All Management Events

Imagine being taught from a very young age that you must cater to the expectations of each and everyone around you but not yours. Think about the times you tried to fit yourself in someone else’s set of standards. Falling into the rabbit hole of hating our own appearance has become easy ever since the media started setting unrealistic beauty standards. Rise of social media fitness gurus and influencers, who are obsessed with the unreasonable “flaws” in our bodies, accelerated the process. This led to a myriad of issues ranging from eating disorders to anxiety and depression.

Claiming the existence of an alternate explanation of beauty outside the stereotypes is thus the need of the hour. Cherishing yourself the way you are is not just an act of love but a socio-political statement. The ability to choose how to use your own body, irrespective of an outsider’s opinion, is an essential right of every individual.

The Department of Student Affairs is organising a session, ‘Reclaiming bodily autonomy’ with Ms Sridevi Srinath to help you unlearn the standard narratives of beauty. Let you be the one who decides what to do and what not to do with your body.

Date: April 23, 2022

Time: 11.00 am to 12.00 pm IST

Join the session and unlearn the stereotypes!

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“The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting” – Plutarch

Where would you go to get the most appropriate feedback to improve your learning? Whom would you approach? An active learner requires continuous assessment. Exposure to relevant remarks can make a significant impact in the learning output. Choosing the right source of feedback is important to locate your position in the learning ecosystem. This is where C-SMILE enters the frame.

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is delighted to inform you that the patent application (202241010415) entitled ‘Classification of Student’s Misconceptions in Individualized Learning Environments (C-SMILE)’ got published. The patent application was submitted by Associate professor Dr Sobin C C and BTech final year student Meka Varsha as part of the Capstone Project.

C-SMILE is an innovative platform which allows students to take assessment and receive feedback based on their performance and misconceptions. This targets to refine their conceptual and individualised learning. The platform offers the benefits of automated identification of misconceptions and classification of their level of conceptual clarity. This eventually leads to pertinent feedbacks and ensures quality learning. It also helps engineering educators to classify their students into different categories based on their level of conceptual clarity. Short quizzes and multi-level assessments can utilise the objective of this platform.

Dr Sobin C C and Meka Varsha have collaborated with Mr Subheesh N P from IIT Madras and Mr Jahfar Ali from IIT Hyderabad as part of this work. The team has already published 2 conference papers. One of them is in the prestigious IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON 2022), which is the flagship conference of IEEE Education Society.

The researchers are now working on to extend this concept to incorporate Bloom’s taxonomy to formulate more specific questions based on their level in the cognitive domain.

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The university revels in its monumental achievement of bringing out the maiden doctorate degree holder, Dr Vasavi Dutt, within four years of its inception. Dr Vasavi Dutt enrolled as a PhD scholar in the Department of Chemistry, under the supervision of Dr Nimai Mishra, Assistant Professor, in 2018. She received the academic honour for her research thesis titled “Improvement of Photoluminescence and Achieving the Stabilization of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals for Light-emitting Applications”. Dr Vasavi has been an extremely diligent student and she mustered up immense courage to bring her research to closure even during the testing times of the pandemic.

In the words of Dr Nimai Mishra, “It was a great privilege for me to supervise Ms Vasavi, (correct me Dr Vasavi now) as my first PhD student. She joined my research lab in July 2018 when there was no lab at all, and we started our work at Chemistry BTech Lab”. Dr Mishra was gleaming with pride as he spoke more about his scholar, “During these three and a half years, I had relentless scientific discussions with Vasavi which enriched both of us. Her attitude towards research was remarkable, whenever I gave her a research problem, she used to come up with a detailed outline of how to go ahead with the project”. He also praised her for all her accomplishments which include the publication of 13 research papers, filing of 3 patents and winning the best poster in national & internal conferences.

