All Management Events

The Department of Students Affairs is organising a series of events heralding the arrival of International Yoga Day 2022. As part of the series, the second episode of the yoga celebrations will be held to exude the essence of yoga amongst the student community.

Date: May 16, 2022

Time: 4.30 pm

Venue: Near Fountains

Yoga is often perceived as a spiritual endeavour taking one closer to the universal power. But the core of yoga lies in unlocking one’s true potential and discovering the inherent powers that reside deep within each individual. Making yoga an inevitable part of our daily life will bring unbelievable transformations in every aspect of our behaviour. It will enable us to look at the brighter side of things, discover the possibilities in every obstacle, and radiate joy and prosperity around ourselves.

Join the session to embark on an exhilarating journey of self-exploration.

The Department of Physics organised a Faculty Development Programme discussing the scopes of implementing sponsored projects. Renowned academicians, Prof Sathish Vadhiyar, IISc Bangalore; Prof Kothandaraman Ramanujam, IIT Madras; and Prof Paromita Chakraborty, SRMIST were the keynote speakers of the session. They shared their views and enlightened the faculty on the scopes and challenges in implementing projects proposed across various disciplines.

Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor SRM-AP, welcomed the gathering. He appreciated the department’s effort in organising programmes on such impactful topics. Reminding the community of the inevitability of emphasising research, he congratulated all the faculty for their influential publications, sponsored projects, patent publications, etc. Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, also addressed the gathering and reiterated the need to conduct such crucial discussions among administrators and policymakers. He further highlighted the importance of reorienting the vision of every Indian university by giving a special focus on research and development.

Prof Sathish Vadhiyar commenced the discussion by providing a brief overview of the National Super Computing Mission (NSM). It is one of the principal ventures funded by DST and MeItY to advance the overall high-performance computing ecosystem. He deliberated on the R&D projects involved in NSM, its objectives, proposal areas, budget, research allocations etc. Prof Ramanujam presided over and shared his experience in collaborating with industries to market the research product. He gave a detailed analysis of the functioning of consultation companies, types of consultancies, stages involved in such projects, and the different ways to attract funding. Prof Paromita Chakraborty was the last speaker of the day. She offered an elaborate outline for designing and developing a project proposal and concluded by imparting a few insights from her successful projects.

Deaf and mute people have used sign language to communicate their thoughts and feelings for a long time. Since there is no universal sign language, the needy people use country-specific sign languages. An automated sign language recognition system is a universal solution to this impediment. Dr Manikandan V M, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Engineering, and his student, Ms Bhavana Siddineni, have been working in this regard to ease the communication technology. They have published a chapter in the book, ‘Challenges and Applications for Hand Gesture Recognition’. The book is published by IGI Global Publishers, a leading international academic publisher. The chapter is titled “Recent Advancements in Design and Implementation of Automated Sign Language Recognition Systems”.

Sign language systems in practice are invariably specific to a territory. For example, American Sign Language (ASL) is popularly used by Americans, and Indian Sign Language (ISL) is commonly practised in India. Communication between two people who know the specific sign language is relatively easy. But, if a mute person wants to communicate with another person who is not familiar with sign language, it is a difficult task, and a sign language interpreter is required to translate the signs. This issue motivated the computer scientist to work on automated sign language recognition systems capable of recognizing the signs from specific sign languages and converting them into text information or audio so that the common people can understand them easily.

Through the proposal put forward in the publication, our researchers are planning to design and implement a reliable Automated Sign Language Recognition system in the future. This book chapter will be a useful reference for students who wish to start their research work in the domain of Automated Sign Language Recognition.

The Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering is Proud to inform you that Dr Tousif Khan N, Assistant Professor, and Faculty Coordinator, has been appointed as a Guest Associate Editor in Frontiers in Control Engineering, a peer-reviewed journal for the special issue on “Recent Advancements in Performance and Safety-Driven Robust Adaptive Control.”

This Research Topic is intended to give an insight into the latest development regarding the control design and analysis for the nonlinear systems under multiple uncertainties, matched and unmatched disturbances, measurement noises, actuator/sensor faults, and non-smooth nonlinearities. To render a promising control performance under resource-constrained communication networks, state constraints, control constraints, and other related issues are additional design objectives and the focus of this Research Topic.

In conclusion, developing an effective onboard implementable control approach for dynamical systems where safety, performance, uncertainty, and optimality are dealt with concurrently is the main objective of this special issue of the research journal Frontiers in Control Engineering.

Prof Ranjit Thapa and his PhD scholar, Mr Samadhan Kapse from the Department of Physics have reported their euphoric achievement of discovering an economically viable electrocatalyst for effective green urea synthesis. The paper “Selective Electrocatalytic Co-reduction of N2 and CO2 on Copper Phthalocyanine for Green Urea Production” has been published in the highly prestigious Nature indexed journal, ‘Advanced Functional Materials’, having an Impact Factor of 18.81. It was published in collaboration with Jit Mukherjee, and Uttam Kumar Ghorai, from the Department of Industrial Chemistry & Applied Chemistry, Swami Vivekananda Research Centre.

