The members of the IISc Alumni Association may know by now that the Institute is organizing the IISc Centenary Conference (IISc:100 Years and Beyond) on December 13-16, 2008 on its campus. The first day will be devoted to the alumni events, the inauguration and welcome function. Dr. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India,

and Prof. C.N.R. Rao have kindly agreed to speak at the function. Prof. Martin Rees, President, Royal Society, Prof. Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate, are among the ten distinguished speakers who will deliver keynote lectures, public lectures and Industry lectures. There will be panel discussions on India–A Knowledge Power; Opportunities and Challenges, Climate Changes, Reinventing IISc for the next Century. The seven Interdisciplinary Workshops and five Divisional Workshops will be conducted with distinguished members drawn from all over the globe including some of our alumni. For details, please visit www.iisc.ernet.in/centenary-conf

This website will be updated peroidically. It has all details regarding registration and payment, gateway, etc. I invite all Alumni to register for the Conference and be with us on all the four days.

M.L. MunjalCentenary ConferenceCo-Chair,

Centenary ConferenceDecember 13–16, 2008

Newsletter of IISc Alumni Association Volume 1 | Issue 3 | September 2008

We have completed the AGBM for

2007-2008 on August 2, 2008 and now

all eyes are on the most important

event, Centenary Conference - to be

held between December 13 and 16,

2008. We have made a tentative plan

of the Alumni events on Dec 13 starting

from 8.30 A.M. till 1.00 P.M. Later in the afternoon the

Conference will be inaugurated by two distinguished

personalities Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, past President of

India and Prof. C.N.R Rao, Chairman, Scientific Advisory

Council to the Prime Minister of India. This will be

followed by a cultural program and Alumni Association

will host the dinner in the night.

The Centenary conference can only be held once in 100

years. We are fortunate that we have the opportunity to

attend this event. A glorious occasion to meet old

classmates, friends and current faculty, and also witness

IISc being show cased. Many distinguished scientists and

industrialists are selected as keynote speakers and for

panel discussions. We are expecting a sizeable number of

Alumni to attend from abroad. I request Alumni from

India and abroad to register in large numbers and make

the Conference a memorable one.

President's Message

IISc Alumni Cell

The Indian Institute of Science is truly proud of its brilliant alumni who are positioned all over the globe and have distinguished themselves in all spheres of high-end science and technology.

The IISc Alumni Cell was formed in February 2007 to network all the IISc alumni and create a single Global IISc Community. The vision of the Alumni Cell is to provide to all the IISc alumni a pleasant and friendly interface with their Alma mater. In association with the IISc Alumni Association and its various chapters, it helps the alumni to have close interaction with the administration, faculty and students of IISc.

Its office is located in Bungalow No. 12 adjacent to the IISc Alumni Association office on the campus.

The Alumni Cell website http://alumni.iisc.ernet.in/ provides links to the Centers of Excellence, Departments, International Relations Cell, Centre for Scientific & Industrial Consultancy, Society for Innovation & Development, Entrepreneurship & Incubation Centre, Archives Cell, Portal for Donation, Alumni Reunions & Current events at IISc including IISc Centenary Conference to be held during December 13-16, 2008, to keep the alumni regularly informed about the various ongoing activities at IISc. This will enable the alumni to not only participate in these activities but also connect their own research institutions and organizations with the faculty and students for mutual benefit.

S. Mohan

Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, UNESCO Chair in

Ecotechnology, MS Swaminathan

Research Foundat ion, Chennai , rddelivered the 3 Centenary Lecture on

t hJune 15 , 2008 on “Sc ient i f i c

Management of the Impact of Climate

Change on Agriculture” at the Faculty

Hall of IISc. Dr. Swaminathan was elected

as a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Science recently, a

distinction which only a few have achieved in the past 100

years. He was the architect behind the Green Revolution of

the 1960. He started the lecture explaining its benefits

including food security. India has 115 million farmers today

and we need at this time something similar to the Green

revolution of 1968.

The Global warming which might raise the level of the sea

and submerge certain fertile areas need a detailed analysis.

