IIT Mandi holds a Workshop to encourage Girl Students of Himachal Pradesh to join the field of Science & Technology
Mandi: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi is organising a 15 days’ workshop under the proposed scheme of Department of Science and Technology, ‘Vigyan Jyoti’, from 10th to 22nd September 2018 for meritorious girls of Himachal Pradesh. The purpose of the workshop is to motivate the selected 30 girl students to join the field of Science and Technology (S&T) and to provide them counselling for various career options through expert lectures, interactions and access to research labs etc.
While inaugurating the workshop today, Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves, Director, IIT Mandi, said, “Job of an engineer is to make life easier. For a long time, it was thought that the field of engineering needs physical strength, that’s why we had less number of female engineers. We encourage more girls to opt for engineering as we can have better solutions to the problem. I wish all these workshop lectures will encourage you for engineering field and by the end of the workshop most of you will choose engineering as a career.”
Through the workshop, the Institute will introduce the students to all possible areas of science, while also explaining the societal relevance of the individual fields. The Institute has selected these students from government schools of Himachal Pradesh based on their performance in 10th class.
Speaking about the workshop, Dr Arti Kashyap, Coordinator, Vigyan Jyoti, IIT Mandi, said, “It is a wonderful initiative by Dept of Science & Technology, Govt of India, to bring more girls into science and technology. Being a native of Himachal, I know how over the decades the society of this scenic state is still unaware of the vast opportunities available to our bright young girls. Through this workshop and even thereafter we wish to provide the required exposure to our state’s bright girls. We believe that a little hand holding can change the course of their career. Therefore, we at IIT Mandi are committed for the mission of Govt of India to promote girls to make a career in the science and technology streams.”
The Institute has organised the following sessions at this workshop: Expert Lectures, Laboratory sessions, Problem Solving, Career counselling, Yoga & meditation. The opening session will have talks by Arti Sarkar, Dy Project Director, CARTOSTAT 25 Series, Space Applications Center, ISRO and Dr. Shalini Gupta, Associate professor, IIT Delhi. Mrs. Upasana Patiyal, Conservator of Forests, Mandi, Dr. Richa Singh, Associate Professor, IIIT Delhi; Dr. Kamini Sinha, Assistant Professor, NIT Patna; Dr. Deepti Sidhaye, Assistant Professor, University of Pune; Dr. Arnapurna Rath, Assistant Professor, IIT Gandhinagar; Dr. Rajbala Singh, Associate Professor, LNMIIT Jaipur, Dr Shalini Joshi- Poet, MD Nav Rachna School, will also be delivering talks throughout the workshop along with many IIT Mandi faculty who are giving lectures on various subjects.
The Institute will also do hand-holding of the candidates through ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based tools as developed by the UHL (Uplifting Hilly Livelihood) lab supported by DST, GoI, at the campus, set up by Dr Arti Kashyap.
The Institute has also planned a two days’ educational trip to Pushpa Gujral Science City, Jalandhar. This trip will help inculcate the scientific aptitude & temperament among these young students. The subjects covered in Science City include physical, applied, natural and social sciences, engineering, technology, agriculture, health sciences, energy, industries, human evolution and civilization, environment, ecosystems, Jurassic Parks as well as frontier areas like space, nuclear science, information technology, robotics and biotechnology.