Research and Development

Document prepared by:

Deepak Kunzru
Amalendu Chandra
Bikramjit Basu
K. Muralidhar
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with assistance from K.V. Satya Murty
dated: 2nd April 2009

CONTENTS
Introduction Intellectual Property Rights
Classification Institute Lecture Series
Aspirations Information Cell
Sponsored Research Student Participation in Research
Consultancy Provocative Issues
Testing Services Review of Research at IIT Kanpur
Employment on Projects Values
Committee for the Acquisition of Research Closure
Equipment (CARE) Recommendations
Infrastructure Through the years: A bird’s eye view
Publications
Pure research Anecdotes
Technology development
Technology Transfer Significant projects accomplished
Technology and Research Parks Creation of major facilities
Self-financing Courses Major equipment
Overheads
DPA and PDA
Project Fund Management APPENDIX I List of Deans
APPENDIX II List of sponsored projects
Office of Research and Development APPENDIX III List of consultancy projects
Office Automation APPENDIX IV List of publications
Institute Research and Development APPENDIX V Evaluation of research publications
Committee APPENDIX VI Brief description of major projects
Large and Mission Mode Projects APPENDIX VII Creation of Cells at IIT Kanpur
APPENDIX VIII Short description of Centers
International Projects APPENDIX IX Selection of technologies developed
High Level Summer Consultancy APPENDIX X List of self-financing courses
Housing

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Acknowledgment: Additional inputs from Rajesh Tewari, Dileep Srivastava, Pradeep Phalke, Sharda Tiwari and
Avanti Joshi are deeply appreciated.

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Introduction

Research at IIT Kanpur has always been given the pride of place, be it in the domain of teaching
students or the professional goals of the faculty. Research, in this sense, has been intertwined
with all curricular activities of students and the faculty alike. For students, the message that is
conveyed is of research as a way of life. It is a strategy appropriate in all contexts – University,
research laboratories, industry, or the corporate world. A research orientation that has permeated
education at the Institute can be related to the adoption of engineering science as the basis of
curriculum development. It is noteworthy that postgraduate programs at the Institute started at
around the same time as the undergraduate, with graduate-level electives being offered to
sophomore and junior level students. The culture of giving projects and term papers to
supplement examinations can also be attributed to the research mindset of the faculty, almost
since the inception of the Institute.
Truly speaking, research in the IIT system as a whole was envisaged by the Sarkar
committee itself in 1944 when it said: The teachers in these Institutes would be expected to do
only so much teaching as would leave them sufficient leisure for research work for which they
would be given reasonable facilities. While creating IITs through an Act of Parliament, Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru stated his dreams in the following words: (IITs are established to)
provide scientists and technologists of the highest caliber who would engage in research, design,
and development to help building the nation towards self-reliance in her technological needs. IIT
Kanpur learnt its lesson in true spirit from the founding fathers.

Classification
How can research be initiated by an individual? The answer would probably run along the
following lines: Identify a core theme, a question that needs to be resolved. The solution may
provide intellectual satisfaction, may contribute fodder to an ongoing discussion, or may simply
be of great utility. The process of finding answers to the question thus posed will require
investment of time, effort, and resources. The fact that the individual needs to be suitably trained
over a very long time frame and must possess sufficient motivation and excitement are not
incidental to the discussion. Such a person enjoying the right ambience is ready to address
unanswered questions. Most factors needed for research are internal to the individual. The most

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visible external factor is financial support. It can be derived from the Institute budget; the
expectation, however, is that research is conducted using external resources such as funding
agencies, private companies, or philanthropic organizations. The advantage of external funding is
that proposals are carefully reviewed and progress is closely monitored. Project monitoring gets
increasingly stiffer as one moves from a government funding agency to a private charity
organization. The former aims at manpower training and capacity building in areas where
weaknesses exist. The latter delivers fruits of research to the society as quickly as possible. The
term sponsored research has been applied to government funded projects while industry
sponsored projects have been categorized as consultancy. A third category called developmental
research was popular in the mid-eighties but has largely faded away.
The discussion on the real meaning of engineering research vis-à-vis scientific research
has been held on occasion. IIT Kanpur, however, has not drawn boundaries between the two and
engineering faculty publishing in science journals is considered appropriate. Yet, the IIT review
committee of 1986 seeks to define engineering R&D as a guide with the quote of Lord Baker
(1979) from the Working Party on Engineering Research in Britain:
Engineering research should be considered as the combination of new scientific discovery with
the practical design and development of a real product or process of proven, or potentially likely,
utility. Involvement of industry is essential at all stages of research, development, and design,
whether it be done in the physics or materials laboratory as basic research or in an engineering
laboratory or drawing office for product design and development.
The absence of a clear purpose within engineering research has had its influence on the Institute
profile. Achievements have been sporadic and divided over various domains. If a success story is
to be told, it is closer to scholarly publications (as in Appendix IV) than innovations for the
industry.

Aspirations
The Institute faculty conducts research with goals and objectives ranging from intellectual
curiosity, addressing contemporary challenges, developing technology, or writing scholarly
publications. The Institute gains immensely from these activities and in fact, thrives on faculty
quest. The Institute standing in the world as one of repute and prestige rests squarely on its
performance in the research domain. Consequently, the Institute has facilitated a healthy
ambience for research – both in terms of infrastructure and scholastics.
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 IIT Kanpur has always had pride in the research contributions of its faculty and has said
so, on many an occasion. The document entitled R&D Capabilities published in 1989 extols the
outside world to approach its faculty in the following manner:
If you have a project or a problem for which you would like another opinion, or would like to build a
prototype, a device, we would be delighted to hear from you and put you in touch with the right person on the IITK
faculty. ….. If you think that you need to sit down with someone who can help crystallize your idea, we will arrange
for one of the faculty members to speak with you……. We are confident that, together, we shall be able to work out a
solution to your problem which will be effective in terms of both cost and time.
These words hold concisely the idea of our self as a research fraternity in tune with the
expectations of the real world.

Sponsored Research
The first 25 years of the life of the Institute saw academic processes, namely courses, degrees,
and teaching standards being established. These are now considered benchmarks around the
world and contribute to the brand image of the Institute. The second 25 years can rightfully be
considered the research phase wherein the process of seeking financial support outside the
Institute has been set in motion.
The early years saw research funding stemming from Institute resources. The need for
seeking external financial support was rarely felt, and if at all, for the purpose of getting set-ups
fabricated or papers typed from external parties on a very short time-frame. Indeed, public
funding agencies did not exist and private industry did not deem it necessary to consult academia
for problem-solving or evolving vision for the future. However, exacting standards needed in
science and technology drove up research costs, particularly instrument costs, and internal
support was found to be inadequate. The era of sponsored research via extramural funding was
thus introduced within the Institute. Historically, the science departments embarked on
sponsored research in the 1970s with engineering departments following soon after. The attempt
to create a bridge between scholarship and applications can be seen in the R&D booklet of 1984
created by the Dean, Dr. P. Dayaratnam where Professor S. Sampath, the then Director had the
following comment to offer: The urgent need is to strengthen the hands of academicians with the
requisite motivation and to provide an arena in which interaction with the outside world of
industry and society at large can be set in motion to find an answer to the question – “Is the
work of the Institute so academic in character that its faculty members will be at a loss when

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faced with the need to solve mundane problems?” The importance of partnering the industry is
now widely recognized and the above question would be answered quite to the satisfaction of the
Director.
In contrast, the situation today is quite stark where faculty spends a majority of its time in
writing and defending proposals, hiring staff, conducting time-bound research, and preparing
reports and publications. Simultaneously, we see a concomitant growth in funding agencies
willing to support cutting edge research. Participation of national organizations such as HAL,
ISRO, and BARC in our research activity is on the rise. The private industry (national and
international) seek faculty support in the form of consultancy services and testing.
Research as a theme has always been the center of attention at IIT Kanpur. Accordingly,
positions of Deans first constituted were for faculty recruitment and research. The first Dean of
Research & Development, Prof. H. K. Kesavan, was appointed in 1964. In fact, this was the first
ever appointment of a Dean for Research anywhere in the IIT system. This was a time when
external funding was practically non-existent and much of the necessary infrastructure was
established from the mainstream funding of the Ministry equivalent of Human Resource
Development (MHRD) and to some extent, from the Kanpur Indo-American Program (KIAP).
During the mid-seventies, Government of India established the Department of Science and
Technology (DST) as well as the Aeronautical Research & Development Board (AR&DB) and
the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This period heralded the era of
sponsored projects at IIT Kanpur. By the late seventies, several government-based sponsoring
agencies such as Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and Department of Electronics
(DOE) had been established. Umbrella organizations such as Defense Research and
Development Organization (DRDO) introduced programs to provide financial support to the
academia. In addition, funding was also possible from international agencies, in particular, the
United Nations. For example, major funding was received from United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) in 1985 to set up the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) laboratory at IIT Kanpur.
The project pioneered the use of the CAD approach and tools in the Indian industry. The CAD
project is primarily responsible for the spread of CAD awareness in Universities and engineering
colleges around the country.
To develop a historical perspective on research itself on one hand and sponsored research
on the other, it is important to understand the following development. In the early years after

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independence, Universities and Institutes were the sole custodians of research. Industry put
research in the back-burner while sustaining small development units within its organization. As
an after effect of the liberalization policy of 1992, research has gripped research laboratories
(since the year 2000 and beyond) and many new privately owned establishments have sprung up.
The industry appreciates the need for research since it contributes to lower manufacturing and
material costs, and possibly superior specifications. Thus, the situation in the year 2009 is that
research is a widely distributed across the spectrum and academic organizations are no more than
one of the players in the field. Now, more than ever, academicians have to innovate to make their
presence felt and compete against a truly mighty competition that is blessed with better resources
– money, manpower, as well as time.
The list of faculty who held the position of Dean: Research and Development over the
years at IIT Kanpur is given in Appendix I. The list of sponsored projects received from funding
agencies is given in Appendix II. The data is classified agency-wise and a separate column has
been introduced for international projects. The list of consultancy projects received is given in
Appendix III. A comparison of the quantum of funding per year shows that research grants and
the number of projects have both increased significantly with time.
It should be mentioned here that a large number of students work on projects as well, thus
contributing to a considerable project-related work force. The increase in the volume of project
related activities is clearly visible in the form of increased publications, particularly in high
quality journals. The list of publications emanating from IIT Kanpur is given in Appendix IV.
Appendix V analyzes the publication trends across the Departments and reviews the quality of
journals chosen by the faculty to show-case their research.
An encouraging development during the present decade is the significant increase in the
number of industry sponsored projects. These include private companies, multinationals, and
public sector organizations. Thus, projects have been sponsored by private companies such as
TELCO and MicroSoft, multinationals such as Chevron, IBM, GE, and GM, and public sector
undertakings such as BHEL and NTPC. Many of these projects are in the nature of consultancy
with a budget that fetches financial rewards for the investigator but with an acutely confined time
frame.
Till the end of the 1990s, most projects were narrow in scope with a modest budget. This
picture has changed from 2000 onwards. During the period 2000-2008, several large projects

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have been granted to the Institute. Examples are Media Lab Asia, Railway Technology Mission,
and CFD software development from BARC. Short summaries of these major projects are
presented in Appendix VI.
Another development in the last decade has been the creation of several Cells (example,
Space Technology Cell, Railway Research Cell, HAL Research Cell) to coordinate and facilitate
research from a broad cross-section of the faculty (Appendix VII). Equally noteworthy is the
setting up of Centers that are inter-disciplinary units with faculty participation from across
departments. Examples to be cited here are Samtel Centre for Display Technologies, Prabhu and
Poonam Goel Centre for Computer and Internet Security, Center for Environmental Science and
Engineering, and National Information Centre for Earthquake Engineering. The Institute boasts
of over 20 centers at present; these are individually described in Appendix VIII.
No man is an island! The Institute is exposed to international trends in science and
technology and the choice of research subjects is influenced by peer groups world-wide.
Dominant winds to have swept the campus include information technology, bioengineering, and
nanotechnology. Consequently, strong research programs and faculty formations have emerged
in these topical areas.

Consultancy
Consultancy has held a distinct position vis-à-vis research in the following sense. It is an activity
well-within the domain of expertise of the concerned faculty (or the group involved).
Accordingly, the target of consultancy is, in a certain manner of speaking, guaranteed, when a
certain amount of time and effort are invested in it. In contrast, sponsored research takes the
faculty outside its comfort zone, into frontiers that are new and completely unexpected.
Consultancy services of the faculty are sought by the industry in diverse areas such as
material selection, analyses of engineering processes, process development, software creation,
and optimization of systems and processes, to name a few. In these situations, the industry
provides financial support for equipment, staff salaries, cost of consumables, and honorarium for
the faculty concerned. The prospect of additional emoluments is, of course, attractive and has
been a source of motivation for accepting consultancy projects. Moreover, consultancy offers a
glimpse into the working of the real world – its demands, timescales, expectations, and quality.

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From the latter viewpoint, the Institute has encouraged faculty to practice consultancy so that it
retains its cutting edge.
The importance of consultancy has been felt now for over three decades. A 1975
document of R&D lays out the procedures and policies for consultancy services. It clearly states
that the proposal should originate from the industry concerned. The faculty is expected to
estimate the time and cost required to accomplish the task.
The issue of the extent to which the faculty (indeed the academic staff) can augment its
salary has been debated at great length. A document prepared by Dr. B.D. Agarwal, Dean R&D
from 1988-1991 explicitly laid down the condition that consultancy earnings should not exceed
50% of the person’s salary, when computed over a full year. It could reach 100% if approved by
a specially constituted Director-level committee. The message here is that consultancy could
very well interfere with research and teaching; checks and balances are necessary. At some point
of time, these norms were relaxed and presently we do not have explicit limits on consultancy
income. It is understood that faculty would have to balance its act in various domains. Laxity in
any one direction would soon be exposed. The impact of peer pressure is indeed quite high.
Consultancy services in the domain of analysis, design, and software development have
been the mainstay of this activity over the years. A list of consultancy projects accomplished at
IIT Kanpur is presented in Appendix III. A survey of this data shows a sharp increase in the
number of projects as well as the quantum of funding.

Testing services
The word refers to examining a component or a product against a standard. Examples could be
testing the strength of concrete in a construction, compaction strength of soil, calibration of
pressure gages, and chemical identification of unknown species. Testing is commonly
accomplished in general-purpose laboratories and does not require elaborate preparation or data
analysis. The staff of the Institute has been quite active in providing testing services to the
neighboring industry of the Kanpur region. Testing is commonly accomplished in general-
purpose laboratories and does not require elaborate preparation or data analysis. The 1975
document of the R&D office has clear guidelines on conducting testing in various laboratories of
the Institute along with the mode and extent of payment. The Institute is not authorized to

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undertake certification in any form. At best, one can say that, on a given day, with a given
sample, a well-defined test yielded the following results.

Employment on projects
Sponsored projects have always been a source of employment at various levels. As practiced
today, it includes employees in the category of daily wage workers, technicians, research staff,
all the way to post-doctoral fellows. The Institute aspires to have the largest work force at the
post-doctoral level but has not had overwhelming success on this front.
Historically, in the absence of an exclusive administrative support system, research
related tasks used to be shared by the Institute employees. Till the mid-seventies, they would be
remunerated for the additional work, though in an informal manner. Over a period of time,
sponsored research entered the mainstream and the need for creating a separate cadre for project
staff was felt. As a first step, technical and scientific staff was treated on par with CSIR
employees. This model persisted till the mid-eighties but was found to be quite restrictive and
alternatives were soon explored.
The first document to streamline project employment was prepared in 1989 by Professor
B.D. Agarwal in which the required terminology was also introduced. Thus, terms such as
project assistant, project mechanic, project associate, and project engineer were defined. The
pay-scale in the form of a consolidated salary with yearly increments was specified. These
salaries were loosely linked to scales provided by funding agencies as well as the scholarships
received by the graduate students. The IT revolution of the early part of the present decade has
resulted in sky-rocketing salaries and the demand for a flexible salary structure is more vocal
than ever. In this context, the pay structure has been made flexible with a wide band subject to
the conditionality that higher fellowships are paid to deserving candidates.
The document of 1989 classified staff as research, technical, ministerial, and helpers. In a
visionary move, the document restricts the number of staff in the last three categories to 60
(sixty) for the entire Institute, irrespective of the number of projects. This number has the
approval of the Board. In contrast, there is no limit on the number of research staff that can be
hired on projects. Though a justification has not been spelt out for this policy, a clear indication
of priorities is visible; the potential for possible complications arising from staff in the semi-
skilled and unskilled cadres is also indicated.

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 It is noteworthy that initial appointments can be ad hoc; these are 3-month long
engagements meant to cover emergencies in project work. It could be also be used to test a
potential candidate. All subsequent hiring is via a selection committee. The 1989 document is
clear on the importance of merit in research work and plays emphasis on the qualifications and
the selection process.
In the year 1997, the option of work-assignment was created. Here, a person could be
appointed for up to three months for a dedicated purpose without interviews or even a formal
qualification. This flexibility was thought to become a facilitator for project activity. By the year
2007, the work-assignment route had become a channel for hiring casual labor dedicated to
miscellaneous tasks such as cleaning and paper work. There is now a concerted effort to create
contractors who can supply manpower to the Institute on demand.
With the creation of inter-disciplinary centers of excellence across the Institute and
acquisition of expensive equipment, an issue facing the faculty is one of instrument operation,
maintenance, and student training. To address these questions, a new cadre of research engineers
was created in the year 2005. These engineers (and scientists) are appointed to certain centers on
a contract basis for a period of three-to-five years. They write proposals and conduct research,
over and above their regular duties at the Center. Projects secured by them serve to pay their
salaries while the Institute gives them an opportunity and an ambience to function effectively
with a great deal of productivity. Centers with large funding could utilize such research
engineers entirely for their ongoing projects. Creation of these positions has helped in terms of
keeping continuity in research activities while ensuring steady progress towards the project
goals.
There can be considerable variation in the quality of staff employed on projects. There
are certainly many success stories – at the level of technicians as well as engineers and scientists.
There have been unexpected setbacks as well. Stories of employees leaving the project abruptly
are not uncommon. The employment process requires the prospective research staff to give an
undertaking on a stamp paper. Monthly salaries are released only on certification from the
project investigator. The last month’s salary is released only after all dues owed to the laboratory
are fulfilled. These measures, introduced in 1989, add to the administrative load but enforce
seriousness in the employment of candidates on projects.

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 In 2006, scaled positions were created for employment on projects. The idea was to give
contract positions to persons with experience in a scale that would automatically protect their
seniority. This model has succeeded in attracting qualified personnel to large, mission-mode
projects over 3-5 years. Once again, in 2006, research engineer positions were created on terms
independent of any ongoing projects, with the stipulation that the individual earns his own
income from sponsored projects. It is akin to the position of a research professor in US
Universities except that the interaction of the person thus appointed with the student body is
rather limited. The experiment with this cadre, however, has not been as beneficial to the
Institute.

Committee for the acquisition of research equipment (CARE)

A large number of major equipment have been procured by the faculty under this scheme,
originally called CAME (Committee for the acquisition of major equipment) and named CARE
in 1999. The funding for equipment and instruments has greatly been enhanced with agencies
other than MHRD (DST, for example) providing financial support for research infrastructure.
Inadvertently, research funding for equipment has overlooked an important factor of
maintenance and continuity in manpower. To address these issues, the current practice is to pay
for 80% of the equipment cost from the Institute and 20% from ongoing projects of the
individual or the group. This strategy has worked well in the sense that equipment is put to good
use over its lifetime.
The research activities of IIT Kanpur have been facilitated by large funding to different
departments under the Funds for Infrastructure development of Science and Technology (FIST)
scheme of DST. In the last few years, many state-of-the-art equipment such as the Transmission
Electron Microscope (TEM) as well as many similar multi-user facilities have been installed at
IIT Kanpur. For a longer list (year wise), see section on Unique equipment later in this
document. The installation of such facilities has encouraged interdisciplinary cutting edge
research among very distinct departments. The change is so fundamental that inter-disciplinary
may well become the character of the Institute, differentiating it from other IITs and educational
institutions.
Regarding research being done across disciplines, a word is in order. The Institute was
truly set-up with a vision of cross-disciplinary education. The committee report of 1973

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recommends that all future research programs should be evolved on an inter-disciplinary and
inter-departmental basis. Some examples quoted are Nuclear Engineering, Computer Science
and Engineering, and Materials Science, topics that continue to be at the forefront. The Faculty
Building, the center-piece of the Institute is a testament to this belief that creativity stems from
cross-talk. Originally, rooms in faculty building were allotted in such a way as to produce a mix
of individuals with diverse thinking and specialization. The crystallization of Departments was a
latter-day phenomenon when laboratory facilities had to be created for each discipline and had to
be responsibly managed as well. With the appearance of central facilities and high-value
equipment, a re-grouping is most evident. We may as well be returning to our roots!

Infrastructure
Sophisticated instruments require extreme control over temperature, dust, and humidity. This
requirement was less critical in the mid-eighties where the only laboratory to be carefully air-
conditioned was the Computer Center. Indeed, one saw a peculiar situation wherein students
would opt for computational work simply to beat the heat and sit in air-conditioned computer
laboratories. The design of the computer center in the early 1990s for air-conditioning was quite
intricate and required formal engineering calculations. The first ever cluster of HP mainframes
was placed here; this layout continues to be use till date.
The power crisis of the mid-nineties delayed large-scale air-conditioning to some extent,
but the project culture had already resulted in the acquisition of sophisticated equipment. By the
end of the 1990s, a laboratory was expected to have new electrical wiring with true earth,
polyvinyl chloride (or tiled) floors, window, central or split air-conditioners, false roofs, false
floors (to conceal wiring and guide cool air, particularly in the context of computers), and an
enclosure. The first decade of the present century has seen a demand for clean rooms of various
specifications with precision air-conditioners maintaining temperatures to within a fraction of
temperature unit. It is unthinkable that a laboratory would operate without uninterrupted power
supplies (UPS), and more generally, gen-sets. The desirable has become an essential over a
matter of 10-15 years. The implication would be clearly in terms of cost; the availability of
energy in terms of electricity and trained manpower would have to be ensured. Modern
laboratories in the Institute thus require significant planning.

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 It is a healthy development that architects and contractors are now responsive to the
construction of research laboratories. The Samtel Center could install by 2005, the first clean
room for electronics fabrication. The building assigned to Biosciences and Bioengineering has
underground cold water storage for supplementing the main air conditioning system. The design
has not worked well, mainly due to inadequate control of humidity, but the effort and the thought
process is transparent. The Environmental Sciences and Engineering building, inaugurated in
January 2008 has a 5-star TERI-GRIHA rating for ecological sensitivity, right from the
construction phase all the way to its full occupancy.
The need to balance the demands of sophisticated equipment against social consciousness
such as energy conservation and damage will be the planning paradigm, at least for the coming
decade.

Publications
The Institute signed a memorandum of agreement in 1993 with Narosa Publishing House, New
Delhi for publication of monographs under the IIT Kanpur Series of Advanced Texts. The idea
was to bring faculty from across the Institute and compile research-level texts for students.
Books published under this agreement are Computational Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer (1995,
2003), Modeling of Complex Systems (1997), and Turbulent Flows: Fundamentals, Experiments,
and Modeling (2002).
The Institute has not regularly printed a newsletter to report its academic and research
activities. In the last decade, a publication by name Directions has emerged as the frontline
publication of the Institute. It is further driven by the proceedings of REACH, the annual IIT
Kanpur symposium initiated in 2007.
Quoting from the REACH‐08 website, we have: IIT Kanpur has initiated an annual
symposium to showcase the ongoing research on campus and promote interdisciplinary research and
interaction amongst faculty, students, and research staff of the Institute. The series is named IITK REACH
(REsearch And CHallenges) Symposium. Each year, the focus is on a few major themes of research in the
Institute. Faculty working in these areas are invited to speak on their work in a way that is intelligible to
a general audience. In addition, some students and distinguished external researchers are also invited.
Each theme has one or two coordinators who organize the session and choose the speakers. The

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participants of the symposium are faculty and students of the Institute identified by the Advisory and
Organizing Committees.
Since January 2008, students have embarked on a research and development newsletter
called NERD. Despite a curious title, the publication has evinced interest and students have
shown enthusiasm towards preparing original articles, distinct from faculty research already in
progress. This independence in the thought process is important and must be nurtured.

