Page 3 - MECHNOVIT-XX-Edition

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the XX Edition of MechnoVIT. We have indeed come a long way and it is a pleasant surprise that we have now
crossed this 20th edition milestone. This Edition is out with good news -the raging El-Nino is getting phased out whilst the
welcome La Nina is setting in. India witnessed record temperature highs, touching the 50 C mark, and Vellore baked in
scorching summer heat too. But our beloved GD Naidu Block was always abuzz with activity. Even with diminished footfalls
with the students and some faculty away on vacation, research and outreach activity continued, as did all the building
upgrade work. As you step in, on your left are the spanking new (and yes, gold-emblazoned) offices of the Heads of the
Departments.
The latest School Rankings are currently the highest ever achieved this year and we are proud of this. The school’s national
(NIRF) and International QS rankings are better compared to the previous years. This is partly reflected in the School’s
International connections. In this vein, we first proudly mention the recent visit of our Dean, Dr. K. Devendranath
Ramkumar to British Universities including the University College London, Cranfield University and the University of Derby
along with Dr. Kanish and Dr Pandivelan. Dr Saboor visited Oman and Singapore and Dr Manikandan, Lisbon and also must
be recognized for representing SMEC in prestigious meets overseas. Dr. Satyajit Ghosh led a team of SMEC professors to
Mapua University in the Philippines with International Funding and has established successful collaborations in additive
manufacturing.
As always, we present also the most outstanding student achievements. We are proud to announce the stellar success of Mr.
Sankalp Dua (19BME0282) who not only secured a place in the US Ivy League college, Cornell University, but also received the
Lester B. Knight Scholarship to study a Masters course in Material Science and Engineering. It is therefore not surprising
that he turned down Imperial College London, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and TU
Delft for the same course. Team EcoMore were the winner of the ‘Low Carbon Building Solutions’ during the SDG Hackathon
organised by IIT Madras (Ms Druti Nama, Ms Abdeali Zaveri, and Atul Ajani).
We introduced this edition of MechnoVIT with a reference to the acute heat stress this year and we have reasons now to
believe that EcoMore have set a precedent and a pointer to the way forward. Mr. S Ragul, Mr. Jai Bohra, Mr. Naresha Caitanya
Daas and Mr. Ananth S G are the winners of the Forbes Marshall Tech Challenge organized during the industry-Academia
Networking Conclave 2024. The team have now been offered a short-term summer internship with a stipend. Team Initiators
participated in Dassault Systemes’s “Design-a-Thon”, again a part of the Industry-Academia Networking Conclave, and were
the proud winners. Yash Khanna, Mr. Baidurya Das, Mr. Snehasish Dash participated in the Road Safety Ideathon at the
Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi and winners received Rs.10000 worth of Amazon gift vouchers.
SMEC students continue to receive lucrative jobs and fellowships. Mr. Agnidip Mandal has been offered the post of
Management Trainee - Mechanical at Engineers India Limited (EIL Super Dream Placement Category. Mr Inturu Srinivas, a
Ph.D. Scholar of SMEC won the lucrative CSIR-Senior Research Fellowship.
The tenuous linkage between Academia (i.e. SMEC) and the industry was consolidated with the successful conclusion of
the Industry-Academia Conclave. Apart from this conclave, SMEC supported 6 Industrial visits within the state.
During this quarter 19 Patents were granted to SMEC Faculty. It is noteworthy to mention that this quarter’s Patents largely
aligned with Sustainability and Eco Concerns as well as with socially relevant themes. SMEC has very consistently marched
forward with an ever-increasing publication profile quarter by quarter. This progression of research productivity is also
reflected in the procurement of massive international funding from SPARC UKIERI under the aegis of the British Council.
National funding bodies also granted very substantial funds to SMEC Faculty from the Ministry of Mines, SERB and CSIR-led
initiatives. Many congratulations! Apart from 3 Consultancy projects, SMEC Faculty were awarded startup grants from VIT’s E
Cell. Workshops and Training programs were organised and again these had socially relevant themes including Electric
Vehicle Technology and automated vision Technology.
It was SMEC’s privilege that Mr Sundaramurty, former Mission Director ISRO graciously consented to feature in this edition
of Mechnovit for the well loved ‘’Tech Chat’ section. Please have a read and feel inspired and do not forget to dip into our
usual features-Alumni Corner and Voice of Stakeholders.
As we look forward to welcoming you back for the new academic year, we urge you also to have Mechnovit in mind. We want
to feature you in the next edition so until then ‘Happy reading’.
Editorial Team

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