Director's Report

Ninth Convocation

Friday, 25 May 2007

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Distinguished Ch ief Guest of the Convocation, the Honourable Chief
Minister of Assam , Shri Tarun Gogoi , Chairman , Board of Governors, Dr. M.
K. Bhan, members of the Board of Governors, members of the Senate ,
invited guests, graduating students, faculty and staff of the Institute, parents
and guardians, ladies and gentlemen - I, on behalf of the Institute, welcome
all of you to this Ninth Convocation of Indian Institute of Technology
Guwahati.

I, on behalf of the Institute, take this opportunity to thank the Honourable

Chief Minister of Assam for accepting our invitation to be the Chief Guest of
this Convocation and for kindly giving his consent to deliver the Convocation
Address.

liT Guwahati has successfully completed twelve years . The campus of 700
acres which has about 2500 residents is growing, and it is expected that in
five years' time, there will be 5000 residents . The alumni of the Institute
have done very well, and they are well placed in organisations all over the
world. Today, BTech, BDes, MTech, MSc and PhD degrees are going to be
awarded to a total number of 422 students. I extend my congratulations to
all the degree recipients.

Now I am going to present a report on the activities and achievements of the

Institute during the year 2006-2007.

THE BOARD

Shri Achyut Kumar Saikia completed his three-year term as the Chairman of
the Board of Governors in September 2006. On behalf of the Institute, I wish
to thank him for the care and dedication with which he guided us during his
tenure . I would also like to thank the outgoing Board members, Dr. N. Pant,
former member, Space Commission, Dr. B. P. Khandelwal , NIEPA, New
Delhi, and Dr. S.C. Saha, NIT Agartala for their contributions.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

The Institute has 11 academic departments, 3 inter-disciplinary academic

centres and 4 service centres. These are:

Departments
Biotechnology (BT), Chemical Engineering (CL), Chemistry (CH), Civil
Engineering (CE), Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Design (DE),
Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Humanities and Social
Sciences (HSS), Mathematics (MA), Mechanical Engineering (ME) , and
Physics (PH) .
 Academic Centres
Centre for Energy, Centre for the Environment, Centre for Nanotechnology

Service Centres
Computer and Communication Centre, Central Instruments Facility, Centre
for Educational Technology, Centre for Mass Media Communication.

The Institute offers academic programmes covering a wide range of

science, engineering, and humanities disciplines. The Institute will start
three specialised MTech programmes. Two in the Department of Civil
Engineering are in Environmental Engineering and Transportation Systems
Engineering, while one in Computer Assisted Manufacturing from the
Department of Mechanical Engineering . A Masters programme in Design
(MDes) will also be started from July 2007. Further, the Institute has
converted its five year integrated MSc programme in Chemistry to a 4 year
BTech programme in Chemical Science and Technology.

The total number of students on the rolls in the academic year 2006-2007 at
the undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels was 1827. About 36% are
post-graduate students . The detailed break up is given below:

BTech/Bdes: 1049
4th Year (2003 Batch): 209 (BT-19, CE-31, CL-19, CSE-43, DE-16 , ECE-42,
ME-39)
3'd Year (2004 Batch): 234 (BT-22, CE-24, CL-21, CSE-50, DE-19, ECE-50,
ME-48)
nd
2 Year (2005 Batch): 252 (BT-23, CE-27, CL-26, CSE-53, DE-15, ECE-53,
Int.CH-7, ME-48)
st
1 Year (2006 Batch): 345 (BT-33, CE-50 , CL-40, CSE-52, DE-24, ECE-48,
MA-18, Int. CH-9, ME-54, PH-17)
From earlier Batches: 9

Two Year MSc: 124

nd
2 Year (2005 Batch): 48 (CH-16, MA-16, PH-16)
st
1 Year (2006 Batch): 75 (CH-27, MA-22, PH-26)
From earlier Batches : 1

Mtech: 357
nd
2 Year (2005 Batch): 153 (CE-26, CL-18, CSE-37, ECE-36, ME-36)
st
1 Year (2006 Batch): 199 (CE-38, CL-24, CSE-43, ECE-44 , ME-50)
From earlier Batches: 5

PhD: 297
(BT-25, CE-27, CH-51 , CL-21, CSE-21, DE-5, ECE-30, Energy-7 ,
Environment-7, HSS-23, MA-19, ME-33, Nano-5, PH-23)