Pure research
IIT Kanpur has a credible record of original research in domains stemming from analysis.
Indeed, mathematical analysis of engineering and scientific problems has been its hallmark over
the decades. The outcrop of computer science education at IIT Kanpur in the late 1960s can be
linked to an analytical framework that has dominated the thinking of its faculty. Offshoots of this
style have led to significant research in applied mechanics, algorithms, modeling and simulation,
image processing, numerical techniques, and computational fluid dynamics. Historically, the
delicate situation prevailing on the electrical power front has posed a major challenge for
sustaining large-scale experiments on one hand and very sophisticated characterization tools on
the other. The stabilization of the infrastructure in the campus after the year 2000 has seen
acquisition of very sophisticated measurement systems across the Institute. Strong winds of
experiments are now felt everywhere and a paradigm shift is clearly in place. It is noteworthy
that computer technologies have undergone their own sweet revolution and the Institute, since
2005, sees a steady stream of high-performance clusters being acquired all around.
Bucking the trend, small groups of faculty have pursued laboratory experiments as a goal
of research and have found small success. Yet another dimension is technology and product
development in a purely industry framework and a few examples of this nature can be readily
quoted.
Yet, a word of caution is in order. Recalling an editorial in Nature (1928), the
Nayudamma committee (1980) emphatically stated the following: The precise extent to which
research workers are wasting energy in repeating experiments that have already been made is
difficult to estimate ………. It is indeed more than possible that half the energy expended in
experimental research is dissipated in useless repetition. Further, the committee provocatively
argues that A good amount of research in the country is without review and accountability. Have

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we clearly risen above these concerns? The increase in the number of publications in recent years
shows that we have improved our productivity. Yet, a quantitative assessment remains to be
carried out. A decade-and-a-half later, The Biswas - Sathyamurthy committee had the following
comment to offer (1995): In spite of the excellence achieved by the faculty in individual
research, IITK has made little impact in the minds of our policy makers with its research output.
On industrial collaboration, the committee states …``precious little has been achieved.” These
are strong words indeed. Our interaction in 2008 with defense and strategic research laboratories
remains at the lowest possible ebb. Yet, the remarkable record of publications and sponsored
projects after 2000 yields hope that we would indeed be at the forefront of research as extolled
by our friends and well-wishers.

Technology development
In the framework of sponsored research, technology development has been conducted via
missions (TDM) financially supported by MHRD. Technologies have also emerged from
student-led projects at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Certain consultancy projects have
been in the form of technology development. While the number of technologies developed has
generally been small, a spurt in industry-specific software can be seen in the 1990s.
Three Technology Development Missions were sanctioned by MHRD in the year 1993
for a period of five years. These missions were respectively entitled Integrated Design and
Computer Manufacturing, New Materials, and Communication Networking and Intelligent
Automation. Several sub-projects were conducted under the umbrella of these missions.
Specifically, sub-missions in IDCM included shape technology, CIM technology, low cost light
car, switchgear mechanism, FHP motor performance, and process simulator. The sub-missions in
New Materials were polymer composites, metal matrix composites, ceramic powder and sensors,
magnetic materials, and ceramic matrix composites. In CMIA, the aim was to use electronics and
information technologies to solve problems related to power transmission and distribution. The
Ministry offered a four-fold augmentation to the money raised by the investigator from the
industry. One of the most successful projects in this respect was on Rapid Prototyping and
Engineering Analysis of Products that could raise an amount of over Rs 1.5 crores in 1996, a
huge amount by the standards of that era. A second notable project under communication

15
networking has led to a magnificent improvement in the electrical grid after 1996 in the northern
region of the country
A recent technology mission, granted in the year 2004 for a total cost of Rs 24 crores,
concerns railway safety where financial support stem from the Ministry of Railways (30%),
MHRD (50%) and the rest from the industry. A large number of technologies have emerged from
this effort. Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) is a project to disseminate train
information dynamically in a given geographical boundary in terms of location, speed and
direction of movement. The train tracking system uses the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Each train has a locator unit to receive information from GPS satellites and continuously identify
the position of the train. Highly appreciated by railway authorities and hailed by the media (see
newspaper reports of 2007), the project will ultimately revolutionize rail safety. Other
technologies include improved metallurgy for railway tracks, wheels and axles, corrosion
resistance of railway tracks, rail-flaw detection, an eco-friendly toilet, and sensor development
for condition monitoring of wheels and bogies.
A collection of technologies developed at the Institute over the years is summarized in
Appendix IX.

Technology transfer
A survey carried out in the late 1990s showed that the faculty and research staff had developed
products suitable for the industry. Many of them were classified as being in the ‘final stage of
development’, with a few having the reached the ‘fully developed’ stage. In recent years, the
number of patents filed (mostly Indian, but a few international as well) has sharply gone up.
However, not many technologies developed here have been commercialized. Occasional
instances of exaggerated claims have also been encountered. The excellence achieved by the
faculty in research is yet to be matched by its share of technology transfer to the industry.
To fully exploit the technologies developed at IIT Kanpur, the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation
Centre (SIIC) was established in 1999. The faculty entrepreneurship policy of IIT Kanpur was approved
by the BOG in June 2008. This document lays the methodology for faculty to start companies based on
their research ideas and concomitant products, processes and spin-offs. Particularly, in this decade, IIT
faculty has become aware of the patenting issues and the number of patents filed/issued has increased
from 3 in 2000, 6 in 2005, to 48 in 2008.

16
Technology and research parks
The IIT Review committee in 1986 recommended that steps be taken to harness the considerable
intellectual and infrastructural resources of IITs to meet societal needs. The committee
explicitly stated that the faculty salaries were meant for teaching and research while the
possibility of augmenting one’s salary through consultancy for the industry was permitted – in
fact, to be encouraged. Knowing the penchant of the industry for international technologies and
reluctance for in-house research, the committee suggested that IITs create space wherein its
faculty could liaise with the industry on a real cost and real time basis. Simultaneously, the
possibility of conducting industry-centric research within the IIT campus was envisioned by Dr.
N.C. Nigam in the mid-eighties. The goal was to create an administrative framework that would
be considerably liberal when compared to the government, thus inspiring growth at an
invigorating pace. Explicitly stated, it sought to combine the innovation available in an academic
environment with salaries obtained in the industry, indeed a potent combination. The idea,
though germinated at IIT Kanpur, has taken roots at IIT Delhi (as FITT - Foundation of Innovation
and Technology Transfer) since 1988. Other models such as STEP (Science and Technology Park) at IIT

Kharagpur and RDP (Research and Development Park) at IIT Madras and Kanpur were planned. IIT
Madras has implemented such as park outside its campus since 2007 while IIT Kanpur itself has
adopted an independent approach in this matter. An alternative, the SIDBI Innovation and
Incubation Center (SIIC, since 1999) nurtures small laboratory scale ideas till they fructify and
become sustainable in the marketplace. The foundations cited above have become financially
self-sufficient and indicate that they have fulfilled their promise.
Themes common to these units are distinct from scholarly research, the emphasis resting
on product development, industry-related consultancy, testing and calibration, entrepreneurship
development, information systems, and creating summer opportunities program.

Self-financing courses
In order to encourage awareness as well as to provide exposure to state-of-art subjects in diverse
areas of science and technology, the academic staff of the Institute offers courses for faculty
members of various NITs, Government Engineering colleges, private colleges, researchers from
National R&D Laboratories as well as professionals from private industries. The courses for
participants belonging to first and the second categories are offered under the Quality

17
Improvement Program. The participants belonging to industry pay a registration fee to
participate in such courses. Courses last for a week to two weeks and can be intense experience.
A list of courses falling in the category called self-financing is provided in the Appendix
X. A survey of these courses shows that the faculty has succeeded in addressing topical as well
as unusual subjects in the domain of science and engineering. Such courses have helped build
material for graduate-level texts as well as research monographs.

Overheads
In order to run the activities at R & D office, the sponsored research projects are expected to
contribute 20% of the project amount as overhead expenses to the institute. For very large
projects of more than Rs. 50 lakhs, a maximum of Rs. 5 lakhs is allowed by major funding
agencies for overhead expenses. Such expenses are utilized for various purposes: a) contingency
expenses in keeping all records at R & D office, b) salaries of temporary staff. Funding from
several agencies come with zero overheads. A survey of project funding listed in Appendix II
shows that overheads received have hovered around 2-5% in every decade. With cost of
infrastructure and running costs ultimately resulting in an electricity bill on the rise, this fraction
of receipts is clearly unacceptable. Overall, the overhead expenses need to be increased to ensure
smooth functioning of research in the Institute.

DPA and PDA

To encourage faculty obtain external funding, the Department Promotion Account (DPA) and the
Professional Development Account (PDA) were instituted in 1993. As a part of the policy, a
certain fraction of the project overheads due to the Institute were transferred to the Department
account and that of the investigator. Heads of Departments operate DPAs while PDAs are
utilized by the project investigator for miscellaneous expenses within the professional domain.
IIT Kanpur is a pioneer in the creation of these accounts which understandably gives impetus to
sponsored research activities in the Institute. A few but not all IITs have created this mechanism
within their domain but the proposal has been uniformly appreciated.

18
Project Fund Management
IITs in general, and IIT Kanpur in particular, were hit by a financial crisis in the early 1990s
following years of restrictive financial policies at the national level. The impact of liberalization
(set in motion in 1992) was as yet unclear. In this period, funding agencies would trim proposed
budgets, often unrealistically, to the detriment of the project objectives. Funding was not assured
and continuity of research could not be maintained. Under these circumstances, it became clear
that the Institute should be self-reliant and have control over its finances with a provision to
generate money on its own. It was felt that the simplest strategy would be to create a corpus, an
amount arising from the various project-related grants received by the Institute. The corpus could
be suitably invested and the earnings could be a source of income.
It was noticed that project funds showed fluctuations but above a threshold value. It was
thus felt that an amount below the threshold could be placed in bank instruments such as fixed
deposits to earn a higher interest rate. This aspect was examined by Professor A. K. Mittal during
his Deanship in the early 1990s.
A document on the creation of a corpus fund of the Institute (dated 1995) explains the
importance of financial independence of IITs vis-à-vis performance and output of an institute of
national importance such as an IIT. It outlines various possibilities for generating wealth from
talents and resources available within. Some of these include technology transfer, raising project
overheads, selling off unserviceable land, increasing students’ fees, and admission of
international students to the academic programs at international rates. The most successful step
has been the creation of a permanent endowment from donations received from industrial houses
and alumni working around the world. This factor has been most significant, with receipts
soaring in the past three years.
The availability of extra resources with the Institute means that projects can be launched
even when money has not been received from the funding agency. It could be used for
emergency purchases as well as for payment of staff salaries. Careful management of project
monies with complete professionalism is one of the success stories of the Institute from which
faculty research has derived great benefits.
The availability of additional financial resources at the Institute level has generated a
debate of its own. Faculty adopting a hard academic posture has questioned the value of money
not earned through hard work. Younger faculty, however, see an opportunity to buy major

19
equipment that would help us perform at the international level. In turn, faculty formations
organized into groups have emerged with the promise that would put the equipment to
continuous use. The availability of money within the institute has, in fact, led to interdisciplinary
research with participation of faculty across Departments.

Office of Research and Development

In the early years, research grants were integrated with those of the Institute and separate
accounts were not maintained. In fact, till the early 1980s, Dean R&D used to help the Institute
in terms of budget preparation, monitoring of the expenditure and financial liaison with MHRD,
and presentation of the budget proposal of the Institute in the Finance Committee. A stand-alone
R&D office came into existence in 1971, though manned by just four staff members. Still, there
was no separate account for project funds. The creation by Professor T.R. Viswanathan of an
absolutely independent account (called Account II) in 1979 (and strengthened later by Professor
R.N. Biswas in 1987) for managing project funds was a major development in streamlining and
facilitating the execution of projects. At that time, several audit objections were raised regarding
this new account. The Institute was able to convince external auditors on the necessity of having
and operating a separate account independent of the finances received from MHRD. Today, the
R&D office has a staff of around 20. It maintains individual accounts of over 200 projects at any
given time, processes papers related to purchase, travel, appointment, and salaries. The number
of persons employed on projects exceeds 500.
The creation of Account II at IIT Kanpur in the year 1979 and reinforced in 1987 has
been truly revolutionary. It has been so pioneering that every IIT in the country has adopted the
model for operating projects. Account II sends out a message that project activities are in a
mission-mode and hence, time constrained. At this time, cash transactions have practically been
minimized, a viewpoint clearly advocated by the Biswas-Sathyamurthy committee of 1995.
Procedural niceties are often waived in favor of a decision that facilitates project work. The staff
of R&D office functions with the adage that time is precious. It is noteworthy that administrative
reforms at IIT Kanpur pre-date those of the country by half-a-decade.
The number of sponsored research projects increased dramatically in the 1980s resulting
in an increase in the number of project employees. The Institute then thought it was prudent to
increase the size of the R&D office. An important development in 1989, once again during the

20
tenure of Professor R.N. Biswas was the creation of cadre of quasi-permanent employees. These
employees of R&D office are not permanent in the sense that the appointments do not stem from
government-sanctioned positions. Instead, they are on a government authorized pay-scale and are
paid from R&D funds. The security thus obtained to the staff is crucial for the efficient running
of projects. Staff in this category has significantly contributed to the success of the project
culture in the Institute.
News alert: The 6th pay commission (2009) has enhanced salaries to such an extent that R&D funds will be
deeply impacted by this revision!

Office automation
Office automation is another major factor that has contributed to the growth of project culture
within the Institute. It refers to computerization of all accounts, receipts, and transactions along
with complete transparency. Indeed, project accounts can be viewed at any time by the
investigator through the Institute website. Though manual as well as computer accounts are
maintained by the office, it is targeted that all accounting would be computer-based in the near
future and ledgers would be completely eliminated. The role played by office automation in
maintaining transparency in all financial operations in projects should be suitably highlighted.
Realizing that expenses in projects are required to follow certain norms, not indistinct
from government rules, but with careful flexibility, the need for norms and guidelines was felt.
Such norms for project execution were gradually put in place. The first booklet for sponsored
and consultancy projects was printed in 1990 and carried details of guidelines in project
appointment, purchase, salaries and travel. These have been enshrined in various forms and are
available in the Institute website. Rules and regulations of project management are constantly in
a state of evolution so that efficiency and accuracy are balanced against accountability and fair
practice. Via automation, the office of R&D follows exacting standards, drawn from a culture of
focused time-bound research and hard expenditure.
The issue of norms for salaries paid to project employees has been at the center of a
never-ending debate. Opinion is equally divided among three directions: payment at market
rates, payment in proportion to institute wages, and payment scaled with respect to the student
scholarship. Additional conditionality is imposed by the funding agencies that enforce their own
norms for salary payment. The current practice is to provide a broad enough band, within which

21
investigators would be able to place their employees in as comfortable a manner as possible. A
nomenclature designed for project employees in the year 1989 continues to be in use today. It
involves prefixing ordinary terms such as scientist and engineer with the term project, thus
creating a unique brand of positions such as project scientist and project engineer.

Institute Research and Development Committee

Such a committee has been in place, though informally, for the past five years. In the year 2007,
it was found expedient to constitute the Institute Research and Development Committee (IRDC)
with Board approved mandate and responsibilities. It has representation from all Departments
and inter-disciplinary programs. The body has become a useful entity to discuss policy issues
and the Institute receives the first level feedback from the faculty. Its members highlight
shortcomings in procedural matters and thus sharpen the performance of the R&D office.
Furthermore, IRDC identifies frontier areas of research that the Institute should participate in.
Such input is vital as a source of guidance when decisions related to financial support for
research are to be taken. The IRDC membership participates actively in discussions related to
performance of Centers. Some of its suggestions, for example, post-graduate admissions for
project employees have been embraced (though in a modified form) by the Institute.

Large and Mission-mode Projects

There were not too many industry sponsored projects in the mid-1980s. Initiated in 1991,
Government of India identified seven areas in which projects would be conducted across IITs in
a coordinated manner. These projects, known as Technology Development Missions (TDM)
encouraged cooperation between industry and academia. They are one of the few to attempt
inter-institutional collaboration across the IIT system. Each mission, starting from 1993, was of
five year duration. IIT Kanpur participated in three of these: (a) Communication, Networking
and Intelligent Automation, (b) Integrated Design and Competitive Manufacturing, and (c) New
Materials (also see Section on Technology Development). The developmental work in both these
projects was very well appreciated by the industry. Automation research has actually contributed
to better distribution of electricity within and around the Institute. The second mission has helped
in establishing the rapid prototyping, rapid tooling, and reverse engineering activities at IIT

22
Kanpur. In this respect, TDMs have greatly succeeded in infusing society and technology-
relevant research at the Institute.
Setting up of the National Wind Tunnel Facility was a major R&D effort undertaken
during the period 1990 to 1996, when it was inaugurated. The funding for this national facility
was provided principally by ARDB and DST and partly from Institute funds. The facility was
conceived and implemented by Professor N.L. Arora. Considering that it was the first one of its
kind within our campus and the level of utilization it has gained over the years, the creation of
NWTF can be noted as a benchmark in the academic world of the country. The wind tunnel
facility is one of its kind in India and, at this point of writing, is heavily used by various
organizations from all over the country.
A document prepared by the R&D office in the year 1984 lists the following subjects as
potential thrust areas of the Institute cutting across Departments: Fiber reinforced composites,
Laser systems, Computer aided design, Environmental engineering, Material sciences,
Microprocessor-based instrumentation, Robotics, Transportation engineering, and water
resources. The document clearly mentions that the selection of topics is dynamic and will evolve
with time. The thrust areas identified for the present decade, namely energy, environment,
communication, computer simulation, materials, and bioengineering shows that the evolution has
indeed taken place.
The number of funding agencies and the number of projects continued to increase in the
1990s. Owing to the severe resource crunch in the government just ahead of the liberalization
era, faculty members sought funds from external agencies for sustaining their research. This
period will be recalled for electricity shortages as well as convoluted bureaucracy and excessive
import constraints. Research truly could breathe fresh air with the dawn of economic
liberalization in the country.

International projects
The early years till the late 1970s saw faculty traveling abroad in summer time for conducting
research, mainly experiments. The eighties (and the subsequent decades) saw the first phase of
research infrastructure come up within the campus, and with it, the culture of staying at the
Institute for conducting research. In the last five years, the scale of research is heightened and a
prominent development is discerned. One can see international students and faculty spending a

23
considerable time on campus for discussions, computations, and experiments. This has been
possible because of bilateral projects on an international level. Such projects, supported
indirectly by the Government of India, provide for financial support to bring international
researchers to IIT Kanpur.

i) Bilateral basis via DST: International Cooperation Division of Department of Science and
Technology has initiated a major move to enter into bilateral R&D agreement with both
developed and developing nations. Consequently, IIT Kanpur faculty members have been
successful in getting projects with various countries such as USA, Switzerland, Italy, Germany,
Slovenia, and Spain.
ii) Projects through major bilateral funding sources: Some funding agencies sponsor
international projects involving multiple partners from India and a foreign country. One such
agency is the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) which aims at substantially
improving long-term research and educational collaboration between India and UK. UKIERI was
announced by the Prime Minister Tony Blair during his visit to India in September 2005 along
with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and launched by the respective agencies in April 2006.
IIT Kanpur faculty obtained research funding under UKIERI in the areas of Biomaterials, Tissue
Engineering, Himalayan ecosystem, and Nanotechnology.
Funding to promote scientific cooperation between India (Department of Science and
Technology) and France (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is provided by the Indo-French Centre for
the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCAPAR) which has been functional since 1987. The
idea came up first during a discussion between the Indian Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi
and the French President Mr. Valery Giscard d'Estaing. The first Indo-French collaborative
research project at IIT Kanpur was received by Ashutosh Sharma in the area of Polymer Science.
As a source of bilateral funding, the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF)
was established in 2000 under an agreement between the Governments of India and United
States of America with a mandate to promote, catalyze and nurture bilateral collaboration in
cutting edge research areas of science, technology, engineering and biomedical research through
substantive interaction amongst government, academia and industry. One of the principal
activities of IUSSTF is to fund Indo-US Joint Centers. In 2006, the first center on Manufacturing
was established at IIT Kanpur by Professor Amitabha Ghosh. This center has now entered the

24
second phase with a focus on Fabrionics. Lately, IUSSTF has funded two more centers:
Biomaterials for Health Care to be coordinated by Dr. Bikrmajit Basu and Microwave Sintering
of Materials to be coordinated by Dr. Anish Upadhyay. The center for Biomaterials is considered
to be the largest of all such centers funded by IUSSTF.
iii) Major international funding agency: Private funding agencies are often registered as
charitable organizations, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example. One other is the
Wellcome Trust, an independent charity organization based in UK and established in 1936, with
an endowment of around £15 billion. It is UK's largest non-governmental source of funds for
biomedical research. In 2006, Wellcome trust awarded three fellowships to our faculty in the
areas of biological sciences and quantum computing.
Memoranda of understanding signed with various organizations around the world for
collaborative research is summarized in Appendix XI.

High level summer consultancy

The scheme envisages that the IIT faculty would spend time in the industry, research laboratory,
or an engineering organization during the summer (or winter) months when classes are not in
progress. The hosting unit is expected to compensate the faculty for the cost of travel as well as
living expenses. Faculty is deemed to be on duty for this period and no special leave is to be
sought from the Institute.
Starting as early as 1967 as High Level Summer Industrial Opportunities Program, this
scheme has been quite popular among the faculty till the mid-nineties. It has not found favor in
the present decade where the trend is to seek international assignments. The 1974 document
clearly spells out the raison d’aitre for the program: (a) To bring to the participating organization
a fresh approach to specific problems based on fundamental analyses rather than experience or
past practice in a manner that leverages the faculty strength; (b) To bring to the participating
faculty an immediate and relevant practical knowledge of engineering, thus contributing to its
own teaching and research.
Faculty has utilized this opportunity to visit defense organizations such as DRDL and
ANURAG, private companies such as HLL, TISCO, INFOSYS and GM, and research
organizations such as BARC.

25
Housing
To house the ever increasing number of project employees, the first Research Associates (RA)
hostel was constructed in the year 1997. The second RA hostel with studio-type rooms inclusive
of a kitchenette and bathroom came up in 2002. Today, over 120 project employees stay in its
premises. There are plans to construct an RA hostel campus to house at total of 400 employees
who work exclusively on projects. The Institute has a policy of housing the scientific and
research staff but not technicians and others, such as those on daily wages.

Intellectual Property Rights

The world now looks at knowledge as a commodity with a price attached to it. Consequently, we
are now aware of patenting issues and intellectual property rights. The R&D office now checks
memoranda of understanding signed with third parties (distinct from the government) and non-
disclosure agreements. The number of patents filed/issued has greatly increased (Appendix X).
The IPR document of IIT Kanpur was formulated and approved by the BOG in the year 1999. To
fully exploit the ideas and patents internally generated, the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation
Center (SIIC) was established in the year 1999 along the lines of the entrepreneurship cell,
already available at the Institute. The center supports companies created by the faculty, staff, and
students of the Institute. It is hoped that in the coming years, the royalty charges from patents
will become a significant source of revenue for IIT Kanpur.

Institute lecture series

The series was initiated in 1993 as an avenue to invite scholars who could talk to the campus
community on subjects of broad interest. Five-to-six such seminars are held each year. Apart
from specialist researchers in their respective domains, eminent historians, policy makers,
technologists, and leading thinkers have presented their ideas. Distinguished speakers of the past
include Dr V.K. Atre (2001), Mr Prahlada (2002), Mr. N.R. Narayanamurthy (2002), Mr. R.
Gopalakrishnan (2002), Professor Lalji Singh (2004), and Dr Harsh Gupta (2004). Recently,
luminaries such as Professor Herbert Hui of Cornell University (2007), R. Narasimhan (2008) of
TIFR and Paul Craddock of the British Museum (2009) have spoken under the aegis of the
Institute Lecture.