Also global food crisis started by increasing population and

increase in oil prices will influence these plans. He said that

the ever-rising oil and commodity prices have been posing a

threat to both food and fuel, the most precious assets of our

future. Therefore, it is the pressing need to emphasize on a

reliable and affordable food security as that will strengthen

the national sovereignty apart from bridging the urban-rural

technological, economic and gender divides. Changes in

temperature, precipitation, floods, reduction in fresh water

availability are some of the climatic factors that affect

agriculture grossly. Government of India has hence taken up

“National Action Plan” on climate change, focusing on

sustainable energy, habitat, agriculture, etc. Growing

drought-and temperature-tolerant crops, nutritional value

crops, mixed cropping, establishing gene, seed and grain

banks, water security system are some of the better

agricultural strategies that can be deployed. National

programmes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Sustainable

Rice Intensification are targeted towards land, water and

seed saving. Energy should be tapped from extensively

available bio-mass, biogas, solar and wind. There are

engineering projects which could control floods and store

water for drought-affected years. There are certain life-

saving plants which provide the required nutrition with

minimal consumption and the issue of growing them should

be addressed. Mangrove forests have proved to be genetic

shield against rise in sea level and so has Prosopis for adverse

changes in precipitation. Therefore the call of the time is to

move from Green to Evergreen revolution that aims to

increase productivity without the associated ecological

harm. The foundation of this evergreen revolution is the

integration of best of the technologies. And so it is important

for rural knowledge to be updated time to time making

connectivity possible to last mile and last person through

information technology.

B. Dattaguru & H.S. Savithri

2Newsletter of IISc Alumni Association

Centenary lecture byDr. M.S. Swaminathan

This is a festive year

those associated with the Indian Institute of

Science. Hundred years are a remarkable

period in the existence of any institution or

individual. An occasion of this kind is a

lifetime opportunity and needs to be

appropriately celebrated. The mother of all

celebrations is the IISc Centenary Conference and is fast

approaching. All of us are eagerly awaiting to participate in this

conference and make it a grand success.

It is a matter of pride to be an alumnus of IISc. The Alumni

Association (IIScAA) is becoming more active with time. This is

evident with the number of programmes and events being

organized. All these activities are being reported in the

successive newsletters. IIScAA is envisaging more such activities

with the support of all its alumni. Suggestions are invited from all

in this regard. The all-round progress in the activities is being

augmented by the enthusiastic participation of many alumni.

Prominent role is being played by the Alumni Cell in bringing all

alumni closer.

My sincere thanks are due to the proactive Executive Committee

(EC), Honorable Advisors, and the Editorial Board. It has

potential to grow, like bringing out special issues and increasing

the number of pages, if the alumni could send more information.

K.S. Rajanandam

for the Alumni and to all

Editorial

IIScAA is extremely thankful to the Institutions and

Organizations which are sponsoring the IISc Alumni to

attend the Centenary Conference. The information

about such support may be sent to the Association to be

mentioned in the next issue.

Upcoming EventsIISc Centenary Conference - December 13-16, 2008.

Please visit the website :

http://www.iisc.ernet.in/centenary-conf

Division of Chemical Sciences will be organizing an

International Conference on “Hydrogen and Hydrogen

Storage; Methods and Materials” - January 3-6, 2009.

Please visit the website :

http://ipc.iisc.ernet.in/~H3_2009.

3Newsletter of IISc Alumni Association

Managing Complexity in a Distributed World

May 27, 2008 was a landmark day for the Institute since it was the first day of the centenary year of IISc. To mark this milestone, the Division of Electrical Sciences organized a centenary conference with the theme "Managing Complexity in a Distributed World" from May 27th to May 31st. The forward-looking theme of the conference envisioned the growing importance of the design, optimization, control, implementation and management of complex distributed systems such as distributed security and surveillance systems, content distribution networks, intelligent transportation systems, integrated hybrid power systems, multihop wireless networks, etc.

The conference commenced in a befitting way through an IISc Centenary Lecture delivered by Professor Andrew J. Vitterbi, a celebrity in Electrical Sciences, who gave an illuminating talk entitled "The Foundations of the Digital Wireless World". Another highlight of the conference was an Alumni Evening that was organized on May 30, 2008. The program was attended by more than 600 alumni all of whom inscribed their names and signatures on two canvas boards that were specially made for this purpose. The evening featured an interesting, interactive quiz program entitled "Know your Electrical Sciences Division" followed by a thought-provoking panel session "Are we Ready for the 21st Century." There were enthralling speeches by Professor H.N. Ramachandra Rao, the grand old man (99 year old), a former Professor of Electrical Sciences and by Prof. P. Balaram, Director, IISc.