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The numbers of successful candidates who are to receive the ir BTech,
BDes, MSc, MTech and PhD degrees today are as follows :

BTech/BDes
Biotechnology: 18
Chemical Engineering : 18
Civil Engineering : 26
Computer Science and Engineering: 45
Design : 16
Electronics and Communication Engineering: 43
Mechanical Engineering : 45
Total : 211

MSc
Chemistry: 16
Mathematics and Computing : 11
Physics: 13
Total : 40

MTech
Chemical Engineering: 11
Civil Engineering : 37
Computer Science and Engineering: 32
Electronics and Communication Engineering: 42
Mechanical Engineering : 33
Total : 155

PhD
Chemistry: 6
Civil Engineering: 1
Physics: 2
Electronics and Communication Engineering : 1
Mechanical Engineering: 3
Mathematics : 3
Total: 16

Grand Total : 422

ACADEMIC INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

The Computer and Communication Centre which is responsible for keeping
the electronic communication and computation related facilities avai lable to
all the members of the Institute has upgraded various facilities and
equipment during the year. A good number of high-end PCs were added to
the Computer Laboratory. In order to meet the ever-growing Internet traffic,
the Internet bandwidth has been enhanced to 13 Mbps (1 :1). An additional 8

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Mbps (1:1) bandwidth has been finalized, and we are considering to move to
a 34 Mbps link next year. Internet facility has also been successfully
extended to the residences of faculty and staff and to all the rooms of the
Guest House. This has been done with the introduction of an ADSL based
network access system through telephone lines, similar to the broadband
services provided by BSNL.

The Central Library continues to grow in terms of its resources, facilities,

and services. 7014 volumes of books and back-volumes were acquired
leading to a total collection of about 86000. The amount involved on
purchase of books was about Rs .1.25 crores . 388 periodicals were
subscribed to and this involved an expenditure of approximately Rs.2
crores .

The Centre for Educational Technology (CET) is involved in a major national

level project along with other IITs and IISc under MHRD, namely the
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NP-TEL). Under
this project, the Centre has already developed 15 web and 6 video courses.
The video courses will be transmitted through Doordarshan Gyandarshan-
III, also called the Eklavya Channel.

All the Departments and Centres have upgraded their laboratories by

acquiring new sophisticated equipment for the purpose of teaching and
research. Many new laboratories have been established. Some of the major
equipment acquired by the Institute are:

• A Transmission Electron Microscope with accessories was

purchased for the Central Instruments Facility at a cost of Rs.3
crores.
• A 128 CPU high performance computing system, was procured by
the Computer Centre at a cost of Rs.1 crore.
• Vibrating Sample Magnetometer with accessories was procured by
the Central Instruments Facility at a cost of Rs .98 lakhs.
• Atomic Force Microscope-Contact Mode with accessories was
purchased by the Department of Biotechnology at a cost of Rs .54
lakhs.
• PC Controlled Ultramicrotome with touch screen and other
accessories was procured by the Department of Biotechnology at a
cost of Rs.42 lakhs.

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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research and Development is the most important component of the

Institute's activities. Research is carried out by the faculty with PhD,
Masters' and also some BTech students. With 297 PhD students , clearly,
the Institute is well poised to make major contributions. The Institute also
undertakes research and development projects under the categories of
sponsored research projects and consultancy projects, in various areas of
specialisation .

The Institute has generated about RsA .50 crores from sponsored projects.
A total of 128 projects were carried out during the year. Out of these, 33
projects have been concluded productively. The Institute took up 31 new
projects through its Departments and Centres. The projects were sponsored
by government Departments / Ministries of Science and Technology (DST),
Biotechnology (DBT), Atomic Energy, Environment, Information Technology,
as also CSIR, Defence Research Labs, and BRNS. In addition to these
sponsored R&D projects, the Institute also offered consultancy services to
various State Government Departments, N. F. Railway, National Highway
Authority of India, Oil and Gas Sector organisations, Construction and
Infrastructure Companies, Power Sector units, Educational Institutions,
Health and Pharmaceutical Industries and Financial Institutions. A total of
186 consultancy projects were carried out in the year. The total value of the
consultancy projects undertaken is approximately RS .1.25 crores . Much
more needs to be done to increase the number of sponsored projects . The
annual average amount per faculty received through projects is only Rs.2.6
lakhs. There is clearly scope to increase this.