Dr Vasavi also shared her happiness for having received the mentorship of Dr Mishra, “Working in Dr Nimai Mishra’s lab was a great experience. I had the opportunity to engage and initiate multiple research topics and collaborations. He has always encouraged me to explore new fields to broaden perspectives and bring together new ideas”. She also expressed her gratitude to him for being a welcoming and approachable mentor. “I’m eternally thankful to Dr Mishra for his friendship, empathy, and moreover, for his great sense of humour”. She currently resides in the US with her family. Now that she has successfully completed her PhD, soon she would start looking for a job or rather pursue a post-doctoral fellowship in America.

Dr Vasavi was out of words to thank the university for facilitating and bringing the best in technology and infrastructure for advanced research. “I can never thank my university enough for extending a hospitable environment and nutritious food for all the doctorate students”, she further mentioned. The university serves as a promised land for thousands of research aspirants like her to head towards their dream of making unfeigned contributions to academia.

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“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Jesni M Jacob, currently doing research under Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva narrates her journey to achieving CSIR-JRF All India Rank of 65 through persistent efforts.

I’m working in the field of computational chemistry on designing and developing organic molecules for OLED applications. Securing an AIR of 65 in the CSIR JRF in Chemical Science June 2021 exam is a dream come true moment for me.

In 2019, I completed my post-graduate studies at Madras Christian College, Chennai. The four-year-long journey from zero to JRF AIR 65 was of hard work, patience, sleepless nights, sacrifices and even frustrated moments. It was challenging to remain motivated after multiple unsuccessful attempts. But I wasn’t ready to give up hope. I believed in myself and dreamed big with faith in God Almighty.

My previous attempts didn’t provide me with any hope of continuing my preparation because my marks were consistently far below the cutoffs. That made me realise one thing: without coaching and ample guidance, qualifying for CSIR JRF is a toiling task for an average student. But I learned that with strong passion, proper dedication, and right strategies of do’s and don’ts, any aspiring student can pass the exam with flying colours.

After each attempt, I learned from my mistakes and tried to optimise my strategies. One should never try to cover the entire syllabus and be bothered about it. I analysed the unit-wise weightage and narrowed it down to a few important topics that I found exciting and comfortable.

• Choose topics carefully and focus solely on mastering them.
• Try to stick to and rely on reliable standard textbooks as much as possible.
• The SRMAP library provided me with excellent access to a wide range of standard texts.

The JRF aspirants should try to solve previous years’ questions from standard exams (CSIR, GATE, IISc, etc.) and note new concepts or approaches every day. Enjoy and prepare short notes with a lot of scribbling and highlighting in various colours. Notes should be concise and simple to revise later. But don’t spend too much time making notes.

I made time for exam preparation along with my work and research activities. I’m grateful to my family, teachers, and especially my guide- Dr Mahesh Kumar Ravva, for their constant support and encouragement. He gave me a safe space to express my desire to ace the exam and my anxieties about it. Dr Mahesh always listened to my concerns and helped me to gain clarity on my thoughts. He always encouraged me to dream big and shared his perspectives and lessons from his life experiences. He is a great mentor, motivator, and teacher to me.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has greatly increased our awareness of the world and broadened the scope of our engagement with it. In the first episode of the ECE Department Guest Lecture Series, the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at SRM University-AP is organising a lecture on April 23, 2022, from 10.20 am to 12.00 noon. Dr Orazio Aiello, Assistant Professor at the University of Genoa, Italy, will engage the audience on the topic Ultra-Low-Power and Agile IC Design for novel Sensor Nodes for the Internet of Things on that day.

The vision of a world where pervasive integrated electronic systems embedded in everyday life objects (e.g. household appliances, surveillance cameras, healthcare systems) are fully interconnected to collect, process, and exchange useful information requires energy-autonomous systems for distributed sensing and data acquisition. The low-cost requirement demands a small area, low design effort, digital-like shrinkage across CMOS generations, and design/technology portability. The possibility to exploit the digital (automated) design flow even for analog building blocks can dramatically reduce the design effort of any system-on-chip that faces the analog signal. Since data processing is digital, but most signals from the real world are analog, almost any electronic device that interfaces with the surrounding environment will benefit from the outcomes of this investigation. In this framework, the talk illustrates the concepts and the design flows which enable the implementation of analog functions by true digital circuits.

