IIT Mandi launches six new Postgraduate Programs during 2017-18
Mandi: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi has launched six new postgraduate programs in the past one year between August 2017 and August 2018. The programs include:
1. M.Sc. in Physics
2. M.Tech. in Power Electronics and Drives (PED)
3. M.Tech. in Structural Engineering
4. M.Tech. in Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)
5. M.Tech. in Communications and Signal Processing (CSP)
6. M.A. in Development Studies
These programs were introduced as part of IIT Mandi’s vision to be a leader in Science and Technology education, knowledge creation and innovation. With the introduction of these new programs, IIT Mandi is one step closer towards achieving its target of 60 percent postgraduate students in its student strength in the coming years.
Speaking about the importance of these programs, Dr. Pradeep C. Parameswaran, Dean (Academics), IIT Mandi, said, “These new post-graduate programs in core and applied disciplines are designed considering the academic and career prospects of the students and with the introduction of these new programs, IIT Mandi aims to attract bright students from all over India for post-graduate studies.”
Intake:
Ø 30 for MSc Physics and M.Techs in PED, VLSI and CSP
Ø 18 for MA Development Studies and M.Tech. Structural Engineering
Explaining the nature of M.Sc. in Physics, Dr. Ajay Soni, said, “The program has courses that cover both fundamental and advanced areas of physics with the aim of training the student to be capable of working in frontier areas of science and technology.
Besides studying theoretical and experimental courses, the students are also exposed to working in a project environment as a part of this degree program. Its objective is to attract bright and young minds towards the front-line areas of research in physics right after the bachelor degree.”
Speaking about the courses, Dr. Narsa Reddy Tummuru, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, said, “The program structure of M.Tech. in Power Electronics and Drives (PED) is planned in an application-oriented manner through specialized core-courses with a significant hands-on practicum component, research and development (R&D) oriented advanced-level courses and project work. The students are expected to acquire both analytical and practical knowledge in Power Electronics and Drives (PED) specialization.”
Some salient features of the program are:
· In the first semester, the focus is on Electrical Engineering Core courses, which are pre-requisites for more advanced and specialized courses. The core courses are mandatory.
· Laboratory core courses are designed so as to go hand-in-hand with theory core courses and to bring in a deeper insight into the concepts learned in the classroom. Laboratory experiments are designed in consultation with industrial partners to bring state-of-art practices to the curriculum.
· Advanced and specialized courses are offered to make the students aware of the state-of-the-art in the technology, such that they are exposed to the real-world problems and ultimately able enough to tackle them with technology solutions.
Speaking about the M.Tech. in Structural Engineering, Dr. Sandip Saha, Faculty Advisor, said, “The program focuses to improve the capability of the students for analytical thinking and to enhance the competence of practical implementation of state-of-the-art knowledge in Structural Engineering. Being located in the Seismic Zone – V (most severe), the new program will emphasise on the earthquake resistant design and construction practices.”
Further, he added, “The objective of this program is to support the country’s acute need of: (a) trained engineer to build landmark infrastructure, as well as (b) motivated scholars to carry forward the cutting-edge research. Through contents of the core course, the students get required exposure to various aspects of Structural Engineering, e.g. Solid Mechanics, Structural Dynamics, Finite Element Methods, Advanced Design etc. Whereas, the elective courses are planned for helping the students to foster their research interest in areas like Construction Materials, Earthquake Engineering, Structural Health Monitoring and Seismic Hazard Analysis.”
Dr. Hitesh Shrimali, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, said, “M.Tech. in Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) program caters to both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the domain of chip designing. The curriculum is supported by the advance learning courses of VLSI specialization in device level understanding, design, fabrication and tools.”
For a better insight into the specialization, the core laboratories for VLSI design and fabrication have been designed considering experimental understanding of the Specialization Core courses. The VLSI laboratories are a part of the VLSI Center of IIT Mandi. It is envisaged that adjunct faculty from industry such as SCL (Mohali), STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, NXP, Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor Graphics etc. will be engaged to provide industrial experiences to M. Tech students. The proposed M. Tech. course is aligned with the vision of the center for design and fabrication of electron devices (C4DFED) at IIT Mandi. The proposal is also a part of the special man-power development project from system to chip design (SMDP-C2SD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). MeitY will be providing funding for the designed chip as a part of the M. Tech. theses under the India Chip Program.
Dr. Rajeshwari Dutt, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi, said, “The M.A. in Development Studies program aims to create a pool of development practitioners and/or academics, who will be well equipped to participate in the process of informed decision making. While the Core Courses are thematic and approach development issues from an interdisciplinary perspective, Elective Courses go deeper into a discipline to approach a problem. While located in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the course also focuses on understanding the basic scientific and technological underpinnings of some of the developmental challenges and their existing remedies. A mandatory Field Study component brings the students to face the real world challenges.
Dr. Renu M. Rameshan , Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, said, “M.Tech in Communication and Signal Processing program is designed to groom engineers who are capable of solving problems which are highly relevant to industries. The courses which we have included in our curriculum ensures that the students are provided with a strong theoretical back ground as well as exposure to current problems in the area of C&SP. We have courses like supervised research exposure and industry internships to aid the students in reaching the above mentioned goals of the program. We have around thirteen faculty members and well equipped labs as well as computation resources to run this program. Five of our students are doing their dissertation with industry and two other students are working on sponsored projects in house.”