Some of the research projects sanctioned during the year are given below:

• 'Electrospun nanofibre scaffolds for hepatic tissue engineering', a

DBT sponsored project with a sanctioned amount of RS.52.55
lakhs .
• 'Preparation and study of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin
films by hotwire chemical vapour deposition method for solar cell
applications', (DST, Rs.51 .22Iakhs).
• 'Dioxygen reactivities of mono-copper complexes with tridenatate
N-doner ligands : Models for dopamine ~-hydrooxylase and
peptidylglycine a-hydroxylating monooxygenase', (DST Rs .23 .77
lakhs).
• 'Study on free surface flow of concentrated suspensions', (DST
Rs .20 .56Iakhs).

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 • 'Design and optim ization of a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB)
biomass gasifier', (DBT, Rs.15.03 lakhs).
• 'Synthesis of biodegradable nanocarriers for targeted drug
delivery', a DBT sponsored project with a sanctioned amount of
Rs .12.4 lakhs.
• 'Seismic behaviour of pile groups in clay', a DST sponsored project
with a sanctioned amount of Rs.1 0.68 lakhs.
• 'Information Security Education and Awareness' , a MCIT
sporisored project with a sanctioned amount of Rs.1 0.3 lakhs.
• 'Development of indigenous technology for fluoride free drinking
water', a DRL, Tezpur sponsored project with a sanctioned amount
of Rs.1 0 lakhs.
• 'Thermal analysis of a graphite heating chamber', a DRDL
sponsored project with a sanctioned amount of Rs.1 0 lakhs.
• 'Cloning of the elite germ plasm of jatropha for large scale
plantation ', a DARL sponsored project with a sanctioned amount of
Rs .10 lakhs .
• 'Tracking the growth of soluble protein aggregates in real time
using fluorescence and subsequent manoeuvres to inhibit their
growth', a CSIR sponsored project with a sanctioned amount of
Rs.10 lakhs.

liT Guwahati is part of many national projects involving various

organisations and institutions. I have already mentioned about NP-TEL
above. A few others are:

• Under the MHRD sponsored project on 'National Programme on

Earthquake Engineering Education' (NPEEE), a laboratory and
library on earthquake engineering have been developed . Several
short-term courses were conducted under the programme.
• Rural Technology Action Group for North East (RuTAG-NE) was
established during 2005-2006 at liT Guwahati to develop a network
of Science and Technology Groups, Government Agencies and
NGOs with a goal to provide R&D inputs to the rural sector. The
project is running successfully.
• liT Guwahati houses the Regional NBHM Library for the North East
Region to facilitate studies of higher mathematics with grants
received from the National Board for Higher Math ematics,
Department of Atomic Energy, New Delhi.

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 • The Technical Backup Unit (TBU) under the Khadi and Village
Industry Commission (KVIC) with the objectives to initiate and
strengthen rural industrialization through R&D support, and
strengthening academics-industry linkage is operating effectively.
Several activities and improved processes have been completed
on non-conventional energy utilization, biogas, bamboo and cane
craft and design and the development of a semi automatic loin
loom.

FACULTY AND STAFF

The faculty strength at the end of March 2007 was 176. This is an increase
of 11 from 165 last year. 21 new faculty joined, but 10 faculty left the
Institute. With all the IITs recruiting aggressively due to retirements and
expansions , the turn-over is similar to last year, but we are on track to meet
our growth targets of the next five years . The current student to faculty ratio
is a healthy 10.4. Shortages however exist in Computer Science &
Engineering and in Design . Besides faculty, we also have 23 scientific staff
at present. The non-faculty staff strength has remained the sam e as the
previous year at 253 . A proposal to create more posts is pending with the
Ministry for a long time, causing a lot of difficulties. A 'Recruitment and
Career Progression Scheme' (RCPS) was introduced for Group B, C, and D
staff in all the IITs this year. Under this, non-teaching staff are getting
assured promotions after serving the necessary number of years .

Inter-liT Staff Sports Meet

During 22-24 December 2006 liT Guwahati hosted the 141h Inter-liT Staff
Sports Meet for the first time . There were five events namely athleti cs, table
tennis, volleyball, football and badminton. Each liT was represented by a
contingent of around 35 participants. A total number of around 245
participants took part in this Staff Meet. liT Kharagpur won the General
Championship Trophy.