26
Information Cell
Keeping in mind the need to project the strengths of the Institute in a highly competitive world,
an Information Cell was created in December 1998. The Cell maintains relevant technical
information of the Institute in a computerized form, most of it being accessible through the web
page. An extensive collection of important and frequently used forms have been assembled in the
downloadable format. Other activities of the Cell include bringing out yearly brochures on
research activities, preparation of magazine and management of the Desktop Publishing Cell for
printing official documents of the Institute including the Convocation material. The Cell projects
the accomplishments of the faculty, staff and students and specialized skills and facilities
available within the Institute. Information Cell also provides additional services in the form of
expertise in creating web pages, posters and brochures for corporate activity across the Institute.
Information Cell launched the first webpage of the Institute in the year 1999.
The Institute magazine Directions is published by this cell. Staring off as a newsletter, the
magazine is presently seen (since 2006) as a quarterly scientific publication that includes the
proceedings of the REACH symposium series.

Student participation in research

It is a given that research of the faculty is principally conducted with the assistance of graduate
students – master’s and doctoral. In the early years, the size of student body in the graduate
program was relatively small. Faculty research was not as intense and some of it could be carried
out in other research organizations – national and international. Increase in research in general,
sponsored research in particular has been concomitant with increase in the size of the graduate
student population. Simultaneous increase in the number of project employees has also been
observed. The current decade, thus, enjoys the largest number of sponsored projects as well as a
significant population of graduate students – happily many in the doctoral program,
Apart from graduate programs, a key feature of the undergraduate studies at IIT Kanpur
has been the involvement of B.Tech. and M.Sc. students in research projects. The most common
form of this participation is the work on undergraduate projects in the final year of the
curriculum, be it a B.Tech., integrated M.Sc. or a 2-year M.Sc. program. The project could be in
the nature of scholastic research, product design, or technology development. The usefulness and
effectiveness of these thesis/projects have made them an integral part of the undergraduate

27
course curricula. Often, such projects provide an opportunity to perform basic research or create
a product that reflects one's own interest, orientation and also commitment. This participation in
undergraduate thesis projects not only gives them a first-hand experience in quality research, it
also helps to determine a student's attitude and motivation toward having a research career in the
future. IIT Kanpur can be proud of the fact that a large number of its undergraduate students
have opted for an academic career; indeed many have returned to their roots to join the IIT
system.
Each student is assigned a well-defined research problem generally executable in a
period of one or two semesters. On many occasions, quality publications have come out of such
undergraduate research projects. The success of this undergraduate thesis program has
demonstrated that, with proper instructions and guidance, undergraduate students can effectively
participate in research work. In fact, such activities have provided a unique learning experience
for the students and have also greatly helped them in the pursuance of graduate research
activities right after their undergraduate studies. Another form of (undergraduate) student
participation in research is serving as a part-time research assistant where a student can devote
up to a certain number of hours every week working with a faculty member in an existing
project. Students get valuable training on how to conduct research from such experiences and
also they get a chance to work closely with a faculty member and other members of a research
team.
The year 2008 has been a watershed in the context of student-led initiatives. The year saw
the launch of the nanosatellite project. Nanosatellites are as efficient in discharging their duties
as their larger counterparts. Space researchers have been stressing the point that microsystems
technology and microelectronics can draw great advantages from pre-qualification in a real space
environment. To be launched in 2009 by ISRO, the nanosatellite will have body mounted solar
panels, communication systems and on-board cameras. The nanosatellite will be used for
experimental communication and earth observation applications.

Provocative issues
a) Employees
There is really no upper limit to the total tenure of a project employee at present. There
are people, numbering over 50, who have remained appointed in projects over 10-15 years by

28
switching from one project to the other. This matter has been looked at from both legal and
professional view points. Legally, the Institute is safe-guarded because the temporary nature
of employment is clearly mentioned in the offer letter and the concerned person agrees to the
terms of employment in a stamp paper.
Professionally speaking, there is an opinion that by continuing with the same person
over many years and projects, probably the best talents are not properly identified. Thus, a
subcommittee of IRDC has recommended in early 2009 that employment of an individual
should be critically reviewed after six years and every three years, thereafter.

b) Work assignment
Work-assignment as a channel of appointment was introduced around 1999. The idea was
to employ individuals on an emergency basis to accomplish certain project-related tasks
of great urgency. Such employments do not require an appointment letter of the Institute.
They are meant to be a one-time affair of three month duration.
It has been observed over the last one decade that a large number of persons are
recruited through the work assignment mode to perform tasks that are of non-technical
nature. In addition, the appointment is continued for several years together. We have
received legal opinion that such appointments are not tenable in a court of law and must
be immediately dispensed with.

c) Right to information act

This act passed in the year 2007 seeks transparency in all government operations
including financial transactions, appointments and policy matters. The R&D office has
been greatly burdened by the RTI act mainly due to a large number of spurious petitions
received in which data over several years is asked for. On occasion, research findings by
some of its research staff have also been questioned. The R&D office needs to be
carefully organized to deal with this development.

d) Court cases
R&D employees have filed a few court cases, mainly in the context of seeking
appointments in the regular cadre of the Institute. In view of clear employment conditions

29
 stated in the appointment letter, it has been possible to satisfy the honorable court that the
person has been given a fair deal. However, the pressure to employ non-technical staff in
various projects is on the rise.

Review of research at IIT Kanpur

We give a glimpse, admittedly limited, of research highlights in various Departments over the
past several decades.

Aerospace Engineering: Established in 1964, the Department contributed enormously in the

areas of aerodynamic testing, in-flight laboratory work, helicopter dynamics, space dynamics,
missile guidance, computation fluid dynamics, flight mechanics, and propulsion. Some of the
notable achievement is the construction of transonic tunnel in 1970s, which enables the study of
wind loads acting on critical structures under varying speeds of subsonic/ transonic/supersonic
level. In the 1990s, the establishment and its continuous running of National Wind Tunnel
Facility (NWTF) is another success story. NWTF enables the investigation of wind loads on
large structures. A number of faculty members of developed some useful
analytical/computational tools, which has helped in some mission oriented projects (e.g. GSLV
Mach III) of ISRO and DRDO. In the last decade since 2000, research activity in the area of
helicopter technology has been initiated.

Biological Sciences and Bioengineering: The Department is involved in basic and applied
biology research using both experimental and computational techniques. In its brief history,
results from several cutting edge research projects in the department have already made an
impact at the national and international level. Recently, antagonistic functions of protein
variants coded by a gene involved in Lafora disease, a fatal form of neurodegerative disorder
has been discovered. Using a model organism, two new proteins have been identified that
contribute to germ cell development. The role of tumor suppressor protein in cell-cell adhesion
has been established in another model organism. In plant research, using RNAi technology,
nematode-resistant plants have been generated which is expected to make a huge impact in the
agricultural output. Computer simulations elucidated the specificity of a cancer protein that could
help in designing potent anti-cancer drugs. Using structural biology and biochemical techniques,

30
novel mechanistic difference in proteins important for the survival of bacteria during stress has
been identified in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non pathogenic Eschericia coli. In the
bioengineering side, efficient separation technology has been developed for stem cells from
umblical cord blood. Other major achievements include disposable bioreactors for therapeutic
protein production and extracorporeal device for bioartifical liver. An electrospinning apparatus
has been constructed for the fabrication of nanometer scale materials.

Chemical Engineering: The Department has a vibrant mixture of expertise in conventional areas
such as process engineering, separations processes, optimization and control, polymer
engineering and transport phenomena and emerging areas of chemical engineering, such as nano-
technology, biological engineering, materials engineering, process intensification, complex fluids
and molecular simulations. The foundations for a research and development culture were laid
during the early 1960s, when the faculty were involved in setting up the physical infrastructure
as well as in creating a thriving intellectual atmosphere. The first paper from the department was
in 1964 [K.S. Gandhi, S. Chandra and C. E. Dryden, Calculation Methods for Complex Flow
Diagrams, Chemical Age of India, 15(11), 1183-1199 (1964)]. A regular stream of papers in top-
ranking journals in the late 1960s and the very early 70s by D. Ramkrishna (well-known as
Ramki) launched the department on its journey into research, blossoming with the recent paper in
Science [A. Majumder, A. Ghatak and A. Sharma, Science, 318, 258-261 (2007)] on the use of
thin film/interfacial phenomena for a novel bio-mimetic adhesive]. Research publications from
the department spanned a variety of areas and the numbers slowly increased through the 1960s to
hover around 25-35 a year from the mid 1970s till about 2003, after which it increased
significantly to about 65-75 per year in 2006-2008. This averages to about 3.5 per faculty per
year, a very healthy value among the chemical engineering departments across the world. The
impact of these research publications is seen in the 5,650 citations received since 1993, giving an
average cite of 9.78 per paper.
Our faculty has authored over 35 textbooks and research monographs, several of which
have received international acclaim. Our research endeavors have benefitted immensely through
funding from governmental (e.g., DST, CSIR, DBT, and AICTE) and industrial partners (e.g.,
Chevron, HPCL, ART, Shell, Hindustan-Unilever, IPCL, GAIL, and EIL). As a result, the
annual research funding grew from about 2.5 million rupees in the mid eighties to 5 million

31
rupees in the early nineties, to the current level of over 300 million rupees in the last few years.
A DST Center on Nanosciences has just come up at IIT Kanpur, with considerable inputs
provided by the chemical engineering department. In addition, research in the area of Process
Intensification has resulted in the filing of two patents that are currently being adopted by
multinational and national companies for commercialization.
Several prestigious national and international awards have been conferred on our faculty
in recognition of their research activities and it is heart-warming that the research culture of the
Department has percolated to its students and several are making a significant impact in research
and development.

Chemistry: The Department has made seminal research contributions in domains of both
experimental and theoretical chemistry. Pioneers like Profs. CNR Rao, PT Narashiman and MV
George set the trend of carrying out very high quality research right from the inception of the
Department. This tradition has continued from strength to strength and the Department is today
known worldwide for its excellent quality of research. Chemical research from molecular
perspectives was the central theme of research activities in the Department from its early days
and the trend still continues. The research activities in the Department could be discussed in
three major disciplines, namely physical, inorganic and organic chemistry, although interfacial
domains such as materials, physical organic and organo-metallic chemistry have also been the
areas of active research in the Department since its inception.
In the first two decades, research activities in physical chemistry included applications
of spectroscopic and quantum chemical methods to study chemical compounds and materials.
These studies led to very important contributions to solid-state chemistry and structure-property
aspects of materials as well as chemical bonding, reactivity, electrical and magnetic properties of
chemical compounds. Research in inorganic chemistry in this decade primarily focused on
structural aspects. By using a variety of modern physical methods, several difficult structural
problems were solved and, in addition, the Department also saw some very important and
ground-breaking work on paramagnetic shifts and stereochemical phenomena of inorganic
compounds. Mechanism of organic reactions and their use as effective synthetic tools were at the
centre of organic research in this period. In particular, one must mention the very extensive work
on synthesis of organometallic, alicyclic, highly strained polycyclic and biologically active

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compounds which received appreciation world-wide. Nuclear chemistry was another area of
significant research. It is also noteworthy that the Department proudly participated in carrying
out chemical and nuclear analysis of some of the lunar samples procured from USA.
A large number of lateral movements by some key faculty left the Department depleted
in the late seventies which had an effect on the overall research output in the next decade.
Nevertheless, significant research work continued in the Department. The topics of investigation
included theoretical research on molecular reaction dynamics; photochemistry and
photosynthetic reactions; bioinorganic, synthetic organic, coordination and organometallic
chemistry. Besides, some faculty members in the Department took up the challenge of building
their own instruments for their research that led to fabrications of nuclear quadrupole resonance
spectrometer and time-of-flight mass spectrometer.
The research facilities in the Department improved significantly in the nineties and in
the present decade and this, combined with infusion of many new faculty members with
expertise in many different areas, led to a major upscale in research outcome of the Department.
The Department is proud to have made many significant contributions in past 15-18 years
covering a rather wide domain of chemical research. Examples include novel theoretical and
computational work on chemical dynamics in gas phase and also in liquids and interfaces;
materials chemistry; laser spectroscopy and quantum computing; photochemistry and physical
organic chemistry; bio-physical, bio-organic and bio-inorganic chemistry; transition metal,
coordination, organometallic and porphyrin chemistry; main group chemistry including inorganic
rings and polymers, supramolecular chemistry; Synthetic organic chemistry including synthesis
of large natural and unnatural products, asymmetric synthesis and carbohydrate chemistry;
Medicinal, protein and nucleobase chemistry.
Over the past fifty years, the Chemistry Department of IIT Kanpur has established itself
as one of the very best not only in the country but also across the globe. With tireless efforts of
existing faculty, infusion of new facilities and new faculty colleagues, it is expected to grow to
higher levels in the years to come.

Civil Engineering: The Department has made some important contributions in various areas such
as structural analysis, earthquake engineering, archeology, air pollution, environmental
engineering, and transportation. Early contribution in the late seventies was in studying the flight

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sledge, which was relevant for space research. In the area of structures and analysis, this
department contributed in renovating the Hardinge bridge in Dhaka, Bangladesh after it was
damaged during 1971 Bangladesh war. Similarly, the logo of 1982 Delhi Asiad was designed by
its faculty. An important contribution was in designing the foundation and the construction of
Narora Atomic power plants. In the area of earthquake engineering, this department had
noticeable impact in studying the origin of Tsunami and similar natural disasters that have struck
the country in the last decade. The department also contributed to scientific understanding of the
origin of earthquakes using several numerical tools. In the area of environmental engineering, the
department conducted in-flight experiments to study the correlation between aerosol and
pollution at various levels of the atmosphere. Another notable contribution is the removal of
arsenic from drinking water and this had major beneficial impact on public health.

Electrical Engineering: In the decade of the 60s, the department pursued research primarily in
Satellite Communication and Radar Signal processing. In the next decade, research and
development activities widened significantly. In the 70s, research activities covered the
following areas: Phased Array and Synthetic Aperture Radars, Modeling of Communication
links using Troposcatter Channels, VLF Communication systems for coal mines, VLF antennas
for submarine communication under Project Skylark, Ferro resonance in EHV transmission lines,
Graph Theoretic Approach to modeling of HVDC Converters and Deep Level Transient
Spectroscopy for defects in solid state devices.
Many other research areas were explored in the next decade of the 80s. Some of the
significant research activities/areas that were pursued and important contributions made include:
Hardware and software for Microprocessor Based Systems, simulation of Data Networks and
packet delay measurements, Algebraic Coding theory and elliptic curves, Determination of
model parameters for the human cochlea and vocal tract, Modeling of clutter in radar signals,
Voltage Stability models for power systems, Reactive power optimization in power networks,
Studies on the phenomenon of Sub-Synchronous resonance in power systems, Control of
DC.drives using Phase Locked Loops, Development of patch antennas for microwave
applications, Protection of power transmission lines using Haar Transform and Measurement of
optical fiber characteristics.

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 In the 1990s and in the present decade, the Department took up major research projects in
many different directions. Significant contributions were made in the following areas in this
period: Image and video Processing Algorithms, Video surveillance, Modeling of speech signals,
speech recognition, computational methods, multimodal signal processing, analysis of telecom
networks, source and channel coding, turbo codes, analysis of diversity receivers, Application of
FACTS devices to power transmission, HVDC transmission, ANN and Fuzzy logic applications
in engineering, deregulation of the electricity market, modeling of plasma discharge processes,
power electronics applications to power systems, electric drives, engineering application of
optimization and control, intelligent control, multiphase power conversion, Partial Discharge
measurements using texture analysis, Analysis and design of Switch mode rectifiers using
thyristors and IGBTs, Active Filtering for non-linear loads on distribution systems, Remote
monitoring and Automation for power distribution networks, Dielectric Resonators, radio
frequency identification, Fractal Antennas, semiconductor device modeling, MEMS, VLSI,
organic electronics and solar cells, opto-electronics and lasers, instrumentation, e-learning and all
optical packet switching.
It may be noted that many of the above activities have been pursued under sponsored
research projects from governmental research organizations.

Humanities and Social Sciences: Driven by the research ideal since the inception of the Institute in the
early 1960s, the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences has contributed significantly to the
generation of knowledge in a wide range of fields. This research includes the work carried out in its
vibrant doctoral program, sponsored and other research projects, and consultancy involving the
departmental faculty members.
The doctoral program of HSS in its four-decade existence has led to the completion of around two
hundred doctoral theses that testify to the high academic standards that the Institute and department have
set for themselves. The disciplines within which doctoral research has been carried out include
Economics, English including Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology.
The departmental faculty has carried out several sponsored research projects. The sponsors
include organizations such as Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Indian Council of
Philosophical Research (ICPR), UNICEF, MEADOW, SAIL, UNICEF, NTPC, Population Council, and
different ministries of the Government of India. Consultancy projects undertaken include those sponsored

35
by various governmental and non-governmental organizations, and as well as by national and
international agencies.
The Department has focused on both basic and applied research, bringing in intra-disciplinary and
interdisciplinary perspectives. This is amply exhibited in the wide range of topics covered by supervised
doctoral research, faculty research and consultancy. Research topics have ranged from higher
consciousness, political philosophy, existentialism, aspects of syntax , linguistic etiquette, feminist issues,
American, British and Indian literature, through business ethics, attribution, personality, social power,
organizational dynamics, interpersonal conflict, privacy and organizational citizenship, to software
workforce, grassroots NGOs, water pollution, industrial sickness, power pricing, among others. Faculty
research has spanned areas such as issues in human rights, distributive justice, gender roles, intellectual
property rights, health psychology, post- traumatic stress, literature and society, postmodernism,
translation, the sociology of education, cognitive linguistics, and law and economics. The major areas of
consultancy have been rural development, watershed programs, science and technology policy,
environmental impact, resettlement and rehabilitation, health, HIV, and industrial design. Some projects
funded by the Institute have addressed issues pertaining to the Institute community, such as brain drain
and disadvantaged students.
Moreover, a few faculty members actively associated with research NGOs and voluntary
developmental organizations have facilitated in the creation of a certain kind of discourse and also in the
empowerment processes of those at the periphery. Their work focuses on education and grassroots action
among the vulnerable sections of the society. Some faculty members have also participated in inter-
departmental research projects and consultancy projects.
The rich outcome of these research endeavors can be seen in the large number of books and
articles published by faculty and students in reputed national and international journals.
In addition, the Department has organized many international and national conferences of professional
bodies of social scientists in psychology, sociology and econometrics, workshops and seminars on various
interdisciplinary themes, and on topics such as communication skills, research and statistical methods.
Overall, the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences has enjoyed an active research culture
that augurs well for its future.

Materials and Metallurgical Engineering: The department has made substantial contributions in
cutting-edge research on the synthesis, processing and characterization of advanced structural
materials, electron and spin device materials and biomaterials. In the late sixties, the department
started a strong research program in ferroelectric ceramics and transformation toughened

36
zirconia. From the year 1980 onwards, the department made significant impact in enhancing the
productivity of the steel production in country’s leading steel companies, such as Rourkela steel
plant, Tata steel plant, Vishakhapatnam steel plant, Jindal Vijaynagar steel plant. This was
possible because of the innovative changes in the process design as well as solving critical
problems related to the inclusions in steels. In the last decade, the department also developed
new generation steels with improved strength and toughness for railway wheels and axles in
collaboration with Durgapur Steel plant and RDSO Lucknow. In the area of engineering
ceramics, the researchers developed titanium diboride based ceramics in 2004-05 for the
country’s next generation high temperature nuclear reactors. Using a novel processing route i.e.
spark plasma sintering, a series of nanostructured ceramics were fabricated. The Department has
also contributed significantly in the area of organic electronics along with researchers in Samtel
R&D Center. The researchers developed a novel tantalum-tungsten alloy and other tungsten
based alloys for various defense applications. Lately (since 2005), the department has established
its niche in the area of biomaterials. The researchers have successfully developed a range of
hydroxyapatite and polymer based materials for hard tissue replacement materials, which are
intended for orthopedic applications. An Indo-US Center of Biomaterials for Health Care has
been established in the MME department since 2008.

Mathematics and Statistics: The Department which started as the Department of Mathematics in
1960, got its new name as the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in 2004. It has always
shared the vision of the Institute in striving for excellence in research and teaching activities and
has succeeded in this endeavor to a large extent.
When the Department first started in the early sixties, the main research contributions
were in the areas of Complex analysis, Operation Research, Theoretical Fluid mechanics,
General Topology, Theory of elasticity, Algebra and in Statistical inferences. Some of the
significant contributions were made in the specific topics like in the Entire functions, Dirichlet
series, Hydrodynamic lubrication, homological & group algebras and in the minimax estimators.
Gradually with the inclusions of the new faculty members and with the changing interests
of the existing faculty members, the areas like Functional analysis, approximation theory, Bio-
fluid mechanics, bio-mathematics, harmonic analysis, graph theory, numerical analysis,
differential equations, and probability theory also developed. Significant contributions were

37
made in the specific topics like, locally convex spaces, population dynamics, mathematical
modeling, bio-mathematics, spaces of entire functions, Schrodinger Basis, control theory,
number theory, stable processes, stochastic differential equations, multivariate analysis and order
statistics.
As the time progresses, faculty members become also pro-active in application areas such
as Tomography, Coding theory, Mathematical epidemiology, Mathematical ecology, heat and
mass transfer, complex dynamical systems, fractals, harmonic analysis, Wavelets, Logic,
solutions of partial differential equations, Optimization, boundary value problems,
Computational Fluid Dynamics, parallel computing, and also in different areas of theoretical and
applied statistics. During the last few decades significant contributions are made in the computer
aided tomography, rough sets, commutative algebras, convex optimization, Lie groups,
Geometry of Banach Spaces, solutions of Boundary Value problem, numerical solutions of
partial differential equations, Hardy-Sobolev operator, order statistics, ranking and selection and
related estimation problems, estimation in constrained parameter space, theory of stochastic
orders and aging, measurement errors models, agricultural statistics, statistical signal processing,
applied probability and also in econometrics.

Mechanical Engineering: The Department has played an important role in evolving an

engineering science based research in India. Equal emphasis has been laid on analysis and
synthesis aspects of technology. Significant contributions have been made in both analytical and
experimental areas.
In the area of Solid Mechanics and Design, the Department was well-known in the decade
of 1980s as a resource center in composite materials and later, in photoelasticity. The high speed
camera, developed in 1990 was a prominent contribution. Outstanding contributions have been
made since the late 1990s in areas of nonlinear dynamics, chaotic vibrations, active and passive
damping and rotor dynamics. Parameter estimation, inverse problems, life cycle estimation and
condition monitoring have been the focus areas in dynamics. FEM based analysis of mechanical
systems, composite materials and structures have been carried out extensively. Since the mid-
1980s, Computer Aided Design (CAD) laboratory was the pioneer in bringing CAD in India
during the early eighties and then rapid prototyping technology, during the later periods. The
Department has been the leader in the area of optimization and genetic algorithms. Pioneering

38
work has been carried out in the field of Genetic and Multi-objective Evolutionary algorithm and
publications in the period of 2000-2002 have been internationally recognized.
In the area of Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Science, experimental research was initiated
in the year 1987 wherein twin research directions were pursued: hotwire measurements in
stratified turbulent shear flows and interferometric imaging of Rayleigh-Benard convection. The
first interferogram was recorded in late 1990. Since then, great strides have been made in the
direction of optical imaging to study the Rayleigh-Benard convection (1993-1995), crystal
growth from an aqueous solution (1995-2004) and flow in micro-channels (since 2005). The
development of composite schlieren-PIV in 2006 is one of the latest innovations. Seminal
contributions have been made in the area of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and heat
transfer (HT), illustrating the flow instability, transition and physics of transport phenomenon.
Notable research are in chaotic flow past a bluff body (1999), augmentation of heat transfer in a
heat exchanger using vortex generator (1996-2002), simulation of bubble dynamics (after 2006),
boiling and very recently, two-phase heat transfer by a novel method called Coupled-Map-
Lattice. Recent developments also include applications of LES/DNS through a turbine blade
passage to understand the flow transition, turbulence generation, blade-wake interactions and
blade cooling performance, which are related to the design of a highly efficient gas turbine
engine. Research has been initiated since 2002 in the direction of energy in the form of bio-fuels,
emissions from IC Engines, fuel cells and heat pipes (2006 onwards). Since 2004, a general
purpose CFD and HT solver that compares well in scope and capability with international CFD
software for a wide range of applications has been developed by a research group in the
department.
In the field of manufacturing science, the initial research was concerned with analysis of
chip formation in metal cutting (1970-1990) and machine tool vibrations (1970-1980). Cutting
edge research has been carried out over three decades (1980 till present) in the areas of micro-
machining using electro-chemical spray machining, electro-discharge machining and machining
of smart materials. Technologies have been developed to achieve micro- and nano-scale
machining/finishing. In nuclear engineering, notable research has been done in the direction of
image reconstruction tomography, fission and plasma physics, nuclear reactor dynamics and
non-destructive testing.

