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The Industry Readiness Webinar Series- 4

SRM University- AP is hosting a Webinar on “Challenges & opportunities in critical sectors and long term strategic direction to deal with uncertainty within and across nations” as a process of preparing the students for the forthcoming Placement Season. Our guest for the evening Dr Bade Simhachalam, has obtained his MTech & PhD degrees from IITM in Design Engineering/Vehicle Safety. He has a PG Diploma in Business Administration from ICFAI University. His areas of expertise in Automotive, Aerospace, Heavy engineering, IT domains include:

· Engineering service operations management

· Product development, R&D, Technology Management,

· Project Management & Program Management,

· Quality Improvement using Six Sigma/TQM,

· People Development, Competency development and Skill Development

· Working in Multidisciplinary area – Connecting People, Technology, and Manufacturing Management and Society

· Software development related to Automotive/Aerospace/Heavy engineering/IT.

Dr Simhachalam has over 24 years of professional experience and currently working as the Sr. General Manager, Corporate Technology Center, Tube Investments of India, Murugappa Group, Chennai (Since 2008). He is also a part of BITS faculty selection committee, and a reviewer of International Journals/Technical Papers from SAGE, SAE, Elsevier etc. Dr Simhachalam is presently engaged in developing, leading and coordinating product development & research teams related to Automotive components, e-bike, EV and Railway components. He is also mentoring interns from premier institutes to explore organizational research objectives. He enjoys representing the team with Auto OEMs and external research organizations like IITs, BITS, VIT, PSG, ARAI, SAE India and contributing to People’s development, team building and TQM.

Dr Simhachalam has previous professional experience with Mahindra & Mahindra Design & Development Center, GE Transportation development Center and L&T Technology Center, Infotech Enterprises, Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Limited (BHEL). He has Contributed to Product Development best practices and process improvement using Six Sigma. He is also an invited speakers in Industry, Technology and Education forums across India to improve the working culture in Product development, R&D and innovation.

The webinar series includes a wider reach and ability to share knowledge and inherent opportunities to reach out many industrial experts, thereby getting the knowledge imparted from the industry and accessing the general requirement of the industry, which may be very much useful at the time of their campus recruitment.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented global crisis and has infected more than 3 million people in more than 200 countries. Even before the onset of this pandemic, the global economy was confronting turbulence on account of disruptions in trade flows and attenuated growth. The situation has now been very much aggravated by the demand, supply, and liquidity shocks that COVID -19 has inflicted on many economies, including the Indian economy. However, it is expected that the course of economic recovery in India could be smoother and faster than that of many other advanced countries.

Thus, under the auspices of SRM University – AP, a webinar “Post COVID-19 Resurgence of Indian industry and R & D” is being organised on Friday, 15th May 2020 at 11.30 a.m. The main objectives of the webinar are- (i) to discuss the resurgence of the Indian industry, post-COVID-19, and (ii) to discuss the possible slowdown of R & D and the strategies/measures for the resurgence of R & D in the country.

SRM University- AP is honoured to have Dr V K Saraswat, Hon’ble Member, NITI AAYOG who has kindly agreed to chair the above webinar. Dr G Sateesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO, Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Institute Professor, IIT- Madras, Dr K Varaprasada Reddy, Chairman Emeritus, Shantha Biotech, and other distinguished experts will grace the event by sharing their views and opinions.

Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro Vice Chancellor, SRM University – AP acts as the moderator for the webinar.

The webinar is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to listen to the views of such eminent dignitaries and to acquaint oneself with the turn, the Post COVID-19, could offer great opportunities for Indian industries, exports and other sectors. .

SRM University- AP will be profoundly grateful to have your kind participation in the webinar. Please click on the following link to register yourself for the webinar.

Register Yourself here: https://srmap.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcvcO-pqT4qH9SfOvGg9i24bYlyLhb5fCMW

Webinar Brochure: Resurgence of Indian industries and R&D in a Post COVID-19 Scenario

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Dr. Panchagunula Jayaprakash designs an improved alternative to regular masks

Dr. Panchagunula Jayaprakash, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, has designed a FACE SHIELD embedded with 3D printing technology. During this pandemic that has led to an unprecedented global crisis, this face protection devised to protect users from the Novel Coronavirus, is made available at the minimum rate of Rs. 20 each. The major drawback of the commercially available Face Shields for engineering applications is its heavy weight which causes discomfort if worn for a longer period of time. This face mask that uses 3D printing technology alleviates the limitations of the regular masks currently used by doctors, policemen, and journalists.

