Students Achievements

The summit will start in April 2022 in Kathmandu
G Ram Dheeraj, third-year Civil Engineering at SRM University-AP, has been selected to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. The adventurous peak climbing expedition will begin in April 2022. He has already climbed three major peaks in the Himalayan range and is selected for the summit by the Asian Trekking Pvt Ltd. The mountains that he has set foot on are Shitindhar Peak (5358 m), Friendship Peak (5287 m) and Deo Tibba Peak (6001 m). He has also completed a mountaineering course from ABVIMAS in Kulu Manali. Ram Dheeraj, who hopes to reach the summit of Mt. Everest through rigorous preparation, seeks kind sponsors to come forward and fund the expenses of ₹27 lacs. Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor; Prof Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor; and the management of SRM University-AP, congratulated Ram Dheeraj for his exceptional enthusiasm to conquer extremely high altitudes.

“As an undergraduate student, I initially faced many difficulties selecting the area of interest, analysing and organising a paper, and academic writing skills. The continuous support from faculty at SRM university-AP helped me overcome these issues. This achievement would have been impossible without the support and efforts of my faculty mentors. My heartful gratitude to Dr Shubh Lakshmi madam and Dr Tousif Khan N sir for their kind support and encouragement in research work. I am grateful to start my research career under their guidance. Also, the management encourages and supports us every time in every possible way by providing scholarships.”
–Pendem Manoj Sai

A paper titled “Exhaustive Search Approach to Place PV in Distribution Network for Power Loss Minimization” has been awarded STEM-Research Society Best Paper Award in the recently held conference, Soft Computing: Theories and Applications (SoCTA)-2021, at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kota on the dates December 17-19, 2021. The authors of the paper are- P Manoj Sai, M Dhana Sai Baji, Dr Shubh Lakshmi, and Dr Tousif Khan Nizami from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering and Sciences, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, India. The paper is selected for publication in Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Springer (Indexed in SCOPUS).

This paper proposes an exhaustive search approach to determine the best location and size of PV placement for power loss minimisation of radial distribution networks. In this approach, the network power loss is determined by placing PV in each location, one at a time, and the size of PV in the same location is varied between a set minimum and maximum limits. The combination of location and size of PV, which provide the minimum network power loss, can be the best location and size of PV for power loss minimisation of radial distribution networks. The forward-backwards sweep load flow algorithm with the PV model is used to determine the power loss for each combination of location and size of PV.

The paper was presented by Mr P Manoj Sai, a BTech EEE 4th year student from SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. He is thrilled to receive the best paper award and extended his gratitude to Dr Tousif Khan N, the Head of the Department, and Dr Shubh Lakshmi, Assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, for their continuous guidance. Further, he extended his thanks to the management and Pro Vice-chancellor of SRM University-AP for providing financial support.

Mallarapu Tanoogna, a third-year civil engineering student at SRM University-AP, has excelled at National Indoor Archery Championship-2021, winning three gold medals and finishing 8th in the National Open Ranking, representing Andhra Pradesh. The National Field Archery Development & Welfare Association in Salem, Tamilnadu, hosted the inaugural National Indoor Archery Championship-2021 on 25th and 26th December. Archery players from the South Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana participated in the competition.

Ms Tanoogna, representing Andhra Pradesh from SRM AP has been training to participate in indoor and outdoor archery championships for a year. She won gold medals in the Senior Recurve women individual, women team and mixed team categories and is ranked 8th in the national archery rankings.

“It is a pride moment that our student wins gold medals and opens national ranking,” said university Vice-Chancellor-Prof V S Rao, congratulating Ms Tanoogna. Registrar-Dr R Premkumar, Deans, and faculty members congratulated Ms Tanoogna and promised her all the support for attending more national and international championships in the future.

Rallapalli Bhavana Durga, a budding researcher from BSc Biology at SRM University-AP, earns an international internship at Harvard Medical School. The six-month internship will focus on bioengineering, cancer, and other biomedical research. The days at Harvard Medical School will impart an understanding of the development of cancer in an in-vitro model fabricated by the bioengineering approach.