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 The department presently has a strong group focused on applied materials and mechanics
research. This group is engaged in problems in the areas of multiscale modeling of materials,
micromechanics of polymers, smart structures, non-contact energy dissipation, defect dynamics
waves in solids, mechanics of thin films, carbon nanotubes, nano-composites/polymers,
functionally graded materials, multifunctional materials, dislocation, phase transformation,
granular media, stochastic fracture mechanics, and polycrystalline plasticity.
A major mission mode activity has been taken up in the form of Technology Mission on
Railway Safety. Various projects related to rail-wheel dynamics and control has been
undertaken. New initiatives have been taken in the field of turbulence research, unsteady flow in
gas turbine, sensors and actuators, nanomaterials, bio-mems and micro-fluidics. Major research
initiatives over the last 50 years have been the establishment of CAD Center under UNDP
project, Center for Mechatronics, advanced manufacturing with Indo-US initiative apart from the
development of multi-purpose CFD software.
The department has also taken lead in the design and development of the Nano-satellite to
be launched in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The launch
forms one of the major activities in the Golden Jubilee year of the institute.

Physics: The Department, envisioned as a centre of cutting-edge research in both theoretical and
experimental areas, set out to do so by hiring best of trained young minds in emerging areas. It
started with significant contributions to optical spectroscopy of solids, which later gave rise to
fully-fledged groups in condensed matter physics and laser spectroscopy keeping pace with the
world-scenario. The necessity of imparting modern world-class training to graduates and
undergraduates eventually led to the formation of a full-fledged physics department with
activities spanning the entire gamut of contemporary physics research. With the development of
nuclear and high energy theory groups along with theoretical and experimental solid state
physics groups and experimental nuclear facilities in early years, the department emerged from
its nascent state as a leading research center, and a name to reckon with. The present structure
and formation can be traced back to the shape and form that the department had taken by the
middle of 1970s.
Studies of condensed matter systems have always been a major area of research in the
department. Keeping abreast of the global scenario, the department expanded itself from solid

40
state physics (with focus on technologically important crystals and their defects) to the wide
world of condensed matter physics. In the formative days, the studies of the experimental group
centered around investigations of phase transitions in complex systems using X-ray
spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The
establishment of the low-temperature helium facility indeed provided a fillip to the research on
low-dimensional magnetic systems, metallic alloys, Kondo systems, spin glasses,
superconductivity leading to present day emphasis on spintronics and imaging of electronic
properties of importance to superconductivity and magnetism. The scanning tunneling
microscope and magneto-optical imaging techniques along with the SQUID facility of the
Institute are also being widely used in recent years. In parallel to the studies at low-temperature,
studies of semiconductors with a strong emphasis on amorphous silicon started in late seventies
with experimentalists closely working with theorists interested in disorder in solids, especially in
semiconductors and their alloys. These studies emphasize the physics of defects in alloy
semiconductors, properties of porous silicon with new emphasis on research in organic
semiconductors for large area displays, thin film transistors and solar cells. The department
played a key role in participating and setting the research agenda of the unique interdisciplinary
studies at the Samtel Center for Display Technologies (SCDT). The research of experimental
condensed matter group has always enjoyed a thriving and symbiotic collaboration with the
material science program and center for laser technology of the institute.
The focus of research in theoretical condensed matter, on the other hand, has always been
on the studies of phase transitions, correlated electron systems, band structure calculations,
disordered systems and also computational materials science. This has led to current emphasis on
correlated systems and nanoclusters. One of the most outstanding research contributions of the
department is undoubtedly the Ramakrishnan-Youssof theory of freezing which successfully
predicts the structure of a crystalline solid using the correlations between the atoms of the
material in its liquid phase. The Ramakrishnan-Youssof theory, named after its authors who were
faculty members of the department, truly opened up a new frontier of research not only in hard
condensed matter but also for soft condensed matter where it has been used successfully for
predicting structure of colloidal systems. Professor Ramakrishnan went on to coauthor the
celebrated paper on scaling theory of localization with Abrahams, Anderson, and Licciardello.
The Department also pioneered research on non-linear dynamics and chaos in the country and

41
works on instabilities, especially magneto-hydrodynamic instabilities are well recognized. The
works on the statistical physics of soft matters, disordered systems, vehicular traffic, and traffic-
like motion in cells have been widely acknowledged. Members of condensed matter theory group
in tandem with members from high energy groups have been contributing substantially to the
fascinating area of quantum phase transitions and dynamics, quantum entanglement, information,
computation and decoherence.
The initial studies on spectroscopy eventually paved the way for the formation of
research group devoted to laser spectroscopy, nonlinear optics, and laser interactions with
plasma, tissues and turbid media. Significant contributions have been made to plasma
diagnostics of importance to laser ablation of technologically important thin films such as ZnO,
simulation of astrophysical phenomena, bio-medical applications of lasers, coherent control of
lasers, and the exploration of the exciting properties and applications of metamaterials and
materials with negative refractive index.
The initial emphasis of the High energy physics (HEP) theory group was evenly balanced
between field theory and phenomenology. Although at that time there was also research activity
in low-energy theoretical nuclear physics. In keeping with the global emphasis in HEP, that of
the group has also drastically shifted in the initial days from SU(3), current algebra, Regge pole
theory, dual models on one hand and newly discovered resonances, scaling experiments on the
other. With the advent of gauge theory, standard model, and discovery of neutral currents and
charmed quarks, the emphasis shifted to electroweak and perturbative QCD calculations in 70’s
and later shifted to super symmetry and string theory in 80’s and later. In course of time, the
HEP group started newer activities such as general relativity and cosmology, quark-gluon-
plasma and astrophysics, string activity, foundation of quantum mechanics, quantum information
theory and has kept up with the diverse that HEP globally supports. At present, the group has
varied and diverse expertise: Quantum field theory, Particle Phenomenology, string theory,
astrophysics, General relativity and cosmology, QCD, Quark-gluon-Plasma, Neutrino Physics
and is ready to meet the challenge of new experimental revelations from large hadron collider
(LHC). HEP group members also contributed to the field theoretical studies of condensed matter
systems.
The research in experimental nuclear physics started with the low-energy van de graff
accelerator, which went to become one of the premier centers for techniques such as Ruhterback

42
scattering spectroscopy, channeling, and preparation of metastable materials through ion-beam
mixing. In parallel, techniques such as Massbauer spectroscopy and positron annihilation were
honed to investigate the properties of solid state materials and phase transitions, and nanocrystals
of minerals. Currently, the group has transformed to a interdisciplinary centre for science and
engineering of ion beams equipped with a modern 5 MeV tandem accelerator, and facilities for
focused ion beams. These facilities are being used for manufacturing nano-devices.

Values
An attitude required for research is available at the Institute more in the form of peer pressure
than as a set of definitive principles. The intangible atmosphere wherein expectations in the form
of quality and impact are emphasized has helped the community. Minor aberrations have had
long term impact on the system as a whole. The Institute has not cultivated an honor code;
happily, a need has not been felt as yet. Yet, in an era of IPRs and patents, awards and honors, a
formalization of values and code of conduct is desirable. A code based on punctuality,
responsibility, integrity, accountability, and excellence will resonate with those engaged in
research at the Institute.

Closure
The Institute was committed towards teaching, academic programs and development of
instructional laboratories and workshops in the first two decades. Since the late 1970s, research
as an agenda took off. In other words, the initial model of research as an activity between a
teacher and a student, primarily as a student thesis, gave way to pairs of faculty joining hands
and collaborating on a sponsored project. Mostly, faculty combinations would be within a
Department. The late 1990s, loose formations across the Institute could be seen in the sponsored
as well as consultancy projects. The beginning of the first decade of the twenty-first century saw
definite interdisciplinary groups assembling for the purpose of conducting research programs
under the nom de plume of centers. The Institute has now graduated from student thesis,
evolving to become funded projects all the way to form of research programs – a mighty
evolution indeed.
By the 1980s, the Institute had reorganized itself to facilitate sponsored research, created
offices, and set them up as a task of priority. The scope of research was subsequently enhanced

43
to include technology mission, technology transfer, and IPR and the mid-1990s, R&D had come
to mean all professional activities of the faculty outside of teaching. The decade starting from the
year 2000 has seen enormous increase in the quantum of research funding, interdisciplinary
research as well as international projects. The publication record sees a parallel in the growth of
research funding at the Institute.
The future sees the Institute declaring itself as a leading research organization where it
would be able to provide financial support to the faculty from its internal budget in cutting edge
areas. The aspiration is to create well-endowed laboratory space that can be given on demand for
project work along with a collection of research personnel.

Recommendations
The Institute has a creditable record of individual excellence in research. It has groomed several
generations of students to pursue higher studies and adopt research as a professional career. The
importance that research enjoys as an activity is undeniably high. Recent acquisitions in terms of
large equipment position us competently for conducting inter-disciplinary projects on a truly
large scale. Yet, we need to be conscious of improvements, as listed, that we should work for.

i) There is considerable scope for enhancing quality, quantity, impact, and citation of our work.
ii) Soon, we would be asked if we have provided value for the investment. Wealth creation for the
country is relevant, particularly when we conduct large-value projects. Wealth may be
created via patents and IPR.
iii) A research complex that has self-contained basic amenities, for example, clean room, will
empower research. This complex will be the equivalent of the Faculty Building in terms of
integrating faculty from various Departments.
iv) International collaboration, in particular, drawing internationals scholars to our campus is highly
desirable.
v) A well-knit vision wherein ideas germinating in laboratories reach the market place along with a
structure to administer the process is desirable.
vi) Issues such as maintenance of sophisticated equipment and availability of skilled manpower are
unresolved. Can we create a vast cadre of post-doctoral fellows?
vii) Large projects where we provide leadership on a national scale are to be aspired for. Similarly,
can we prepare position papers for the government on subjects that we clearly understand?
viii) It is never too frequent to ask of ourselves, are we relevant to our society?
ix) With research intensified, systemic checks would have to be exercised to ensure character,
integrity and honesty in our code of conduct.

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 THROUGH THE YEARS: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW

The sixties
While IIT Kanpur was established in 1960, the early years saw an emphasis on undergraduate teaching.
The main source of research funding was either the Ministry of Human Resource Development or
Kanpur-Indo American Program (KIAP). Gradually, the emphasis on research and development increased
and the first Dean of Research & Development, Professor H. K. Kesavan was appointed in 1964. Even in
these early years, several books and papers were published by the faculty. During 1961-70, the
publications per year were 134, most of them in international journals, including such prestigious journals
as Science and Nature. Right from the beginning, book-writing has been a strong point of IITK faculty
and in the first decade as many as 60 books were published. Despite teaching being the primary
responsibility, a research orientation permeated education at the Institute leading to the adoption
of engineering science as the basis of curriculum development. It is noteworthy that postgraduate
programs at the Institute started at around the same time as the undergraduate, with graduate-
level electives being offered to sophomore and junior level students. The culture of giving
projects and term papers to supplement examinations can also be attributed to the research
mindset of the faculty, almost since the inception of the Institute.
The first major facility to be created is the Computer center (1964) established in 1969 at its
current location.
The seventies
In the early seventies, Government of India established the Department of Science and Technology as
well as the Aeronautical Research & Development Board and the era of sponsored projects started. In this
decade, several other government sponsoring agencies (Defense Research Development Organization,
Department of Electronics, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences) were also established. In 1971, a
stand-alone R&D office was set-up at IIT Kanpur.
One of the first major projects to be sponsored at IITK was the Advanced Centre of Electronic
Systems (ACES). The main objective of this project was to develop a microwave communication system
for the Himalayas. In the early years, the R&D office was manned by just 4 staff members and there was
no separate account for project funds. The creation of another account (Account II) in 1979 for managing
the project funds was a major development in streamlining and facilitating the execution of projects. At
that time, several audit objections were raised regarding this new Account but the Institute was able to
convince the auditors on the necessity of having a separate account. By the end of this decade, the number
of on-going projects was 171 (sponsored) and 130 (consultancy) with a total budget respectively of Rs
338 and 39 lakhs.
The eighties
The number of sponsored research projects increased significantly in the eighties resulting in an increase
in the number of project employees as well as office staff. Specifically, 649 sponsored projects and 663
consultancy projects with respective budgets of Rs 63.7 and 7.9 crores were granted over the decade. An
important development in 1989 during the tenure of the then Dean, Professor R.N. Biswas, was the
creation of cadre of quasi-permanent employees. These employees are paid from R&D funds and are

45
utilized for the efficient running of projects. There were not too many industry sponsored projects in this
decade.
With the increase in the number of projects and associated project staff, project employment was
streamlined and the first document detailing the project staff classification was prepared in 1989.
Among projects, major funding was received from UNDP to set-up the Computer-Aided Design
(CAD) laboratory in 1985.
The nineties
The number of funding agencies and the number of projects continued to increase in the nineties. The
number of sponsored projects increased from 31 (sponsored) and 73 (consultancy) in 1990 to 63
(sponsored) and 113 (consultancy) in 1999. The first booklet, detailing the guidelines for sponsored and
consultancy projects, was printed in 1990.
One of the major R&D efforts undertaken by IIT Kanpur in this decade was the setting-up of the
National Wind Tunnel Facility. The funding for this national facility was provided by ARDB, DST and
IIT Kanpur. This facility is one of its kind in India and is heavily used by various organizations from all
over the country. Some of the other major projects completed in this decade include technology
development missions (since 1993) related to integrated manufacturing, new materials and intelligent
automation of power transmission. These projects had a strong industry-association as well as product
development. Collaboration with CDAC Pune brought the first parallel computer (PARAM) to the
campus in 1995. The successful ernet (educational research network) project inducted the faculty into the
domain of emails (1993) and was followed soon by internet (around 1996). The project provided
leadership across the country in setting up computer networks for educational purposes. The Institute
webpage was first hosted by the information cell in 1999.
To advance cooperation between industry and academia, Government of India identified seven
Technology Development Missions (TDMs) spread across all IITs. IIT Kanpur participated in three of
these: i) Communication, Networking and Intelligent Automation, ii) Materials, and iii) Integrated Design
and Competitive Manufacturing. The developmental work in these projects was very well appreciated by
the industry.
To encourage faculty to obtain external funding, the Department Promotion Accounts and the
Professional Development Accounts were instituted in 1993. IIT Kanpur was the first Institute to adopt
this practice. To house the ever increasing number of project employees, the first Research Associates
(RA) hostel was completed in 1997. The Institute signed a memorandum of agreement in 1993 with
Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi for publication of monographs under the IIT Kanpur Series
of Advanced Texts.
In 1999, the CARE scheme was started under which part of the interest from the Endowment
Fund is used to purchase major equipment. Several sophisticated equipment have been procured under
this scheme. Currently, the entire scheme is supported from the Institute budget.
An encouraging development during this decade was the significant increase in the number of
sponsored and consultancy projects originating from the industry. Till the end of nineties, most of the
projects were narrow in scope with a modest budget. With tremendous improvement in infrastructure,
particularly electricity, this trend changed from the year 2000 onwards.

46
 The twenty-first century (the first decade)
The number of sponsored and consultancy projects continue to increase each year. In 2008, the number of
on-going projects was 102 (sponsored) and 101 (consultancy) with sanctioned budgets respectively of Rs.
53 and 8 crores. Coinciding with this trend is the increase in the number of awards conferred on the
faculty. A noteworthy development in this decade is the increase in the number of industry-sponsored
projects. In this period, several large inter-disciplinary projects (for example, Media Lab Asia, Railway
Technology Missions) have been successfully completed. Another development in this decade has been
the setting up of several Cells, such as Space Technology Cell with ISRO, Railway Research Cell with
RDSO, HAL Research Cell, and IGCAR-IITK cell. A new culture of Centres as domains of research, as
opposed to Departments as degree-granting academic bodies emerged. Thus one saw the creation the
Samtel Centre for Display technologies, Prabhu and Poonam Goel Centre for Computer and Internet
Security, and National Information Centre for Earthquake Engineering. The first decade of the twentieth
century saw the Institute embark on the triumvirate subjects of bio-nano-info (respectively,
bioengineering, nanotechnology, and information technology). Academic programs as well as research
projects in these areas proliferated. The faculty hiring now reflects this trend.
To fully exploit the technologies developed at IIT Kanpur, the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation
Centre (SIIC) was established in 1999. The faculty entrepreneurship policy of IIT Kanpur was approved
by the BOG in June 2008. This document lays the methodology for faculty to start companies based on
their research ideas and concomitant products, processes and spin-offs. Particularly, in this decade, IIT
faculty has become aware of the patenting issues and the number of patents filed/issued has increased
from 3 in 2000, 6 in 2005, to 48 in 2008.
To help the Dean, R&D in formulating policies and defining thrust areas, the BOG constituted the
Institute Research & Development Committee in 2007. This has representation from all departments and
inter-disciplinary programs. To help in the running of Centers and operation of sophisticated equipment, a
new cadre of research engineers was created in 2005. Their pay scales and perks are similar to permanent
Institute employees but their salary comes either from projects secured by them or from R&D funds. To
house the ever increasing number of project employees, another RA hostel was completed in the year
2004.
In this decade, a publication, Directions, has been published regularly to highlight the recent
developments in frontier areas. From 2007, IITK has also instituted an annual research symposium to
showcase major themes of research in the Institute.

47
Anecdotes (believe it or not!)
1981: In a conversation with Dr. K.R. Sarma, an amusing incident was recalled. A faculty colleague
visiting from USA wanted to meet various functionaries of the Institute. Dr Sarma met her first as Head,
Department of Electrical Engineering. The visitor was subsequently told that Dr Sarma was also the
Head, Advanced Center of Electronic Systems (ACES). The visitor then moved over to the office of Dean
R&D. As coincidence would have it, Dr Sarma had just taken over as DORD and met the visitor in his
third capacity. The visitor must have been most astonished in her meeting with the Director that day since
Dr Sarma was, as well, the officiating Director. This situation, though rare in earlier times, is quite
frequent now, with a single person officiating in the capacity of several Deans on a given day.

1988: When a spatial filter had to be purchased for a laser measurement system, the consignment was
held up by customs officials in New Delhi, under the suspicion that it was a small bomb. These officials
proceeded to open the filter and promptly dropped the 4 mm diameter lens and a pinhole with a 5 micron
hole. The spatial filter was thus received without its vital parts! The day was saved when the Indian agent
took up the responsibility of replacement from the principals using techniques quite out of the rule book.

1990: In the era of limited air conditioning, it was fashionable to adopt false roofs in the laboratories,
particularly for those located in the top floors. The Institute, with all its flora and fauna is well known for
supporting wildlife. Even then, on one such occasion, the laboratory inmates were fairly surprised to see
a mongoose trapped and roaming around in the gap between the false roof and the real roof. Apparently
it had descended into the gap from one of the many ducts that characterize our buildings.

1996: One investigator had an urgent need for mirrors of the optical variety. The purchase indent got
stuck at the purchase office because the Government of India regulations did not permit purchase of
mirrors at all. A closer look at the purchase manual showed that the ban was indeed for bathroom
mirrors. The matter was resolved by clever re-wording: the investigator had the quotations redrawn and
simply went for a laser grade λ /4 reflector.

2000: When a large motor, around 1 MW capacity had to be purchased for a central facility, we were in
for a rude surprise. Most notable vendors gave substantive quotations while one (well-known) vendor
gave a quote for a substantially lower amount. The first response was one of delight since we are forever
short of money for equipment. This vendor was shortlisted with great fanfare. Yet, months after the order
was placed, there was no news of supply of the motor, and foul play was finally suspected. The order had
to be cancelled and the entire purchase process, repeated. It turns out that we were a victim of cut-throat
competition of the real world.

2005: A modern laboratory purchased a computer-operated machine that could produce very intricate
parts and shapes. The machine was heavy and had to be properly installed at the ground floor. It needed
water supply and had to be close to a tap as well as a drain. On a rainy day, the drain became a source of
water in the laboratory and brought with it a fairly large snake! The staff promptly killed it but not
without remorse. One fellow went to the extent of shaving his hair off.
Such incidents are far less common now – our building density as well as population on campus
is quite high and we see animal life receding from our midst.

2008:

48
 History of R & D at IIT Kanpur
At-a-glance

Year Milestones
1959 - 1960 ¾ th
¾ Started on 14 Dec 1959
¾
¾ IITK is registered as a society under the Societies
Registration Act in Jan 1960.
¾
¾ Central library comes into existence in the Harcourt Butler
Technology Institute (HBTI) campus.
¾
¾ KIAP program is initiated.
¾
¾ Engineering science is adopted as the basis of curriculum
development.
1960 - 1961 ¾
¾ Out of 7500 applications, 100 undergraduate students are
selected and the classes are flagged off on 9th Aug 1960.
1961 - 1962 ¾
¾ Students are admitted through JEE.
1962-1963 ¾
¾ Postgraduate students join.
¾
¾ IITK moves from HBTI to its own campus.
¾
¾ Central library is moved to the workshop shed on campus.
1963-1964 ¾
¾ Computer Center is created. The first solid-state computer
(IBM – 1620) arrives in an educational institute in India.
¾
¾ Foundation stone of the present library is laid.
¾
¾ The first PhD student is admitted into the program in
Philosophy.
1964-1965 ¾
¾ The Institute shifts to its present campus from HBTI.
¾
¾ A student Counseling Service starts with the help of Prof. K.
K. Singh of the Humanities and Social Science Department.
1965-1966 ¾
¾ May 1965, 66 students graduate from IITK.
¾
¾ October 1965, first convocation is presided by Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan, President of India.
¾
¾ Library moves into its own building.
¾
¾ TV Centre becomes functional. The TV Centre was the
second biggest in India, the first one being the All India Radio
Delhi.
¾
¾ In January 1966, posts of Dean: Faculty Affairs and Dean:
Research & Development are created.
¾
¾ Prof. H. K. Kesavan of Electrical Engineering is the first
Dean: Research and Development.
1966 – 1967 ¾
¾ IBM-7044, one of the largest computers in India at that time
arrives on campus.
1967 - 1968 ¾
¾ The first Honorary Doctor of Science degree conferred to
Prof. Norman C. Dahl, KIAP Leader, making him an alumnus
of IITK.
¾
¾ The first Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering with
specialization in Computer Science is awarded.

49
1968 - 1969 ¾
¾ Prof. C. N. R. Rao of Chemistry Department takes over as
Dean: Research and Development.
1961-1970 ¾
¾ 134 journal papers published per year, a total of 60 books
published.
1970 - 1971 ¾
¾ In the area of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 3MeV
Van De Graff generator is established by Prof. G. K. Mehta in
a building specifically designed for experimental work
involving radiation. The facility is intended for training and
research in Nuclear Physics and Engineering.
1971 - 1972 ¾
¾ Degree programs at the M.Tech and Ph.D levels are offered in
Computer Science by a new Computer Science Program with
its own convener.
1971 - 1972 ¾
¾ A stand-alone R&D office is created.
1972 - 1973 ¾
¾ Prof. T. R. Viswanathan of Electrical Engineering is Dean:
Research and Development.
1974 - 1975 ¾
¾ Prof. N. C. Nigam of Aero Engineering is Dean: Research
and Development.
1976 - 1977 ¾
¾ Prof. M. A. Pai of Electrical Engineering is Dean Research
and Development.
1977 - 1978 ¾
¾ The first ever B. Tech program in Computer Science in India
is launched.
¾
¾ Advanced Centers: Two centers in the areas of Electronics
systems and Materials Science are established
1978 - 1979 ¾
¾ Prof. K. R. Sarma of Electrical Engineering is Dean: Research
and Development.
¾
¾ Account II as a project account is created.
1971-1980 ¾
¾ 171 sponsored projects (Rs 338 lakhs) and 130 consultancy
projects (Rs 39 lakhs) generated.
1980 - 1981 ¾
¾ Prof. D. Chakraborty of Metallurgical Engineering is
Professor-in-charge, Research and Development.
1981 - 1982 ---
1982 - 1983 ¾
¾ Prof. P. Dayaratnam of Civil Engineering is Dean Research
and Development.
1984 - 1985 ¾
¾ The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is
formally established.
¾
¾ The Institute celebrates its Silver Jubilee.
¾
¾ Center for Mechatronics is created.
1985 - 1986 ¾
¾ Prof. R. N. Biswas of Electrical Engineering took over as
Dean Research and Development.
¾
¾ CAD project is initiated in Mechanical and Civil engineering
with Dr S.G. Dhande as the coordinator.
1986 - 1987 ¾
¾ Some of the laboratories which have continued to assist the
industry through these testing jobs are: Structural Analysis
and Design Lab, Soil Mechanics Lab, Electro-Mechanical
Energy Conversion Lab. & Analytical Testing Lab.
1987 - 1988 ¾
¾ Center for Laser Technology is established.