HONOURS AND AWARDS

Several faculty members of the Institute have been awarded and honoured
for their achievements in research, for getting fellowships and memberships
of various associations and journals . Few of such achievements are:

• Dr. T. Punniyamurthy of the Department of Chemistry received

UKIERI Research Fellowship 2006 to visit Oxford University.
• Dr. B. Mondal of the Department of Chemistry won the DAE-Young
Scientist Research Award for 2006-2007.

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 • Dr. B. Singh of the Department of Civil Engineering won the IGS-
ONGC biennial prize for the research paper titled 'Behaviour of
suction anchors under pullout loading' awarded by Indian
Geotechnical Society in December 2006.
• Dr. N. Sahoo of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has
been awarded BOYSCAST Fellowship 2006-2007 to carry out
research at the Centre for Hypersonics, University of Qu eensland,
Brisbane, Australia .

PUBLICATIONS

The faculty of the Institute has been actively publishing research pa pers in
international and national journals as well as in conference proceedings.
The publications during the past one year include:

Journal Papers: 288

Conference Papers: 289

Compared to the previous year there has been a significant increase both in
the number of papers in journals (from 194), and in conference proceedings
(from 215). This works out to an average publication of 3 papers per faculty.
This is very satisfactory. We must maintain this level in the years to come.

CONFERENCESIWORKSHOPS/SYMPOSIAICOURSES

Various conferences, seminars, workshops , and courses were org anised by

the Departments and Centres of the Institute during the year. A few of them
are:

nd
• The 2 International Congress on Computational Mechanics and
Simulation (ICCMS-06) was held during 8-10 December 2006.
th
• The 8 International Conference on Distributed Computing and
Networking was organised by the Department of Co mputer
Science and Engineering , during 27-30 December 2006.
• Symposium on Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology: Sco pe and
Prospects in North East India was held during 20-21 January
2007. It was jointly organised by the Department of Biotechnology,
liT Guwahati and North East Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• A Regional Seminar - Awareness Programme on Intellectual
Property Rights and Patents for Capacity Building was organised
by the Department of Biotechnology during 15-17 September 2006.
It was sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development.

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 • Indo-Danish HCI Research Symposium was jointly organised by
the Department of Design , liT Guwahati , Copenhagen Business
School (CBS), Denmark, and Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing on 14-15 May 2006. It was sponsored by the Danish
Council for Independent Research through CBS.
• National Seminar on Peace in Dialogue: Reflections on North East
India, was organised in collaboration with ICSSR-NERC during 1-2
February 2007.

Under the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP), 12 short-term courses

were organised. These are:

• Recent Trends in Dam Engineering, Department of Civil

Engineering .
• Green Chemistry and Green Technology, Department of
Chemistry.
• Mathematical Techniques in Science and Engineering,
Department of Mathematics.
• Fundamental Techniques in rONA Technology, Department of
Biotechnology.
• Application Specific Algorithms : Design and Analysis, Department
of Computer Science and Engineering.
• Industrial Design Consideration in Plastic Products, Department
of Design.
• Graphic Design Elements for Effective Communication,
Department of Design.
• Hydroinformatics and its Application to Flood Management,
Department of Civil Engineering.
• Recent Developments in Wastewater Treatment Using Anaerobic
Reactors , Department of Civil Engineering .
• Biomedical, Speech and Image Processing, Department of
Electronics and Communication Engineering .
• Rapid Product Development, Department of Mechanical
Engineering .
• Training Programme on Matrix Computations and Appl ications ,
Department of Mathematics .

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Other Short-Term Courses
The Institute organised various Capacity Building Programmes for the
enhancement of knowledge , skill and understanding of specialised subjects
for professionals from various government organisations and institutions .
They are:

Department of Civil Engineering:

• 'Recent Practices in Transportation Planning and Traffic

Engineering ', sponsored by MDONER (15-19 January 2007).
• 'Flood Hazard Mitigation and Watershed Management', sponsored
by MDONER (1 -5 December 2006).
• 'Water Quality Monitoring for Water Treatment Plant Operators of
North-eastern States', sponsored by MDONER (26-30 Jun e 2006) .
• 'Computer Aided Seismic Design of RC Buildings', spon sored by
MDONER (12-16 June 2006).
• Training Programme on 'Earthquake Risk Management' under
NPCBEERM , sponsored by MHA, GOI (8-24 May 2006 - Phase I,
and 19 June to 7 July 2006 - Phase II).
• 'Geoinformatics and its Application ', sponsored by Centre for Geo-
Spatial Technology, New Delhi (18-20 September 2006).
• 'Geotechnical and Highway Projects', a training programme in
association with National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad
(November 2006).
• 'Seismic Retrofitting of Reinforced Concrete Buildings:
Conventional and . Structural Control Based Appro aches',
sponsored by NPEEE (27 November to 1 December 2006) .

