ISSUE 03 bitscan

ISSUE 03

bitscanK K Birla Goa Campus

Semester-II notes 2010-11

from the

editor

BITSAA Global MeetShri Rahul Gandhi inaugurating the Mural

Second Semester of 2010-11 will be cherished in ourmemory forever because of the significant events it hasrecorded in the history of BITS Pilani, K K Birla GoaCampus.

Dedicated to its founder Chancellor Dr. K. K. Birla, theGoa Campus of BITS Pilani was renamed as BITSPilani, K K Birla Goa Campus on 21st April 2011 at asplendid ceremony marked by the unveiling of theexquisite mosaic mural of Dr. K. K. Birla by Shri. RahulGandhi in the presence of Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla.The campus was ecstatic with the visit of Mr. RahulGandhi , the youth icon of India and several members ofthe legendary Birla family. On this auspicious occasion,they all paid their homage to the former ChancellorDr. K. K. Birla who was associated with Shri. G. D. Birlafor more than four decades in all the activities of BITSPilani.

Project Vision 2020-Mission 2012 entered its third yearmarching towards accomplishing its objectives in theareas of promoting research, redesigning curriculum,initiating and implementing a robust ERP system,enhancing the engagement level, promoting the BITSbrand, etc.

The international conference and the internationalworkshop hosted by the Departments of Biology andMathematics respectively reinforced the keen interest offaculty members and students in disseminating andreceiving diverse academic and research experiences.By winning the national finals at the CIMA globalbusiness challenge 2011, the students of our campushave proved their exceptional talent in creativity andinnovation yet again.

.

Time passes like a brisk wind and it's hard to believe thatBITScan of K K Birla Goa Campus has completed itstwo-semester stint

The MoU between BITS Pilani and Indian Army standsas a landmark achievement because of thecollaborative avenues it has created for both theorganizations in the areas of academic training,development and research.

For the first time, the BITS Alumni Associationorganized a Global Meet in Delhi in the month ofJanuary. It was a huge success with 1000 membersmeeting not only their batch mates, professors but alsotheir juniors over two days of conviviality and of fruitfuldiscussion sessions.

Quark 2011 was bigger and better than its previouseditions with its highlight event TEDxBITS GOA thatwitnessed an overflowing auditorium. Similarly, Spree2011 reached greater heights and was fortunate to havethe champions of sports, namely, Venkatapathy Raju,Shirish Nadkarni, Swapnil Asnodkar and the worldyogasana champion & Goa prodigy Nhehern N.Acharya at its various events.

This third issue, we hope would enjoy as much supportfrom you as the earlier issues had received. Once againwe earnestly appeal to you to share with us all theactivities you are organizing on campus and all therecognitions and achievements that have beenconferred upon you so as to enable us to add morevigor, vitality and value to BITScan, K K Birla GoaCampus thus making it scale newer boundaries.

2 Semester II 2010-11,bitscan , K K Birla Goa Campus

Indian ArmyBITSAA

Global Meet

MoU with Indian Army

11th February 2011 witnessed another milestone in thehistory of Birla Institute of Technology and Science,Pilani when a Memorandum of Understanding wassigned in Delhi by its Vice Chancellor Professor B. N.Jain , and Lt. Gen. V. K. Chaturvedi, Director General(MP & PS), Integrated Hq. of Ministry of Defence(Army), New Delhi.

The first ever BITSAA Global Meet, a three-day alumniextravaganza was held at the EPI CENTRE, ApparelHall, Gurgaon, Delhi NCR, India, close to the parentcampus of the Birla Institute of Technology andScience, at Pilani. Over 1200 alumni, "welcomed a newera wherein the world alumni will meet together everyyear to give back to the alma mater and contribute intransforming the world in an innovative BITSian way” toquote Mr. C.S. Goel, CEO of BGM'11 and Gen. Sec.BITSAA Delhi Chapter.

The three-day BGM '11 kicked off on January 7, 2011,after almost a year of intense planning and hugeorganizational efforts by alumni, students and variousvolunteer groups. The meet bore witness to manypower-packed discussions and talks centered on theoverall theme of the meet: 'Transforming Society,Enterprises and Academics through Innovation'.Mr. Sam Pitroda graced the occasion as a keynotespeaker.

Many among the world's most illustrious BITSians werepresent contributing their opinions and views on thetheme, proving once again how strong their bond totheir alma mater is by showing their hearty supportthroughout the three days of the meet. Some of theeminent alumni who embraced the occasion includedProfessor S. P. Kothari (MIT Solan), Mr. Rajesh Hukku(I-FLEX Solutions), Mr. Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge),Mr. Prithiviraj Chavan (Hon'ble Chief Minister ofMaharashtra), Mr. Sunit Rikhi (Intel), Mr. Ashok Pandey(Film Producer-Phas Gaye Re Obama), Mr. RajuReddy (Sierra Atlantic), Mr. Gulu Mirchandani (Onida),Mr. Harish Bhat (Titan), Professor Rajendra Sisodia(Bentley College), Dr. Ashok Malhotra (Ninashfoundation), Mr. Rakesh Verma (Map My India) andmany more.

The MoU was signed under “Project Samarth” toprovide higher technical education to service personnelthrough on-campus and off-campus programmes ofBITS, Pilani and to promote research in areas ofmutual interest like safety and security, informationsystems, robotics, pharmacy, psychology, material andcommunication studies by jointly establishing a centreof excellence. Students of BITS, Pilani's campuses inPilani, Goa and Hyderabad would also get anopportunity to visit and spend time at the Armyestablishments to work on live projects.

Prof. B. N. Jain said, "As India's finest university in theprivate sector, with a dedicated set of faculty andtalented students, BITS Pilani has made successfulstrides in the last decade with many pioneeringinitiatives. The signing of this MoU heralds a newbeginning in the history of our institution, as we partnerwith the Indian Army offering our resources, ourprogrammes, our services for the greater good of thecountry.” In collaboration with the Army, BITS wouldalso identify off-campus 'Work Integrated Learning'programmes to provide Bachelor and Master degreesin different streams to the service personnel.

Mr. Prithviraj Chavan at BITSAA Global Meet

MoU with

3Semester II 2010-11,bitscan , K K Birla Goa Campus

Dr. K K Birlacampus in the memory ofdedication of BITS Pilani,Goa

Shri Rahul Gandhi, in presence of Dr. KumarMangalam Birla, inaugurated the mosaic mural ofDr. Krishna Kumar Birla, the First Chancellor of BITSPilani University on the occasion of the dedicationceremony of its Goa Campus at which the campus wasrenamed as BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus. Themosaic mural of Dr. K. K. Birla was created by a coupleMs. Poola Perpignani and Mr. Paolo Racagni, fromRavenna, Italy. The unveiled gold and bronze circularmural with the image of Dr. K. K. Birla had a dedicationon a granite-and-glass tablet, quoting his vision forBITS: "Our prime consideration has been to prepareyoung men and women to act as leaders for promotingthe economic and industrial development of the countryand to play a creative role in the service of humanity.”