50
1988 - 1989 ¾
¾ MHRD provided special funding for the areas of weakness,
emerging technology and Modernization of Laboratories. The
total financial outlay on ongoing sponsored research projects
including the special funding by the MHRD is nearly Rs. 17
crores.
¾
¾ The cadre of quasi-permanent employees is created.
¾
¾ Prof. B. D. Agarwal of Mechanical Engineering took over as
Dean Research and Development.
¾
¾ The classification of employees on projects (project
associates and others) is created.
1989 - 1990 ¾
¾ Many of the R&D Projects undertaken by the Institute are
directly concerned with the social needs of the country while
other projects concern research in the frontier areas of science
and technology providing foundation for the futuristic
development of the country. The process of development
especially industrialization, has resulted in rapid urbanization
in the country. With a view to reduce pressure on major urban
areas, the Institute undertakes projects to provide efficient
public transportation system.
¾
¾ Another challenging task that scientists of this Institute
undertake is the prediction of weather in tropical regions. A
group of researchers, in collaboration with Florida State
University, USA develop mathematical models to study the
complex monsoon phenomenon.
¾
¾ The field of telematics and computer networking, artificial
intelligence, high voltage DC transmission technology,
computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM),
robotics, lasers, simulation and control of chemical processes,
composite materials constitute a typical spectrum of the
frontier areas being pursued at the Institute.
¾
¾ Satish Kaura (BT/EE/66), who set up Samtel group is the first
recipient of the IITK distinguished Alumnus Award.
¾
¾ The first booklet on guidelines for project management is
printed.
1981-1990 ¾
¾ 649 sponsored projects (Rs 63.7 crores) and 663 consultancy
projects (Rs 7.9 crores) generated.
1991 - 1992 ¾
¾ Department of Aerospace Engineering sets up a National
Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) under the sponsorship of
ARBD at a cost of Rs. 176 lakhs.
¾
¾ In the Department of Aerospace Engineering, DST approves a
grant of Rs. 100.8 lakhs for the instrumentation of the tunnel
(NWTF).
¾
¾ Department of Aerospace Engineering acquires a 6 seater
aircraft for the flight laboratory with financial support from
MHRD.
¾
¾ Department of Civil Engineering developed a package on

51
 Traffic Simulation which has been implemented by CRRI and
Ministry of Surface Transport.
¾
¾ In the Department of Civil Engineering an antenna shield for
conducting SODAR (Sound Detection and Ranging)
experiments designed and fabricated was installed in
Antarctica by the 10th Antarctic Expedition.
¾
¾ Department of Computer Science and Engineering made an
important achievement in the development of Anusaarak or
Very Simple Machine Translation System that allows a reader
who is familiar with one Indian language to follow arbitrary
text in another Indian language.
¾
¾ Department of Metallurgical Engineering achieved a notable
success in preparing carbon clusters, isolating and
characterizing C-80. Only one or two groups in India have
succeeded in this frontline effort.
¾
¾ A CW dye laser pumped by an Argon ion laser has been
developed in the Center for Laser Technology, for the first
time in India.
¾
¾ Prof. A. K. Mittal of IME is Dean: Research and
Development.
1992 - 1993 ¾
¾ The Department of Mechanical Engineering develops
indigenously a very high speed recording system capable of
recording events at the rate of 850,000 frames per second.
¾
¾ In the Department of Physics, a notable success was achieved
in preparing diamond like carbon and porous silicon.
¾
¾ The ernet project introduces the faculty to the culture of
emails.
¾
¾ MOU is signed with Narosa Publishers for the IIT Kanpur
series of Advanced Texts.
1993 - 1994 ¾
¾ The Department of Chemistry received a major funding from
DST to establish a National Centre for Single Crystal X-ray
diffraction facility.
¾
¾ The Department of Electrical Engineering, designed an Indian
Languages Speech Synthesizer for vocally handicapped and
spastic persons.
¾
¾ The scheme of PDA and DPA is introduced (and is widely
adopted by other Institutes).
¾
¾ MHRD-sponsored Technology development missions in (a)
integrated manufacturing, (b) new materials and (c) intelligent
automation of power transmission are initiated.
1994 - 1995 ¾
¾ Prof. Sachchidanand of Electrical Engineering is Dean:
Research and Development.
¾
¾ The first parallel computer (PARAM) from CDAC Pune is
introduced.
1995 - 1996 ¾
¾ In the Department of Electrical Engineering, a MOU had been
signed with M/s Phase Devises Communications Ltd.

52
 (PDCL), Kanpur for establishing R & D Cell in EE
Department.
¾
¾ In the Department of Electrical Engineering, negotiations
with Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bangalore had been
finalized for Technology Transfer of “High Voltage
Transistor”.
¾
¾ Department of Mechanical Engineering conducted a
cooperative research with Don State Technical University in
Russia and also conducted an intensive course on Computer
Aided Design at the University of Aden in the Republic of
Yemen.
¾
¾ Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering: A
study on the transport phenomenon in steelmaking tundish
system had been started, which had been sponsored by the
Steel Authority of India Ltd.
¾
¾ Department of Physics: New collaborative research programs
with Northeastern University, USA; ICTP, Italy and Warsaw
University, Poland; Shinshu University, Japan; Concordia
University, Canada were started.

1996 - 1997 ¾
¾ Department of Computer Science and Engineering had
bagged a prestigious project in the area on natural language
processing. It had been executed jointly with University of
Hyderabad. An IIT Kanpur center is established in Hyderabad
for the same purpose.
¾
¾ Collaboration with SIDBI was formalized by the Department
of Industrial and Industrial Engineering.
¾
¾ The Institute becomes internet-aware.
1997-98 ¾
¾ Prof. H. C. Karnick of CSE is Dean: Research and
Development.
¾
¾ RA hostel comes into existence.
¾
¾ FEAT laboratory is set-up.
1998-99 ¾
¾ A repayable financial of Rs. 6 crores by ICICI is sanctioned
to the Institute for setting up facilities such as Material
Testing Facility, augmentation of National Wind Tunnel
Facility, Networking and Internet Services Centre,
Technology Incubation and Development Center.
¾
¾ Second phase of Technology Development Missions is
initiated.
¾
¾ Under the Integrated Design and Concurrent manufacturing
Scheme a Reverse Engineering system consisting of FARO
ARM scanner and SURFACE software for point cloud data
analysis was installed and made operational,
¾
¾ Mechanical engineering: Two rapid prototyping machines are
installed; A prepeg machine is successfully designed and
fabricated.

53
 ¾
¾ Facility for Ecological and Analytical Testing is established
for detection of harmful or banned chemicals in processed
textiles.
¾
¾ The low speed closed circuit national wind tunnel facility was
inaugurated.
¾
¾ CARE scheme for procurement of large equipment is
introduced.
¾
¾ In the Department of Chemistry a 400 MHz FTNMR
spectrometer is installed.
1999-2000 ¾
¾ IITK is at no. 1 position in India Today rankings.
¾
¾ Prof. S. G. Dhande of Mechanical Engineering is Dean:
Research and Development.
¾
¾ The Board of Governors decides to name the Central library
as P. K. Kelkar library and to install the bust of Prof. Kelkar
in his memory.
¾
¾ Directions launched as an Institute publication.
¾
¾ IIT Kanpur launches its first webpage.
¾
¾ SIDBI funds Rs. 2.35 crore for establishing SIDBI Innovation
and Incubation Center (SIIC) and Rs. 2 crores as corpus fund.
¾
¾ Construction of NWTF is completed and the facility is
inaugurated.
1991-2000 ¾
¾ Projects increase from 31 (sponsored) and 73 (consultancy) in
1990 t 63 (sponsored) and 113 (consultancy) in 1999.
2000-2001 ¾
¾ RDSO funds 1 crore for establishing Railway Technology
Mission.
¾
¾ MoU signed between IITK and ISRO for establishing Space
Technology Cell at IITK.
¾
¾ Resource Centre for Indian languages Technology Solutions -
Devnagari and Nepali is started.
¾
¾ Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering is
established under the auspices of MPLAD funds provided by
Mr. Aurn Shourie, honorable Union Minister of
Communication and Information Technology and
Disinvestment.
¾
¾ Samtel Center comes into existence due to grants from Samtel
Ltd. And DST.
2001-2002 ¾
¾ MoU between IITK and Media Lab Asia is signed for
establishing Kanpur-Lucknow hub.
¾
¾ National Information Center for Earthquake Engineering was
established in order to help the country in building
earthquake-resistant structures.
2002 - 2003 ¾
¾ Prof. Manindra Agarwal recognized for his work on
Complexity Theory and developing a Polynomial Time
Algorithm for Primality Testing
¾
¾ WiFi multihalf network is set-up between IITK and Lucknow
¾
¾ Prof. Deepak Kunzru of Chemical Engineering is Dean:

54
 Research and Development.
2003 - 2004 ¾
¾ IIT Kanpur receives a grant of Rs. 3300 lakh from the
Ministry of for Technology Mission on railway safety.
¾
¾ Kanpur-Lucknow hub of Media Lab Asia establishes a Digital
Mandi and an experimental wireless VOIP phone based PCO
extension counter at a nearby village.
¾
¾ Technology developed at the Resource Center for Indian
Languages transferred to eight centers for machine aided
translation from English to Oriya, Bengali, Marathi,
Assamese, Manipuri, Konkani, Urdu, Punjabi, Malayalam
and Sanskrit.
¾
¾ The work done on nano-sciences at the Department of
Chemistry is recognized for the Global Indus Technovator
Award 2003 given by India Business Club of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA.
¾
¾ E-classrooms established at Raipur and Bilaspur and training
of forty five teachers is completed under the IIT Kanpur-
Government of Chattisgarh collaboration.
¾
¾ TV Center undergoes metamorphosis to Media Technology
Center where the NPTEL project on distance education is
carried out.
¾
¾ Prabhu and Poonam Goel Center for Internet and Computer
Security is created.
2004-2005 ¾
¾ IITK is number 1 in India Today ranking.
¾
¾ IIT Kanpur identified as one of the nodal agencies under the
National Program on Nanosciences and Nanotechnology to
establish a Unit/Centre for Nanosciences in the Northern
region of India with a budget of Rs.11.3 crores
¾
¾ Noted Journalist and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Arun Shourie
donates Rs 11 crores from his MPLAD funds for
establishment of Environmental Sciences & Engineering
Department at IIT Kanpur.
¾
¾ Ministry of Earth Sciences gives a grant of Rs 1 crore for
creation of NICEE (in earthquake engineering).
2005-2006 ¾
¾ Major Multi-disciplinary Facilities Added are Focused Ion
Beam Facility, Tandem Accelerator, 500 MHz Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometer:
¾
¾ Prof. S. C. Srivastava of Electrical Engineering is Dean:
Research and Development.

2006-2007 ¾
¾ A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur on to conduct basic and advanced research
and tackles multidisciplinary problems in aircraft systems
technology and its application.
¾
¾ The broad areas initially identified for carrying out collaborative
technology development work are Environmental Control and

55
 Hydraulic Systems analysis by FEM and CFD,
¾
¾ Multi-disciplinary facilities added are those under the FIST Scheme
of DST while the Centers for Nanotechnology is created..
¾
¾ IRDC constituted by the Board.
¾
¾ Mechanical engineering receives a grant of Rs 10 crores from DST
for procurement of sophisticated equipment.
2007 - 2008 ¾
¾ IITK is number 1 in India Today ranking.
¾
¾ Dr. Animangshu Ghatak, Department of Chemical Engineering
publishes a paper in SCIENCE.
¾
¾ Centre for Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management is
established.
¾
¾ Autodesk-IIT Kanpur digital innovation laboratory is created.
¾
¾ REACH symposium is inaugurated as an annual event.
2008 - 2009 ¾
¾ Prof. K. Muralidhar of Mechanical Engineering is Dean: Research
and Development.
¾
¾ IGCAR-IITK cell is created.
¾
¾ Centre for Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Ltd
(UPPTCL) is established.
¾
¾ Centre for BSNL-IITK Telecom Centre of Excellence is
established.
¾
¾ Center for Nanoscience is inaugurated by Dr T. Ramasami,
Secretary, DST.
¾
¾ Center for Environmental Science and Engineering is established.
¾
¾ Faculty entrepreneurship policy is approved by the Board.
¾
¾ Formal review of MOUs and agreements commences.
2009 - 2010 ¾
¾ Golden Jubilee Year starts from August 2009.
¾
¾ MOU signed with ISRO for launching a nano-satellite (Jugnu).
¾
¾ Lunar-rover activities commence in collaboration with ISRO.
¾
¾ Boeing-sponsored autonomous vehicle development project for
students begins.
¾
¾ Pan-IIT solar energy initiative convenes with IITK as the overall
coordinator.
¾
¾ Students launch a technical magazine called NERD; students re-
group into a body called POWER and enter into the domain of
independent research.
2001-2010 ¾
¾ Patents filed increase from 3 in 2000, to 6 in 2005, to 48 in 2008.
The annual sponsored project allocation increases to Rs 53 crores
in 2008.
¾
¾ The culture of cells and centers takes firm ground with the creation
of Prabhu and Poonam Goel Center for computer and internet
security, Space Technology Cell, Environmental Science and
Engineering, Autodesk-IITK laboratory, and Railway Technology
Cell.

[Assistance provided for this section by Avanti Joshi and Sudha Chandrasekhar is acknowledged.]

56
 Creation of Major Facilities
1. National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) was established in 1999. It has unique and
nationally recognized capabilities to evaluate aerodynamic performance of flight and road
vehicles as well as wind effects on civil structures. It has various simulation and
measurement systems, interchangeable test sections and is capable of testing at wind
speed up to 80 m/sec. Also see the write-up in Appendix VIII.

2. Computer Center
Computer Centre provides Internet Services, Linux and Windows Labs, High
Performance Computing, Application Software and Office Automation Services 24
hours a day, 365 days a year.

This center was established in 1964 and it was

started in Western Labs under Department of
Electrical Engineering. It moved to its present
building in 1969 when it was recognized as an
independent facility in the Institute. During its early
days, there was the Unit Record Equipment which
could mechanically process Hollerith punch cards. IBM-7044 (photograph dates 1969)

IBM-1620 was the first computer acquired by IIT Kanpur. IBM 7044 mainframe
computer along with its satellite computer IBM-1401 was added in 1969 when the
centre was also moved to the present CC building.

Several specialized computers such as IBM-1800

and PDP-1 were added in subsequent years.

The next major upgrade was the addition of DEC-

1090 mainframe computer in 1979, which was the
first time sharing computer of IIT Kanpur. This was
first computer which had terminals. PDP-1
In 1989, CC purchased networked computers of HP 9000
series which included four servers, four high end workstations,
and twelve normal workstations. These belonged to super-mini
range of computers. To provide access to this computing
environment, the first campus network was laid which
HP Servers connected the computer center to terminals installed in various
(photograph dated locations in the academic area. This was a 10 Mbps coaxial
1990) cable based LAN.

57
 During the same period Convex C-220, a Vector
Computing server for high end numeric computing was
installed. It was the mini-super computer of those days.

In 1987 the first PC lab was setup providing DOS

environment. These labs have been growing over the Convex-220
years and today we have both Linux and Windows labs.

In 1995 the campus network was upgraded to 100 Mbps Fiber Backbone and 10 Mbps
UTP Access Network, providing connectivity to all the departments, faculty and staff
offices and labs. In 2000 this network was also extended to student hostels. In 2005
the network was again upgraded to Gigabit network. Currently Computer Center
supports a campus network with more than 12000 nodes.

The first 64 Kbps internet link was setup in 1998 and today the bandwidth has
increased to 110Mbps and it will soon be upgraded to 1 Gbps.

In 1999 the first 16 node beuwulf cluster was installed.

From 2000 to 2002, CDAC PARAM-10000, 16 node IBM
SP, 15 CPU SUN E10K SMP server and 16 CPU SGI
Origin 3400 SMP server were purchased. In 2004 a 96
Node (Dual Processor) SUN cluster was purchased and in
2006 a 48 node (Dual Processor) HP cluster was added. In
past few years, several quad processor SMP servers and a
HP 16 processor Itanium (Dual Core) SMP server have
also been acquired by CC.

In 2006, HP-EVA 8000 virtual storage with 33 TB disk space, along with 6 node HP-
EFS clustered virtual file server were added. This provides transparent user area
shared over all the servers in CC.

Computer Center at IIT Kanpur has always maintained state of the art computing
infrastructure for its users and will continue to do so.

The role of the computer center in the research profile of the Institute is immeasurable.
The reputation of the Institute as a hot-bed of computational research has been acquired
mainly from the corridors of this unique and extensive facility.

3. 4-I laboratory
The laboratory came up as modern manufacturing facility in February 2004. The laboratory
integrates design and manufacturing with the fast changing tools of conceptualization and
fabrication. The 4 Is stand for innovation, integration, incubation, and implementation. The
goal of the laboratory is to realize products from design concepts. It houses state-of-the-art

58
CAD and CAM tools with capabilities related to acquisition, modeling, and prototyping. The
fabrication units available are fused deposition system, abrasive water jet cutting machine,
CNC milling, turning NC center, Rapid prototyping machine, and laser cutting machine. The
4-I laboratory is a unique facility where students participate in the operation of the machines
in a flexible atmosphere.

4. Tandetron

The Van de Graff accelerator has now been replaced by a Tandetron accelerator (tandom
accelerator) using DST funding to the tune of Rs 15 crores. The facility has been created
by Professors G.K. Mehta and V.N. Kulkarni. It is accompanied by a focused ion beam
(FIB) system for materials processing. A maskless lithography system is also available
for fabrication of nanosensors.

5. Sequential Quantum Interference device (SQUID)

This new laboratory, housed in the Southern laboratory is equipped with a

Superconducting Quantum Inteference Device (SQUID)-based extremely sensitive
magnetometer, and a Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS) capable of
reaching temperatures as low as 300 mK and magnetic field as high as 140 thousand
Gauss. The SQUID magnetometer allows one to measure magnetic moment of extremely
weak samples over a wide range of temperature extending from 1.6 K to 400 K and
magnetic field strength as high as 50 thousand Gauss.
SQUID constitutes key equipment for research in the areas of advanced magnetic
materials, superconductors and spintronics, and used extensively by various research
groups of IIT Kanpur and several laboratories outside. The PPMS system, on the other
hand, is important for addressing a variety of fundamental issues related to
superconductivity, magnetism, electronic transport in low dimensional systems, and
quantum phase transitions. These two key pieces of equipment make the laboratory a
unique research facility in India and put IIT Kanpur in the club of leading laboratories in
the world where first-rate research is carried out on superconducting devices and
technologies, magnetic thin films and devices, semiconductor heterostructures,
nanotechnology and spintronics.

6. Computer-aided design (CAD) laboratory

In 1984-85, the industry in India was looking for new directions in engineering design. The
method of CAD was already developed in the West. CAD (Computer Aided Design)
laboratory at IIT Kanpur was inaugurated in early 1985.
Major projects implemented in the CAD laboratory are the following:

a) UNDP project on computer aided design program (1985-1990)

b) UNDP project on computer aided design program (phase II) (1990-1995)
c) MHRD-supported Technology mission on Integrated Design on Computer Manufacturing
(IDCM) (1996-2001)
d) ADA project related to LCA (1985-1986)

59
e) Ministry of Leather project related to saddle design (2003-2008)
f) Media laboratory Asia (2001-2003)
g) Archaeological Survey of India supported project on Cultural Resources Management
(2003 onwards)

The Government of India has laid great emphasis on rapid industrialization and use of
modern technologies to achieve its social, industrial and economic objectives. Therefore, in
the mid-Eighties, Government gave thrust to use computers in Government and industries for
improving quality and productivity of the industrial output. Accordingly, the Computer
Aided Design Program was initiated with assistance of UNDP in 1982. The objective of
introducing CAD was optimization of industrial design and process control in designated
critical production areas.
CAD laboratory introduced the following technologies for the first time on a national
level. The subject of computer-aided design was introduced in the curriculum in the mid-
eighties. In a pioneering effort, this was followed up with a series of short-term courses for
the industry. Technology mission project of 1996 introduced Rapid Prototyping technology.
Jointly, CAD and rapid prototyping revolutionized product development. The most important
advantage was the reduced time for launching new products. The ability to physically interact
with a model allowed design teams to accurately communicate ideas, perform form-and-fit
checks of complex mechanism such as engine components. In 2001, The Media Lab Asia
project was launched with MIT for research in areas of education, health, entertainment, and
wireless communication. The project has developed software packages such as Info Sculpture
and useful products such as Suchik and Infothella for the rural society. The indigenous saddle
development project of 2003 helps save valuable foreign exchange and has put India’s name
in world map of equestrian and horse riding. The second phase of this project has now
commenced. The archaeology project initiated in 2003 has recorded very antique and
valuable sculptures from Mathura Museum and the Centre of Ancient History and
Archeology at Allahabad University.
The CAD laboratory has major facilities for rapid prototyping, reverse engineering,
and rapid tooling. Modern equipment such as FDM -1650 and Cubital - SGC are two widely
used rapid prototyping machines. A state-of-the art optical digital scanner generates point
cloud data with an accuracy of better than 0.1mm/m object size. A six-degree Faro Arm
Scanner collects data from an object. Silicon vacuum casting machine and Tafa spray gun are
used in the rapid tooling procedure.

7. Liquid nitrogen and liquid helium plant

The Institute has been successfully operating an in-house central cryogenic facility consisting
of liquid nitrogen and liquid helium production plants. Right in the first decade of the
Institute, it was realized by some enthusiastic faculty members from the Department of
Physics (such as Prof. Rajat Sen) and some other faculty members from across the Institute
(such as Prof. CNR Rao from Chemistry) that a liquid nitrogen facility must be created in the
Institute for doing low temperature research such as temperature-dependent magnetic
susceptibility, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectral measurements and
superconductivity. Hoping to create such a facility, these faculty members took initiative and
eventually procured liquid nitrogen plant at IITK during 1964/1965. In fact, it was a gift from

60
AIRCO Company, USA, as a part of Kanpur Indo-American Program (KIAP). In the
meantime, many other faculty members (such as Prof. A. K. Mazumdar, Department of
Physics) also showed keen interest on such kind of research. Then a situation arose to replace
the old facility, which served the IITK faculty for about 15 years. In early 1980, IITK
procured the second facility from Indian Oxygen Ltd., which fulfilled the research need of
IIT-K faculty for about 18 years. In the recent past, this facility has undergone a renaissance
with the induction of a new nitrogen liquefier which produces ~ 20 liter/hr. of liquid nitrogen.
We have also ordered a new helium liquefier system from funds provided by the department
of science and technology under its FIST scheme and augmented by our Institute. Once
commissioned, this high capacity (~ 20/liters/hr.) , fully automated liquefier manufactured by
M/S BOC-Linde of the United States will empower a large number of faculty members of
this institute to carryout world-class research in frontline areas such as nanoscience,
spintronics and superconductivity. This central facility will also meet the liquid helium
requirements of the NMR laboratory. Additionally, this high capacity plant should allow us
to assist other government of India laboratories like CDRI, Sanjay Gandhi Medical Centre,
Toxicology laboratory and DMSDE in running their liquid helium based facilities. This will
certainly reinforce our leadership in running and maintaining sophisticated machines.

61
 Unique equipment

2000

Dept.
Name of the Equipment
CHM Purchase of PCR Thermocycler
CHE Proposal for the acquisition of a Scanning Probe and Atomic Force Microscope
MME Multipurpose thin film deposition unit based on electron beam evaporation
CHE Rheological Characterization of Complex non-Newton Materials. Purchase of
Rheometer with constant temperature bath
CHM Purchase of Auto Sampler for 400 MHz. High resolution NMR machine
PHY Power Supply for Varian 15” electro-magnet.
CE Enhancement of the Cyclic Testing Facility at the Structural Engineering Laboratory

2001

Dept. Name of the Equipment

MSP Preparation, Processing and Characterization Of Nano-particles
CHE Virtually-Instrumented Polymerization reactor with on-line optimal control facility.
EE Pico-second optimal source.
ME Optical measurement facility for advanced flow and heat transfer applications.

