Dr G. Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO had an interactive meeting with the leaders of SRM University-AP on July 25, 2021. Prof V.S. Rao, Vice-Chancellor and Prof D. Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SRM University-AP felicitated Dr Satheesh Reddy for his glorious technological contributions to India.
Prof Ranjit Thapa from the Department of Physics made a presentation on the Computational Materials Genome project to Dr Satheesh Reddy. He emphasized the importance and significance of the Computational Materials Genome project and how it is useful to accelerate the design, development, discovery of new functional materials many times and at a minimal cost compared to the existing traditional methods. During his presentation, he explained the development of catalysts using QM/ML approaches, the development of explosophores, and computational fluid dynamics on external aerodynamics on Earth and Mars. Dr Satheesh Reddy was impressed with the presentation and suggested contacting DRDO-Young Scientist Laboratory related to Smart Materials in Hyderabad for experimental collaborations. He advised Dr Sathya Pramod to discuss computational models with the Scientists who are working on hypersonic wind tunnels deployed in DRDL, Hyderabad.
Prof Vinod Kumar presented a proposal on foams based on Aluminium and Magnesium. He explained the processing, structure, morphology, and applications of these metal forms. Dr Satheesh Reddy advised looking into titanium-based metal forms also. Later, Dr Jasvinder Singh presented his work on cardiovascular stents fabricated by solvent cast 3D printing. Dr Satheesh Reddy has shown keen interest and he has asked for a copy of the presentation and other details for further study.
Dr Satheesh Reddy assured collaboration with SRM University-AP on a few projects that are relevant to the needs of DRDO. He elaborated on the following initiatives of DRDO.
1. DRDO will fund the incubation centres which work on defence-related problems by freshly graduated BTech students with the financial assistance of up to Rs 1 crore. Further, if the fresh graduates come forward as industrial partners, DRDO could provide financial assistance of up to 10 Crores INR.
2. DRDO has also started joint PhD programmes with universities/institutions in India. DRDO scientists will act as co-guides and registered PhD students will get an opportunity to work in DRDO labs during the tenure.
3. DRDO has started MTech programmes in Defence Technologies jointly with the universities. In this programme, students will complete the course work in the university and in the second year, students can do their project work in the DRDO labs.
4. DRDO is also interested in supporting long-term projects with the Universities under the Directed Research programme which could be supported by DRDO for a long-term of two or three decades.