This occasion was graced by the presence of Shri B. K.Birla, Smt. Sarala Birla, Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia (ProChancellor), Mrs. Rajashree Birla and other illustriousmembers of the Birla family, Dr. B.N. Jain (Vice-Chancellor) and the directors of all BITS campuses.

At a glittering function held at the campus auditorium tomark the dedication ceremony,

Rahul Gandhi struck a chord with the students byreaching out to them with his passionate speech on theimportance of developing ideas and on the need to getthem across to the maximum number of peoplepromptly. He stressed on the urgency of moving awayfrom a geographical-based development model to onewhich placed more emphasis on the individual rather

Dr. Kumar MangalamBirla addressed a huge gathering of students andfaculty. He said “As we dedicate this campus, we paytribute to Dr. K. K. Birla and take forward his vision forexcellence in learning. We celebrate his life.”

than on his domicile, lauding the work the UPAgovernment had done in this regard. He speculated thatIndia would be the center for new ideas in the 21stCentury, hoping that Indians would represent a massiveflux in modern thoughts within and outside the country.He also highlighted the importance of people staying“connected” to the society, asserting that the nationcould then benefit from the participation of people fromthe remotest corners of India. Mr. Gandhi paid a tributeto the Birla family, alluding to the association of thefamily patriarch, G. D. Birla, with the freedom struggleand his role in empowering India through industry andeducation. "You owe a lot to this family," he added.

Interacting with the crowd for over an hour and a half,Gandhi answered a volley of questions, with thestudents seeking to know his stance on many issues ofnational importance. Speaking on the recent Jan LokpalBill issue, he maintained that Anna Hazare was quitewithin his rights to agitate for the bill the way he did, buthe also cautioned that the bill must pass through ademocratic process before becoming a law. He alsopraised the UPA Government's role in makinggovernance more transparent, citing the RTI act as amajor milestone in bringing corruption to the fore. On thehighly controversial extended reservations in thecountry's premier institutes, he said that the need of thehour was not to debate on the issue of reservation, but toinstead increase the number of such institutes in thecountry, to cater to the need of more such meritoriousstudents. Fielding a question by a student who wantedto know what “groundwork” Mr. Gandhi had done intackling corruption, as the latter had replied in his letterto Justice (retd) V. R. Krishna Iyer, he replied that thereare no simple solutions to the problem in India, and itwould require massive patience, time and extensivesupport of the people.

Shri Rahul Gandhi and students


Chancellor with Shri Rahul Gandhi

seminars / conferences /workshops / training programmes

workshop on

International Water Association (IWA) specialistconference Microbes in wastewater & WasteTreatment, Bioremediation and Energy production(MWT 2011) was held at BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goacampus in association with Institut National de laRecherche Agronomique (INRA), France from 24-27January 2011 with Dr. Jean Jacques Godon andDr. Michel Torrijos from INRA as convenors andDr. Srikanth Mutnuri and Dr. Utpal Roy from the campusas organizing secretaries. Graced by dignitaries suchas Dr. Nicolas Poussielgue (Science and TechnologyAttaché at the French Embassy, Mumbai as the ChiefGuest), Dr. Michel Torrijos, Dr. Godon (the conveners)and Prof. K. E. Raman (Director, BITS Pilani, GoaCampus), the inauguration ceremony on 23rd Januarybegan in the traditional Indian way with an invocation tothe Almighty and the symbolic lighting of a ceremoniallamp. The Director welcomed the guests highlightingthe relevance of Biology in today's world, the emphasisBITS has always placed on including the vital subject inits curriculum, and the significance of Goa, a State in themidst of an important Environment Vs Developmentdebate as the venue of the conference.

Dr. Godon extolled the virtues of microbes in many day-to-day applications, and described the main thrust onareas to be explored for the conference over the nextfew days. The Chief Guest, Dr. Poussielgue, launched

the conference proceedings, and spoke at length aboutthe growing Indo-French co-operation in key areas,particularly, research in science and technology. Dr.Srikanth Mutnuri, Organising Secretary of MWT-2011,concluded the proceedings with a vote of thanks.

Held within the framework of the IWA's specializedgroup - Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering(MEWE) and Assessment and Control of HazardousSubstances in Water (ACHSW)), the conference aimedat allowing researchers, scientists and industry playersworking in the field of microbial ecology to share acommon platform and exchange new ideas,approaches and findings on the same. The field ofMicrobial Ecology plays an important role in non-conventional energy, reduction of waste, watertreatment, controlling pollution (such as oil-spills) etc.Over 150 participants from more than 22 countriesparticipated in this conference. 49 students alsoregistered for the conference. The conferencepresentations covered quite a wide range of possibleapplications including Ecosystem monitoring,Microalgae, anaerobic digestion, techniques, nutrientremoval, H2 and electron donors, pathogen removaland airborne microbes, pathogen removal, biofilm,wastewater treatment, bioremediation, microbialactivity, energy production, enzyme production, lowcost technologies, anaerobic and aerobic processes. 80posters were presented and some companies hadadvertised during the conference about their activitiesand products.

The Department of Mathematics, BITS Pilani, K K BirlaGoa Campus in collaboration with Industrial

Inauguration of the Conference

academiaa confluence of ideas

Microbesin waste water and watertreatment

international workshop onadvances in ComputationalPartial

DifferentialEquations

Prof. K.E.Raman inaugurating the workshop


Mathemat ics Group (IMG), Department ofMathematics, IIT Bombay successfully organized anInternational Workshop on “Advances in ComputationalPartial Differential Equations” during 7 February - 5March, 2011. The entire Workshop was funded by theNBHM (National Board for Higher Mathematics),Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai. There were 29participants (mostly Ph.D students) from all over India(including IISc, IITs, IIST and several Universities), 4participants from Germany (Humboldt University ofBerlin, University of Heidelberg) . Experts were fromIndia, Germany and France besides two experts fromthe campus itself. Apart from problem solving sessions,hands on computation through Lab sessions was one ofthe distinctive features of this workshop. This time,group project was introduced during the last week as anew component that culminated in the projectpresentations on last day of the workshop. Convenedby Dr. P. Dhanumjaya and Dr. Anil Kumar, theworkshop was inaugurated by the Director Prof. K. E.Raman on 7th February 2011.

The IAPT (Indian Association of Physics Teachers) GoaRegional Council organized a 2-day workshop forPhysics Teachers of the colleges in Goa, on 12th and13th of March 2011 at BITS Pilani, K K Birla GoaCampus. The seven Lectures delivered during theworkshop, by faculty members of the Department ofPhysics at the campus covered a range of topics fromModern Physics, Atomic Physics and QuantumMechanics.