The Office of International Relations and Higher Studies guided Ms Bhavana throughout the application process. Every eligible student who applies for study abroad programmes is given orientation and motivation to bridge the attainment gap. They share information about various research/internships/projects with interested students. Ms Bhavana qualified the eligibility criteria for Harvard Medical School, which focuses on Tissue engineering and other Biomedical engineering fields. After completing the screening, she received a welcome e-mail for the internship at Dr Shiladitya Sengupta & Haelin Jang’s lab in Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. During the internship period, she will be involved in i) research-related activities involving the hands-on discovery of new biological pathways in cancer metastasis and (ii) writing for publications.

“I have received a lot of support from my professors and Dr Swetha Pasupuleti, Associate Director, International Relations”, says Ms Bhavana. “From the beginning, all my professors have been very encouraging, and their suggestions and criticisms were constructive. Dr Swetha has been very supportive and reassuring during the application process, taking away my inhibitions. I feel excited about my internship”, she added.

To tackle barriers to postgraduate education, SRM University-AP has designed ambitious programmes that improve the admission of students to global institutions. International Relations and Higher Studies department ensure that all students and faculty on campus are supported and assisted in gaining access to resources in order to achieve the vision and mission of SRM University-AP in becoming a multidisciplinary global university.

Taking your knowledge and solving real-world problems is the true intention of education. SRM University-AP is delighted to see Pavan Kumar Chinta achieve this aspiration and obtain $1200 Bounty from Microsoft Bug Bounty Program on November 13, 2021. The
Bounty of $1200 was presented to Pavan by Mr Jason Pessemier, Microsoft Security Program Manager.

Pavan Kumar Chinta has keen enthusiasm with Cyber Security as specialization in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Microsoft is not the only company that Pavan has managed to impress.

He has also reported Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) a high severity bug , in Mercedes Benz portal, and Groww by finding Broken Authentication and Security Misconfiguration. He was acknowledged by both the organisations and received swags from Groww.

Pavan has spared no space in his investigation of bugs. He was acknowledged by NCIIPC (A unit of NTRO), the Government of India, for discovering Sensitive Information Disclosure like PNR, Name, Mobile Number, etc., of the passengers in IRCTC’s authorised partner. He has also reported bug issues to GeeksforGeeks and Google.

Pavan expressed “Prof. T Ragunathan, (Associate Dean (Engineering) – School of Engineering and Sciences), guided me and encouraged to study the University’s Cyber Security structures as well. With constant guidance from Dr Priyanka, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Engineering, I was able to work with pentesting tools and develop reconnaissance methodologies. This lockdown helped me to discover and build myself. His short-term goal is to secure MAMAA (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet).

This is an excellent start for a 3rd-year student. We hope to see the series of security risk investigations that began here to stay with him, and that he goes on to make tremendous achievements and makes the internet a safer space.

Dr Anil K Suresh’s innovative research has been brought into the limelight by the revered weekly magazine Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), published by the American Chemical Society. Dr Anil K Suresh, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and his team from SRM University-AP recently developed a see-through transparent (with 85% above transmittance) biotemplate which they derived from the fish scale wastes to substitute the extensive usage of eco-unfriendly disposal plastic cuvettes for UV-Visible Spectroscopy measurements in the spectrum of 350-900 nm.

UV-Vis spectroscopy is a versatile analytical tool used to examine the nature of various synthetic, biological and clinical molecules for pharmaceutical and environmental applications. The team members demonstrated the practical on-biotemplate analysis of diverse analytes such as DNA, proteins, nanoparticles, organic dyes, bacteria, BSA assay and dye-degradations. Dr Anil K Suresh owns the copyrights for this pathbreaking invention by being granted an Indian patent. This work was published in the prestigious Journal “Green Chemistry” by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Read the full paper here.

Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), which is widely known to feature articles of the best professional and technical innovative research work and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering, has acknowledged Dr Anil’s research by allowing it little room in their magazine in Volume 99, Issue 36 (Read the news here). C&EN includes information on recent news and research in chemistry and chemical engineering along with career and employment information, business and industry news, government and policy news, funding in these fields, and special reports.

