IIT Hyderabad celebrates its 9th Foundation Day
Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad celebrated its 9th Foundation Day on 6th April 2017 at IIT Hyderabad campus. The attendees got an opportunity to interact with Prof. Deepak B Phatak, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, who was the Chief Guest.The proceedings began with the traditional lighting of the lamp, followed by a welcome address by Prof. U.B. Desai, Director, IIT Hyderabad.
Delivering the Chief Guest Address, Prof. Phatak said that in this Internet age, the faculty have to take the role of facilitating learning rather than transferring knowledge. In particular, with an abundance of information already available to students through the Internet, the job of the faculty was to help students identify useful information by providing them strong fundamentals.
With technology increasingly becoming interdisciplinary, education should also follow suit and become interdisciplinary. He said that providing small pieces of information over a broad range of topics for development of a broader perspective, which was similar to that of the fractal academics at IIT Hyderabad, might be the need of the hour.
Students must look beyond grades and must aspire to give something back to the society with their knowledge while upholding their ethical values. Prof. Phatakinsisted that each student should set their own standards and goals and work towards it rather than simply being a part of a ‘rat race.’
Prof. U.B. Desai, Director, IITHyderabad said,“Prof. Phatak was a Padma Shree recipient and an eminent Professor from IIT Bombay in the Computer Science and Engineering Department. Welcoming him to the 9th Foundation Day celebrations of IIT Hyderabad, Prof. Desai said spoke about the role that young students, particularly IITans, must play in the ‘New Digital India.’The students were highly inspired and motived by the ideas, anecdotes and advice put forward by Prof. Phatak. The auditorium was packed with nearly 350 people consisting of students, faculty and some staff members taking part in the celebrations”.
During the event, Prof. Phatak also presented‘Excellence in Teaching’ awards to five faculty members of IIT Hyderabad. In addition to this, 58 students were given the ‘Excellence in Academics’Awards. They include 31 from B.Tech., 6 from M.Sc. 17 from M.Tech., 2 from M.Phil. and 2 from M.Des.
Further, a total of 162 students were presented the ‘Research Excellence’ Awards. Out of which, 23 students were from B.Tech., 18 from M.Tech., 3 from M.Phil., and 118 from M.Des. A total of five faculty members and 220 students received the awards during the program.