2002

Dept.
Name of the Equipment
LTP Modernization of Raman System and Removal of Obsolete Data Acquisition System.
PHY A Thin Film and Multi-layer Preparation Unit using DC Magnetron Sputtering.
MME Electro-chemical Impedance Measurement System.
ME Thermal analyzer equipped with Thermal-Gravimetric Analyzer, Differential Scanning
Calorimeter and Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer
ME NOX and THC Emission measurement system for Internal Combustion engines.
ACMS X Ray diffraction System

62
2003

Dept. Name of the Equipment

CELT Optical Spectrum Analyser
MME 3-D Surface Profilometer to Characterize Material Surfaces
CHM Closed Cycle Refrigeration System
CE/(EEM) HPTLC System
CE Drill Core Scanner for Magnetic Susceptibility & Natural Gamma Ray
Measurements
PHY Coincidence Doppler Positron Annihilation Radiation System
MME Particle Size Analyzer
ASE Laser Scatting Particile Size Analyzer.

2004

Dept. Name of the Equipment

NWTF Stereoscopic PIV System for Flow Diagnostics in Aeronautical & Non-
Aeronautical applications
Samtel Ultrahigh Vacuum Molecular Beam Deposition System for Organic Thin Films.
Center
ACMS Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) facility

2005

Dept.
Name of the Equipment
CE Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) for Gas-Borne Nanoparticulate Systems
MME Installation of Reciprocating Wear and Friction Tester Facility
CHM Augmentation of ESI-Q-ToF with Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization (APCI)
and Photoionization (APPI) Interfaces
CE Servo-Hydraulic Actuators for Load Application at Structural Engineering Laboratory
ME Hot-Isostatic Pressing Facility for Processing Advanced Materials
PHY Polarized Confocal Imaging of the Cervical Epithelial Tissue for Neo plasia (early
cancer) Detection

63
2006

Dept.
Name of the Equipment
EE Shielded Anechoic Chamber
MME Precision Ion Beam Milling System
BSBEDensity Gradient Separation cum Fractionation Facility
EE Encapsulation System for Organic Photovoltaic Devices/Panels
CE Cyclic Triaxial Testing System to Evaluate Shear Strength and Liquefaction Potential
of Noncohesive Soil
CHE Optical Microscope for Research on Microfluidics and Contact Mechanics on Soft
Materials
LTP Tunable Laser in the Wavelength range of 1480-1640nm
ME Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer (EEPS) Spectrometer with Rotating Disk Diluter &
Software

2007

Dept. Name of the Equipment

CE Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES Model 720-
ES) for Simultaneous Elemental Analysis
CHM Establishment of a Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) facility
ACMS Establishing a Cascaded Dilatometer Facility
MME A Facility to process Nanostructured Materials: Spark Plasma Sintering Set up
CE Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) for High Resolution Surveying Modeling and Digital
Archiving

2008

Dept.
Name of the Equipment
ME Equipment related to micro-fabrication facility
PHY Fiber coupled microscope and multichannel detection system for Raman spectrometer
ME Laser Doppler anemometry for the unsteady velocity measurements in a water tunnel
test facility for flow control
CHM Establishment of a micro-analytical facility
MME Surface profilometer
CHE Laser light interferometer and digital holographic system

64
 Appendix I
Names of Deans: Research and Development
Year Name Department
1964 H.K. Kesavan Electrical Engineering
1965 H.K. Kesavan Electrical Engineering
1966 H.K. Kesavan Electrical Engineering
1967 H.K. Kesavan Electrical Engineering
1968 C.N.R. Rao Chemistry
1969 C.N.R. Rao Chemistry
1970 C.N.R. Rao Chemistry
1971 C.N.R. Rao Chemistry
1972 T.R. Viswanathan Electrical Engineering
1973 T.R. Viswanathan Electrical Engineering
1974 N.C. Nigam Aero Engineering
1975 N.C. Nigam Aero Engineering
1976 M.A. Pai Electrical Engineering
1977 M.A. Pai Electrical Engineering
1978 K.R. Sharma Electrical Engineering
1979 K.R. Sharma Electrical Engineering
1980 D. Chakravorty Metallurgical Engineering (Prof-in-charge)
1981 D. Chakravorty Metallurgical Engineering (Prof-in-charge)
1982 P. Dayaratnam Civil Engineering
1983 P. Dayaratnam Civil Engineering
1984 P. Dayaratnam Civil Engineering

1985 R.N. Biswas Electrical Engineering

1986 R.N. Biswas Electrical Engineering
1987 R.N. Biswas Electrical Engineering
1988 B.D. Agarwal Mechanical Engineering
1989 B.D. Agarwal Mechanical Engineering
1990 B.D. Agarwal Mechanical Engineering
1991 A.K. Mittal IME
1992 AK. Mittal IME
1993 A.K. Mittal IME
1994 Sachchidanand Electrical Engineering
1995 Sachchidanand Electrical Engineering
1996 Sachchidanand Electrical Engineering
1997 H.C. Karnick Computer Science & Engineering
1998 H.C. Karnick / S.G. Dhande
1999 S.G.Dhande Mechanical Engineering
2000 S.G. Dhande Mechanical Engineering
2001 S.G. Dhande Mechanical Engineering
2002 Deepak Kunzru Chemical Engineering
2003 Deepak Kunzru Chemical Engineering
2004 Deepak Kunzru Chemical Engineering
2005 S.C. Srivastava Electrical Engineering
2006 S.C. Srivastava Electrical Engineering
2007 S.C Srivastava Electrical Engineering
2008 K. Muralidhar Mechanical Engineering
2009 K. Muralidhar Mechanical Engineering

65
 Appendices II and III
Summary of sponsored and consultancy projects received over the years
[The fourth column gives the amount sanctioned for the particular year.]

{Titles of projects are separately available.}

66
 Appendix IV
List of Research Publications
{separately available}

67
 Appendix V
Evaluation of Research Publications
Based on the data available in the Annual reports of IIT Kanpur, an analysis of the research
output has been carried out in the following categories: i) international journal, ii) national
journal, iii) International conference proceedings, iv) National conference proceedings and v)
Books. Our compiled data are presented in the following tables and also in the figures given
below.
Total Publication in different decades since the inception of IIT Kanpur
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)
Decade International National International National Books Publications in

Journal Journal Conference Conference Science/Nature*

1961-70 1085 254 115 130 60 09

Pub/year 109 25 12 13 6

1971-80 987 205 113 59 60 01

Pub/year 197 41 23 12 12

(Publication list is missing in Annual Reports of 75-76, 76-77, 77-78, 78-79, 80-81)

1981-90 2549 581 480 340 176 _

Pub/year 283 65 53 38 20

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 81-82)

1991-2000 3011 470 665 417 183

Pub/year 335 52 74 46 23

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 94-95)

2001-2007 3821 505 1110 623 301 1

Pub/year 546 72 158 89 43

68
 International Journal
550 National Journal
500 International Conference
Publications per year

450 National Conference

400
Books
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0 1961-70 1971-80 1981-90 1991-2000 2001-07

Figure: Total Publication in different decades since the inception of IIT Kanpur
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)

69
The following points emerge from our analysis:
a) Comparing the number of publications in international and national forums, it is clear that
right from the beginning there was an emphasis in publishing in international journals to reach
out to the international scientific and engineering community.
b) The first decade itself (1961-70) noticed an international journal publication for 100 per year
on average, while the publications in national journals were one-tenth of it. It is likely that KIAP
program played a key role in orienting this trend of publishing in international journals of high
quality. This decade noticed a total of seven publications in SCIENCE and NATURE, still
unmatched by any other decade in the history of this institute.
c) The next three decades (71-80, 81-90 and 91-2000) saw a linear increase in the number of
international journal publications, with an increase of 50 papers/per year in respective decades.
The rate of increase was slightly less in the second decade, which can be linked to several
factors, such as withdrawal of the KIAP program, turmoil in the campus and lack of sufficient
governmental funding. This continued till the end of last century, when our institute clearly saw
resurgence in the funding situation, research facilities, and consequently a leap in the number of
publications.
d) The number of papers published in international conference proceedings noticeably increases
in the last decade. Better availability of funds, both from institute and government funding
agencies, to attend international conferences has definitely played a role in this increase.
e) In terms of books, it is noticed that book publication has increased from 6 to 23 per year over
the past five decades. The strong academic environment prevailing in the campus must be
credited for this accomplishment. It encourages faculty members to write books in the area of
their expertise. The support from CDTE cell in this context is noteworthy.
f) An analysis of publications from science and engineering departments separately reveals a
similar trend, both in terms of research publications, conference proceedings and books. It is
noteworthy to mention that while science departments started publishing vigorously right from
the first decade, the engineering departments took some time to take off in terms publishing in
international and national journals in large numbers. However, the numbers increase
significantly in later decades.

70
 Publications from Science Departments
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)

Timeframe International National International National Books Publications in

Journal Journal Conference Conference Science/Nature*

1961-70 717 119 35 11 29 03

Pub/year 72 12 4 1 3

1971-80 467 88 25 6 31 02

Pub/year 94 18 5 1 6

(Publication list is missing in Annual Reports of 75-76, 76-77, 77-78, 78-79, 80-81)

1981-90 1160 233 56 43 45 ---

Pub/year 129 26 6 5 5

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 81-82)

1991-2000 1069 109 66 63 26 01

Pub/year 119 12 7 7 3

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 94-95)

2001-2007 1548 103 122 92 45 ---

Pub/year 221 15 17 13 6

71
Figure: Publications from science departments in different decades
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)

72
 Publications from Engineering Departments
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)

Timeframe International National International National Books Publications in

Journal Journal Conference Conference Science/Nature*

1961-70 338 79 67 114 21 03

Pub/year 34 8 7 11 2

1971-80 487 87 81 46 19 ---

Pub/year 97 17 16 9 4

(Publication list is missing in Annual Reports of 75-76, 76-77, 77-78, 78-79, 80-81)

1981-90 1288 194 407 252 76 ---

Pub/year 143 22 45 28 8

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 81-82)

1991-2000 1823 305 596 328 122 03

Pub/year 203 34 66 36 14

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 94-95)

2001-2007 2217 336 951 500 219 02

Pub/year 317 48 136 71 31

73
 Publications from all Departments
(Source: Annual reports of IITK)

Timeframe Internation National International National Books Publications in

al Journal Conference Conference Science/Nature*

Journal

1961-70 1085 254 115 130 60 06

Pub/year 109 25 12 13 6

1971-80 987 205 113 59 60 02

Pub/year 197 41 23 12 12

(Publication list is missing in Annual Reports of 75-76, 76-77, 77-78, 78-79, 80-81)

1981-90 2549 581 480 340 176 _

Pub/year 283 65 53 38 20

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 81-82)

1991-2000 2939 470 665 417 183 04

Pub/year 327 52 74 46 23

(Publication list is missing in the Annual Reports of 94-95)

2001-2007 3821 505 1110 623 301 02

Pub/year 546 72 158 89 43

74
Figure: Publications from engineering departments in different decades

10

9
NATURE Publications
8
SCIENCE Publications
Publications per decade

0 1981-1990
1961-1970 1971-1980 1991-2000 2001-2007

Figure: Publications in Science and Nature over the decades.

75
 Publications in SCIENCE and NATURE

1. Simultaneous observation of columnar defects and magnetic flux lines in high temperature E
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 superconductors, Author(s): DAI HJ, YOON SW, LIU J, et al., SCIENCE, Vol.
265(5178), pp.1552-1555, SEP 9 1994.

2. Tracing modern human origins

Author(s): Harpending H, Eswaran V., SCIENCE, Vol. 309(5743), pp. 1995-1995, SEP 23 2005

3. Microfluidic Adhesion Induced by Subsurface Microstructures

Author(s): Majumder A, Ghatak A, Sharma A
Source: SCIENCE Volume: 318 Issue: 5848 Pages: 258-261 Published: OCT 12 2007

________________________________________

1. Surface-active Characteristics of Sodium Salts of Anacardic Acids of Varying Unsaturation

ARUN K. BISWAS, ANIL B. RAY
NATURE 200, 1203 - 1203 (21 Dec 1963), doi: 10.1038/2001203a0, Letter

2. Solution of a Biharmonic Equation

R. D. BHARGAVA, NATURE 201, 530 - 530 (01 Feb 1964), doi: 10.1038/201530a0, Letter

3. Chlorine-36 produced by Neutron Capture in Meteorites

P. S. GOEL
NATURE 203, 1162 - 1163 (12 Sep 1964), doi: 10.1038/2031162a0, Letter

4. Influence of Carbon Dioxide in the Calcite–Sodium Oleate Flotation System

V. Y. SAMPAT KUMAR and A. K. BISWAS
NATURE 217, 1255 (30 March 1968);

5. X-ray Studies of Clay Minerals in Investigations of Contact Metamorphism

D. M. RAO and K. V. G. K. GOKHALE
NATURE 218, 760 (25 May 1968);

6. Production Rate of 10Be from Oxygen Spallation

P. S. GOEL
NATURE 223, 1263 - 1264 (20 Sep 1969), doi: 10.1038/2231263a0, Letter

7. Modification of a model membrane structure by embedded photochrome

D. BALASUBRAMANIAN, SURESH SUBRAMANI, C. KUMAR
NATURE 254, 252 - 254 (20 Mar 1975), doi: 10.1038/254252a0, Letter

8. Lattice images of dislocations in the ferroelectric material Ba2Bi4Ti5O18

J. L. HUTCHISON, J. S. ANDERSON & C. N. R. RAO*
NATURE 255, 541 - 542 (12 June 1975)

76
9. Problems of Indian Science
Author(s): SINGH R.P.
Source: NATURE Volume: 371 Issue: 6495 Pages: 278-278 Published: SEP 22 1994

10. Arsenic poisoning in the Ganges delta

Author(s): Acharya SK, Chakraborty P, Lahiri S, et al.
Source: NATURE Volume: 401 Issue: 6753 Pages: 545-545 Published: OCT 7 1999

11. Predecessors of the giant 1960 Chile earthquake

Author(s): Cisternas M, Atwater BF, Torrejon F, et al.
Source: NATURE Volume: 437 Issue: 7057 Pages: 404-407 Published: SEP 15 2005

77
 FIRST SIGNIFICANT JOURNAL PUBLICATION IN DEPARTMENTS
Aerospace Engineering
P.N. Murthy and G. Subramanian, Minimum weight analysis based on structural reliability;
AIAA, 6 (1968) 2037-2039.

Biological and Biosciences Engineering

D. Dubey and S. Ganesh, 2008, Modulation of functional properties of laforin phosphatase by
alternative splicing reveals a novel mechanism for the EPM2A gene in Lafora progressive
myoclonus epilepsy, Human Molecular Genetics 17 (2008) 3010-3020.

Chemical Engineering
G. Narashiman (CHE), AIChE Journal, 11, 1965, 550-554.

Chemistry
S. Singh and C.N.R. Rao (CHM), Steric Effects on Hydrogen Bonding; J. Am. Chemical
Society, 88 (1966) 2142-2144.

Civil Engineering
P. Paramasivan and J.K. Sridhar Rao, Buckling of plates of abruptly varying stiffness; Journal of
the Structural Division, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers; ST-6 (1969)
1313-1337.

Computer Science and Engineering

S. Ganapathy and V. Rajaraman, Information theory applied to the conversion of decision tables
to computer programs, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 16(9), 1973.

Electrical Engineering
T.S. Huang, O.J. Treitiak, B. Prasada and Y. Yamaguchi, Design considerations in PCM
transmission of low-resolution monochrome still pictures; Proceedings of the IEEE, 55 [3]
(1967) 331.

Industrial and Management Engineering

R.K. Ahuja, J.L. Batra, and S.K. Gupta, A Note on Combinatorial Optimization with Rational
Objective Functions, Mathematics of Operations Research, Vol. 8(2), p. 314, 1983.

Mathematics
G.V. Krishan Rao, Note on a Whitehead product; Proceedings of the American Mathematical
Society; 17 [5] (1966) 1131-1132.

Mechanical Engineering
S.S. Rao and V. Sundararajan, In-plane flexural vibrations of circular rings; Journal of Applied
Mechanics; Transactions of ASME, 36 (1969) 620-625.

Metallurgical Engineering
J. Bandyopadhyay and K.P. Gupta, X-ray study of the transmission of Ni3Sn phase;
Metallurgical Transactions; 1 (1970) 327-329.

78
Physics
A. Mehra and P. Venkateswarlu, Spin-orbit coupling parameter for Mn2+ in RbMnF3, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 19, 1967, 145-146.
Source: annual reports from 1961-1969.

FIRST SIGNIFICANT JOURNAL PUBLICATION IN LEADING JOURNALS

AIAA
M.S. Sastry (Mth), Pressure distribution of hypersonic boundary-layer flow, AIAA 1 [10]
(1963) 2398-2399.

AIChE
J.N. Kapur and R.C. Srivastava (Mth), Similar Solutions of the Boundary Layer Equations for
Power Law Fluids; AIChE, 14 (1963) 383-389.

IEEE Transactions
V.P. Sinha (EE) and P.D. Deijhton, A note on two problems of matched filter synthesis; IEEE
Transaction on Circuit Theory, CT-19, No.1, (1969) 85-88.

ASME
S.S. Rao and V. Sundararajan (ME), In-plane flexural vibrations of circular rings; Journal of
Applied Mechanics; Transactions of ASME, 36 (1969) 620-625.

Metallurgical Transactions
A.B.L. Agarwal (ChE), J. R. Frederick and D. K. Felbeck; Detection of plastic microstrain in
Aluminum by acoustic emission; Metallurgical Transactions; 1[4] (1970) 1069-1071.

Proceedings of Royal Society

R.P. Srivastava (Mth), Proc. Royal Society Edinburgh, A66, 1964, 161-172.

Annals Math. Stat.

N. Giri (Mth), On tests of equality of two covariance matrices, Annals of mathematics and
Statistics; 39, 1968, 275-277.

Source: annual reports from 1961-1969.

79
 APPENDIX VI
Significant projects accomplished at IIT Kanpur
a) Among the earliest centers to be set-up at the Institute are the Advanced Centers of
Electrical Science (ACES) and Material Science (ACMS). The former originated from
academic programs offered to defense officers who came here for a Masters degree in
electrical engineering. Under ACES there was a large project proposal developed Dr(s)
K.R. Sarma and Birendra Prasada on building a microwave communication system in the
Himalayas. This proposal is considered a pioneering effort in writing large proposals for
funding from the government. ACMS came in the late 1970s through a grant from
MHRD. A noteworthy project from UNDP gave major funding for Computer Aided
Design (CAD) described later. It may be considered the first international project of the
Institute. CAD project played a role of truly revolutionizing design and drawing
education in the country.

b) SIDBI Incubation and Innovation Center (SIIC) was set-up in the year 1999 with a fund
of Rs 2.39 crores from SIDBI bank. It is an incubation centre for setting up new
industries. Entrepreneurs can use expertise available in-house and infrastructure on a
payment basis. At SIIC, the institute facilitates interaction between venture capitalists and
entrepreneurs. SIIC is presently concerned with patent preparation and filing as well as
intellectual property rights.

c) SAMTEL Center for Display Technology (SCDT) brings together industry, academia,
and the Government to facilitate research in certain frontier areas with a focus on product
development and commercialization. SCDT has been a success story by world standards.
It has led to the creation of cell-phone screen developed jointly by engineers, faculty and
students. The center has been well-managed by Dr(s) Y.N. Mohapatra, Satyendra Kumar,
and Deepak Gupta.

d) India Infrastructure research cell is jointly run by the Institute with the National Institute
of Design, Ahmedabad. Dr(s) Prem Kalra and Rajeev Shekhar have provided lead roles
in this initiative.

e) Prabhu Goel Security Centre is worth a million US dollars and has been set up by
Manindra Agarwal and Dheeraj Sanghi. The vision of this center is to become a nodal
R&D unit in the country for Computer and Internet Security. The significant
achievements of this center include developing i) Transcrypt (an encryption file system),
ii) Encryption File System for enterprises, iii) evolving a Smart Card OS standard for the
country, and iv) introducing the electronic passport (e-passport) technology. There is a
proposal to develop a National identity (ID) card in which all particulars of a citizen
would be codified.

f) Research I Foundation for improving the academic excellence of the Computer Science
Department was formed with a corpus amount of Rs. 11 crores from Mr. N.R.
Narayanamurthy. The visiting faculty apartments were built using this budget.

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 g) National Information Centre for Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) is a major activity of
the Institute and is well-recognized. It is an information clearing house for all contarctors
– public and private, in the domain of earthquake engineering. Pioneering work in setting
up the center as well as document preparation was carried out by Dr(s) S.K. Jain and
C.V.R. Murty. Related to NICEE is the successful NPEEE training program. As a part of
the center, a pseudo-dynamic testing laboratory is expected to be developed soon.

h) A major initiative on catalysis research and petroleum engineering has been launched by
the Chemical Engineering faculty in collaboration with Hindustan Petrochemicals
Limited and Chevron, USA. Professors D.P. Rao and Deepak Kunzru have played
important roles in creating this research direction.

i) Nanoscience initiative: Nanoscience unit has unique facilities related to maskless

lithography. It has been set-up by Professor Ashutosh Sharma. The national initiative on
NanoScience and Technology of the Department of Science and Technology has funded
two unique interdisciplinary proposals to setup twin units of Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology at IIT Kanpur. The goal is focused development of technologies based
on the rapidly developing subject of nanosciences can be undertaken. At IIT Kanpur, the
Nanoscience Unit was initiated in 2005 with a total outlay of Rs. 13.5 crores and the Unit
on Nanotechnology was started in 2007 with a total cost of Rs. 11.5 crores, both for a
period of 5-years. Some of the major current research projects include a) Nano and meso-
scale patterning and fabrication technologies for polymers with applications in fluidics,
sensors and manufacturing of smart and functional structures, b) Intelligent organized
structures for gas absorption and catalysis and carbon MEMS including micro batteries,
c) catalytic filtration, air and water purification, and carbon MEMS, iv) Development of
super-hydrophobic surfaces and super-adhesives based on meso-patterning, and d)
Development of ways and means to synthesize ordered arrays of quantum dots and
nanowires of optically, electrically and magnetically functional materials, including the
stress engineered meso-structures.

j) Nanotechnology: The Nanotechnology initiative was been set up by Professor Y.N.

