technology of organic and polymer semiconductor devices. He has published more than 150 articles in refereed journals and has 27 US patents. He is a co-recipient of the 2002 National award for team innovation of the American Chemical Society, and a co-recipient of an R&D 100 award for 2001. He has been with the University of Texas at Austin since September, 2001 and is the Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professor in Engineering, and also holds the June and Gene Gillis Endowed Faculty Fellowship. His present research includes organic and inorganic thin-film transistors, chemical sensors, photovoltaics and thin-film circuits. In 2003, he co-founded OrganicID, a company that is investigating using printable polymer electronics to fabricate low-cost RFID tags for the 13.56 MHz frequency.

For details visit: http://www.iitk.ac.in/dord/institutelecture/2012/Prof_Ananth_Dodabalapur.pdf

Workshops, Conferences and Meets

Symposium on Security and Privacy: The Department of Computer Science and Engineering organized a ‘Symposium on Security and Privacy’ from 28th February to 2nd March, 2013. The objective of this workshop was to:

1) bring together the student, faculty, and researcher community in India to discuss the latest trend, and progress in the area of security and privacy
2) expose the Indian fraternity of security and privacy to international speakers and topics of work
3) develop a community of security and privacy researchers and students in India.
The symposium had a keynote, talks, poster presentations and panel discussions.

For details on the symposium, speakers and talks please visit: http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/sps2013/index.html

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WINDY-2013, a workshop on ‘Wind Tunnel Testing- Techniques and Applications’ was organized by the National Wind Tunnel Facility, IIT Kanpur, from 22 – 23 March, 2013. The objective of the workshop was to bring together professionals from the large scale wind tunnel facilities in the country and the tunnel users from the industry, R&D and academia to share the advances in testing techniques and practices. This meeting tried to provide a national forum to discuss strategies towards sustained developmental activities in wind tunnel testing techniques, to present experimental research in aerodynamics and to plan such annual events.

The two day workshop covered modern wind tunnel testing practices in various facilities across the country in the aeronautical and non-aeronautical areas. Academicians, scientists, and engineers working in areas related to WT testing, wind tunnel users from various organizations like DRDO, CSIR, ISRO, DST, HAL, aerospace, automobile, and civil engineering industries and PG Students working in WT testing areas participated in the workshop.

For program details and other information please visit the workshop website: http://www.iitk.ac.in/aero/home/index.php/latest-news/87-latest-events/152-windy-2013

About the National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) at IIT Kanpur: NWTF is a 3m x 2.25m low speed closed circuit wind tunnel with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation. It was established at IIT Kanpur, as a national facility, to meet the national needs in the areas of aeronautical and non-aeronautical related R&D work. NWTF is equipped with modern instrumentation and control systems, supplemented by specialized equipment. The facility is available for experimental studies and developmental activities, for applications in aerospace and defence industries,for the civil engineering design industry, for the automotive industry, for air pollutant dispersion studies, and for wind engineering.

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Obituary

Professor P. T. Narasimhan (former faculty member, Department of Chemistry) passed away on May 3rd, 2013 in Sunnyvale, California, USA after a long illness. He was 84 years old.

Prof. Narasimhan, affectionately known as PTN to his many colleagues and students, was born in 1928 in Cuddalore, India. He obtained his PhD in physical chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He did post-graduate work at Michigan State University in the US and subsequently held faculty positions at Michigan State University, University of Illinois and Columbia University in the United States. He returned to India in 1962 as one of the early faculty members at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Over the next twenty five years, he established himself not only as a dedicated teacher but also as a leader in the fields of magnetic resonance and theoretical physical chemistry. He was instrumental in building IIT Kanpur into one of the preeminent centers of academic research in the basic sciences. After his retirement from IIT Kanpur in 1987, Prof. Narasimhan moved to the United States and began a new phase of his research by looking into novel medical and biological applications of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, first in association with the Huntington Memorial Research Institute and later at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Prof. Narasimhan was accorded numerous recognitions for his contributions to science. He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (1970), Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences (1972), also serving as their General Secretary from 1977-1981) and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (1973). He was awarded the prestigious Sri Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award in the Chemical Sciences (1970). In 2013, in recognition of his services he was awarded the title of Institute Fellow by the Board of Directors of IIT, Kanpur. Throughout his career, Prof. Narasimhan also enjoyed a reputation as an inspiring teacher and sought after mentor to scores of young undergraduate and graduate students. Outside science, music was Prof. Narasimhan’s abiding passion- he was a strong supporter of Indian Classical music and was himself an accomplished flautist in the Indian Carnatic musical tradition, performing in India and later on in the United States.

Prof. Narasimhan is survived by his wife Leena and their children Dr. Nalini Murdter, Dr. Vikram Narasimhan and Dr. Nandini Narayan and six grandchildren.

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The first Alumni Convention of IIT Kanpur took place in IIT Delhi on 3rd March, 2013. The aim of the Alumni Convention was to have a common platform where IITK alumni from all over the world would be able to get-together to meet and interact with each other and explore how the Alumni Association can be more vibrant, relevant and useful for the alumni, for IIT Kanpur and for the nation. The convention was organized by the Alumni Association, IIT Kanpur - Outer Delhi Chapter on behalf of the Alumni Association IIT Kanpur.

Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kanpur, was the Chief Guest. Nearly 600 alumni and 30 retired faculty of the Institute took part in the convention. The function was graced by technocrats, entrepreneurs, civil servants, scientists, academicians and senior corporate leaders, Padma Award winners of 2013 - Prof. Ashok Sen (MSc2/PHY/78), Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande (PhD/ME/75), Prof. Manindra Agrawal (BT/PhD/CSE/86/92) and Prof. K. Vijay Raghvan (BT/MT/CHE/75/77) of 2013, Prof. Indranil Manna (Director, IIT Kanpur) and Prof. R. K. Shevgaonkar (Director, IIT Delhi), and many distinguished and eminent IIT Kanpur alumni.

For more details please visit: http://www.iitkaaconvention.org/