“The magazine is very celebrated among researchers across the world. It is a great honour for my team and me to be featured in the magazine. This news magazine usually picks only top nature cell science publications among thousands, and My team and I are feeling great to be one of them,” said Dr Anil. Dr Anil further said that it would not be possible to carry out such prominent research work in a newly built establishment without the constant support from the management of SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. He has profoundly thanked Dr P Sathyanarayanan, President; Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor; Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, for their kind help and cooperation.

The University Management congratulated Dr Anil K Suresh on his achievement. Dr Sathyanarayanan said, “It is indeed a proud moment for the university to be featured on C&EN. I compliment Dr Anil and his team on their tireless work.” “Dr Anil and his team have executed an extraordinary work towards a green environment which should be emphasised in international journals. The Team’s dedication towards their research is commendable,” said Prof V S Rao. Prof D Narayana Rao opined that Dr Anil K Suresh is one of the most talented young biologists in the nation. “I have personally known him for some time being and working with him for a few years. Dr Anil is devoted biologist and pride of the university,” asserted Prof D Narayana Rao.

SRM University AP is happy to inform everyone that IIT Indore selected Akash Yadav of our Mechanical Engineering Department class of 2021 into a coveted Master’s Program. Akash is excited to start his M-Tech journey in Production and Industrial Engineering Program at IIT Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Indian Institute of Technology, Indore or IIT Indore was established by the Government of India for Engineering Studies to provide research-based education. It has become one of the pioneer research institutes in the country and is known for its innovation driven research and entrepreneurship.

Getting selected into IIT Indore is not the first of Akash’s many successes. Akash hails from Nepal and is a recipient of a prestigious scholarship under “Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha Scholarship Scheme” from Embassy of India, Kathmandu for his higher education. This scheme provides full scholarship to all students and even provides stipend to selected students.

Akash showed tremendous potential and was a feather in the cap of SRM University AP even before getting selected for M-Tech at IIT Indore. Along with pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, he completed four projects in four years in our labs. His project titled “Experimental Investigation of laminar length for Non-impinging Submerged Jets” was also awarded with a gold medal.

“I cannot forget the conscientious support of my mentors Dr. Prakash Jadhav and Dr. Surfaraz S Halkarni from Department of Mechanical Engineering during my projects.” Akash said, “Research based learning at SRM University AP, is the key to my success.”

We, the SRM Family, wish Akash all the success in his chosen path and are proud to share the table with IIT Indore as his alma matres. We are pleased that our research facilities could accommodate his innovative mind in the classroom and his ideas and designs in our laboratories.

Dr Anil K Suresh, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and his team from SRM University-AP recently developed a see-through transparent (with 85% above transmittance) biotemplate which they derived from the fish scale wastes to substitute the extensive usage of eco-unfriendly disposal plastic cuvettes for UV-Visible Spectroscopy measurements in the spectrum of 350-900 nm. UV-Vis spectroscopy is a versatile analytical tool used to examine the nature of various synthetic, biological and clinical molecules for pharmaceutical and environmental applications. The team members demonstrated the practical on-biotemplate analysis of diverse analytes such as DNA, proteins, nanoparticles, organic dyes, bacteria, BSA assay and dye-degradations.

Dr Anil claims that the large-scale development of the biotemplate can resolve several issues in performing sustainable research; for instance, generates huge demand for fish scales as a resource stratagem otherwise causative of foul smell and disease propagation when discarded. Second, the use of non-biodegradable plastic cuvettes can be minimized for routine analytics and third, unlike plastic cuvettes that demand 500-fold analyte our biotemplate allows the analysis at a very low 10 microlitre volumes, making it feasible to analyse expensive, rare, and high-risk analytes. Dr Anil K Suresh owns the copyrights for this pathbreaking invention by being granted an Indian patent. This work is accepted for publication in the prestigious Journal of “Green Chemistry” by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Read the full paper here.

Adding to the mechanistic, Dr Anil said, “naturally acquired droplet retaining ability for over 30 minutes against gravity while vertically positioning the biotemplate supported such ultra-low volume measurements and monitoring of chemical reactions in-situ”. Interestingly, the same ability allows the retrieval of the analytes after completion of the analysis, crucial for precious analytes. Dr Anil says the best part is that the transparent biotemplate can be discarded back into the environment post-usage without any hesitation as the biotemplate is completely biodegradable.