Mohopatra. This initiative has major ongoing research activities in the following areas: a)
development of printable organic electronics with Organic-RFID tags as the first
demonstrator prototype and b) development of a versatile focused ion beam tool based on
microwave plasma ion beam for applications in patterning and templating of soft-materials
and substrates.

k) Indo-US Advanced Manufacturing: The initiative was launched in the year 2006 though it
was conceived much earlier. The thought process involved in the joint-project is the
following. It has been felt that the philosophy of making things and fabricating devices is
going to experience revolutionary changes. According to most experts it is almost certain that
the third Industrial Revolution is almost knocking at the door as our capabilities in the fields
of molecular engineering, micro and nano system technology, material science and computer
engineering are making very fast progress. Once our ability to manufacture micro and nano
sized devices and autonomous machines mature, it will bring unprecedented changes in the

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human society. Fabrication technology is also being further enhanced as our ability to make
things with a bottom-up approach instead of the traditional top-down approach is developing
at a rapid rate.
Considering these aspects a number of scientists and engineers from various Indian and
US universities came together in March 2004 to attend the Joint Indo-US Workshop on
Advanced and Futuristic Manufacturing, held at IIT Kanpur. The event was sponsored by the
Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, New Delhi. This event was followed up by a few
faculty members from IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, UIUC, Northwestern University and UCI
in the form of joint seminar programs, workshops and collaborative research activities. IIT
Kanpur also appointed Professors Shiv Kapoor, Marc Madou and Kornel Ehmann as
Distinguished Visiting Professors. Finally based on the proposal submitted by IIT Kanpur in
collaboration with the other four universities, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum
sanctioned the Indo-US Joint Centre for Advanced and Futuristic Manufacturing in April
2006.
The second phase of the Indo-US initiative was launched in mid-2008 with a focus on a
new area, to be called fabrionics against the following background. It is being increasingly
felt that soon it will be necessary to develop scores of engineers and researchers who will be
expert in the field of material manipulation for diverse requirements at micro, nano and
molecular levels. Knowledge in applied quantum mechanics and molecular engineering,
microfluidics and microsolidics, nanometrology, simulation of molecular dynamics and
materials science, biomimetics, and metrology and measurements will be essential for
working in the area of Futuristic Manufacturing through Material Manipulation at Micro,
Nano and Molecular levels. The following research areas have been identified:

1. New strategies / approaches for fabrication and shape generation through material
manipulation at meso, micro and nano scales
2. Fabrication at small scales using exotic materials – soft materials, bio materials, polymers ,
gels, composites
3. Generative manufacturing processes – direct metal deposit techniques for micro sized parts
4. Shape generation by self assembly technique and self patterning
5. Micro fluidic-based micro devices – both modeling-simulation and development
6. AFM based technology for mRNA isolation and protein sequencing
7. Smart material actuated micro mechanisms and micro devices
8. Protein motors for actuating autonomous nano robots and manipulators
9. Micro machine tools and micro factories
10. Hybrid Multi-scale process development

l) Quantum computing: Dr. Debabrata Goswami initiated an interdisciplinary area of

Quantum computing at IIT Kanpur in 2003. His research group has contributed in
performing both experimental and theoretical research in interdisciplinary areas, focusing
on coherent control and future technology development in optoelectronics, computation
and medicine. An Indo-US joint center entitled Quantum Computing: Back Action was
held at IIT Kanpur during 6-12th March 2006.

m) National Program for Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) a distance-education

project as a collaborative venture of al IITs was initiated in the first decade of the twenty
first century. Dr Gautam Biswas participated in this project and soon it was found that IIT

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 Kanpur produced the largest number of web- and video-courses. This experiment led to
the distance education project with the Government of Chattisgarh and later, the Cyber-
University idea with French Universities, under the umbrella of MHRD.

n) Railway Technology Mission: In a major initiative, Indian Railways and MHRD have
funded a set of projects intended to improve safety in rail travel. Dr N. S. Vyas is the
mission coordinator that includes projects from Railways Design and Standards
Organization (RDSO) Lucknow, Durgapur Steel plant and other Government industries.
One of the most significant accomplishments is the project known as SIMRAN that
monitors position of trains and generates signals for preventing collisions. Given the size
of the rail network in the country, the impact of this development is truly enormous. As
part of this project, the researchers at IIT Kanpur have developed new steel compositions
for better strength and impact resistance properties.

o) RFID (Radio frequency). Boeing may give us a contract. Dr Samresh Kar and SC
Srivastava.

p) Anupravaha: This is a project in the domain of computational fluid dynamics. A group of

faculty from Mechanical Engineering coordinated by Dr. V. Eswaran has developed user-
friendly software for solving fluid flow and transport equations. The software is quite
general in terms of geometry. It can accommodate a variety of fluid flow phenomena
including unsteady vertical flows, turbulence, phase change, electric fields, and chemical
reactions. The software has been developed for use in Bhabha Atomic Research Center,
Mumbai.

q) Center for Environmental Science and Engineering: The Center, created using MPLAD
funds of Mr. Arun Shourie focuses on remedial technologies for improving the quality of
the environment. The building itself has been given a Five Star rating by TERI (The
Energy Research Institute) at New Delhi on the basis of its green features. The building
has insulated walls, ceilings, window glasses, reflective terrace, rainwater harvesting,
ecofriendly refrigerants for air-conditioning, and use of solar energy for water heating
and lighting. In fact, trees cut during the construction of the building have been carefully
replanted. The focus areas of the Center are sensors, water, and public health.

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 Appendix VII
Creation of Cells

1. Space technology cell

2. Railway technology cell
3. HAL-IITK cell
4. IGCAR-IITK cell

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 Appendix VIII
Description of Centers
Advanced Center for Electronic Systems
Among the earliest centers to be set-up at the Institute are the Advanced Centers of Electrical
Science (ACES) and Material Science (ACMS). The former originated from academic programs
offered to defense officers who came here for a Masters degree in electrical engineering. Under
ACES there was a large project proposal developed Dr(s) K.R. Sarma and Birendra Prasada on
building a microwave communication system in the Himalayas. This proposal is considered a
pioneering effort in writing large proposals for funding from the government.

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Advanced Center for Materials Science
Advanced Centre for Materials Science was created in 1978 through a grant from
MHRD with a view to make available major materials preparation and characterization
facilities under one‐roof. These state‐of‐the‐art research facilities are regularly upgraded, and
maintained by suitably trained competent staff. The centre has been serving the needs of the
materials community from the institute as well as other academic and industrial establishments
for over thirty years. For every laboratory there is a users’ committee consisting of members
drawn from various departments of the institute. For routine maintenance electronics and
machine shops are there. Besides we also have support services of stores and administrative
office.

The main areas of research at the Center are the following:

Electro optics & Materials

Virtual Instrumentation
Computer Controls
Small Angle Neutron Scattering
Corrosion of Advanced Ceramics

The Center enjoys the following facilities:

Electron microscopy Lab

Magnetics Lab
Materials Processing Lab
Materials Testing Lab
X‐ray Lab

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Center for Archaeological Sciences and Technologies
It was created in January 2008 with the following objectives: Set up a multi‐institutional, multi‐
disciplinary R&D center at IIT Kanpur to nucleate and strengthen development of technologies
in archaeological applications and cultural resource management. The center has partners at
the University of Allahabad and the Archaeological Survey of India (Ministry of Culture). Its
current activities are:

• Terrain Mapping and Archaeo‐scientific Studies of Ahicchatra (District: Bareilly, UP):

Project (GPS, GIS, GPR, Total station) survey for creating a database with the aim to help
archaeological study. Collaboration with ASI.
• Evolution of Varanasi (using remote sensing, GIS, GPS) to generate a GIS based database
to help in archaeological investigation. Sponsored by DST, Collaborating with the
Department of Archaeology, BHU.
• Seismic Retrofitting and Terrestrial Laser scanning of Roomi Gate at Lucknow.
Collaborating with ASI.

The center has succeeded in establishing a dialog between archaeologists on one hand and
scientists and engineers on the other. In addition, a GIS database has been developed for the
Ahicchatra site and its antiquities have been documented. Ground penetrating radar profiling of
this site is in progress.

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Center for Mechatronics

The first formal course on Robotics for undergraduate and postgraduate students was introduced
in 1983 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The following two events of 1984,
arranged by Professor Amitabha Ghosh gave impetus to activities in this area:

• An All India Workshop on Robotics, held at IIT Kanpur in August 1984 and jointly
organized by IIT Kanpur and AIEI (now CII), in which about 50 delegates from the
industry and the academia participated.
• The National Symposium on Robotics organized at IIT Kanpur in December 1984 in
which more than 100 delegates and a number of experts from abroad participated. This
symposium was sponsored by DST, DOE, DRDO, BHEL, Ordinance Factory Board, IIT
Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, TELCO, GODREJ, and Thapar Corporate R&D Center.
Invited lectures were delivered by Dr. S. Inaba, President, FANUC, Japan, Mr. Fumio
Fukuchi, Chief, Robot System Division, Hitachi, Japan, and Professor N. Martensson
from Sweden among others.

Thereafter, the activities in Robotics at IIT Kanpur greatly increased in the form of additional
elective courses, M.Tech., and Ph.D theses, and sponsored projects.

It was realized that to have a balanced growth in an area such as Robotics, it was necessary to
involve more than a single department. The subject attracted faculty and the students from four
academic departments and one interdisciplinary program. It was with this objective that the
Center for Robotics was established at IIT Kanpur in 1989. A project grant of about Rs. 50 lakhs
from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) was utilized to set-up the Center.

To reflect evolution in the subject from robots all the way to intelligent vehicles, the center was
renamed Center for Mechtronics in the year 2004.

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Computer Center
Computer Center provides a host of services to the employees of the Institute, including email,
web and internet access, DNS, FTP, high performance computing, and PC laboratories for
conducting courses for students. It hosts general purpose as well as special purpose software
suitable for design, drawing, and analysis.

This center was established in 1964 and it was started in Western Laboratories under Department
of Electrical Engineering. It moved to its present building in 1969 when it was recognized as an
independent facility in the institute. During its early days, there were Unit Record Equipments
which used to mechanically process Hollerith punch cards. IBM-1620 was the first computer
acquired by IIT Kanpur. IBM 7044 mainframe computer along with its satellite computer IBM-
1401 was added in 1969 when the centre was also moved to the present building
Several specialized computers such as IBM-1800 and PDP-1 were added in subsequent
years. The first major upgradation was the addition of DEC-1090 mainframe computer in 1979,
which was the first time sharing computer of IIT Kanpur. This was the first computer which had
independent terminals.
In 1989, the computer center purchased networked computers of HP 9000 series which
included four servers, four high end workstations, and twelve normal workstations. These
belonged to the super-mini range of computers. To provide access to this computing
environment, the first campus network was laid which connected the computer center to
terminals installed in various locations in the academic area. This was a 10 Mbps coaxial cable
based local area network (LAN). During the same period Convex C-220, a vector computing
server for high end numeric computing was installed. It was classified as a mini-super computer
of that era.
In 1987, the first PC lab was setup providing DOS environment. These laboratories
have been growing over the years and today we have both Linux and Windows-based personal
computers. In 1995 the campus network was upgraded to 100 Mbps fiber backbone and 10 Mbps
UTP Access Network, providing connectivity to all the departments, faculty and staff offices and
research laboratories. In 1995, PARAM 9000, a 24 node parallel computer was installed through
an MOU with CDAC Pune. This event signaled the onset of parallel computing and algorithms at
the Institute. The full power of parallelization of computer programs, however, would be realized
only a decade later on powerful clusters. In the year 2000, this network was also extended to
student hostels. In 2005 the network was again upgraded to a gigabit network. Currently, the
computer center supports a campus network with more than 12000 nodes.
As a plan for the future, the center aims at housing high performance clusters procured
from projects (individual as well as institutional) while providing amenities such as uninterrupted
power and air-conditioning. In turn, these machines could be networked to provide a rich
platform and a powerful resource across the Institute.

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Facility for Ecological and Analytical Testing
Facility for Ecological and Analytical Testing (FEAT) was set up at IIT Kanpur in 1997 to carry out
testing of various organic and inorganic materials and generate awareness about eco‐testing
and its importance in the export business. The drive for clean products due to strict scrutiny of
export material has made it important to establish good eco‐testing laboratories all over the
country. The Government of India has initiated a series of measures to ensure adequate testing
facilities for industries. One such measure has been the establishment of FEAT at IIT Kanpur.

For setting up FEAT, the Ministry of Textiles gave IIT Kanpur a grant of over Rs. 2 crores. The
laboratory started functioning in February 1998. Apart from the initial grant, the facility is
expected to be self‐sustaining. Development of natural dyes and of alternate solutions for
banned dyes stand at the top of the activities of FEAT. Although the facility was initially
expected to carry out only testing and analysis of textiles based samples, FEAT took the
initiative to test samples from within the Institute and other industries as well. This has helped
in better utilization of its infrastructure.

The original goals of the facility are as follows:

1. Eco testing for sensitive chemicals such as amines, pesticides, formaldehyde,

pentachlorophenol and heavy metals.
2. Advanced training in operation and maintenance of test equipment.
3. Chemical analysis pertaining to alloys, water effluents, and environmental
contaminants.

In addition, FEAT is accredited in respect of test certification, transfer of technology for testing
equipments, calibration and interpretation of test standards.

FEAT is equipped with major instruments such as

1. Gas Chromatography‐Mass spectrometer(GC‐MS)

2. High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC)
3. Atomic Absorption Spectrometer(AAS)
4. Gas Chromatography(GC)
5. UV‐VIS spectrometer(UV‐VIS)
6. Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer(ICP)
7. Microwave Ashing Furnace(MAF)
8. Microwave Digestion System(MDS)
9. Total Organic Carbon Analyzer(TOC)
10. High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography(HPTLC)

Some of the early clients of FEAT include Ordinance Equipment Factory, IFFCO, ICI Katalco, UP
State Handloom Corporation, ITI, Jet Detergents, Holistic Biotech, and Northern Railway Electric
Locoshed.

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ISRO-IIT Kanpur SPACE TECHNOLOGY CELL
The ISRO‐IITK Space Technology Cell was established on March 02, 2001 with the signing of
Memorandum of Understanding between the Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization
and the Director, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It follows the realization of importance
attached to generation of knowledge through academic Research & Development effort to
ensure a truly self‐reliant and self generating space program for our nation in future years.

The mission of the cell is to visualize and identify the challenging issues and complex multi‐
disciplinary problems in the years to come. A proactive approach will be adopted with regard to
the future needs of the Indian Space Programs by creating an extensive research base and
optimal utilization of knowledge, expertise and experience. The Space Technology Cell intends
to harness the advanced areas of space science and technology by taking up quality and
quantity research of high worth to the Indian Space Programs, thereby contributing to the all‐
round development of the nation and optimal benefit to its citizens.

The following subjects have been identified as thrust areas for collaboration:

1) Structural Engineering dealing with composites and smart structures.

2) Dynamic Analysis and Control of Spacecraft and Launch Vehicles.
3) Software related to different applications.
4) Identification of new advanced space technology and its application areas.

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Media Technology Centre
Established in 1965, under Kanpur Indo‐American program with the objective of helping in
developing a scientific temper and extension of education through audio visual means, it was a
unique setup among all IITs. The TV Center became visible in 1973 with the live broadcast of the
3rd cricket test match between India and England, held at the Green Park stadium Kanpur.
Eminent personalities to appear on programs produced by the TV Center include Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan, Pandit Ravishanker, Shri P.N. Haksar, Dr. Raja Ramanna and Mr. Khushwant
Singh. TV Centre produced 12 educational programs on basic concepts of science for the ISRO’s
1st SITE experiment.
Towards the end of 1976, video technology appeared on the scene and soon a number of
films on science and education were prepared. Sponsored by IRDT, a workshop on video film
production was organized for the benefit of teachers of Polytechnics.
In 1988, Government of India approved the education technology project which enabled TVC to
acquire the latest professional equipment.
Realizing the dearth of trained man power, a one year training program was started for
program assistants in 1991. The trainees subsequently were absorbed in organizations such as
Doordarshan, Zee TV, and El TV.In the decade of 1990‐2000, TV Center made an 8 hours
program on cancer operation followed by a similar effort for and eye operation. Contributions
were made to UGC and Doordarshan in terms of educational programs. Indian Army’s 45
cavalry unit sponsored the making of the film Veerabhagya Vasundhara, broadcast through
Doordarshan. The documentary Parvatia’s village, spnosred by Department of Rural
Development, UP Government, was repeatedly broadcast by Doordarshan.
TV Center of yore has evolved into the Media Technology Center and is in the midst of
implementing the NPTEL project. National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning
(NPTEL) is a Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) initiative to promulgate
quality education among the Engineering Colleges in the Country through Video and Web‐
based learning material. It is implemented in a collaborative manner utilizing quality faculty
of premier educational institutions. The seven Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian
Institute of Science Bangalore are presently involved.
The main objective of this program is to enhance quality of engineering education in the
country by developing curriculum based video and web courses. The program took off under
the chairmanship of Professor M.S. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras in the year 2003. With faculty
and Instructional Design teams, participating from each of the participating Institutions, the
effort has produced lectures in video format as well as web‐based format.
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has setup the space for the Media Technology
Center with a web‐studio to create, conduct, and record courses.

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Center for Nanotechnology
The national initiative on Nano‐Science and Technology funded a unique interdisciplinary
proposal to setup a Centre for Nanotechnology at IIT Kanpur in January 2007 with a budget of
Rs 12 crores. The goal of the project is development of technologies based on the rapidly
developing subject of nanoscience. At IIT Kanpur, the project has been formulated to carry out
technology development in the following three inter‐related areas:

(i) Development of Printable Organic Electronics with Organic‐RFID tags,

(ii) Nano and meso‐scale patterning of polymers with applications in fluidics, sensors and
manufacturing of programmable structures, and
(iii) Development of a versatile focused ion beam tool based on microwave plasma ion beam for
patterning and templating of soft materials and substrates.

The importance of nanoscience is widely recognized and there has been a spurt of research,
development and inventions in the area. Focused and synergistic efforts are needed to
complete the chain of innovation by enabling their use in practical devices and ultimately
convert them to technologies. Accordingly, the objectives of the new center are the following:
a) Providing facilities and systems so as to enable demonstration of prototype devices
using ideas and inventions in nanoscience and technology, and make the fruits of
nanotechnology available to user agencies, and promote industry‐academia interaction
with such technologies as the foci;
b) Setting up enabling facilities for nanotechnology based device development with
specific initial focus on printable electronics using soft materials such as molecular solids
and polymers and their heterostructures with inorganic systems;
c) Encouraging researchers in nanotechnology to harness the capabilities in
nanopatterning and structures in soft materials for applications in fluidics, sensors, and
manufacturing;
d) Developing technology tools such as focused Ion Beam as a product and demonstration
of its capabilities in prototyping of devices based on nanotechnology;
e) Providing an academic platform, leadership, knowledge base and enabling technologies
in polymer electronics and nanoengineering based on continuous fundamental research,
innovations, brain‐storming and networking with industry, research organizations and
educational institutions.
f) Training of graduate students, research associates, post‐doctoral fellows and faculty of
other institutes/universities in nanomaterials, nanotechnology and polymer based
devices, thereby creating a base of experts in the country.

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Nanoscience Unit of DST
Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of
India, inaugurated the DST Unit on Nanosciences on December 7, 2008 at the
Nanosciences Laboratory Building, IIT Kanpur

The unit aims at studying mesoscale structures, patterning and properties with
emphasis on soft materials and thin films. It has been set-up to create a state-of-the-
art facility for soft matter nano-science and nanotechnology. It will explore new
techniques of nano-fabrication based on soft lithography, self-assembly and self-
organization. Projects related to nano-scale understanding, fabrication and use of soft
materials in coatings, NEMS, and functional interfaces are in progress. The floor area
available is 2500 sq. ft. of class 1000-100 clean rooms

Specific Scientific Objectives

• Development of novel and facile techniques for patterning, structuring and

fabrication using soft materials like polymers, gels, biological materials
• Development of functional interfaces such as super-hydrophobic surfaces and
super adhesives based on mesopatterning of surfaces
• Attachment –detachment energetic of sub-micron particles to surface and
modulation by surfactants
• Synthesis of ordered arrays of quantum dots and nanowires including doped
oxide and metal alloys and magnetic materials
• Exploration of interfacial instabilities and failure mechanism in soft nano-
structures
• Development of soft composites including polymer-nanoclay composites, thin
film of meso-porous silica and its nanocomposites
• Magnetic nanoparticles and assemblies
• Development of computational nanomechanics
• Micro-SQUIDS and nanoscale magnetic including magnetic relaxation and
supermagnetism
• Fabrication of carbon meso-structures based on soft
• Exploration of interfacial instabilities and failure mechanism in soft nano-
structures
• Development of soft composites including polymer-nanoclay composites, thin
film of meso-porous silica and its nanocomposites
• Magnetic nanoparticles and assemblies
• Development of computational nanomechanics Micro-SQUIDS and nanoscale
magnetic including magnetic relaxation and supermagnetism
• Fabrication of carbon meso-structures based on soft fabrication techniques
• Microfluidicbased devices and sensors

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National Information Center of Earthquake Engineering

India has a very serious earthquake problem. To mitigate earthquake disasters, the profession
needs to be up‐to‐date on developments in the field. The National Information Center of
Earthquake Engineering (NICEE) at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur is intended to collect
and maintain information resources/publication on earthquake engineering and make these
available to interested users, as well as to undertake other outreach activities with a view to
mitigate earthquake disaster. Created in the year 2004 from a grant of Rs Rs 1 crore from the
Ministry of Earth Sciences to Dr. S.K. Jain, the Center is operated such that the costs on
infrastructure development and administration are minimized.

The objectives of NICEE are:

• To be on the constant look out for the new publications, audio‐visual materials, etc., in
the area of earthquake engineering
• To create and maintain a good storehouse of information/publications/ other audio‐
visual materials on earthquake engineering
• To disseminate information about availability of the above material at IIT Kanpur to the
interested professionals/researchers/academicians and others
• To make available the material to the interested persons in the country in a timely
manner
• To undertake other activities related to information dissemination in earthquake
engineering
• To publish and disseminate earthquake engineering publications

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National Wind Tunnel Facility
National Wind Tunnel Facility (NWTF) was established in 1999 at IIT Kanpur by Dr. N.L. Arora
using financial support from AR&DB, DST, as well as MHRD. It fulfills needs of research and
testing in areas of aeronautical and non‐aeronautical engineering. NWTF houses the most
versatile and efficient wind tunnel in India. It has various simulation and measurement systems,
interchangeable test sections and is capable of testing at wind speed up to 80 m/sec. NWTF is
committed to take up sponsored and consultancy projects as well as supporting the academic
research at IIT Kanpur.

The National Wind Tunnel Facility is a user's facility available to the aerospace industry for
national projects and non‐aeronautical users in civil engineering and automobile industry.
Graduate and undergraduate students from Aerospace, Civil, and Mechanical Engineering
departments are provided an opportunity to carry out their research at NWTF. Faculty
members from various departments of the institute participate in the functioning of NWTF.

The facility focuses on the following areas of research:

ƒ Wind Tunnel Instrumentation

ƒ Missile Aerodynamics
ƒ Decelerator Aerodynamics
ƒ Unsteady and High Angle of Attack Aerodynamics
ƒ Take‐off and Landing Characteristics of Aerospace Vehicles including
Ground Effect
ƒ Development of High Lift Devices
ƒ Transport Aircraft Studies Including Aerofoil Development.
ƒ Helicopter Aerodynamics
ƒ Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles
ƒ Wind Effect on Structures Including Interference Effect.
ƒ Aerodynamics Wind Power Devices
ƒ Air Pollution Dispersion

The wind tunnel facility is now in a state of expansion. The foundation laying ceremony for the
augmentation of the National Wind Tunnel Facility was held on Monday 6th October, 2008.

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Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security
The Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security at IIT Kanpur was
established with a grant of US$ 1million. The centre was inaugurated on June 3, 2003 by Dr.
Vidyasagar, Executive Vice President, Advanced Technology Centre, TCS Hyderabad.

The vision of the centre is to become the nodal R&D centre in the country for all aspects of
computer security and to educate various governmental and non‐governmental organizations
on the security issues and help them in this regard. The centre is therefore undertaking
research, training, and consulting activities in the area of computer and Internet security.
The centre also collaborates with defense and security agencies in developing various security
technologies. IIT Kanpur has already been doing work in the area of Computer Security. The
establishment of this centre is expected to give a tremendous fillip to this activity.

The following projects are have been in progress over the past few years:

TransCrypt
Bulk Encryption Device‐ Hardware based Encryption/Decryption Solution
MIDS‐ Malware Infection Detection System
Netlog Server
Previous Projects
Sachet ‐ A Network Based Intrusion Detection System.
Gigabit PickPacket ‐ A Network Monitoring Tool for Gigabit Networks.
Zarc ‐ Antispamming Software
Secure Linux
Tied‐LibsafePlus‐ Runtime Protection from Buffer Overflows
Trinetra and Indra ‐ Symmetric key cryptography algorithms.
PickPacket ‐ A Network Monitoring Tool.
SCOSTA ‐ Smart Card Operating System for Transport Applications.
Cryptanalysis
Tool to crack WEP (RC4) encryption

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Samtel Center for Display Technologies
Samtel Center for Display Technologies (SCDT) was formally established on 5th March 2000
through a memorandum of understanding between Samtel Group of Industries and IIT Kanpur.
This has been a beginning of one of the most significant efforts towards meaningful industry‐
academia interaction to meet the challenges of emerging technologies in electronic displays.
The objectives of the center are:

1. To conduct R&D so as to nurture and support growth of science and technology of

electronic displays;
2. establish a tripartite relationship between industry, academia and governmental agencies
so that the country can become a global leader in Display Technology; and
3. develop human resources in display technology.

SCDT has created quite a few processing facilities on its stand‐alone premises. Two of these are
described below.