With global annual production of 100 million tons, urea is one of the important nitrogen sources for the fertilizer industry. Industrial urea is synthesized by the following two consecutive steps. First, the reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen (N2 + H2 → NH3) by the Haber-Bosch process at high temperature and pressure (350–550°C, 150–350 bar); followed by the reaction of NH3 and CO2 [NH3 + CO2 → CO(NH2)2] under mild reaction conditions (170–200°C and 200–250 bar). The sequential reactions are carried out for several cycles to increase the conversion efficiency. For the first step, fixation of N2 is an energy as well as a capital intensive process due to difficulty in cleaving the N≡N bond. Extensive research works have been reported on electrochemical N2 fixation to NH3 in water medium under ambient conditions. In this electrochemical method, isolation of NH3 gas with high purity from electrolyte solution is troublesome. In the second step, CO2 fixation on the substrate and its separation is one of the major challenging tasks for the further reaction with NH3 to end up in urea formation. Overall, the two-step process for large scale production of urea consumes high energy and produces greenhouse gases for the environment.

The research team reported copper-phthalocyanine nanotubes (CuPc NTs) having multiple active sites as an efficient electrocatalyst which exhibits a tremendous yield of urea with good durability and long-term stability. DFT calculation predicts that Pyridinic–N1 in CuPc is responsible for N2 reduction and the metal centre plays an important role for CO2 reduction. This study not only provides us with the co-reduction of N2 and CO2 gases using cost-effective CuPc NTs catalyst but also opens a new pathway to the rational design of other transitional metal-based electrocatalysts having multiple active sites for N2 and CO2 gas fixation applications.

This electrochemical method of urea synthesis by the co-reduction of N2 and CO2 [N2 + CO2 + 6H+ + 6e– → CO(NH2)2 + H2O] using an efficient electrocatalyst in a water medium under ambient conditions would be an alternative way in the upcoming days. All the strategies using alloys and heterostructure for urea synthesis forming C–N bond by the co–reduction of N2 and CO2 have not reached the benchmark in terms of urea yield rate and FE for practical applications. To achieve a high urea yield and FE, various factors are to be considered in this work.

Abstract of the Research

Green synthesis of urea under ambient conditions by electrochemical co-reduction of N2 and CO2 gases using effective electrocatalyst essentially pushes the conventional two steps (N2 + H2 = NH3 & NH3 + CO2 = CO (NH2)2) industrial process at high temperature and high pressure, to the brink. The single-step electrochemical green urea synthesis process has hit a roadblock due to the lack of an efficient and economically viable electrocatalyst with multiple active sites for dual reduction of N2 and CO2 gas molecules to urea. Herein, the research reports copper-phthalocyanine nanotubes (CuPc NTs) having multiple active sites (such as metal centre, Pyrrolic-N3, Pyrrolic-N2, and Pyridinic-N1) as an efficient electrocatalyst which exhibits urea yield of 143.47 µg h-1 mg-1cat and FE of 12.99% at –0.6 V vs RHE by co-reduction of N2 and CO2. Theoretical calculation suggests that Pyridinic-N1 and Cu centres are responsible to form C–N bonds for urea by co-reduction of N2 to NN* and CO2 to *CO respectively. This study provides new mechanistic insight into the successful electro-reduction of dual gases (N2 and CO2) in a single molecule as well as the rational design of an efficient noble metal-free electrocatalyst for the synthesis of green urea.

SRM University-AP organised an interactive session with Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, on May 7, 2022, to enhance the research collaborations and capabilities of the institution. Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Prof V S Rao; Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof D Narayana Rao, all the faculty members, and research scholars took part in the conference.

The meeting deliberated on the need to develop platforms for effective research collaborations across multiple disciplines to maintain successful research careers. It accentuated on the necessity of bringing together inter-disciplinary resources, culture, talent, and scientific knowledge to enhance the depth and breadth of research capabilities. Building intensive research networks and making relevant contributions towards the inclusive development of the society were the major focus points of the discussion.

Prof V S Rao welcomed the gathering and introduced the guest of the day, Prof B S Murty. He reminisced over the long association with Prof Murty, the much renowned Indian metallurgist who has been recognised with the highest science award in the country.

Prof B S Murty put forward the need for bringing multidisciplinarity into the engineering course framework. According to him, the cross-pollination of ideas across the disciplines of technology, medicine, and environmental management is the ideal way to encourage inclusive development in society. He mentioned a few such pioneering programmes such as M.Tech in Medical Device Innovation and E-Waste Management, B.Tech in Computational Engineering and Microelectronics introduced in IIT Hyderabad. He concluded the session by emphasising the vitality of accelerating research across the healthcare sector as well as the need for orienting research in tune with the industrial demands.

