VIIT-TIFR Collaboration

Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Pune is a leading Undergraduate Engineering college in Pune. VIIT has a vision of imbibing the students with a zeal for innovation and excellence in their field of interest. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai is a world renowned Research Institute.

Research laboratories are always devising experiments for observing natural phenomenon with higher and higher precision and resolution for pushing the limits of knowledge. Cosmic Rays Laboratory (CRL) of TIFR situated at Ooty aims at studying cosmic ray showers created by high energy (~1020 eV) charged particles (cosmic rays) coming from the outer space and is eminently lead by Prof (Dr) Sunil Gupta and Prof (Dr) Shashi Dugad. Prof S. Ramakrishnan from DCMPMS works in the field of Magnetism and Superconductivity at Micro-Kelvin temperatures. Dr S S Prabhu and Dr A V Gopal are engaged in research on Opto-electronics and Plasmonics which could lead to futuristic technologies. These laboratories require development of high end instrumentation and software for data collection and analysis. VIIT, with 130 dedicated faculty and 500 final year (BE) students, is suited to take up this challenge.

VIIT and TIFR have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for working together in the field of Research and Education. Prof S K Gupta and Prof C S Garde are the coordinators from TIFR and VIIT, respectively.

Collaboration between VIIT and TIFR has blossomed over the years as indicated by the table below:

The modus operandi of the collaboration is as follows:

• Students of third year (TE) are identified and sent to CRL, Ooty/ TIFR, Mumbai for summer internship for 2-3 weeks. Faculty members of VIIT also visit for a week.
• 2) The students interact with the scientists and engineers to understand the experiment and suggest possible projects they would like to take up.
• 3) After due approval, the final year (BE) projects are taken up by the students at VIIT. It is very important that the students work on the project at VIIT under the guidance of faculty of VIIT. Frequent tele-conferencing and interactions with scientists and engineers of TIFR is an important exercise to optimize the pace and direction of the project.
• 4) A separate laboratory has been established with state-of-the-art instruments for carrying out the TIFR projects. The laboratory is open for students even after college hours.

Our experience of the last three years has been very exhilarating. The students learn the following:

• Defining a technical problem precisely
• Plan a course of action
• Execute the planned activities
• Review the results and re-plan
• Deploy and test the product in live experiment
• Give seminars/presentations thus developing oral communication skills
• Write reports thus developing writing skills
• Interact with teachers, scientists and peers thus developing skills to work in a team

The students thus develop overall technical as well as soft skills. Further, the technical know-how developed in a project is used as the base for the next year’s BE project and hence the knowledge base in established and enhanced in the college which is directly used in TIFR laboratories. The foundation for long term collaboration has thus been laid.

The immediate benefits of this collaboration are:

• Two research papers have been presented in International Conferences.
• Two students have received “National Photonics Fellowship”. Out of these, one has gone abroad for MS/PhD and one is working in TIFR presently.
• Several students have gone abroad to pursue MS and PhD in their fields of interest
• Recruiters from companies give preference to students who have done TIFR projects during their on-campus placement activity.
• Several students have joined TIFR and have worked/are working on several research projects. The details are: