The Indian Institute of Technology – Hyderabad (IIT-H) has received an approval to start a Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Development with an initial funding of Rs.4 crore apart from two projects in cloud converged communication and cyber physical systems, which will receive Rs.20 crore each, said IIT-H Director Prof. U. B. Desai.
Delivering his address at IIT-H’s third convocation here on Friday, Prof. Desai mentioned that a large project ‘DISANET – Information Networks for Natural Disaster Mitigation and Recovery’ has been initiated with Japanese collaboration. “It is being funded by the Japanese SATREPS programme. We have installed strong motion sensors supplied by Japan in the Himalayan region to monitor seismic activity,” he said.
The Director also stated that IIT-H has initiated a novel programme called Fractal Academics, which allows engineering students take courses in the creative and liberal arts. “The fundamental objective is to give them a holistic education and facilitate industry participation in academics,” he said.
Prof. Desai also said that IIT-H has three incubators set up by companies in the campus where the students get practical training related to data-analysis and picture-boarding, useful in the entertainment industry. Pointing out that the incoming batch of students has 25 per cent girls, he said, “It is perhaps the first for any IIT. Overall, we have 21 per cent female students in the institution”.
B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-H, congratulated the 266 students who graduated this year in all major streams of B.Tech, M.Sc, and M.Tech courses. Five students also received their Ph.D. degrees on Friday. The convocation was also the first to be held on the Hyderabad campus and meritorious students received gold and silver medals for their academic performances.