Topics from Quantum Mechanics form a major portionof the Physics Curriculum in the current undergraduatedegree program in Physics. This subject involves avariety of abstract concepts and also the use ofadvanced mathematics. The workshop aimed toexplicitly work out mathematical details surrounding

some of these abstract concepts so that the participantsdevelop greater confidence and ability to use theseconcepts and also to teach at the undergraduate level.The inaugural programme on 12th March waspresided over by Prof Erwin De Sa, Dean of NaturalSciences & HOD (Physics), Goa University. In hiswelcome address, the President of IAPT, Prof. A. V.Kulkarni said that this workshop was the first in a seriesof such workshops envisaged in the near future forCollege teachers in Goa. More topics of coreimportance such as Electromagnetic Theory, ClassicalMechanics will be covered in the future workshops.Chief Guest Prof De Sa lauded the efforts of the IAPTGoa in bringing focus on a recondite subject asQuantum Mechanics. The Co-ordinator of theWorkshop, Dr. Radhika Vathsan gave a briefdescription of the details of the workshop and theSecretary Mr. Rajendra delivered the vote of thanks.Dr. Radhika Vatsan, Dr. Gaurav Dar, Dr Toby Joseph,Dr. P. N. Deepak and Dr. A. V. Kulkarni, Dr. PrasantaDas and Dr. Suresh Ramaswamy delivered the lectureswhich were then followed by the interactive discussionsessions. During the short valedictory function,participation certificates were distributed.

A five-week workshop on MIT- Indian Mobile Initiative bya team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, USA., was held at BITS, Pilani, K K BirlaGoa Campus during 6 June – 8 July 2011. Threesophomores , namely, Aakriti Shroff, Kyle Fisher andThiago Viera from MIT conducted this workshop. 54participants with JAVA proficiency from MIT Manipal,SRM Chennai, VIT Vellore and BITS Pilani , K K BirlaGoa Campus The participants were also mentored byengineers from Google, entrepreneurs and start upmentors from MentorEdge, IIMA , etc.The workshop was conducted on two planes: while theTechnical sessions focused on mobile technologiesranging from Android OS and ,application developmenton the Android platform to working with AndroidArchitecture, the entrepreneurship training dealt withIdea Generation and Brain Storming, Elevator Pitches,business plan writing.The workshop culminated in the IMI DeveloperChallenge, to identify the teams with most workablebusiness ideas using the android OS. The largestamount of seed money ($2000) went to a team fromSRM University, Chennai. The team proposed tofacilitate consumers in getting redress for theircomplaints, working through mobile communication.The team was mentored by the CEL Coordinator at theGoa Campus.

workshop on

QuantumMechanics

workshop on

Indian MobileInitiative

Prof. Erwin De Sa at the workshop


Dr. Subir Gokarn, Deputy Governor of RBI, Ms.Anuradha Pal the Tabla Maestro and the leadingfemale percussionist in India, Dr. Jonathan Wolfe,Executive Director, fractal foundation (New Mexico) ,Ms. Jhelum Paranjape , the renowned Odissi dancer,Mr. Atul Chitnis, leading technologist and founder of theIndian chapter of FOSS (Free and Open SourceSoftware), Dr. Brij Kothari, renowned academic andsocial entrepreneur , Dr. Rauf Ali, a biologist (workedextensively in the Nicobar Islands for Tsunami relief),Sudip Dutta, CEO of Aporv.com ( an online portal whichsells Indian handicrafts ), Dr. Sunil Mukhi, physicist andfaculty member at Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch, Kalyan Verma, wildlife enthusiast andphotographer, Nitin Gupta, CEO, EntertainmentEngineers-all inspired the students, faculty and othercitizens of Goa through their inspiring TED talks at theTEDxBITS Goa event held at the jam-packedauditorium of K K Birla Goa Campus of BITS Pilani on6th Feb. 2011.

Continuing with its trend of organising successfulconferences and symposiums through the years, BITS-Pilani, KK Birla Goa Campus hosted “TEDxBitsGoa,2011”, building on the stupendous success story of itspredecessor, TEDxBITSGoa, 2010. This version ofTED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) featurednational and international professionals, spanning amultitude of fields and disciplines, ranging fromeconomic policy to stand-up comedy to themathematical art of fractals. Keeping in mind the themeof TEDx 2011, 'exploring transformation', the speakersgave their professional insight into the various problemsexisting in society, and innovative ways of overcomingthem.

for using fractals to ignite and leverage the best ofinnovation in minds, various intricacies of economicpolicy-making, and the detailed thought-processattached with it, etc., were few ideas explored during theevent. Brilliant demonstrations of their artisticendeavors by Anuradha Pal and Jhelum Paranjape,enthralled the audience.

The famous 'SLS' program (Same Language Subtitles)that has proven to be extremely effective in improvingreading ability across all strata, especially in ruralsociety, strategies to sell Indian handicrafts therebygenerating more revenue for the artisans, need ofmaking technology more relevant for the masses, need

Department of Humanities & Management and Matrix ,BITS,Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus jointly hosted asymposium 'Sharing Diverse Writing Experiences',featuring eminent writers from Goa, on 15th April, 2011.The writers, who included some of the most celebratednames in Goan literary circles such as Damodar “Bhai”Mauzo, Aniruddha Sen Gupta, Frederick Noronha,Isabel Santa Rita Vas and Jose Lourenco discussed awide range of issues pertaining to literature, theatre andcontemporary trends in writing.

Damodar “Bhai” Mauzo, Sahitya Akademi award winnerand most-translated Konkani writer, began theproceedings by examining the past and present ofKonkani as a literary langauage, bemoaning that asingle language cannot survive multiple scripts, givingan example of how the rich heritage of Konkani wasslowly being corrupted by its usage in other scripts.

Following the veteran writer was Isabel Santa Rita Vas,HOD of English at Dhempe College, Miramar, andfounder of Mustard Seed Art Company. She spoke atlength about the neglected art of writing for theatre,describing also the many community-building measuresthat theatre can undertake in its various forms.

TEDxBITSGoa

symposium on sharing diverse

WritingExperiences


Dr. Jonathan Wolfe

Speakers and the audience

Jose Lourenco, a civil engineer and co-editor of theanthology 'Inside Out', talked about the importance oflanguage and its many implications in today's world. Hedescribed the various sources of inspiration possible forwriting stories, citing each of his own short stories as anexample. Succeeding him on the stage was FrederickNoronha, a writer, cyber-journalist and an enthusiasticblogger, who discussed the impact of technology onwriting and publishing.

