science and technology – The KGP Chronicle

Prof. Debdeep Mukhopadhyay Awarded The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize For Science And Technology, 2021

Prof. Debdeep Mukhopadhyay of the Computer Science and Engineering Department was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize For Science And Technology 2021 in Engineering Sciences for notable and outstanding research in Cryptography, Information Security, System Security, CAD for VLSI & Embedded Systems, and Cyber-Physical Systems Security.

Prof. Mukhopadhyay completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and continued with his Ph.D. at the Computer Science department. After a brief teaching stint at IIT Madras, he returned to Kharagpur and embarked on a stellar teaching career. His research involves implementing cryptographic engineering to identify and thwart attack surfaces and side-channel attacks and ensure end-to-end encryption in smartphones and laptops.

In his chat with The KGP Chronicle, he mentioned that he was fortunate to have the opportunity to learn and grow amongst brilliant minds and hardworking researchers during his formative years at the institute. Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti found a special mention as an inspiring mentor who motivated his research endeavors.

Dedicating this award to his late father Mr. Niharendu Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Mukhopadhyay said that he was working in his lab when he got the news of the award. He thanked his family for their constant support. He also mentioned that the award resulted from a ‘baby-step-giant- step’ philosophy in conducting research; he accumulated simple, achievable research goals into a significant result.

He finds joy in breaking through research dead ends and is never shy of taking up new challenges. He is working on a problem considered the “holy grail of computing” in his latest research. In his Secure Embedded Architecture Lab, he develops techniques to ensure data encryption and simultaneously perform search and analytics functions.

As a message to students and young researchers, he asked them to keep faith in themselves and not always be swayed by market-based topics. He asked them to “never forget the fundamentals, concentrate on small, simple, doable goals, and accumulate them into great results.”

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

It’s Time for Young Innovators

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IIT Kharagpur has launched the Young Innovators Program 2019, a global science and technology competition empowering greenhorns to solve real-life challenges through innovations. Registration for the third edition of this popular event has started on July 18, 2019.

YIP is a unique program of IIT Kharagpur aimed at igniting the innovative young minds of school children. The competition aims to recognize the creative ability of students studying in classes VIII – X towards sci-tech innovations in thematic areas of global relevance. The thematic areas for YIP 2019 include

Energy and Environment
Health and Cleanliness
Hardware Modelling,
Product Designing
Disaster Management and
Financial Inclusion

Students will conceptualize their innovations in the first round. Those selected for the second round will be required to mature their proposals further and present through video demonstrations. In the semifinal and final rounds which is scheduled to be held at IIT Kharagpur from November 8-9, 2019, the selected students will demonstrate working models of products and processes and make feasibility presentation on their projects.

At various phases, the students would have the opportunity to receive guidance from faculty members, researchers and students of IIT Kharagpur through mentoring sessions. The theme of Financial Inclusion is an addition this year which is a special interest area for the event sponsor ICICI Bank. The other event sponsor Indegene would offer the opportunity of mentorship for projects related to the theme Health and Cleanliness.

“As we look around, we are blessed with bright, young minds everywhere, each of whom is a leader and an innovator. Through YIP, we aim at igniting that spirit of innovation in these minds and enable them to think beyond doubts and beyond barriers. They are the next generation of problem solvers, the stewards of our future who will, in a few years, embark on a journey to build a better world,” said Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean (International Relations) and a faculty member of Mechanical Engineering Department at IIT Kharagpur.

The Young Innovator Programme of IIT Kharagpur started in 2017 and in just 2 years has spread its wings not only across the country but also overseas. Last year the reach was to more than 2000 schools and this year with international schools the figure has almost doubled. The semi-finalists of YIP 2018 included two schools from Singapore. This year, the Institute will also reach out to embassies to support the global outreach further. The program has received rave reviews including words of appreciation from the Honourable President of India.