Department of Design
• 'Training Course on Furniture Making to Barak Bamboo and Cane
Pvt. Ltd., Silchar', sponsored by NMBA (1-10 March 2007) .

Centre for Energy:

• 'Lab Intensive Short-Term Course on Capacity Building for
Micropropagation and Genetic Engineering of Biofuel Plants',
funded by MDONER and Department of Biotechnology (15-20
January 2007).
• 'CNG and LNG Fuel Retro-Fitment in Automotive Engines',
sponsored by MDONER (8-9 March 2007).

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CONSTRUCTION AND CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT

The following major works were either completed or under construction

during the year:

1. Hostel Buildings
The construction of Boys' Hostel No. 6 with a capacity of 500 students is
under progress. 240 rooms are expected to be ready by July 2007. The
construction of Boys' Hostel No. 7 with a capacity of 500 was awarded in
December 2006 and foundation work is under progress. The construction of
the Married Scholars' Hostel with 108 flats has been completed .

2. Residential Quarters
Construction of 36 units of E type quarters in 6 blocks are in progress. 24
units are expected to be ready for occupation by July 2007 and the rest will
be completed by March 2008. Construction of 30 units of D type quarters in
5 blocks is nearing completion . 12 units were completed and occupied in
December 2006. The other 18 units are almost ready for occupation .

3. Lecture Hall Complex

The lecture hall complex comprising 4 lecture halls of 250 capacity each is
under progress. Two halls are expected to be completed by July 2007 and
the remaining two halls are expected to be ready by September 2007.

4. Auditorium
The Auditorium with a capacity of 1500 is nearing completion. The work is
expected to be completed by October 2007.

5. Main Approach Road from NH-31 to liT Guwahati Campus

The approach road of about 1.8 km to the Institute from the NH 31 including
a four lane Railway Over Bridge is on the verge of completion . Two lanes of
the road along with the bridge was completed and opened for traffic on May
2006.

6. Sports Complex
The Sports Complex comprising of one Indoor Stadium, Swimming Pool,
nd
and different outdoor sports fields has been completed. The 42 Inter-liT
Aquatic Meet and the Inter-liT Sports Meet hosted in October and
December 2006 were successfully held in the Sports Complex.

7 . Kendriya Vidyalaya
The construction of the Kendriya Vidyalaya building is nearing completion.
Classes have already started in the new school premises.

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8. Community Hall
The construction of one commun ity hall for organ ising social fun ctio ns and
student activities has been completed and the other one will be completed
by September 2007.

9. Water Supply
The Water treatment plant (with a capacity of treating 3,50,000 litres per
hour) situated inside the campus which draws water for filtration and
treatment from the Brahmaputra became functional in July 2006.

11. Electrical Works

Power Supply: Power supply in the campus is being provided through a 2 x
5.0 MVA, 33/11 KV sub-station and through nine 11/0.433 KV su b-stations
located in different parts of the campus . Stand-by power supply is provided
from two 1500 KVA, 11 KV DG sets which is accessible to all th e 11 KV
sub-stations through the main 11 KV distribution network.

Campus Lighting: Street lighting works in all the major streets of the
campus have been completed . In view of the early sunset during winter, the
outdoor sports fields of the Sports Complex have also been illuminated to
provide opportunity to the students to play in the evenings. It may be
mentioned that many outdoor sports events of the last inter liT Sports Meet
in December 2006 were successfully held under flood lights.

Air Conditioning: The Administrative Building of the Institute is fully air

conditioned through packaged/ducted split air conditioners . The Academic
Complex and the Library and Computer Centre Building have also been air
co nditioned from the 1800 tonne capacity central AC plant. Works for
providing air conditioning from the same plant to the Auditorium and the
Lecture Hall Complex are in progress.