Biography of the speaker:

Orazio Aiello (Senior Member, IEEE) received the BSc and MSc degrees (cum laude) from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) from the Scuola Superiore di Catania, Italy, in 2009, and the PhD degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2013.,From 2008 to 2009, he was an Analog IC Designer and an EMC Consultant for STMicroelectronics, Castelletto, Italy. In 2012, he was a Visiting PhD. A student with Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. In 2013, he was a Research Fellow in a joint project with FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles, Turin. In 2014, he joined NXP-Semiconductors, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, as a Mixed Signal IC Designer and an EMC Expert. In 2015 and 2016, he was a Visiting Fellow with the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Since 2015, he has been working with the Green IC Group, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), National University of Singapore, where he has also been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual and a Global Fellow leading the ULPIoT project. He is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Genova, Italy. His main research interests include energy-efficient analogue-mixed signal circuits and sensor interfaces. Dr Aiello is a member of the IEEE CASS Microlearning AdHoc Committee and is/was a Technical Program Committee Member of a number of conferences, such as NORCAS and APCCAS.

Join this informative lecture with Dr Orazio Aiello on April 23, 2022 at 10.20 am IST.

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The Department of Civil Engineering is all set to kick start their first Industry Guest Lecture Series on April 21, 2022. The lecture is scheduled from 9.45 am to 10.45 am followed by a Q&A session. Renowned aviation professional Mr Ashok Madhu Reddy, who has an experience of 25 years in airplane or airport operation, will deliver the talk on Airport Pavement Engineering.

The viability of the airport infrastructure is indeed a challenge in airport engineering. Airport pavement plays an important role in this scenario. The lecture intends to discuss the History of ICAO, airport planning, design, and maintenance in detail.

About the Speaker

Mr Ashok Madhu Reddy is an aviation professional with 25 years of experience in Airline/Airport Operations and Management. He is presently working as the Vice President of Aerosimple Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Visakhapatnam, AP which is an IT software company that specialises in SAAS for Airport operations and Management, serving 35 airports across the globe.

He was India’s first personnel who attained the “International Airport Professional” certification jointly issued by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Airports Council International (ACI) Montreal, Canada. This was the only program in the world recognized by the United Nations (UN) to bring global standards worldwide. He is also a Board Director of the American/International Association of Airport Executives (AAAE/IAAAE).

Mr Ashok has two post-graduation degrees in management from India and UK. Previously, he worked with Air India, Srilankan Airlines, GMR Hyderabad and Delhi Airports, and AP Airport Development Corporation in various management capacities. He is also having multiple aviation certification courses to his credit.

Register for the webinar and get to know about Airport Pavement Engineering from the professional himself.

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The Department of Mathematics is arranging the fifth instalment of the Departmental Distinguished Lecture Series on April 25, 2022, at 3.45 pm IST. Reputed Mathematician, Prof A Adimurthi will deliver an informative lecture on the topic ‘Controllability of Scalar Conservation Laws with Discontinuous Flux’.

About the Talk

Navier-Stokes and Euler equations play an important role in studying the flow of incompressible fluids. Weak solutions to these equations can be obtained by Galerkin method but the uniqueness is a big open problem. It is a big challenge to obtain an extra condition for the class of functions, so that in this class obtain the existence and uniqueness. To understand this phenomenon, it is better to look at a one-dimensional case where the equation turns out to be viscous Burger’s equation or Burger’s equation with non-linearity is of quadratic order. In this talk, we will restrict to Burger’s type equations called the Scalar Conservation Laws in one space dimension with strict convex flux. Way back in the 50’s, this equation was studied by Lax and Oleinik and obtained an explicit formula for a solution. Oleinik showed that this satisfies an extraction called the Entropy Condition and then showed that in this class, the solution is unique. Later Kruzkov, in an ingenious way, generalized this to obtain a unique solution for Scalar Conservation Law in higher dimensions and Lipschitz fluxes. This result was taken up by Zuazua and his collaborators and studied the Optimal Controllability for Burgers equation. They showed the existence of optimal control and to capture this, they derived a numerical algorithm whose convergence is still open. In a different direction, this was attacked, and the problem was completely solved. Getting the optimal solution is via projection method in a Hilbert space. Recently, this was extended in a non-trivial way to conservation laws with convex discontinuous flux. The talk will explain the main ideas of this work.

