Hands-on training at workshop

A four-day national workshop on computational chemistry inaugurated on Friday provides a unique opportunity for young researchers to get hands-on training in an exciting field of science which has applications ranging from molecular analysis to drug design.

 The workshop has been jointly organised by Srinivasa Ramanujan Institute for Basic Sciences (SRIBS), a capacity building initiative of Kerala State Council for Science, Technology & Environment and Indian Institute for Information Technology and Management - Kerala. It aims to provide young researchers an idea of some of the computational techniques that are available and when and how they can be used in their research. The workshop has more than 100 participants, including postgraduate students in science, researchers and teachers. The computer lab at IIITM-K will enable hands-on learning for the participants. The four-day workshop will cover basic lectures in quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics. It will also include talks on latest scientific research and lab sessions on computational experiments.

 Among the speakers are Prof S R Gadre, Academic Chair, IIT Kanpur; Prof E D Jemmis, IISER, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr N Sastry, IICT, Hyderabad; Dr S Kulkarni, Life Science Technologies, Pune; Prof R N Shirsat, Goa University, Dr V Subramanian, CLRI, Chennai and Dr K L Sebastian, IISC Bangalore. The workshop is dedicated to the memory of Prof P T Narasimhan, the distinguished and highly respected theoretical chemist who passed away early in May this year.