Finishing the enlightening day was Aniruddha SenGupta, engineer and professional writer, who explainedhis transition from an engineer to an author, inspiring thestudents to choose their favoured vocations irrespectiveof their current field of learning. The symposium wasgreatly appreciated by the audience, ending with aninformal interaction with the guest speakers.

To provide BITS Pilani Campus Leadership the tools &techniques necessary to develop performancestandards & goals for themselves and their facultymembers, a one-day workshop was held on 11 April2011 with Mr. Kris Ramachandran and Mr. ParasKaushik as the facilitators. With special focus on'Performance Expectations' and 'Goal SettingTechniques' this program aimed at helping campusleadership to build a more effective process for goalssetting and developing their faculty. All the heads ofDepartments and few Faculty-in-charges participated inthis workshop. The workshop was later held at allcampuses of BITS Pilani.

Many top western Universities are running their campusadministration through ERP (Enterprise ResourcePlanning) systems. Right from 1970's, variousacademic and administrative processes in BITS weresuccessfully computerized by teams of faculty membersand students. These systems were upgraded as andwhen software and hardware upgrades were required.However, when BITS established its campuses, atDubai, Goa and Hyderabad, these stand alone legacysystems could not be integrated and the need for a webbased system running on a single database was felt bythe Task Force appointed for this purpose under projectVision 2020-Mission 2012. It embarked upon preparinga Software Requirement Specification document andmaking a thorough study of existing ERP systems in themarket on different platforms.

The Task Force had clear cut goals defined for itself inthis venture and they are:1. Implement a world class ERP system to integrate

academic and administrative functions in the multicampus environment.

2. Adopt common streamlined processes acrosscampuses, eliminating / minimizing administrativefunctions of academic staff.

3. Improve IT infrastructure to facilitate sharingresources, interaction among faculty and studentsacross all campuses.

4. Provide superior facilities to off campus/ on campusstudents.

With these goals in mind, systemshas been selected after evaluation of other similar ERPsystems, based on its modules which provide the best fitfor the requirements of BITS. The main modules inPeople soft are: Campus solutions, HR, Financials. TheCampus solutions will have functionalities: Admission ,Timetable (to be developed usingplus), Registration, Grade book, Campus Self Service,Online Course Management & Recording, Guest HouseManagement, Medical MIS for students, MessAccounting, Campus Housing Allotment, HostelManagement, Grants Management, LearningManagement System, and Interfaces (Library system,BITSAT system). The Human Resource ManagementSystem (HRMS) will have functionalities: HR,Recruitment, E-Performance, Payroll. The Finance will

Peoplesoft ERP

scientia syllabus

instructional workshop on

Graph Theoryand it`s applicationsDepartment of Mathematics, BITS Pilani, K K Birla GoaCampus organized a two-day Instructional workshop onGraph Theory and its Applications. Many teachers andresearchers from different colleges affiliated to GoaUniversity and BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campusparticipated. Dr. T. Singh delivered lectures on GraphTheory and its applications; Dr. Bharat M. Deshpandeon BFS and DFS Algorithms; Mr. R. P. Joshi onComplexity of Algorithms and Mr. Veeky Baths onApplication of Graph Theory in designing of Drugs fortuberculosis.

workshop on developing

PerformanceGoals andStandards

ERP system at BITS

ProjectBITS – ONE

newinititatives


have functionalities: General Ledger, AccountsPayable, Accounts receivable, Assets Management,Budgets, Cash, Stores & Purchase.

has been selected as the Implementer for theproject. The work has started with interaction of theproject team with various process owners of BITS, andbringing out a 'AS IS' document for each and everyprocess. TO BE documents have been reviewed byvarious core team members from Pilani. CustimizingPeople soft modules to BITS requirement is going on. Itis expected that when Phase I goes live it would coverAdmission, registration, time tabling, student financials,LMS, and Student records and relevant critical reports.This would cover Pilani, Goa and Hyderabadcampuses. Phase II would include HR, Financemodules and all the associated reports. Phase III wouldinclude complete Dubai campus rollout.

The whole project involves a capital expenditure ofRs. 7.5 crores with an annual recurring expenditure ofRs. 2.5 crores. The system will cater to all on campusstudents of the four campuses, all off campus students,all faculty and non teaching staff members and alumni.Expansion in these numbers has been kept in mindwhile deciding hardware sizing. Mr. H. Krishnan, whohas vast experience in implementing ERP systems inindustry, has joined BITS as the Chief InformationOfficer. A Steering Committee consisting of Directors ofall campuses, Mr. Rajiv Vasudeva of AVB Group IT,

WIPRO

distinguished lecturesspeaker designation topic date

Mr. H. Krishnan, Chief Information Officer, BITS andProf. J P Mishra, Chief Information Processing Centre,BITS – Pilani, is over seeing the project. The Task Forcemembers involved in this project are: Prof. ChittaranjanHota, Prof. Arya Kumar, Dr. Rajesh Mehrotra, Dr.Maneesha Bagchandani, Prof. J V Rao, Dr. VidyaRajesh , Prof. D M Kulkarni, Mr. Mangesh Bedekar,Prof. S P Regella, Dr. B K Rout, Mr. Vikas, Dr. M.Madiajagan. The project is being codenamed as 'BITSONE' which reflects the main objective of the projectchampioned by Prof. K. E. Raman under Vision 2020-Mission 2012 project.

Science DayScience Day was celebrated during 9-10 March 2011.Short talks on latest advances in various fields inScience were delivered by the faculty members. Prizeswere distributed to the winners of Science Aptitude Testand Online Science Quiz . Faculty members deliveredpopular lectures : Dr. Anusuya Ganguly on the world ofstem cells, Dr. Ram Shankar Patel on Graphene andDr. Ranjan Dey on new and renewable energy –research, awareness and capacity building at BITSPilani, K K Birla Goa campus. while Dr. SrikanthMutnuri explained the functioning of the campus biogasplant through a video.


Dr. VasantManohar

Prof. S. P.Singh

Prof. C.Lecot

Scientist in Raytheon BBNtechnologies , U.S.Founder and CEO, VDimeInnovative works, Chennai

Visiting Scientist- Physicsand Astronomy, University ofWestern Ontario, Canada

University of Savoie, France

Computer Vision and ImageProcessing

Numerics for PDEs - Part I(Discretization of ellipticPDEs, finite differences,convergence and properties ofdiscrete solutions) ;Research, PS and Internshipopportunities in France;Numerics for PDEs - Part II(Numerical schemes forparabolic PDEs, Heat equation,Von Neumann stabilityand convergence.)