Prof D Narayana Rao gave a brief overview of the research culture nurtured in the university. He presented the list of research publications, patent publications and various other accomplishments of the university’s faculty and students. He also gave a brief introduction to the various centres of excellence established at the university. By giving an outlay of the initiatives such as research collaborations with AIIMS Mangalagiri, SVMC Tirupati, and multiple other programmes like the University Distinguished Lecture Series, he shed light on the steps taken by the institution to promote research and development activities across the region. Prof Narayana Rao solicited collaboration with IIT Hyderabad, particularly in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing of bio-implants, and battery electrodes for Li-ion batteries.

The Department of Physics is organising a Faculty Development Program on ‘Scope for Sponsored Projects and its Implementation’ with eminent academicians, Prof Sathish Vadhiyar, Chair, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, IISc Bangalore and Prof Kothandaraman Ramanujam, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Date: May 11, 2022

Time: 10.00 am

Venue: ALC 3rd Floor

Discussing the scopes and challenges of such sponsored projects is inevitable as it determines the progress in its execution. Documenting a list of the project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines is, therefore, an important part of this process. This will help in establishing the objectives of the project, analysing its limits, and providing a roadmap to move ahead.

Prof Sathish Vadhiyar will deliver a talk on the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) Program which was introduced by the government of India with an aim to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a grid of high-performance computing facilities. This is an effort to improve the number of supercomputers owned by India. Prof Kothandaraman Ramanujam will provide a brief awareness regarding consultancy projects set up with the industry through his talk. The session will be wrapped up by Prof Paromita Chakraborty who will give an overview of funded projects and bilateral projects.

Join here for an informative session.

Programme Schedule

At times, face-to-face interaction will help you find specific answers to your specific questions there and then. This is super important when sorting out decisions about your higher education. SRM AP would like to navigate your road to the master’s admission you have always dreamt of. We urge you to open the door to global opportunities and confidently climb the career ladder.

The Office of International Relations and Higher Studies welcomes you all to the USA Mega Admission Drive, an excellent opportunity to meet more than 30 USA Universities. In a world of information abundance, getting appropriate information is the real challenge. Thus, the university is delighted to offer you one-on-one interaction with the world-class university or institution representatives.

Date: May 12, 2022

Time: 9.00 am to 11.00 am IST

Venue: Abdul Kalam Auditorium

Get to know about the programs, eligibility, scholarships, internships, and post-study work opportunities through a more human element in your university search process. A deeper insight into the variety of options will guide you to apply for 2022/23 intakes. The admission drive allows submitting applications on the spot. The participating universities include renowned global universities such as North-eastern University, University of Massachusetts, Western Washington University, The University of Arizona, University of South Florida, Nova South-eastern University, University of Bridgeport, and many more.

Come and participate.

It’s your turn to explore the best career options awaiting you!

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible”- Arthur C Clarke

The indomitable spirit to give birth to the impossible is the magical force that keeps changing the face of the world. Every innovation, be it in the field of technology, medicine, or entrepreneurship, has paved the way for colossal changes simplifying life on earth. The sheer ability to think and innovate is what made human beings the ruling power. All the amenities and services that we revel in today would not have come into existence without the power to innovate.

As the world is surging ahead with far-reaching developments at an unimaginable pace, there is no question about equipping society to embrace these changes and equally be an unflinching source instigating such changes. Learning in the present era is beyond the ability to read, write and pass with flying colours. True learning does not take place without igniting the spark of creativity hidden inside every individual. The Entrepreneurship Cell has scheduled the launch of their latest endeavour “Innovation Square” to put on show the unrelenting power of innovation of our students.

Date: May 10, 2022

Time: 05.30 pm

Venue: Tiered Classroom

Join the session to behold some of the live innovations of our students at the campus.

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SRM AP is known for its resources and facilities for pioneering research with the support of global leaders and SME’s while sticking to compliance and international regulations. Obtaining research excellence in every field of study has been a mission of the university. Recently, 50 MSc students from the Department of Chemistry, KBN College, Vijayawada, visited our university to explore the analytical and research facilities available here.

The research areas handled by the Department of Chemistry of SRM AP include the disciplines of chemical sciences, ranging from organic, inorganic, and physical, to theoretical or computational chemistry. The department’s highly disciplinary and collaborative environment is indeed inspiring, and it continues to grab attention. The strong interactions of the university with other premier institutions across India and around the world refine the quality of analytical and research facilities available here. The students from KBN college eagerly interacted with the faculty members and research scholars. Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva and Dr Rajapandiyan, Faculty members, coordinated the visit.