Head mounted Face Sheild

“With the advent of Covid-19, and due to the shortage of personal protective equipment, the health workers such as Doctors, Sanitary staff and Police are also getting infected. As they are the backbone of the society, I thought of designing a light weight Face Shield using 3D Printing (3DP) or Additive Manufacturing technique. The rudimentary advantages of 3D printing technology is the design flexibility and less lead time to manufacturing. “, explains Dr. Jayaprakash.

The regular masks barely cover the nose and mouth, whereas the Face Shield will be able to protect the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears so that one cannot get infected by the virus. Some of the medical and police personnel who use the regular masks suffer from facial irritation, making the Face Shield a comfortable and more effective alternative for all government officials on Covid-19 duty.

Physical component

Dr. Jayapraksh further says, “While manufacturing the Face Shield, 3D printing technology is used for designing a headband, upon which a 100 micron thick transparent plastic sheet is attached to ensure superior protection against the virus. It prevents air, dust, and liquids that are contaminated to come in contact with people. Also, there are no probable side effects on using the mask. If the government approves of its marketing, the face mask can be distributed among the public to prevent the widespread of Novel Coronavirus.”

OHP sheet assembly

The management of SRM AP, Andhra Pradesh applauds Dr. Jayaprakash on designing the mask after relentlessly working on it for several days. Prof. Narayana Rao, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University, has written to Adimulapu Suresh, Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh, and Alla Kalikrishna Srinivas, Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Minister for Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education, Andhra Pradesh, highlighting the importance of the facial cover and the many ways it can be regarded as a boon to the society as a whole. He said that the Face Shield would be beneficial to millions of students who would be attending regular classes once the educational institutions reopen.

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SRMAP donates 25 Lakhs for Coronavirus

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The unstoppable team of Next-Tech Lab of SRM University- AP, has again brought laurels to the University by winning three hackathons in a row. During this lockdown while some devoted their time to newfound hobbies, our young researchers successfully developed a fresh multiplayer virtual reality game – ‘Whack A Mole’ and a cloud-based multiplayer FPS in Virtual Reality- ‘Desert Shooter’. The three-member team has successfully bagged the second prize in the International / Professional Award at SKYHacks2020; Best echoAR Hack at Silicon Valley Hacks; and Best AR/VR hack at HackNow, organized by Cal Hacks, a non-profit organization at the University of Berkeley, California.

When asked how the idea of making such a game crossed their minds, Epperla Karthik, a 2nd Year student of Computer science and Engineering and a member of the team, said, “My family loves attending Tradeshows, every time we attend one my dad and I challenge each other to win a game of Whack A Mole. But, due to strict quarantine that my family is following, it’s been a while now for such challenges. My teammates and I, being gaming and virtual reality enthusiasts, decided to develop a VR version of ‘Whack A Mole.’”

‘Whack A Mole’ is a multiplayer virtual reality game that allows users to play against the computer or their families or both! One can use it on iOS or Android. It is built on Unity3D, on top of Photon PUN and GoogleVR SDK. It is also integrated with Google Firebase. “This was the very first time we were working on the development of virtual reality games and networking. As we had to run the game on our phone to record the gameplay, the output video on YouTube is a bit blurry,” explained Khushboo Sharma, another member of the team and a 2nd-year student of Computer Science and Engineering. “We completed the development of the game in only 20hrs, starting from scratch. We developed a few of our own UI elements and game assets. I feel the User-Interface of the app and the effects are pretty cool. VR development is real FUN! Moreover, there are a lot of API and SDK that unity supports,” exclaimed Koushik Bhargav, a 3rd-Year student of Computer Science and Engineering and the third member of the team.

‘Desert Shooter’ is another multiplayer virtual reality game developed by the team that allows users to play against the computer or their families or both. You can connect with your friends and play together. The game consists of a swarm of robot ships moving towards you and you have to protect yourself from them. “The interesting part is that all of this happens in Mixed Reality which makes the game immersive. We built it on Unity3D, on top of Photon PUN and GoogleVR SDK, Echoar. It is also integrated with Google Firebase and the assets are stored in echoar cloud. This project won the best AR/VR hack at “Hack: Now” which is organized by the University of California Berkeley,” said Epperla Karthik.

The team has plans to make this game to be a cross-platform game. Therefore, their next plan of action is to make the web version of it. The team is also planning to release it to production so that users can have an immersive experience of modern gaming techniques.

It is again proved that pure talent can never be put in quarantine. It will always find a way to express itself to the world. Our young developers have brilliantly used the ample time and opportunity to put their brains in best use and to bring recognitions from nationally and globally acclaimed competitions.

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The Industry Readiness Webinar Series- 3

The Industry Readiness Webinar Series provides a forum for the industry experts to share their experience with the students. Through the video workshop, lecture or presentation hosted online; the Speaker uses the platform to share beneficial knowledge, ideas and updates with the stakeholders.