Fixed point theorem & itsapplications; Approximation theoryand applications

9 January2011

10- 11January 2011

21 and 25January 2011


Mr. DeepakBharwani

Prof. MatthiasBrack

Mr.Shiva KumarGanesan

Prof.RajatBhaduri

Prof. M. V. N.Murthy

Prof. AmiyaKumarPani

Mr. NeerajKedar

Dr. A. SrinivasaRao

Mr. PhanindraSama

Prof. Ashok W.Deshpande

Dr. Gopal C.Kundu

Prof. GaryBowman andProf. RaviGomatam

Prof. RadhaBalakrishnan

Prof. J. RamKumar

Facilitator,Pragati leadershipInstitute ; Certifiedtrainer,Franklin Covey SouthAsia.

Dept. of Physics,university of Regensburg,Germany.

Founder of ROOPIT.

Professor Emeritus,Department of Physics andAstronomyMcMaster UniversityHamilton, Canada

Inst. of MathematicalSciences,CIT campus, Chennai.

Industrial MathematicsGroup, Department ofMathematics, IIT Bombay

Associate at Frost & Sullivan,a Consulting and ResearchFirm

Program Director from IndianSchool of Business,Hyderabad

Founder of RedBus.in

Founding Chair: BerkeleyInitiative in Soft Computing(BISC)-Special InterestGroup (SIG)-EnvironmentManagement Systems (EMS)and Guest Faculty, Universityof California, Berkeley, USA

National Center for CellScience, Pune and recipientof Shanti SwarupBhatnagarPrize in Biological Sciences

(i) Dept. of Physics andAstronomy, Northern ArizonaUniv., U.S.A.(ii) Director, Institute forSemantic InformationSciences & Technology,Mumbai Adjunct Professor,BITS-Pilani, Director,Bhaktivedanta Institute

Inst. of MathematicalSciences,CIT campus, Chennai.

IIT, Kanpur

Parenting

From the rydberg formula toquantum chaos: Triumph, fall andrenaissance of Bohr's old quantumtheory

My Experience with Start-Ups

Cold atom physics

Indian neutrino observatory

Industrial Mathematics with a CaseStudy from Finance

Embryo (Video) Lecture titledRenewable Energy: IndustryPerspective.

How to develop the Entrepreneur inYOU

My Experience of starting RedBus

Fuzzy Logic Via Computing withwords: A case study

Diagnostic and TherapeuticSignificance of Osteopontin andother associated Genes in Breastand other Cancers

Quantum Reality - NewPerspectives

A New Framework forUnderstanding Quantum Reality

Solitons in Bose-Einsteincondensates

Micro-electric discharge machining

25 January2011

7 February2011

8 February2011

9 February2011

10 February2011

11 February2011

12 February2011

14 February2011

2 March 2011

9 March 2011

21 March2011

1 April 2011

15 April 2011

29 April 2011

Dr. Sachin Waigaonkar, Assistant Professor,Department of Mechanical Engineering presented apaper on Experimental Investigations and Optimisationof Curing of Unsaturated Polyester Resin at Ft.Lauderdale, Florida, USA during 2-4 February 2011 atan International conference organized by AmericanComposites Manufacturers Association (ACMA).

Dr. K. N. Ponnani

Prof. D. M. Kulkarni

,

,

Adjunct Faculty, Department ofChemical Engineering, Prof. S. K. Verma (PilaniCampus) and Prof. M S. Dasgupta (Pilani Campus)visited the Aditya Birla Thai Rayon plant during 19 June-2 July 2011 to to understand and familiarise themselveswith the Thai Rayon plant in particular and fibrebusiness and technology in general and look foropportunities for creative interactions leading to mutualbenefit.

Associate Professor, MechanicalEngineering and Faculty In charge Computer Centerdelivered a Key note speech on Hip Implants Research:History, Present Status and Opportunities at the 2ndInternational Conference on Mechanical & AerospaceEngineering (ICMAE-2011) held in Bangkok during July28-30 , 2011.

Prof. Sunil Bhand, Associate Professor and Head,Department of Chemistry presented two researchpapers (i) Functionalized nanoparticles basedimmunoassay for analysis of Aflatoxin M1 in milk and(ii) Novel multifunctional nanorods as CholineBiosensor (collaborative research work with Prof. R.Chatterjee, Dept of Physics, IIT Delhi) as posters at thesecond international conference organized byELSEVIER, Oxford, UK at Strasbourg, France during 6-10 March 2011.

Dr. Narendra Nath Ghosh, Assistant Professor ,Deptof Chemistry, visited the School of Metallurgy andMaterials Science of University of Birmingham, UKduring 27th July to 1st August 2011 and collaboratedwith Professor Gerard Franklyn Fernando. He wasinvited by The Royal Academy Of Engineering, UK inconnection with Research Exchanges with China andIndia.

Dr. Sachin Waigaonkar at Florida,USA.

visits by faculty

international visits

enriching the learningexperience

Prof. Sunil Bhand at Strasbourg, U.K.

Dr. D. M. Kulkarni’s Keynote address


Dr.Pravin Singru at BITS,Pilani

Dr. Ranjan Dey at the Conference

invited lectures

Prof. Sunil Bhand

Dr. Pravin Singru,

Associate Professor and Head ofDept. Chemistry delivered invited lecture entitled“Miniaturized biosensor techniques for food analysisand control” at National Training Programme underNAIP project on “Immobilizaiton Techniques forminiaturized microarray based biosensors” organisedby Department of Biotechnology , Punjabi UniversityPatiala during Jan 10-14, 2011.

Assistant Professor and Head, Deptof Mechanical Engineering, delivered keynote addresson Vibration Based Condition Monitoring of Power PlantEquipments at the two - day workshop organized by theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, BITS PILANI-Pilani Campus from Feb 14-15, 2011. He also delivereda lecture on "Teaching Skills" at Dr. B.N. College ofEngineering, Yavatmal (MS) on June 13, 2011

As a part of GMA initiatives, Dr. Patnaik along with othermembers organized a Business Quiz in NIO , Goa onMarch27 2011 for Academic and Corporate sectors.

Assistant Professor, Department ofChemistry, delivered two invited talks : (i) Intellectualproperty rights and industry interface on 6 Februray2011 at the national seminar organized at the Universityof Allahabad and (ii) Thermodynamic, transport andexcess properties of multicomponent liquid mixtures on10 March 2011 at Centre of Excellence of BasicSciences(CBS), Mumbai University, Kalina, Mumbai.

Dr. Ranjan Dey,

Dr. Tarun Kumar Jha,

Dr. Debasis Patnaik,

Assistant Professor, Dept. ofPhysics delivered an invited talk on "Compact Stars:Evolution" at the UGC Sponsored Workshop organizedby Navyug Science College, Surat, Gujarat inAssociation with Indian Physics Association, MumbaiChapter during 24 - 25 January 2011

Assistant Professor, Departmentof Economics, delivered a number of invited talks : (i)Input output approach to technology assessment inIndian industries on 19 March 2011 at the University ofHyderabad (ii) Service Sector during recession, GrowthEconomics models and Financial Evaluation in March2011 at Goa University (iii) Searching for an AlternativeInformation System on 30 April 2011 at MES collegeand (iv) Econometrics during Feb-March 2011 asonline lectures for BITS Pilani,Hyderabad Campus.