Y. Narahari

International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IC-ICAME)

As part of the Institute's Centenary celebrations, the Department of Mechanical Engineering organized a conference entitled “IISc Centenary – International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (IC-ICAME)” between 2and 4 July 2008. The conference was held at the National Science Seminar Complex (NSSC) of the Institute. It was inaugurated by Prof. A. Ramachandran, a former Chairman of the department, who has held many senior positions including as head of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the Department of Science and Technology. The other guests of honour were Prof. P. Balaram and Prof J. Srinivasan. The focus of the conference was on young researchers and a number of contributed papers were presented by young researchers from academia, research labs and industry. The total number of contributed papers was in excess of 200 covering all the major areas of Mechanical Engineering including Mechanical systems and MEMS, Materials science and Nano-technology, Thermal sciences and Fluid mechanics, and Vibrations and Acoustics. The tone for this special conference was set by 12 invited talks from eminent people in the key disciplines of Mechanical Engineering from around the world. As part of the conference, the department also had a open house to showcase the various research activities of the department. The guest of honour for the valedictory function was Prof. L. S. Srinath, a former Chairman of the department, who is also an ex-Director of IIT-Madras.

Alumni Meet

An Alumni Meet was organised by Department of Mechanical Engineering on July 5, 2008, following the IISc Centenary International Conference on Mechanical Engineering. About 80 alumni attended and interacted with current faculty members and students. After getting a glimpse of the history of the department from some senior alumni, the reminiscences from the alumni chosen randomly to represent different decades provided a nostalgic, memory down the lane express. The meet concluded with a panel discussion on the future of Alumni-Department interaction.

Satish V. Kailas

Conferences held as part of Centenary Celebrations

International Conference on FractureThe Interquadrennial Conference of the International Congress on Fracture (IQCICF08) was held at the National Science Seminar Complex (NSSC) of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, between August 3 and 7, 2008. It was aimed at bringing together eminent scientists and practising engineers to discuss recent research developments in fracture and fatigue of materials and was organized under the auspices of the International Congress of Fracture. A total of eighty-nine oral presentations and about twenty poster presentations were made by scientists from Asia, USA and Europe. About 170 registered delegates participated in the conference. The conference concluded with a panel discussion in which experts identified important areas in the fields of fracture and fatigue that require further investigation in the next few years.

R. Narasimhan and B.K. Raghuprasad

International ISSS ConferenceThe Institute of Smart Structures & Systems (ISSS), conducted as a part

thof IISc centenary celebrations, the 5 International conference on Smart materials, Structures & Systems along with IISc and the Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) at the J.N.Tata Auditorium between 24 and 26, July 2008. The conference was attended by 350 scientists from India and abroad and more than 100 papers were presented on this newly emerging field. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. S.G.Dhande, Director, IIT, Kanpur. The session was addressed by the conference Chairmen Prof. P Balaram, Director IISc and Dr. V K Aatre, Visiting Professor, IISc (Former Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri) and the session was presided over by Sri G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO. There was a wide coverage of topics including Design and Packaging of Sensors & Actuators, Signal Processing & Control, Vibration mitigation, Structural Health Monitoring and Nano Technology.

S. GopalakrishnanProf. A. Ramachandran is lighting the lamp during the inauguration of

IC-ICAME, Profs. P. Balaram, J. Srinivasan & J. Arakeri look on

Contact Information

Newsletter of IISc Alumni Association

IISc Alumni AssociationIndian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012Telephone: +91 80 23600180 / 22932597E-mail: info@iiscalumni.com, ksrajanandam@gmail.com Website: www.iiscalumni.com

How to become a MemberAn Alumni can become a member of IISc Alumni Association by submitting an application. The fee details and other formalities are :

1. Rs.1010/- towards Donor Membership and ID Card (India ) – One Time Payment Only.

2. US $ 200 towards Donor Membership and ID Card ( Overseas ) – One Time Payment Only.

3. In case of cheque payment – it should be made payable to ‘IISc Alumni Association’. In case of outstation cheque, Rs.25/- to be added towards Bank Commission Charges.