The purpose of the webinar series is to engage an industry expert to host a weekly seminar on a broad spectrum, about the expectations and the pedagogy required to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry on various aspects.

Our guest for the week is Mr N. Lakshminarasimhan, General Manager (HR ) at Brakes India Private Limited. Padi, Chennai and Life member in ISTD (Indian Society for Training and Development) and currently holding the position of Hon.Treasurer of Chennai chapter. He will be sharing his 30 years of experience in Technical Training, Manpower Planning & Recruitment, Employee Motivation and Talent Life Cycle Management etc. with the students. He is known for his motivational sessions on various topics (Technical/ behavioural) including press tool manufacturing, tool design, lean manufacturing, TPM, Modern manufacturing practices, Industry 4.0, Career guidance and readying for the industry at more than 125 colleges in the past 8 Years. He believes that every person has got the potential to scale greater heights, if rightly guided, coached and motivated.

The webinar series includes a wider reach and ability to share knowledge and inherent opportunities to reach out many industrial experts, thereby getting the knowledge imparted from the industry and accessing the general requirement of the industry, which may be very much useful at the time of their campus recruitment.

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Dr. Lakhveer Singh on clean and affordable bioelectrofuels

“Nanoenzyme as a cutting-edge innovation that makes bioelectrofuels more affordable and efficient for sustainable future”

Dr. Lakhveer Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science, publishes a paper on “Bioelectrofuel Synthesis by Nanoenzymes: Novel Alternatives to Conventional Enzyme” in the journal “Trends in Biotechnology” with an Impact factor of 13.74. The paper discusses the vital role of nanozymes to advance Bioelectrochemical cells platforms for improved bioelectrofuels generation and waste remediation. Nanozymes are nanomaterials with intrinsic enzyme-like characteristics that have gained importance over the past decade because of its capability to address the limitations of natural enzymes – low stability, high cost, and difficult storage.

Waste recycle and reuse is the need of the hour, and are the most prioritized research in the 21st century. Innovation with present-day technologies as “Bioelectrochemical cells” with a focus on waste remediation, recovery and reuse is believed to strengthen the resource security along with building a sustainable and resilient society. “In order to mitigate several challenges pertaining to the ineffectual performance of microbial catalysts in electrode frameworks, nanomaterial-based nanozymes exhibit capabilities to boost their efficiency by enhancing microbial connection and interaction with electrode surface.”, explains Dr. Lakhveer.

Mechanisms of Nanoenzyme–Microbe Interaction That Facilitate Bioelectrofuel Production

THe further says, “The application of nanoenzymes to replace natural enzymes for improved bioelectrofuel production has long been under-rated. Recent advancements in bioinspired mimetics have led to applying nanoenzymes as a favourable bifunctional or multifunctional tool to achieve large turnover frequencies and high stability in bioelectrochemical platforms. Despite a few technical impediments, nanoenzymes guarantees clean and affordable bioelectrofuels”.

For long-term operations, biocompatibility is observed to remain a challenge associated with nanoenzymes. This is because of the concurrent shape change of nanoparticles during its gradual decomposition that often alters their electrocatalytic behaviour in response to prolonged operation, thus adversely affecting the electrofuel productivity. This paves the path for the future research work of Dr. Lakhveer which will focus on the preparation of nanoenzymes based electrocatalysts with doping of plasmonic or paramagnetic noble metals. This will counter the issue of mass loading and slow down the gradual decomposition process to ensure uninterrupted bioelectrofuels supply during long-term operation.

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British Safety Council applauds JMC Projects (India) Limited – SRM University AP

The green campus of SRM AP, Andhra Pradesh is in the process of expanding to ensure a place that continuously inspires and nurtures the students. The buildings foster a new culture of learning that is multi-dimensional, global, social, experiential, and interactive. Designed by Perkins + Will, the American architecture firm which specializes in educational institutions and has been involved in developing some of the marquee structures in this category, JMC Projects (India) Limited took up the monumental task of constructing the buildings of SRM AP.

British Safety Council has awarded the International Safety Award with Merit 2020 to JMC Projects (India) Limited SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh for its commitment to keeping the workers and workplaces healthy and safe during the 2019 calendar year. The prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the organizations from around the world which have shown a true dedication to prioritizing the safety of the workers and workplaces and have made outstanding advances to achieve it. It requires organizations to invest in workers’ health, safety, and wellbeing. The business leaders, managers, and staff play a crucial role in making health and safety a reality and inspiring their colleagues to do the same.

The joint venture of JMC Projects (India) Limited and SRM AP have pledged to continue maintaining the international standard in the future.

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