Prof. Meenakshi Raman Professor and Head, Dept ofHumanities was invited as an expert for the one-dayworkshop on 1 July 2011 at SVNIT, Surat on thesyllabus revision for their course English andCommunication. Prof. Raman conducted a workshopon Writing effective research proposals at the 8th AIMSInternational conference held at IIM(A) during 1-4January 2011 and she delivered a guest lecture onTeaching and Evaluation at BITS on 21 January 2011at NITTTR Training Session in Goa on Academic Auditof Technical Institutions.

by faculty

Prof. Meenakshi Raman at NITTTR session


achievementsDistinguished Faculty Award for Four Professors ofBITS - Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa CampusAt the BITSAA Global Meet 2011 held in Delhi inJanuary 2011, five Professors of BITS Pilani Prof.AryaKumar of Pilani Campus and Prof. SureshRamaswamy, Prof. D. M. Kulkarni, Prof. BharatDeshpande and Dr. Anita Agarwal of K K Birla GoaCampus received the distinguished faculty award inrecognition and appreciation of their dedication,interest, enthusiasm and attitude in accomplishing theassigned mission of teaching. The recipients wereelated to receive this award from Mr. Prithviraj Chavan,Hon'ble Chief Minister and a distinguished alumnus ofBITS Pilani.

Kris Ramachandran Faculty Excellence Award :Certificate of Excellence to Dr. D. M. KulkarniDr. N. N. Sharma, Associate Professor, MechanicalEngineering & Officiating Dean of ARC division BITS,Pilani bagged the 2010 Kris Ramachandran FacultyExcellence Award. Dr. D. M. Kulkarni, AssociateProfessor, Mechanical Engineering & Faculty In charge,Computer Center, BITS, Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campusand Dr. C. Hota, Associate Professor & Head, ComputerScience and Information Systems, BITS Pilani,Hyderabad campus received the Certificate ofExcellence, during the Inaugural ceremony of Quark2011 on 2nd February 2011.

The Kris Ramachandran Faculty Excellence award is aninitiative to recognize BITS faculty for excellence ininspiring and engaging teaching that stimulatesdiscovery and inquiry, in research and innovativeprojects, and in their professional achievements andcommitment towards BITS. It is an annual award whichwill be presented to the selected faculty membertowards the end of the second semester every year. Theaward is founded by BITS Alumnus Kris Ramachandran(Class of '72) and comprises of a rolling plaque, acitation, and a cash award of INR 100,000. It not onlystrives to recognize and reward excellent faculty butalso tries to stimulate other alumni to initiate similarawards.

Prof. Suresh Ramaswamy

Prof. Bharat Deshpande

Dr. Anita Agarwal

Prof. D. M Kulkarni


BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus Team won CIMAglobal business challenge national finalsTeam Tatva, comprising Akshay Goel, G.Shri Harsha,Shivam Salhotra and Sakhi Agarwal, under thementorship of Dr. Basavadatta Mitra, from BITS Pilani,K K Birla Goa Campus won the CIMA ( CharteredInstitute of Management Accountants) Global BusinessChallenge 2011 National Finals held on 11 June 2011 inMumbai and represented BITS and India in Chengdu,China during 23-24 July in the International Finalswherein National Finals participants from 16 othercountries participated. This is the second consecutivetime BITS Pilani Goa Campus has won the NationalFinal of the CIMA GBC.

The six teams that qualified for the national finals areNMIMS University, BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus,Stella Maris College, Christ University, Sri Guru GobindSingh College of Commerce and IIT Delhi. This year,more than 400 teams from all over India participated inthe competition. The finalists went through a rigorousselection process, which include a case study reportsubmission and a regional final before they made it tothe India Finals.

For the second in a row, BITS Pilani, Goa Campus wasdeclared the winner by a panel of eminent judges suchas Ms. Deepa Dev, Financial Controller GRBC India;Mr. Ranbir Singh, COO, JP Morgan; Mr. Anoop Sharma,Director Finance, Kellogg's; Mr. Sharat Bansal,Advisory Leader, PWC & Mr. Muthu Manickam

The CIMA Global Business Challenge is aninternational competition designed to bring out the bestin the young business leaders of tomorrow. It started 3years ago to provide students interested in economicsand finance a platform to test and apply their theoreticalknowledge to solve real world business problems. Thisyear, it received over 1800 entries from 17 countriesaround the world.

has been elected unanimously asSecretary, Goa Management Association and to threeof its Committees as Member on Policy and ProgrammeImplementation, Management Education in Goa,Marketing. Dr. Patnaik chaired Session in GoaManagement Association Auspices on 29April2011

presented a poster t i t ledBiomethanation potential of Agro wastes (authors:Vidhya Prabhudessai, Anasuya Ganguly, PrathamArora, Vijay and Srikanth Mutnuri) at the 3rd IWA AsiaPacific Young Water Professionals Conference held inSingapore during 21-24 November 2010

pursuing his Ph.D under the guidance ofDr. Srikanth Mutnuri was awarded Senior ResearchFellowship by CSIR in April 2011.

Research associate in thedepartment of chemistry has been selected for"Sandwich PhD fellowship-2011"of the FrenchGovernment for six months to work on biosensors forenvironmental analysis.

won the Google IndiaWomen in Engineering Award that aims at recognizingand rewarding the deserving women students inComputer Science and related majors, and inspiringthem to become active participants and leaders increating technology

was selected for a Research Internshipduring May - July 2011 at the Microsoft Research INRIAJoint Lab in Paris with a monthly stipend of 1100 euros.He worked on Web Security and Formal verification ofOAuth protocol.

Dr. Debasis Patnaik

Pratham Arora

C. Sivaraman

Rupesh Mishra,

Nazneen Fatema Rajani

Chetan Bansal

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus Students at CIMA

Pratham Arora in Singapore

Prof. D. M. Kulkarni receiving the Certificate


significant projects

consultancyDr. Srikanth Mutnuri, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences did aconsultancy work for Public Works Department, (PWD) Margao on Studiesand analysis of discharge to river Sal from konkan railway / e.s.i nallah,salpem lake, STP and enroute discharges upto Sinquetim – Margao /Navelim.


PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR &NAME OF THE DEPT.