4. Two Photographs for issuing ID Card.

Please send your application to Sri V. Babu Sathian, Hon. General Secretary at the address given in contact information

Editor : Dr. K.S. Rajanandam, Hon. Joint Secretary, IIScAA

Editorial Board : Dr. K.S. Rajanandam, Dr. T.A. Abinandanan , Sri V. Babu Sathian, Prof. B. Dattaguru, Prof. E.D. Jemmis, Prof. S. Ranganathan, Prof. H.S. Savithri and Sri K. Sreenivasa Rao

Published by the Indian Institute of Science Alumni Association (IIScAA). Printed at : Navbharath Press, Seshadripuram, Bangalore - 560 020, Ph: 2356 1142, 2346 4682, E-mail : navbarat@gmail.com

4

Breakfast event held on Sunday, July 27, 2008

IISc Alumni Association-Bangalore chapter has organized a breakfast meeting on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at The Energy Research Institute (TERI) Complex, Domlur. The meeting is the first Alumni breakfast meet to be conducted outside the IISc campus. The response was good and close to 150 Alumni attended the meet.

During this meeting, the participants had an interaction with a special invitee, Mr. V Ravichandar, a member of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force. Ravichandar has narrated the Task Force’s experiences in interacting with various civic bodies in Bangalore and the kind of changes the Task force could bring forward in issues related to Bangalore citizens, including the widely acclaimed self assessment scheme for the property tax. During his talk, he has also explained about the current initiatives u n d e r t a k e n u n d e r t h e " C i t y C o n n e c t " b a n n e r (www.cityconnect.in) in various metros in India. He has invited the Bangalore chapter to become an official partner to facilitate the IISc Alumni in Bangalore to take active part in the future initiatives connected to Bangalore urban infrastructure and governance.

The alumni, who attended this meeting, appreciated the fruitful interaction they had with Mr. Ravichandar and The Bangalore chapter is initiating moves to become a partner in the city connect initiatives.

V. Gopalakrishna

.

Prof. M Ramakrishna Rao, Formerly Professor and C h a i r m a n , D e p t . o f Instrumentation, IISc.

Prof. B. S. Ramakrishna, F o r m e r l y P r o f e s s o r, Chairman of Electrical Sciences Division, IISc.

P ro f.Murthy, Formerly Head, Dept. of Inorganic & Physical Chemistry, IISc.

A . R . Va s u d e va

Prof. K. P. Abraham, F o r m e r l y P r o f e s s o r, Materials Engg. Dept., IISc.

IIScAA Activities

Annual General Body Meeting :

Distinguished Alumni Award :

Distinguished Gurus :

Alumni Association is vibrant. Alumni are eagerly awaiting the Breakfast Meets. The activities associated with Centenary Celebration is evoking lot of excitement. The great event – Centenary Conference will be held on December 13 – 16, 2008 and

th13 December will be devoted as ALUMNI DAY. We plan to have a grand Alumni Fellowship Nite on December 12, 2008.

The Annual General Body Meeting stwas held on August 2, 2008. The Accounts for the year ending 31

March 2008 was passed. Many of the members came out with very good suggestions which will be implemented soon. Further, four Senior Retired Distinguished Gurus were honoured.

Prof. P. Balaram, Director, IISc., presented the Distinguished Alumni Award – 2006 to Dr. Prathima Agrawal, Samuel Ginn Distinguished Professor and Director, Wireless Engg. Research & Education Centre, ECE Dept., Auburn University, USA, on August 2, 2008 at Faculty Hall, IISc.

The following Distinguished Gurus were felicitated on August 2, 2008, at the Faculty Hall, IISc.

Kudos

1. Prof. G. Mugesh, IPC Dept., & Prof. U. Ramamurthy, Materials

Engg., Dept. were awarded Swarnajayanti Fellowship.

2. Mr. Nayan Patel, IISc. Alumnus, M.Sc., CEDT, won Techno

Inventor Award 2008 given by Indian Semiconductor

Association (ISA).

3. Dr. Siddhartha Gadgil (Maths), Dr. T. Kavitha (CSA), Dr. D.K.

Simanshu (MBU), Dr. Ashish Garg (MatE) and Dr. Sharmistha

Sinha (MBU) win INSA Young Scientist Award, 2008.

4. Dr. Parthasarathy Mukherjee, IPC Dept., was awarded INSA

Medal for Young Scientists for the year 2008

5. Prof. A.R. Chakravarty and Prof. K.L. Sebastian, IPC Dept., were

awarded J.C. Bose Fellowships.

V. Babu SathianHon. Secretary, IIScAA