About the Speaker

A mathematician of repute, Prof A Adimurthi has been associated with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Centre for Applicable Mathematics Bangalore. At present, he is working as a visiting professor at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, IIT Kanpur. He has authored more than a hundred research articles on a wide range of topics including Partial differential equations, Functional analysis, Numerical analysis, Calculus of variations, Optimal control, and many others. Prof Adi Adimurthi has been elected as a fellow of; The Indian Academy of Sciences (F.A.Sc) Bengaluru (1996), The National Academy of Sciences (F.N.A.Sc), India in 1997, The Indian National Science Academy (F.N.A) in 1998, The World Academy of Sciences(TWAS) in 2018, Raja Ramanna and DST J.C. Bose National. Along with these fellowships, Professor Adimurthi has also been honoured with the prestigious Dr Zakir Hussain Award in 2013.

Join this informative talk with Prof A Adimurthi on April 25, 2022 at 3.45 pm IST.

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Publishing a paper in the second-best journal in the discipline of Environmental Engineering and having an impact factor of 9.7 is obviously a significant achievement. The Department of Environmental Science is elated to inform you that the paper, “Dynamic Simulation and Optimization of Anaerobic Digestion Processes using MATLAB” has been published by Dr Karthik Rajendran, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, and his PhD student, Mr Prabhakaran G in ‘Bioresource Technology’ journal.

Abstract of the research

Time series-based modelling provides a fundamental understanding of process fluctuations in an anaerobic digestion process. However, such models are scarce in literature. In this work, a dynamic model was developed based on modified Hill’s model using MATLAB, which can predict biomethane production with time series. This model can predict the biomethane production for both batch and continuous processes, across substrates and at diverse conditions such as total solids, loading rate, and days of operation. The deviation between the literature and the developed model was less than ±7.6%, which shows the accuracy and robustness of this model. Moreover, statistical analysis showed there was no significant difference between literature and simulation, verifying the null hypothesis. Finding a steady and optimized loading rate was necessary from an industrial perspective, which usually requires extensive experimental data. With the developed model, a stable and optimal methane yield generating loading rate could be identified at minimal input.

About the research

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a natural process that converts organic waste into biogas, in the absence of oxygen, which can be used as cooking fuel or for electricity generation. Biogas generation depends on various operational parameters of the AD processes like temperature, organic loading rate, and pH. For example, the speed of a car depends on various parameters like mileage per litre, type of fuel (petrol or diesel), engine power, type of gear, and road type. The optimum speed of a car can be defined by the manufacturer. Likewise, the optimum biogas/ biomethane can be calculated by computer simulations. If the loading rate is increased, the biogas yield increases up to a particular time and then decreases due to overloading like human bodies (eating a large amount of food may strain or cause failure of the digestive system), then the biogas plant will be a failure.

Optimising the loading rate through experiment was not easy, as multiple trials were necessary and it will take a longer time and high cost. In this work, the researchers did the optimisation based on the loading rate over the time period. The loading rate was optimised to maximum methane production, which also showed the region of stability from an operational perspective.

Practical implementations of the research

The practical implications of this work are, to use it in real-time operations of an AD plant and in research laboratories to estimate the best region of operation in terms of loading rate and yield. This work shows that longer days of operation could optimise better loading rates or could help in reaching a steady-state condition in real-time biogas plants.

Future research plans

Real-time biogas plants are deficient in the availability of data to do the computer simulation by using the mathematical model. To overcome this problem, researchers are planning to do Artificial Intelligence (Machine learning)- based biogas prediction by data-driven techniques. It will reduce the complexity with higher accuracy. In future, the machine learning model will integrate with real-time bioreactor for self-diagnosis and better decision making.

 

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