TITLE OF THE PROJECT FUNDING AGENCY,AMOUNT & DURATION

Dr. Ramesha C KEE E and E&I

Dr. Utpal RoyBiological Sciences

Dr. Vijayashree NayakBiological Sciences

Dr. Sumit BiswasBiological Sciences

Dr. Rabi NarayanPandaChemistry

Investigation of Schottky contacts toSilicon Carbide (SiC) using I-V and C-Vtechniques

Biochemcial and genetic characterizationof antimicrobial (candidiacidal) peptidesproduced by the strain

apr 210

A New Biodegradable Polymer Scaffoldfor CartilageTissue Engineering

Structure elucidation of VC0395_300protein from (leading to analternate method of checking Cholera)

Magnetic Properties of Metallic Nano-particles

Enterococcus

faecalis

Vibrio cholerae

Rs.10,77,800Univeristy Grants Commission(UGC) New Delhi

Rs. 7.78 lakhsUniversity Grants Commission(UGC)

Rs. 22.34 lakhsBoard of Researchin NuclearSciences (BRNS),Govt. of India

Rs. 23.5 lakhsBoard of Research in NuclearSciences, Department of AtomicEnergy(BRNS), Govt. of India

Rs. 20 lakhsCSIR


Faculty members from various disciplines have been appointed as members of National andInternational advisory committees / acted as reviewers for books / papers published in journals ofnational and international repute.

Name Department Journal / Member details

Dr. Anita Agrawal

Mr. Nitin Sharma

Dr. Pravin Singru

Prof. D. M. Kulkarni

Dr. Srikanth Mutnuri

Prof. Sunil Bhand

Dr. Ranjan Dey

EEE and E&I

EEE and E&I

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Biological Sciences

Chemistry

Chemistry

Reviewed papers for International conference onCommunication computing & Security,12-14 Feb2011 held at NIT Rourkela, India andInternational Journal of Modelling and Simulation.Publisher :Actapress.

Associate Editor for following Journals:Communications (ACTA Press), Journal ofElectrical and Electronics Engineering (JEEE),Journal of Electronics and CommunicationEngineering (JECE), Journal of Electronics andInstrumentation Engineering (JEIE), InternationalJournal of Electrical and Electronics EngineeringResearch and Development (IJEEERD),International Journal of Electronics,Communication & Instrumentation EngineeringResearch and Development (IJECIERD),International Journal of Wireless and MobileCommunications (IJWMC) Reviewer for thejournals IEEE TEVC, Springer Wireless Personalcommunication

Appointed expert member of selection committeeof Lecturers in Institute of Ship BuildingTechnology, Vasco Da Gama

Member of Editorial Board of World Journal ofMechanics (WJM)

Appointed by Dy. Collector, Margao as the NodalOfficer for the work related to contamination ofwater wells in Comba, Margao. Reviewer forWorld Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology,Bioresource Technology and Journal ofPetroleum Technology and Alternative Fuels

Reviewed three manuscripts for Biosensors andBioelectronics (Elsevier, UK), one manuscript forApplied Biochemistry and Biotechnology(Springer), one for Journal of J. Agri. Food andChemistry (ACS, USA)

Reviewed a paper for the Journal of SolutionChemistry

inprintDr. Debasis Patnaik , Productivity, Growth and

Dispersal of Industries, 2011, New Delhi : DPH

Pvt. Ltd.

Meenakshi Raman and Sangeeta Sharma,

Technical Communicaation: Principles and

Practice, Second Edition, 2011, New Delhi :

Oxford University Press


Name Department Journal / Member details

Dr. N. N. Ghosh

Dr. Debasis Patnaik

Prof. MeenakshiRaman

Chemistry

Economics

Humanities andManagement

Member of Editorial board of the followinginternational journals: (i) Journal of ChemicalEngineering and Material Science, (ii) ISRNCeramics.

Reviewed 3 papers for Journal of DiasporaInitiatives and Journal of Manpower Planning

Member of editorial board of AIMS International;editorial chair for two journals (Journal of Englishand Literature; International Journal of Englishand Literature) of Transstellar JournalPublications and Research Consultancy PrivateLimited; reviewed five papers for the AIMSInternational Journal of Management (AIMSinternational, USA) and ten papers for AIMS 8International conference proceedings; five papersfor IJEAPS ( International Journal of Educationaladministration and Policy Studies, Nigeria)

th

quarkQuark 2011, the fifth edition of annual techno-management festival of the Campus was hosted during3-5 February 2011. With Mr. Kris Ramachandran aBITS Pilani alumnus and Advisor for the Aditya BirlaGroup's Higher Education Project as the Chief Guestand the Directors of all campuses as the guests ofhonour, the inauguration ceremony witnessed the mindblowing performance of the Music Club. A man with asense of humor and admirable insight into the studentpsyche, Mr. Kris Ramachandran delighted theaudience with few of his experiences as a student atBITS.

Quark hosted events in eight categories covering thedomains of engineering, pure sciences and business.Action packed events like Robo- Kombat and Burnoutattracted a huge crowd. BITS Model United Nations,spanning over all three days of the festival, attractedtremendous outstation participation. Events in thecorporate panel, QuEST and Intellect were hugelysuccessful as well. According to Priyanka Unnithan(BITS Goa), winner of QuEST-“The events weremeticulously planned and there was a lot of enthusiasmamongst the participants. Despite being a tech-fest,Quark catered to everyone and there was never a dullmoment”

organizers of the workshop were very helpful, andthough the workshop was long, time seemed to fly by!Plus, we now have a self- constructed Ornithopter toshow off!' A crowd- favourite at Quark 2011 were theAurora nights, featuring amazing performances by theDance, Music, Fine Arts and Mime clubs of BITS Pilani,K. K Birla campus. Dr. Jonathan Wolfe's fractal showwas one of the chief highlights of the Aurora nights.

On Feb 6 , BITS Pilani, Goa campus hostedTEDxBITSGoa, an independently organized TED likeconference operated under a license from TED. Underthe theme of "Exploring Transformation", TEDx had animpressive speaker profile including entrepreneurs,physicists, visionaries and performers. Atul Chitnis( founder of FOSS) gave the audience an insight into thepast, present and future of computer technology. KalyanVerma (renowned wildlife photographer) touchedhearts with his moving speech. The highly anticipatedperformances by Anuradha Pal (Tabla Virtuoso) andJhelum Paranjape (Odissi Danseuse) lived up toaudience expectations.

th

Several workshops were organized by tech firms likeNvidia (CUDA Parallel computing), CypressSemiconductors (PSoC) and Mu Sigma (Analytics).Especially popular was the Workshop on Fractals byProf. Jonathan Wolfe. Says Namita Paul, attendee atthe Ornithopter Workshop organized by Aerotrix-' The

BITS MUN

Students with their project Exhibit

Mime


With distinguished personalities Shirish Nadkarni, aformer badminton champion & a celebratedcommentator as the Chief Guest ,Swapnil Asnodkar, aplayer of the IPL team Rajasthan Royals, as the Guestof Honour and the world yogasana champion & Goaprodigy Nhehern N. Acharya as a yoga demonstrator ,SPREE 2011, the Sports Festival of BITS Pilani K KBirla Goa Campus, kicked off with a bang on 26thFebruary, 2011. The audience were also fortunate towitness the stunning freestyle football performances ofArchis Patil, Adreil Fernandes and Akshay Yadav andthe artistic rendition of the cultural group Vaishnavishowcasing the ten Avatars of Lord Vishnu.