Clean Room Processing & Fabrication:

The Centre has set-up a clean room (Class 1000, Area 220 square meters) with the cleaning and
entry protocols comparable to industry standards. This is a unique facility in the country where
even under-graduate students get access to the clean room facilities equipped with the best
device processing and characterization facilities. The facilities include: Integrated Glove Box
Vacuum Deposition for polymer based devices and, Ultra High Vacuum R & D OLED System
for small molecule devices, ITO Deposition, Oxygen Plasma Treatment of ITO, Spin coating,
Vacuum Drying and UV-Ozone Treatment. A yellow room with mask aligner and photo-
lithographic facilities is also established.

Diagnostic tools:

All the electronic and optoelectronic characterizations required to pronounce the in-house
materials to be of international standard have been painstakingly developed. The Centre has now
expertise on a whole array of characterization techniques at the level of materials and device
essential for optimization of process or structures. They include: thickness profiler, time resolved
photoluminenscence, imaging microscope, impedance and spot radiometer electroluminescence,
transient spectrometer, optical and electrical PL quantum efficiency measurement set-up, and
spectroscopic ellipsometry. Solar Cell I-V characteristics, spectral response and set-ups for
device life-time and reliability testing have been developed.

98
SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre
IIT Kanpur set up the SIDBI Innovation & Incubation Centre (SIIC) in the year 1999 in
collaboration with Small Industries Development Bank of India at a cost of Rs 2.39
crores. The idea is to foster innovation, research, and entrepreneurial activities in
technology-based areas. SIIC provides a platform to Start-ups prospective
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to convert their innovative ideas into commercially
viable products.

SIIC facilitates the modification and upgradation of software and products developed
by the faculty, staff, and students of IIT Kanpur to the industry requirements with the
help of a commercial partner. The concerned faculty member acts as a mentor. The
commercial partner is also responsible for marketing and customer support.

The following facilities are provided by the center to the incubatee soon after the
proposal is approved for support:

Seed Money
In-Campus accommodation
Mentoring
Business plan development
Business promotion
Incubation space
Various types of office support
Library and documentation
Assistance in obtaining finance
Advertisement agencies
Legal experts
Electronic and animation cell
Access to a variety of resources of IIT Kanpur

As a new initiative during 1998-99, the Ministry of Science and Technology,

Government of India launched a novel initiative known as Technopreneur Promotion
Programme (TePP) jointly operated by the Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research (DSIR) and Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council
(TIFAC) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to tap the available
innovative potential within the country. TePP is a mechanism to promote individual
innovators to become technology-based entrepreneurs. SIIC was declared a TePP
Outreach Centre (TOC) in the Kanpur region in the year 2004. This essentially means that
the technopreneurs in the region will now get benefits of the scheme faster and in a
simpler manner.

INCUBATEE COMPANIES at SIIC (commencement date in brackets)

1) Weather Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd. (June 2006)

2) Hexolabs Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. (January 2007)
3) Aurora Integrated Systems Pvt. Ltd. (September 2006)

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 4) Simmortel Voice Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (March 2007)
5) Innovative Embedded Systems ((September 2005)
6) Whorl Engineering Solutions Private Limited (September 2004)
7) Multifacet Software Systems Pvt. Ltd. (November 2004)
8) EI Devices Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (September 2007)
9) IAITO INFOTECH Pvt. Ltd. (February 2008)

Graduated Incubatees (year of exit in brackets)

a. Whirlybird Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (2006)

b. Adya Systems Pvt Ltd. (2006)
c. Zion Technology Labs Pvt. Ltd. (2006)
d. Handshake Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (2005)
e. Messiah Labs (2003)

100
Railway Technology Cell
Railways have been the engine of economic and technical growth and development in India.
Railway Safety is not merely an area of national concern but also poses challenges to the
engineering and research community.

The Railway Technology Cell, created in June 2007 helps focus attention and drive modern
technologies of monitoring, control, communications, design, electronics and materials towards
railway safety. Similar national programs on space and defense research have not merely
achieved goals specific to the missions, but have also provided impetus to technology
endeavors in institutions all across the country. A technology mission on railways operated
through a cell will similarly help to initiate and incubate design and development projects of
significant.

Technology issues on railway safety and economy relate to multitude of engineering disciplines.
The cell will help to pool relevant engineering knowledge, expertise and resources available in
various research organizations and academic institutions in order to address these issues in an
efficient manner.

The Railway Technology Cell is presently conducting projects identified under the Railway
Technology Mission. The Mission objective is to develop and adopt state‐of‐the‐art safety,
control and design technologies defined by needs related to Indian conditions. The Mission has
formulated and implemented projects aimed towards achieving higher throughput, lower cost
of transmission per unit and safer train movement.

The overall goals of the cell are summarized below:

1. To develop and adopt state‐of‐ the‐art safety and control technologies defined by needs
related to Indian conditions; to implement projects aimed at achieving higher
throughput, lower cost of transmission and safer train movement.
2. To encourage and initiate R & D activities pertinent to Indian Railways in academic
institutions and laboratories and establish convergence and synergy among them.
3. To evolve and establish the academia‐research institution‐industry consortium approach
as a viable and vibrant mission mode of research and development.
4. To disseminate technologies through participatory approach to other application areas.

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UTTAR PRADESH POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORATION
This Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Indian Institute of
Technology Kanpur and the UP Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. on February 26,
2008. The objective of this memorandum is to create a collaborative arrangement
between IITK and UPPTCL to accelerate the development of the electrical transmission
system in the State of Uttar Pradesh through appropriate application of science and
technology, Such collaborative effort would enable the State of Uttar Pradesh to utilize
the scientific, technological and managerial resources of IITK for introducing modern
technology, for accelerating economic growth and updating its technological skills. IITK,
in turn will get the opportunity to utilize the skills of its highly qualified and globally
recognized faculty to tackle the real life problems of electrical power systems.
IITK and UPPTCL have agreed to collaborate in the following areas:

1. System studies in the evaluation of Anpara C and Anpara D thermal power (765
and 400 KV) to Unnao and their distribution to load centers.

2. Construction of transmission lines and finalizing equipment specification.

3. Load flow analysis of transmission networks.

102
Center for Laser Technology
The Center for Laser Technology (CELT), created in the year 1988, acts as a nodal point for all
laser related research at IITK. It runs a unique interdisciplinary M.Tech program which draws
faculty from the Departments of Aerospace Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering,
Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, and Physics. The
research activities at the center span a wide spectrum of topics involving diverse academic
disciplines leading to interdisciplinary research of high caliber and productive output in terms of
large scale projects completed at the Center. The Center also coordinates all academic activities
related to M.Tech. students in the Laser Technology Program.

103
Center for Environmental Science and Engineering
The Center, created in January 2008 using MPLAD funds of Mr. Arun Shourie focuses on
remedial technologies for improving the quality of the environment. The building itself has been
given a Five Star rating by TERI (The Energy Research Institute) at New Delhi on the basis of its
green features. The building has insulated walls, ceilings, window glasses, reflective terrace,
rainwater harvesting, ecofriendly refrigerants for air-conditioning, and use of solar energy for
water heating and lighting. In fact, trees cut during the construction of the building have been
carefully replanted. The focus areas of the Center are sensors, water, and public health.

104
Autodesk Inc- IIT Kanpur Digital Innovation Lab

The Autodesk IITK digital Innovation Laboratory was inaugurated in January 2008 and has been
set up in the Drawing Hall Complex. Autodesk India has provided a comprehensive suite of their
software products, Hewlett Packard has provided 20 high-end graphics workstations while IITK
has renovated and prepared the site for housing the laboratory. The laboratory, arising from the
MoU signed between Autodesk and IITK conducts research and teaching centered around the
Autodesk software as well as other compatible software installed on the workstations. These
include Autodesk Inventor, a solid modeling and virtual simulation tool, Mapguide Studio, a tool
for geospatial data management and high end animation tools such as Maya and 3dMax.

Current Usage

1. Several training sessions have been conducted by certified Autodesk personnel on

Inventor, Max3d and Maya. Each training session was attended by 25 students.
2. Maya and Max3ds are being used extensively by the students of the Design Program.
3. The Civil Engineering Department uses Mapguide 3D to develop novel GIS
applications.
4. Courses have been conducted for HAL engineers, students attending the SURGE
program and the laboratory has been used for the undergraduate courses ME251 and
TA101.
5. A group of students conducted a series of courses on Inventor for other students of the
Institute. In addition, the laboratory and its resources are regularly used by students for
various specialized requirements.

Future Plans
1. Facilitate transition from AutoCAD to Inventor: conduct courses for students and faculty
in collaboration with Autodesk personnel on the use of solid modeling tools.
2. Encourage development of design and analysis tools centered on the software available.
3. Encourage use of Inventor in undergraduate and research projects as well as regular
courses.

105
 Appendix IX
Selection of Technologies developed

106
 Appendix X
List of self-financing courses

Year Principal Title

Investigator
2008 Onkar Dikshit Fundamentals of Surveying with Special Emphasis
on Use of Total Stations for Civil Engineering
Operations

2008 Padma S Vankar Advance Analytical Course for Life Sciences and
Biotechnology

2008 Shantanu Nanotechnology Workshop

Bhattacharya
2008 Vinayak Eswaran Fundamentals of CFD & HT

2008 Sudhir Misra Workshop On Construction Safely

2008 Mukesh Sharma Air Dispersion Modeling: Fundamentals and

Applications

2008 Swagato K Ray Organizing Advanced Training in Mathematics

School for Lecturers Series

2008 V K Jain Micromachining

2008 B V Phani Finance

2007 N Sathyamurthy Non-Adiabatic Interactions in Molecular Systems

2007 Onkar Dikshit Geographical Information System (GIS)

2007 Sanjay G Dhande Micro/Nano Manufacturing and Production

Management & Control
2007 Prem K Kalra Short Course On Audio/Video

2007 S K Gupta Newer Optimization Techniques for Chemical

Engineering Applications
2007 Prem K Kalra Outreach Program for Colleges Connected Through
E-Learning Infrastructure
2007 B V Phani Tepp Training-cum-Orientation Program

2007 S N Singh Performance Analysis and Trading of Wind Power

Generation N Emerging Power System

107
2006 C V R Murty Short Course on Nonlinear Seismic Analysis of
Structures
2006 C V R Murty Short Course on Architecture for Earthquake
Resistance of Building, Surat
2006 Onkar Dikshit Use Of Modern Technologies In Archaeology

2005 C V R Murty Sensitization Program in A&N Islands on

Earthquake resistant Constructions
2005 Animangsu Ghatak Adhension and Friction and Soft Interfaces

2005 Kripa Shanker Mechanics, Machines & Manufacturing at IIT,

Kanpur
2004 Ashish Dutta Short Term Course Robotics and Automation

2000 Sanjeev Swami Marketing on the Internet

2000 E Rathakrishnan Conference on National Convention of Aerospace

Engineering
2000 A K Mittal Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights

2000 J P Gupta Hazard Analysis in Chemical Industry and

Inherently Safer Plant Design
2000 Amalendu Chandra Winter School on Statistical Mechanics (Sponsored
by DST)
2000 Ajai Jain IBM Teachers Training Program

2000 E-Commerce for Small Business

2000 Shobha Madan Conference on VIIth Discussion Meeting on

Harmonic Analysis
2000 B Deo Process Dynamics of Steel Making

1999 A Raina 22nd All India Conference of Linguistics

1999 A P Sinha Eco-friendly Production and Modern Marketing of

Ferrous and Non Ferrous Products
1999 Rajat Moona Electronic Design Automation

1999 P Gupta ACM annual International Collegiate Programming

Contest-Central Asia
1999 Kalyanmoy Deb Optimizing Engineering Design using Evolutionary
Techniques
1999 V Sinha International Symposium on Automotive Electronics

1999 N K Batra International Symposium on Materials for New

Millennium

108
1999 V Sinha Mobile Radio Communication Networks

1999 N L Arora Workshop on Wind Tunnel Testing

1999 S K Jain Seismic Design of RC Buildings and Bridges at

Imphal
1999 Ajai Jain MS Office for Institute Employees / Wards

1999 Sanjay G Dhande Computer Aided Technologies for Design and

Manufacture of footwear and leather Products
sponsored by SIDBI
1999 J P Gupta Hazards Analysis in Chemical Industry and
Inherently Safer Plant Design at Bombay
1999 Ajai Jain IBM Teachers Training Program

1999 A Mukherjee E-Commerce: Small Business on the Internet

1999 Sanjay G Dhande Computer Aided Design using Ideas

1999 P K Panigrahi Experimental Methods in Thermal Sciences

1999 K K Saxena Planning and Partnership

1999 Rajat Moona Interra Training Program

1999 B P Pundir Vehicle Emissions and Control Technologies (QIP +

STC)

1999 Mukesh Sharma Air Quality Monitoring and Management (QIP &
STC)
1999 Rajat Moona Cadence Induction Training Program

1999 R K Bansal Probability, Random Processes and Elements of

Information Theory (QIP)
1999 S K Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

1999 P K Kalra Neural Network Lab. Training Program

1999 Navpreet Singh System Administration & Networking

1999 Ajai Jain ACSET Summer Course

1999 Deepak Gupta TISL Teachers Training Program

1999 P K Kalra Fuzzy Logic and its Engineering Applications

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1999 A K Mittal Internet Applications for Small Business

1999 A P Sinha Small Industrial Enterprise Management

1999 E Deo Stainless Steel-Making in AOD in New Millennium

(Basic + Recent Developments)
1999 K R Srivathsan Providing Electrical Engineering Laboratory
Facilities at SSJ, Kanpur University
1999 P Jalote CMM Workshops at various places held during
Oct.1998 and March 1999
1999 B Sahay Textile and Apparel Design

1999 M R Madhav Developments in Reinforcement of Ground and

Slope
1999 A P Sinha Accounting, Budgeting & Control

1999 Y N Singh E-mail Configuration, Installation and Management

Web Server Technologies
1998 S K Aggarwal Compilers for Advanced Computer Architectures

1998 Onkar Dikshit Geoinformatics for Resource Evaluation &

Management (QIP + CEP)
1998 N K Sharma Workshop on Enhancing Performance through Team
Building held at Itawah
1998 A P Sinha Accounting for Engineering

1998 Aloke Dutta Analog Electronics

1998 Rahul Varman Design of Organization Structures & Systems (QIP

+ CEP)
1998 N K Sharma Workshop on Enhancing Performance through Team
Building held at Itawah
1998 P Jalote Workshop on Requirements Management at HCL
Infosystems Ltd., New Delhi
1998 S K Jain Seismic Design of Bridges

1998 A P Sinha Industrial Marketing (sponsored by SIDBI)

1998 P K Kalra Internet Lab

1998 Aloke Dutta Analog Electronics (at Cadence Design System,

Noida)
1998 P Jalote Course on CMM conducted at ICIL, Pune

1998 Y N Singh Configuration, Installation and Management of

Networks and Internet

110
1998 D Sanghi Giving Lectures at Motorola Inc., Bangalore

1998 V K Jain NC Machine and Part Programming (ISTE + CEP)

1998 S C Srivastava Power System Stability and Control (QIP+CEP)

1998 J P Gupta Hazard Analysis in Chemical Industries (at Baroda,

Gujarat)
1998 K R Srivathsan Windows NT & Visual C++ (for DRDO)

1998 Vinod Tare Operation and Maintenance of UASB based Plants

(for Min.of Env.)
1998 Rajat Moona Electronics Design and Automation (EDA) at Noida

1998 C V R Murty Architectural Considerations in Seismic Design of

RC Buildings (QIP+CEP)
1998 P K Kalra Neural Networks & Fuzzy Logic (at RDSO,
Lucknow)
1998 B Dasgupta Advanced Topics in Robotics (QIP)

1998 Rajat Moona Real Time Operating System (at Motorola,

Bangalore)
1998 N K Sharma Quantitative Methods in Marketing

1998 N N Kishore An Intensive Course on Finite Element Method (for

RDSO at Lucknow)
1998 S K Jain Seminar on Earthquake Resistant Construction (for
Hilti India, at Bombay)
1998 T P Bagchi Delivered Lecture at Centre for Productivity,
Lucknow
1998 A P Sinha Small Industrial Enterprise Management

1998 K R Srivathsan Signal Processing (for RDSO, Lucknow)

1998 S K Jain Seminar on Earthquake Resistant Construction at

Delhi
1998 Dheeraj Sanghi TCP/IP and Unix Network Programming (at
Hyderabad)
1998 T V Prabhakar Invited Lectures in DE Shaw (at Hyderabad)

1998 J P Gupta Hazards Analysis in Chemical Industry (at Chennai)

1998 Vinod Tare Waste Treatment Methods

1998 Rajat Moona Short Course on EDA (at Cadence India Pvt.Ltd.,
Noida)

111
1998 Dheeraj Sanghi Unix Network Programming and Internet Protocol
Version 6 (at Bangalore)
1998 R R K Sharma Production Management

1997 A S R Sai Design and Construction of Pre-stressed Concrete

Structures (at Delhi)
1997 K R Srivathsan Digital Broadcast Technologies

1997 R R K Sharma Manufacturing Strategy

1997 Dheeraj Sanghi Computer Networks (QIP+CEP)

1997 Raj Narayan Corrosion and its Control

1997 P K Kalra Reliability, Availability and Maintainability

Engineering for Manufacturing Industries
1997 Dheeraj Sanghi Tutorials on Emerging Trends in LAN/WAN
Communication (at Ahmedabad)
1997 A P Sinha Marketing for Service Industry

1997 Kalyanmoy Deb Genetic Algorithms in Engineering Design

1997 C V R Murty Experiments in Structural Engineering

1997 C Venkatesan Helicopter Technology

1997 H Hatwal Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

1997 J P Gupta Hazards Analysis in Chemical Industry (at Bombay)

1997 D Mazumdar Modelling of Modern Steel Making

1997 P K Kalra Neuro Fuzzy Systems and its Applications

1997 Santokh Singh Marketing and Financial Data Analysis for Business
Control
1997 V K Jain Advanced Machining Processes (QIP+CEP)

1997 S K Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

(at Madras)
1997 S K Aggarwal CADENCE Training Programme

1997 Vinay K Gupta Structures Random Vibration Approach (at

Bangalore)
1997 S K Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

112
1997 P K Basudhar Engineering Ground (QIP+CEP Course)

1997 A Mukhopadhyay Mathematical Tools for Discreet Algorithms

(QIP+CEP course)
1997 A P Sinha Small Enterprise Management

1996 S. Puspavanam Process Modelling and Control

1996 J.P.Gupta Hazards Analysis Chemical Industry

1996 S.K. Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced concrete Buildings

1996 C. Venkobachar Defluoridation of water

1996 V.K. Gupta Seismic Risk in India

1996 V. Tare Environmental Pollution control

1996 S.K. Aggrawal Compilers for Architecture

1996 R. Moona Advanced Computer Architecture

1996 S.K. Aggrawal Cadence Training Program

1996 P.K. Chatterjee Fiber Optics Communication and Networking

sensors
1996 K.Deb Genetic algorithms for Engineering

1996 K.Deb Optimization Techniques for Engineering Design

1996 S.K.Choudhury Production Technology

1996 R.Balasubramanian Corrosion and its Prevention

& Raj Naraian
1996 R. Shekhar Environmental Audit & Environmental Impact
assessment
1996 T.P.Bagchi ISO-9000 Lecture Delivered at M/s. ZAZ tannery

1996 A.P.Sinha Small Industrial Enterprise management

1996 T.P.Bagchi Statistical Methods in ISO-9000

1996 U.B.Tewari Mathematics Training Talent Search Program

1996 P.C.Joshi Quantitative Methods for Process Improvement

113
1996 S.K.Shukla Advanced Statistic for chemical Engineers
1996 K.S.Singh Computer Course on UNIX & C

1996 K.S.Singh P.C. Maintenance Training

1996 N.K. Sharma Giving Lectures at LML Kanpur

1996 T Gangadharaih HYDRO’96

1996 S.K. Choudhary XI National convention Production Engineers

1996 A.P. Sinha Workshop on INRA’96

1996 P.K. Ghosh National Symposium on Plasma science

1996 C. Ventobachar Defluoridation of Water

1996 R.Balasubramanian Corrosion and its Prevention

& Raj Narain
1996 T.P.Bagchi Statistical Methods in ISO-9000

1996 D.Manjunath Workshop and Tutorial and High Speed Networking

1996 K.S.Singh Computer Orientation Training

1996 P.C.Joshi & Quantitative Methods for Process Improvement

Santokh Singh

1996 D Mazumdar & B. Modeling of Modern steel

Deo
1995 Vinay Gupta Seismic Risk in India

1995 Ajai Jain Topics on Computer Networks

1995 S.K. Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Building

1995 P.K. Chatterjee Fiber Optics Communication Networking and

Sensors
1995 P.K. Kalra & P. Fiber Optics Communication Networking and
Chatterjee Sensors
1995 K.Deb Fuzzy Logic Control

1995 R. Shekhar & V. Environmental Audit and Environmental Impact

Tare assessment
1995 P.K. Ghosh National symposium on Plasma Science

114
1995 S.G. Dhande Modern Design Methodologies
1995 S.K. Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

1995 Ajai Jain VLSI Testing & Design for Testability

1995 P.K. Kalra Neural Networks

1995 R. Tewari Computer Training

1995 L.P.Singh & S.C. National Workshop on Voltage Instability in Electric

Srivastava Power Systems
1995 M. Prasad Wind solar and Nuclear Energies

1995 S.K. Chakraborti Building Construction & Allied Civil works

1995 Sachichidanand & Cadence Training Program

S.K. Aggrawal
1995 C.V.R. Murty Workshop on Disaster Management

1995 B. Deo Artificial Intelligence Methods in Iron and Steel

Making
1995 S.K.Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

1995 S Madan Mathematics Training Talent search Program

1995 L.P.Singh & Modern Trends in Power systems Production

S.C.Srivastqava
1995 P.Jalote Software Cost Estimation

1995 P. Das Techniques for Competitive Re-design (sponsored)

1995 A.P. Sinha Small Industrial Management

1995 R.S .Misra Seminar-cum-workshop on Objectivity in Social

Science
1995 A.P. Sinha & S. Small Industrial Management
Sadagopan
1995 B. Deo Artificial intelligence in Iron & Steel Making

1995 B.K. Misra Modeling and Simulation of Processing Units

1995 A Khanna Real Time Distributed Computer control of

Chemical Processes
1995 A Ghosh & P.K Neural Networks and its Applications
Kalara
1995 A. Dutta & A Fibre Optics and its Application
115
 Ghosh
1994 S.P. Mehrotra Continuous Casting of Steel

1994 Vijay Gupta Noise and Vibration Control

1994 S.K. Aggarwal Computer Course Taught at IIM Lucknow

1994 Dr B Rath Workshop on Rehabilitation & Resettlement

1994 P Jalote Software Engineering Principles Methods and

Standards
1994 T.V. Prabhakar Course for Engineer of Tata Information Systems
1994 T.V. Prabhakar Computer Networking

1994 K Ramesh Computer Applications in Experimental Mechanics

1994 N.K. Batra & S.K Advances in Joining Processes

Gupta
1994 D. Sahghi & G. Unix Networking Programming
Barua
1994 Amit Ray Leather Design (formal) Leather Batik & Leather
Embossing
1994 G. Barua Short Course on TCP-IP Protocol (Delhi)

1994 B. Deo Modem Trends in Met. Process Simulation

1994 N.S.V.K. Rao Dynamics Analysis of Machine Foundations &

Structures
1994 T.V. Prabhakar Object Oriented Software Development

1994 Vijay Gupta Net Saving from CEP Courses

1993 S.K.Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Building

1993 J.P.Gupta Quantitative Risk Assessment

1993 R.M.K.Sinha NLP Teachers Training Program

1993 P Gupta Bhaiya Computer Controlled Modular Instrumentation

1993 N.K.Batra Modern Trends in Material Joining

1993 T.V. Prabhakar Data Base Instrumentation Techniques File

Structures
1993 K.R.Srivatsan & A. Fiber Optics and its Applications
Dutta
116
1993 S.Ramaseshan P.C. Aided Analysis and Design in water Resources

1993 G. Barua Micro Kernels for Engineers of Tata Information

System
1993 T.P.Bagchi Industry Applications of Taugchi Methods for
Process Performance
1993 S.K.Jain Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

1993 G.K.Dubey Semiconductor Controlled Drives & their

Applications
1993 D.C. Agrawal Processing and Characterization of Advanced
Ceramics
1993 R.M.K.Sinha NLP Training Program LO1 For Linguistics

1993 A.P.Sinha Small Enterprise Management

117