STUDENTS' ACTIVITIES

A new constitution of the Students' Affairs Council was approved this year.
The highlight is the introduction of a Students' Senate. This provides a
forum for the students to democratically take decisions in matters
concern ing them . It is also hoped that student problems such as di scipline
problems, ragging , adjustment problems by individual students will be
handled by the students themselves to a large extent.

Student events organised during the year are:

Inter-liT Sports Meet and Aquatic Meet

During 13 to 20 December 2006, liT Guwahati hosted the 42 nd Inter-liT
Sports Meet for the first time . An Inter-liT Aquatic Meet is held separately
each year preced ing the main Inter-liT Sports Meet. The 42 nd Inter-liT

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Aquatic Meet was held successfully at liT Guwahati during 1-4 October
2006.

In this year's Inter-liT Sports Meet, all the IITs competed altogether for
eleven events. Around 900 participants took part in this Meet. liT Madras
won the General Championship Trophies for Men and for Women. With
sports facilities in place, we expect good performances from our students
from next year onwards.

Alcheringa 2007
The annual cultural event of the Institute was organised during 2-4 February
2007. Some of the leading artistes of the country performed in this year's
festival. Alcheringa has also been a platform to attract our alumni back to
the campus to catch up with their memories . Alcheringa is now one of the
most eagerly awaited annual events of this region. It has also proved to be a
great experience for the students in event management.

Techniche 2006
Techniche 2006, the liT Guwahati annual national level technical festival
was organised during 1-3 September 2006 and met with good success.
There were participants from many colleges from all over India. Techniche is
now undoubtedly the most popular rendezvous for exchange of technical
know-how among the student community, especially of the North East.
Technical events also included participatory interactive workshops, technical
paper presentations for students, and online contests among many others.

Following are the other regular events organised by the students during the
year:

Manthan the intra-liT cultural festival

Spirit the inter-college invitation sports
competition
Spardha the annual sports meet
Zest the annual athletics meet

The various clubs and societies under the Cultural Council including the
Movie Club, the Fine Arts Club, the Literary Club, the Photography Club,
etc. organised regular events and competitions . The Publication Sub
Committee published Besides - the in-house students' magazine.

Scholarships and Internships

299 undergraduate students (25% of UG and M.Sc students) received merit-

cum-means (MCM) scholarship for the year 2006-2007. This includes tuition
waiver, besides a yearly allowance. Institute Merit Scholarships were
awarded to 25 students.

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Two first year ECE students have received scholarships from Bharati
Foundation. GE Foundations has awarded scholarships to two MTech
students. Philips is also supporting two M.Tech students. Besides , there are
a number of assistantships from Govt. agencies such as CSIR. As you may
be aware, the Institute provides assistantships to all regular, full-time
M.Tech and PhD students. The Institute needs to get more support from
industry to sustain the projected growth rate in student strength, particularly
at the graduate level.
Every year a large number of our third year B.Tech students work as
summer interns in industries, educational and R&D organisations all over
the world. All students going abroad receive a stipend and travel support
from their employers. Like other years, our students are currently engaged
as interns in India, Europe, the US, Australia, and Singapore. A survey done
this year reveals that 80 students (out of a batch size of 234) are working as
summer interns in leading universities and research institutions in Europe.
Besides learning to work in research projects, they are spreading the brand
of liT Guwahati all over the world .

Student Achievements

Dipto Dey, a student of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Shiva

Rama Krishna Jaini, a student of Design, and Abhishek Rawat, a student
Electronics and Communication Engineering won the First, Second and
Third prizes respectively in MOTOFWRD 2006, the nationwide competition
of the best depiction of the future of technology and communications,
organised by Motorola. liT Guwahati had the unique distinction of sweeping
all the prizes. Our congratulations to all these students.
Ankur Pariyani, Abhigyan Gupta, Pallab Ghosh of the Department of
nd
Chemical Engineering won the 2 Prize of the Chemical Weekly award of
IIChE for best research paper published in a high impact factor international
journal by an undergraduate chemical engineering student. Let us gi ve a big
hand to them too.
Sham it Shrivastava, a third year BTech student of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering has received "Ignited Mind Scientific Research
Award" for 2007 from the IMSR Council, Cambridge, USA. Sham it
received this recognition for his research potential as demonstrated by his
recent work in the fields of material sciences, nanotechnology and
biomedical engineering. Congratulations Shamit.

