e news_Oct.p65 - NIST

From the Director’s DeskSankalp 2009 once again demonstrated that NIST ISTE chapter is one of the mostversatile organizers of any such mega technology event. Robotics, VLSI, RenewableEnergy, Online Gaming, C-Programming, Quiz, Paper Presentations, ManagementGames, Electronic Projects – every technology was on display. I congratulate the NISTteam on their retaining the SANKALP championship. I am sure the electrifying invited talksby Prof C P Singh, Dr. Ashok Das and the wisdom of the Panel Discussion will stay in ourmemories for a long time. A special congrats to the NIST quiz teams on their superbperformance.The campus has been the hotbed of a number of FDP programs – NIST has the largest number of FDP programsgranted by the AICTE in this academic year amongst all colleges of Orissa. The research and developmentefforts of NIST faculty have been recognized at an all India level. It is extremely heartening to know that NIST isnow partnering with IIT, Kharagpur, on the VIRTUAL LABS project – a prestigious national project of MHRD.We spent an entire day listening to folks from Knowledge Factor India about a new concept based on ConfidenceBased Learning (CBL) pioneered by a few professors from USA. Prof. Brain Webster, Prof. Agarwal and Prof.P K Mishra demonstrated the CBL Approach and have agreed to have NIST collaborate with them in developmentof course materials for the BPUT curriculum. I am excited by the development since it opens up avenues to haveindividual-oriented learning programs whereas our traditional system of education has always seen the entireclass as one whole entity. More on this later!November and December – semester exams are here. Wishing you all the best.From the Editors’ DeskSangram MudaliTo start with, it would be a criminal offence if the heroes of Sankalp-09 are not allowed to take the first ofour thoughts. The dreams of around 2000 techno-management students were rephrased during the ‘3days-30 events-3 lakhs rupees of prizes’ extravaganza. The campus not only felt its floors boiling with hotdebates, very informative workshops, noisy panel discussions, maddening robostorms and deafening soundthrills of the DJ, Notorious but also eye-witnessed the talent and brilliance of thousands and thousands of studentsboth in seriously intense and joyously frolic domains. The galore of events hosted by the Sankalp Team of NISTgave every individual an opportunity to prove their stance and win away the laurels from the rest. There is nodoubt about the standards set by this batch in its performance, but praiseworthy would be the batch which wouldtake up these standards and would take them to newer heights in the Sankalp next.Congratulations to Team Sankalp for winning the Champions’ Trophy for NIST for the second time in a row!Go Green is the mantra of the present time. The ‘infertile-land-made-lush-green campus’ at Palur Hills isan eyebrow-raising example of the consistent effort put in by the entire NIST community which has been able tocreate a new myth that ‘a heaven could be created out of the hillock’, and thus has established the dictum that‘myth is the reality.” It proves that at NIST things are different. So is with the students’ future scenario viz-avizthe fluctuating market during the financial crunch. When the entire engineering force is panic about the jobmarket, NIST is very composed in making its students future ready. With the addition of M. Tech program inElectrical Engineering, the Institute steps ahead in securing the unpredictable tomorrow of its young promisingstudents. So let’s join our hands together in bringing that lustre of green to our career and future as well.[Views, comments or suggestions are welcome at editorsnistenews@gmail.com]Amrut Phalguni MohantyDipti Ranjan LenkaNational Institute of Science & Technology, Berhampur, 761008 1 of 18