Honda Y-E-S award for three students of IIT Kharagpur

India Today

Three students from IIT Kharagpur have won the Young Engineer and Scientist’s (Y-E-S) Award for 2018-19. They are Lakshmi Vasanta Majety (3^rd year, Chemical Engineering), Nirmalya Panigrahi (3^rd year, Mechanical Engineering) and Sabyasachi Sen (3^rd year, Mechanical Engineering). The Y-E-S Award, instituted by the Honda Foundation in India in 2007 and facilitated by Honda Cars India, is awarded each year to young students from premier institutes across India who have proven their academic brilliance in the area of science and technology and show the promise of leading society towards an eco-technological orientation.

Each student will receive a scholarship of cash equivalent of $ 3,000. The evaluation took into consideration their CGPA and individual essays. This was followed by two rounds of personal interviews with the selection committee of senior Honda Executives and prominent Indian scientists.

Lakshmi Vasanta Majety, who is currently General Secretary of Alumni Cell of IIT Kharagpur, and is a brilliant student, said, “This award is a big boost to my confidence and gives a positive thrust to my career prospects. I am eagerly looking forward to availing the Y-E-S plus award for pursuing a summer internship in Japan.”

Y-E-S award recipients become eligible for the Y-E-S Award Plus, a credit-granting internship program offered by a Japanese company or research institute’s summer program for two-and-half months. Internship participants will receive $ 7,000 for internship in Japan and$ 3,000 preparation fees for further study in Japan (for 10 weeks) or $ 10,000 for post-graduation studies in Japan (1-2 years).

Sabyasachi Sen, who has done an internship with Rakuten Inc, Tokyo, in 2017, and has been selected for an internship at the Dynamics, Imaging and Modelling of Environmental Systems (DIMENV) research group at CNRS Geosciences Rennes, France, for summer this year, said, “I truly enjoyed the work culture and social life [in Japan], so I will definitely use the second stage of the Honda Y-E-S award to go back to Japan for the summer of 2020.” Sabyasachi wishes to pursue studies in the broad field of transport phenomena.

Nirmalya Panigrahi is a bronze medallist in the Campus Sustainability Challenge at the Inter IIT Tech Meet 2018-19 and second rank holder in the Product Design contest held by Prakriti, the Agricultural and Food Engineering Annual Fest in 2018. An avid debater and blogger, he says, “This process was the most educative, humbling and honouring.… While I was waiting in a line, to witness one of the most memorable events of my life, I realised how a little bit of motivation is all you need to give a nitro boost to your dreams.”

Mr Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Japan, who presented the award to the students, said on the occasion, “India and Japan enjoy a fulfilling bilateral relationship and I hope that through this opportunity you will experience Japan’s advanced technological system and enjoy research which is aimed at contributing to social causes.” One of the objectives of the Honda Y-E-S award is to “promote dissemination of eco technology among the young generations and at the same time to strengthen interaction and exchange between Japanese youths and young people expect to lead science, technology and industry in their respective countries.”

Young Innovators Spread Wings @IITKgp

Urban Challenges and Girl Innovators are Top Picks at IIT KGP’s Young Innovators Program 2018

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Challenges of urban India were the top picks at this year’s Young Innovators Program #YIP2018 organized by IIT Kharagpur. Students in classes VIII-X from schools in India and Singapore who attended the final two rounds of the science and technology competition at IIT Kharagpur, came up with solutions to problem statements in the areas of Clean Energy, Health and cleanliness, Resource management, Hardware Modelling, Product Designing and Disaster Management.

The winner was a low-cost home-made herbal mask to help breathe in a polluted environment (Watch Video). Parineeti Bhura, Manveer Singh from Kaanger Valley Academy, Raipur, Chattisgarh developed this anti-pollution mask project along with a working model. The 1st runner-up was The Crossword School from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh (Watch Video). The students Hemasreevani, Vishnu Teja and Sudhanshu G developed an electronic device for instantly fixing potholes for smooth and safe surface transport which they named Pothole Warrior. The second runner-up was a project on smart management of waste using solar and ultrasonic sensors (Watch Video). Aditi Sahay and Sudipa Bhattacharjee of Tarapore School from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand developed this project for a network connected smart bin drawing their inspiration from the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Some of the other noteworthy projects were Pollution Biosensor by KIIT International, Train Turbine by BP Vidya Mandir, smart home illumination etc. A total of 24 teams presented their models in the semi-final round which were judged by faculty members and alumni of IIT Kharagpur (Watch Video). Six teams qualified in the final round who were further evaluated on the originality of their projects, societal impact, quality of presentation and overall project idea.