TRAINING AND PLACEMENT

The placement scenario at liT Guwahati is getting better with every coming
year and the year 2006-2007 has also witnessed very good campus

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 placement. A total of 78 companies participated in the recruitment for 386
available students (STech-207 + MTech- 135 + MSc-44).

Percentage of placement for most of the STech branches has been above
90%. The placement of MTech branches also has been very good with
100% placement for Computer Science and Engineering . For STech, 274
jobs were available for 207 students and for MTech 138 jobs were available
for 135 students. The highest package offered to STech students was
RS .32.27 lakhs per annum and the average package was Rs .6.16 lakhs per
annum. Highest package offered to MTech students was Rs .11 .39 lakhs per
annum and the average package was Rs .5.11 lakhs per annum. The
placement of students in the MSc programmes were not so good probably
because relevant companies did not come to the campus seeing the small
number of graduates. As student strengths increase, this will change.
Needless to say, all students get jobs within 6 months of completing their
programmes. The branch wise placement details are:

Placement data (branch wise) with percentage of students getting placed

Department Under Graduate (BTech/BDes) Post Graduate (MTech)
Total No. of % of Total No. of % of
No. of No. of
No. of Students Students No. of Students Students
Students Students
Jobs Placed Placed Jobs Placed Placed
CSE 42 54 41 98% 34 37 34 100%
ECE 41 55 39 95% 33 35 31 94%
ME 39 57 38 97% 31 38 28 90%
CE 31 44 30 97% 21 16 14 67%
CL 20 24 19 95% 16 12 11 69%
BT 19 25 17 89% -- -- -- --
DE 15 15 12 80% -- -- -- --
PH 15 3 3 20% -- -- -- --
CH 14 5 5 36% -- -- -- --
MA
(MSc)
15 9 9 60% -- -- -- --

Overall Undergraduate (STech + SOes) placed =196/207 = 94.69%

Overall MTech placed =118/135 = 87.41 %
Overall MSc placed =17/44 = 38.64 %
Overall (STech + MTech) placed =91 .81%

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CLOSING REMARKS
The Institute has maintained a growth rate this year, similar to earlier years .
Student strength increased by about 17.5%. Infrastructure has also
increased accordingly. The Institute had drawn up a plan of increasing the
student strength to 3800 by the end of the 11 th five year plan (March 2012),
with an annual increase of about 17.5%. With the proposed introduction of
reservation for OBCs, minor modifications were made, increasing the growth
rate in the next three years to meet the requirements of the scheme. Even if
the reservation scheme is delayed, the Institute needs to maintain its
growth, as it is some distance away from a sustainable strength . We are
therefore requesting the Govt. of India to allow us to continue with our
growth plans. In fact, other IITs will reach a strength of 6500 and more by
the end of the 11 th plan. So to reach the level of the other IITs, this Institute
needs to grow at similar rates in the twelfth plan period too . The Institute is
therefore going to continue to witness growth over the next ten years at
least. This is a healthy state of affairs, as growth brings in new faces, new
opportunities, and new vigour. Growth, however, also requires time to be
devoted to planning, building and acquiring. At the same time, the need to
raise the level of research in the Institute, both in quality and quantity, is of
prime importance. Faculty therefore have to work ever harder to meet all our
needs. Fortunately, we have a young faculty and they will therefore be able
to put in the extra effort. At the same time, the Institute is aware of the need
to provide scope to the faculty for self development and for augmenting
earnings. The Institute is committed to providing support for sponsored
projects. Consultancies are encouraged as they provide much needed
practical experience to the faculty and also provide a source of income. We
have one of the most liberal LTC schemes and our support level for
attending conferences abroad is among the best in the country. The Govt. of
India is also seized of the matter of providing adequate compensation to
researchers and we may be able to provide extra incentives provided our
earnings from projects and consultancies increase. I urge the faculty to
move ahead with confidence. Together we can move mountains.
The liT Guwahati alumni base is growing. My dear graduating students, we
need your support in the years to come. Please keep in touch with us. We
are setting up an alumni portal and I urge you to keep us informed of your
whereabouts . We have requested the alumni office bearers to open a
chapter at Bangalore to begin with. Many of you are bound to that city and
many of your seniors are already there. You could playa part in setting up a
Bangalore chapter. I wish all of you success in life and I am confident you
will excel in your careers and will so bring glory to liT Guwahati.
Jai Hind.
Gautam Barua
Director
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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