BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar has become the first IIT to introduce Odishi in its curriculum for first year students. Already 10 students have enrolled in the first batch of Odishi which will be an elective course for the B. Tech students.
The institute has engaged renowned Odishi exponents Kumkum Mohanty and Ratikant Mohapatra as guest faculties for the subject. Students who chose the course can go upto to receiving a diploma in Odishi from the institute, IIT Bhubaneswar Director, Prof RV Raja Kumar said.
Briefing mediapersons here on Friday, Kumar said many new programmes would be started in the next academic session.
Besdies Odishi, the Institute has started elective courses in Sports, Humanities and Management and Entrepreneurship, he said.
The proposed Ocean Observatory to be set up on the sea coast in Puri is a significant move towards research on the ocean, earth and climatic interactions which will further help in climatic predictions, Kumar said.
"The behaviour of the Bay of Bengal has remains unpredictable as data available on its turbulent patterns are insufficient. The ocean observatory would be an appropriate platform for research on the bay," Kumar added.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has approved a grant of Rs 9.23 crore for starting development of the observatory while the Odisha Government had earlier agreed to provide land for the project which would be set up at Sipasarabali in Puri.
A state-of-the-art Design and Innovation Centre would be set up at the institute's new campus at Arugul in Jatni, he said. The institute will hold its fourth convocation on Saturday. This year 12 doctorates, 44 M Tech, 50 M Sc and 109 B Tech students will graduate from the institute.
Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Zubin Irani would deliver the convocation address and Chairman Board of Governors, IIT Bhubaneswar would preside over the ceremony.
The President of India Gold Medal will be awarded to Sushant Sachan of School of Mechanical Sciences for best academic performance in the outgoing B Tech (Honours) batch. The Director’s Gold Medal will be awarded to Pratik Nayak of School of Infrastructure who has topped all branches of M Tech.
Director’s Gold Medal would be awarded to Anudeep Nain of School of Basic Sciences (Mathematics) for best academic performance in M Sc batches. For best academic performance in respective schools, the Institute Silver Medals will be awarded to Pratik Nayak, Pothapakula Praveen Kumar, Chandradhar S, Laxman Kumar Malla and Shreeja Das of the outgoing M Tech batch.
Among the top performers of the graduating B Tech (Hons) batch, the Institute’s Silver Medal will be awarded to Soubhagya Karmakar, Sriram Venkatesh and Sushant Sachan. For best performance in M Sc batches this year, Arijit Maity, Soumita Boral, Anudeep Nain and Amrita Purkayastha will be awarded the Institute Silver Medal, Prof Kumar informed.