The formal ceremony began with the 3-minute thrillingdisplay of the thirteen year old Nhehern showcasing hisskills as a yoga prodigy. With a variety of exacting yogapostures displaying amazing flexibility, he left theaudience dumbfounded.

After the ceremonial lighting of the lamp, and unveilingof the grand Spree trophies, Mr. Aditya Chintawar,President of the Council of Student Affairs welcomedthe gathering and promised an exciting SPREE.Appreciating Nhehern's performance and the students'efforts for SPREE Prof. K.E.Raman wished all theparticipants. Mr. Nadkarni inspired the students bysharing his experiences of overcoming severaladversities in his life and urged the students to pursuetheir sport with full passion and not to give up in difficultsituations. Mr. Swapnil Asnodkar read out thecustomary sports pledge and wished all the teams asuccessful SPREE 2010. Mr. Sai Raghavandra theSPREE convenor presented the details of events andMr. Aniket Reddy, the General Secretary proposed thevote of thanks.

Around 2000 students from various colleges acrossIndia participated in SPREE 2011, which is the biggestsports festival in Goa and also considered to be amongthe nation's biggest sports festivals.But even the festival organisers couldn't have predictedthe success that Spree '11 would be. It is customary atmost sporting events to use the phrase “nail biting

finishes” and the like. Well then, every such cliché wouldhave to be used to describe the matches at Spree. TheBITS cricket team played every one of the matches likechampions and deservedly lifted the cup at the end ofthe tournament.

The BITS girls' basketball team too performedcommendably, finishing second ultimately. The boys'basketball matches were aggressively contested and inthe end NIT Trichy bagged the top honour.But the excitement wasn't just confined to the sportsfields alone. The Purple Patch rose to the occasion ofthe Special Nites and screened a two live matches, onean India England cricket match, the other a ManchesterUnited- Chelsea football match and a movie on the SAClawns much to the enjoyment of the crowd. It's fair to saythat they did for Spree at night what the matches didduring the day. This time, Spree saw the arrival of theZapak Alienware gaming lounge for all the CS freaksand the opening of a gambling zone for the first time,replete with poker, bridge and the like.

With Mr.Venkata pathy Raju the Chief Guest andProf. B. N. Jain, the Vice Chancellor as the Guest ofhonour, the valedictory function of Spree 2011 was heldin the cricket grounds. Appreciating the festival,Mr. Raju congratulated all the participants andorganizers. Prizes were distributed to winners of allevents with SSN Chennai carrying away the overalltrophy.

spree Spree 2011

Mr. Venkatapathy Raju at the ValedictorySpree 2011


caringbeyondourwalls

Keeping up the spirit of societal development, variousteams of Nirmaan initiated new activities asmentioned below:

Employment Operations team at Nirmaan Goa incollaboration with Centre for EntrepreneurialLeadership worked towards empowering communitybased SHGs (Self-help groups) by adding businessinsight to philanthropic models. With commendableefforts from Kavya, Chithra, Preethi, Sindhu, Sindhura,Venugopal and Shruti the team has successfullycompleted the training program of 19 women Zari and32 Women in Birla communities; the trainers were madeavailable from Father Agnel's Ashram at Verna, Goa.The first Women's SHG named ASHADEEP comprisingof 11 members in Zari was formed.

The Knowledge Operations Team has initiated two newprojects focused at adult and child literacy and Englishspeaking to further enhance their presentation andcommunication skills. The adult literacy teamcomprising of Sruthi, Fatima, Deepak, Srinivas andRakesh under the guidance of Dr. Meenakshi Ramanhave enthusiastically led the effort and provided basicspoken skills to 11 women in Zari.

With a vision to encourage the idea of using technologyfor social good, event Bhagirath was organized duringQuark 2011. The idea was to engage tribes ofengineers, architects, scientists and thinkers to come upwith solutions for Rural Electrification, Urban WasteManagement and use of Informat ion andCommunicat ion technology in agr icu l tura ldevelopment. 9 ideas were from 55 entries wereselected for presentation and were judged by eminentpersonalities in the field.

AIESEC (Association Internationale des Étudiants enSciences Économiques et Commerciales) GoaChapter, in association with the Rotary Club of Panaji,Faber-Castell, Shetty Sons Caterers, and the IndianNavy, conducted 'Balakalakaar', an art competition forunderprivileged children at BITS-Pilani K.K Birla GoaCampus on 17th April. The event saw the participationof several NGOs from all across Goa such as El-Shaddai, S.C.A.N (Stop Child Abuse Now), ChildrenWalking Tall, Janubhai Trust and Hamara SchoolProject. More than 500 children participated in theevent. Students of Goa campus delighted theparticipants with their cultural programme in theevening. The Chief Guest , Commodore Ajay Chhabra(Naval Officer-in-Charge, Goa Area), emphasized therelevance and importance of NGOs, students andindividual donors in helping the society. The guest ofhonour, Mr. Dinesh Kamath (President of Rotary Club ofPanaji), and Mrs. Harshada Kerkar then gave away theprizes for the art competition, with Hamara School andShantiniketan bagging awards across most categories.The event concluded with performances by the childrenof various NGOs who displayed their finest dancingskills, enthralling the young audience in the auditorium.

The winning ideas were rewarded, some of them areeven getting a chance to implement in the near future.Nirmaan Goa organised a sports event on January 23rdand 30th for the kids in the nearby slum at Zari. SpreeCharity Run 2011 in association with Nirmaan Goa wasorganized on 7 Feb 2011to support the cause of WomenEmpowerment in Goa.

Nirmaan

AIESEC

Spree Charity run


creativezoneDance Club Dramatics Club

Ugadi Rangoli Smt. Arati Ankalikar Tikekar

Music Club Acoustic Night


faculty:

Prof. Meenakshi Raman

Dr. Judith Braganca

Dr. Shalini Upadhyay

students:

Mr. Cherukuri Aditya

Mr. Rohan Menon

Mr. Hemanth Sindhanuru

Mr. Vamshi G

Email Id:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

editorial team

From Left : Rohan, Hemanth, Dr. Judith, Dr. Shalini, Prof. Meenakshi, Vamshi, Aditya


Birla Institute of Technology and science,

K K Birla Goa CampusNear NH 17B, By Pass RoadZuarinagar-403726Goa, India

Phone: +91 8322 580105Website: www.bits-goa.ac.in

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