Further, the research group demonstrated ease in large-scale production by generating ~3000 bio templates at an affordable price. Dr Anil emphasised that this low-cost, plastic-free, use-and-throw biodegradable transparent biotemplate stemmed from food waste as a bioresource stratagem has huge potential in routine scientific and pharma UV-Vis analytics and he will very soon bring this product to the scientific community as a sustainable science solution.

Dr Anil Suresh concluded that this breakthrough conception would not have been possible without the rigorous efforts of his team and the continuous support from the university management, who are also encouraging and willing to support Dr Anil to establish his own start-up within the University. Dr Anil Suresh thanked his group members Ms Divya Parimi, Mr Chandra Bhatt, Mr Tharun Bollu and Ms Madhura, his collaborators Dr Malli and Mr Jacob. Dr Anil’s team especially thanked the management of SRM University-AP; the President Dr P. Sathyanarayanan for his generous support, Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for his constant untiring encouragement, motivation and support in all his scientific endeavours, and the Vice-Chancellor Prof V S Rao for his kind support.

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student of the Department of Biological Sciences at SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, Faraz Azeem, has been awarded a prestigious scholarship by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines. The scholarship will enable Faraz to carry out a part of his PhD research under the supervision of Dr Jauhar Ali, Senior Scientist-II, Head – Hybrid Rice Development Consortium (HRDC), Leader – Hybrid Rice Breeding Cluster, Rice Breeding Platform, International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines, for a period of one year and four months.

Faraz joined SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, in January 2021 and is working on “Understanding the genetics and molecular biology of nitrogen-use efficiency in rice” under the guidance of Prof Jayaseelan Murugaiyan, HoD, Department of Biological Sciences, SRM University-AP. Dr P Sathyanarayanan, President; Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor; Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SRM University-AP congratulated Faraz for this accomplishment.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is a global agricultural research and training organisation with offices in seventeen countries and headquarters in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. IRRI is well-known for its role in producing rice varieties that contributed to the 1960s Green Revolution, which helped Asia avoid famine. The CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres, a global alliance of institutions involved in food security research, includes 15 agricultural research centres worldwide. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is one of the Asia’s largest non-profit agricultural research facility.

SRM University-AP provides a wide array of opportunities and benefits along with its PhD Programmes. The nascent university has more than 150 PhD students to date in various departments of Engineering, Science, Liberal Arts, Business Administration and Social Sciences. SRM University-AP university has a vibrant research environment with state-of-the-art facilities along with attractive fellowship and complimentary food and accommodation at the university campus. The faculty advisers have paramount knowledge and experience in research along with international exposure. The university also provides support for journal publications, patent filing, and attending national and international conferences.

SRM University-AP further has MoUs with reputed universities abroad for Student Exchange Programme. In addition, the university is conducting research projects funded by prominent organisations, industries and the Government of India. Research projects sponsored by DST, DST-NSM, DBT, DBT-Wellcome Trust, UGC-DAE, ARBL, Titan industries etc are a few of the current ongoing projects.

Purab Agarwal from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has been successfully placed at Danske IT, a fully owned subsidiary of Danske Bank with an exciting CTC of 10 LPA. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru.

Danske IT, which has been in operation since 2015, is a fully owned subsidiary of the Danske Bank Group, Denmark’s largest bank and a leading bank in Northern Europe with a global presence. Danske IT is dedicated to providing cutting-edge, end-to-end solutions to clients by providing value through high-performing teams. They are also committed to assisting Danske Bank in realising its goal of becoming the most trusted financial partner in the world.

Purab Agarwal with overwhelming joy narrates his experience at SRM University-AP. “I was good in academics from the beginning of my degree. I believe that the curriculum helped me in enhancing my knowledge of different domains. It showed me a direction to what I need to pursue. CCC training organised by the placement cell of the university helped me a lot in my preparation. I had earlier also been shortlisted for ABInbev, Sahaj, Nielsen, and Bajaj Finserv. My advice to juniors would be to always be curious and humble.