“The Young Innovators Program is an attempt by IIT KGP to nurture an orientation towards scientific and technological innovation among the future generations. The young talents need to be groomed and motivated towards understanding the challenges faced by the world and ideate feasible solutions. In the first edition of the event, we were delighted with the ideas put forward by these greenhorns. The students qualifying for this event are extremely talented and we are glad to offer this platform to encourage their scientific pursuit,” said Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya, Dean, International Relations.

The number of female participants was astounding this year. “About 35% of the participants were girls and this indicates a change in the scenario of STEM in the coming years,” remarked a senior coordinator of the Branding and Relations Cell, a student body which organized this competition. While the winning and 1st Runner-up team had representation from girl students, the 2nd Runner-up was an all-girls’ team. Several other schools have sent all-girls’ teams or teams with both gender representation.

The accompanying teachers expressed their delight for this unique platform offered by IIT Kharagpur for budding engineers and scientists of tomorrow. The event was also scaled to international level in its second edition this year. Two teams from Singapore made to the semi-final as well. “This is an excellent initiative organized for the second year by IIT Kharagpur. It is very well received and now we have started getting international participation. Even the Office of the President of India has appreciated this initiative and has provided great motivation,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur on a social media post.

The students also participated in a quiz competition organized by the students’ quiz society of IIT Kharagpur. A popular choice prize was announced based on video presentations on social media made by the semi-finalists.

The event was generously supported by the alumni. Illustrious alumnus Vinod Gupta sponsored the prize money for the top three awards. Among the others who supported the event were Joy Shankar Das, Sukanta Padhy, Bipul Das, Harish Kumar Gupta. Alumnus Anand Surelia participated as a judge.

The faculty judges from the Institute were Prof. Aditya Bandyopadhyay and Prof. Chirag Deepak Kalelkar from the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Debarati Sen from G S Sanyal School of Telecommunication, Prof. Debdoot Sheet from the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Gayatri Mukherjee from School of Medical Science and Technology, Prof. Brajesh Kumar Dubey from Dept. of Civil Engineering and Prof. Plaban Kumar Bhowmick from the Center for Educational Technology.

Prof. Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay, faculty at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and former Dean, Alumni Affairs & International Relations, who was the Chief Guest for the event inspired the students to be creative in whatsoever path they choose in life and prioritize the personal and professional aspects of their lives accordingly.

Deputy Director Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya and Registrar Prof. B N Singh were also present in the inaugural ceremony of the event.

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Event Website

SciTech Boost for Greenhorns

IIT KGP promoting technological innovation among school students through the Young Innovators Program

Business Standard (IANS) Outlook

IIT KGP has organized the second edition of the Young Innovators Program, the much-coveted science and technology competition for students from grades VIII – X. The finale is scheduled on October 27-28, 2018 at the IIT KGP campus where finalists from schools across India and abroad will put forward their innovations in the areas of Clean Energy, Health and cleanliness, Resource management, Hardware Modelling, Product Designing and Disaster Management.

The competition had two initial rounds in addition to the two rounds being held at the IIT Kharagpur campus. With an initial outreach to 2000 schools, close to 1000 students qualified in the first round. In the second round, the students presented detailed project synopsis. Close to 70 students made it to the finals. The teams will make model and poster presentation of their ideas along with an exhibition open to visitors. Six faculty members from the IIT Kharagpur will judge their projects on ideation, feasibility, overall impact, cost-effectiveness, and overall impression. Students will also be judged on their soft skills.

The students will have a flavor of the innovative research at the laboratories, IIT KGP museum for history, cultural heritage and science, and technology.

A popular choice social media competition was also organized for the second round of video presentations.

The launch edition of the event in 2017 received special mention during the visit of the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind during the Convocation of IIT Kharagpur in July 2018.

The prize money has been sponsored by illustrious alumnus and US-based entrepreneur Vinod Gupta.

Watch Video: YIP 2017