THRUST AREAS OF RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE

Dronacharya Group of Institutions Greater Noida in collaboration with NITTTR, Chandigarh conducted STC on “Thrust Areas of Research in Engineering and Science” under the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT), MHRD, Govt. of India from 25th - 29th April 2016. Twenty Six faculty members from DGI-Greater Noida attended the STC.

Day 1: 25th April 2016

The event was inaugurated by Dr. Poonam Syal, Associate Professor, NITTTR Chandigarh. Dr. Syal requested the remote centre coordinators to introduce themselves and their Chief Guests. After formal introduction of the Remote Centres, Dr. Syal initiated her presentation on “Research in Engineering and Science - An Overview” with an introduction to research. She said that research is the pursuit of truth with the help of study. Research must be systematic and follow the following steps:

(1) Understanding the nature of problem

(2) Reviewing literature

(3) Collecting data

(4) Analysing data

(5) Deriving conclusion.

Dr. Syal discussed the following types of research:

- Exploratory Research

- Descriptive Research

- Diagnostic Research

- Hypothesis-Testing Research

She also discussed the methodology of research as following:

(1) Identifying method of research

(2) Specifying subject of study

(3) Selecting adequate representative sample of subjects

(4) Selecting valid and reliable instruments

(5) Selecting a research design and describing the procedure to be employed.

She then gave a brief on the process of data collection- administering instruments for measuring variables or gathering information through observation and it also involves tabulating the data thus collected for purpose of analysis.

Dr. Lini Mathew, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh gave a presentation on “Soft Computing Techniques for Research”. Soft Computing is tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth and approximation. Soft computing employs neural networks, fuzzy logic. Unique property of soft computing is learning from experimental data. She discussed techniques in soft computing- neural networks, genetic algorithm, fuzzy logic, etc. She further discussed neural networks.

Day 2: 26th April 2016

The session was initiated with a presentation on “Numerical Analysis” by Dr. Sucheta Dutta, Associate Professor, PEC University, Chandigarh. Dr. Dutta said that Numerical Analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation for the problems of mathematical analysis. She discussed the history and applications of Numerical Analysis. The field of numerical analysis predates the invention of modern computers by many centuries. She discussed direct methods which compute the solution to be a problem in a finite number of steps and in practice, finite precision is used and the result is an approximation of the true solution.

The next presentation was on “Case Studies in Image Processing and Applications” by Dr. H K Sardana, Chief Scientist, CSI Lab. He started his presentation with a discussion on a digital image. He familiarized the participants with the basic concepts in image processing.

Dr. S Chatterji, Head, Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh gave a presentation on “Thrust Areas of Research in Electrical Engineering”. He initiated his presentation with an introduction to the core research areas in Electrical Engineering: Power System, Instrumentation, Power Electronics, Energy, Control and Machines. He then discussed the sub fields in power system: Transmission and Distribution. He further discussed the key areas in power system like voltage stability, dynamic stability, power quality, deregulated power supply, smart grid.

Day 3: 27th April 2016

The session started with a presentation on “Emerging research areas in Mechanical Engineering” by Prof. (Dr.) Pabla, HOD, Mechanical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh. He focussed on providing better facilities and means for human convenience. He discussed about Collaborative Research. He talked about major research areas like materials, energy, food preservation, automation, miniaturization, bionics, optimization, etc. He further discussed Brain Computer Interface, Additive Manufacturing, Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer.

The next presentation was on “Emerging Trends in Healthcare Instrumentation” by Dr. Amod Kumar, Chief Scientist, Central Scientific Instruments Organisation. He initiated his presentation with a discussion on the healthcare capability of India. Multi-organ transplants are successfully performed at one tenth the cost. He discussed changing scenario in Indian Healthcare. India spends 5.2% of the GDPA on healthcare. In terms of development, healthcare is the largest industry.

Dr. Raj Kumar, Chief Scientist, Central Scientific Instrument Organisation gave a presentation on “Emerging Areas of Research in Holography and Lasers”. He discussed lasers based on levels of energy.

Day 4: 28th April 2016

The session started with a presentation on “Emerging trends of Research in Civil Engineering” by Dr. Umesh Sharma, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, PEC University of Technology. Dr. Sharma explained the impact of computers, information and telecommunications in Civil Engineering. He discussed the transportation issues: projection of the present trend of vehicle usage reveals an ugly and unsustainable situation both in terms of traffic congestion and pollution. He emphasized on the need to develop solutions to these complex problems using innovative approaches.

The next presentation was on “Electronic Design Automation Research Tool” by Dr. Rajesh Mehra, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh. He gave an overview of research/designer inputs. The major goal is to design a system based on given specifications with reduced error and enhanced speed to optimize the area and power consumption to provide cost effective solution. He discussed design capture tools: textural capture tools and graphical capture tools.

Er. Amardev Singh, Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship Development & Industrial Coordination Department, NITTTR Chandigarh gave a presentation on “Intellectual Property Rights”. He initiated his presentation with an overview of Intellectual Property, which refers to ideas and creation of the mind having commercial value. Need of Intellectual Property Rights is to provide protection of original effort and preventing its misuse through legal mechanism. He discussed the essential features that characterize a property.

Day 5: 29th April 2016

The next session started with a presentation on “Upcoming Research Areas in Nanotechnology and Material Science, by Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Applied Science Department, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. He initiated his presentation with an overview of Quantum Confinement in Nanostructures. He discussed the confinement of electrons in 1 direction, 2 direction and 3 directions.

The next session on “Research Areas in Computer Science and Engineering” was hosted by Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, CSE, NITTTR Chandigarh. He initiated the session with an introduction to research. He discussed the emerging areas in Computer Science. He discussed the specific areas of research in Adhoc Networks: Routing, Clustering, QoS, Security, Congestion Control, etc. He discussed the research areas in Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems, Image Processing, Data Mining, Big Data and Semantic Web.

In the end Course Valediction session took place. It was hosted by Dr. Poonam Syal and Dr. Lini Mathew. The participants of all the institutes gave their suggestions and feedback of the workshop. The session concluded with the vote of thanks from Dr. Poonam Syal.

The STC provided the participants from diverse fields of science and engineering to learn about the contemporary research practices.

Some Glimpses: