Introduction

To foster a high level of creativity and innovation among its students, IIT (ISM) has undertaken the development of a Tinkering and Innovation Lab at the campus. It’s a small step in raising the ranking of our Alma Mater as one of the top ten colleges in India.

Background

Leading engineering institutes all over the world starting from MIT’s Fabrication Laboratory (fab lab), Harvard’s Innovation Laboratory(I-lab), and many of the IIT’s have similar innovation labs. It has been felt for many years that IIT (ISM) needed a similar lab at the campus to provide hands-on experience to students to work on new and creative ideas that could ultimately lead to new products and services.

Project Development

After a year of proposal development that included a visit to other innovation labs, IIT (ISM) developed a detailed plan to build a world-class facility at the campus.

The lab, currently in the completion phase is located in one of the floors in the newly constructed GRIHA Compliant building inside the institute. The approx. floor space of the Centre is about 10,000 sq. feet. The building along with all the facilities and equipment shall be shared by all the students of the Institute.

Some of the major facilities and equipment that the lab would provide are 3D Printers, 3D Scanners, CNC Lathes, sheet metal cutting, welding and carpentry tools, CO2 Laser Acrylic cutter, and soldering and woodworking stations.

Other electronic and computer equipment includes GPU workstations, Electronics/robotics workstations, IoT (Internet of things) workstations, multilayer PCB printers, and laser workstation.

In short, this lab will have all the necessary equipment to build a prototype of any innovation. Work on equipment acquisition has already begun.

Project Cost and funding

The cost estimate of the project is slightly above the US $1.2 million. Mr. Naresh Vashisht (PE’67) President Omimex Resources, Fort Worth TX and ISMAANA member has generously committed to provide the required funds for the lab. The lab shall be named “Naresh Vashisht Centre for Tinkering & Innovation”.

Project Status

In February 1, 2020, Dr. Rajiv Shekhar Director IIT (ISM) gave a tour of the newly constructed facility to Naresh Vashisht along with Dipak Sarkar from ISMAANA. The first batch of equipment for the laboratory has been ordered and the initial staff to run the facility hired. Due to Corona Virus related lockdown, work on facility was temporarily stopped but is scheduled to restart once the lockdown is lifted.

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter Dr. Piyush Dutta (60’Mining) started an innovation prize of Rs 1 lakh a year for the most innovative project in the areas of Mining and Mineral technologies. Four students with their project ideas are currently shortlisted for this award. Final selection to be made after the college restarts.

In a related news IIT(ISM) has been selected by the department of science and technology of the central government for the establishment of a mining technology innovation hub under the National Mission for Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NMICPS) aimed at the use of smart technologies in the Mining Sector.

According to a statement issued by the institute, an initial grant of Rs 7 crore has been sanctioned to initiate the process of setting up the hub, by preparing a detailed project report.

“We will prepare a detailed project report on the project worth around Rs 180 crore in tune with the initial proposal submitted in January to the department of science and technology in which the focus was on the use of smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, communication, and robotics for mining exploration, exploitation, and eco-restoration,” Dheeraj Kumar, a professor in the mining engineering department of IIT(ISM), said. Kumar said 45 institutes had applied for the establishment of a technology innovation hub in different areas. Out of them, 17 IITs, including IIT(ISM), have been selected on the basis of their proposals followed by a presentation.

Seldom in our lifetime, do we come across such people who prove to be an epitome of what one expects from an outstanding philanthropist. Mr. Naresh Vashisht (Petroleum Engineering, 1967 Batch), with his humongous donation of $1.157 Million (8.2 Crores approx.), proves to be one such example. This donation is one of the biggest donations ever made to a premier institute in the country.

Charity, as they say, begins at home. Mr. Naresh Vashisht, an alumnus of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, has turned out as the greatest benefactors of IIT (ISM), through his generous donation to the institute’s Endowment Fund. His gift shall impart many benefits to the student community, one of which is, setting up a Tinkering & Innovation Lab at IIT (ISM).

The lab which shall bear his name, “Naresh Vashisht Centre for Tinkering & Innovation”, will foster a high level of creativity and innovation among its students and provide an innovative workspace for them to experiment, learn & transform their ideas into real-time engineering projects. This shall lead to a boost in products, services & patents incubated by the institute. This would prove to be the next stepping stone for the institute to consolidate its claim to one of the premier institutions worldwide.

It was after a yearlong period of tiresome research that a proposal for grant was developed. The proposal to build a world-class facility at the campus was generously adopted by Mr. Naresh Vashisht. The lab, with a space of about 10,000 sq. meter shall have its premises in the newly constructed GRIHA Compliant building inside the institute. The lab along with all the facilities and equipment shall be available to all the students of the Institute.

MR. VASHISHT’s MOTIVATION

Mr. Vashisht is a success story that one would love to read. In the last 28 years, he has been associated with an astonishing total of twenty-six companies. Though he comes from quite humble beginnings, born in a lower-middle-class family in Sambalpur, Odisha. After the sudden & sad event of his father’s death, he along with his mother and two brothers, moved to Phagwara, Punjab to live with his mother’s two brothers who were subsistence farmers. He did his schooling on scholarships, and after graduating from ISM in 1967, he set sail to gain experience in many Oil & Gas Multinationals before starting his entrepreneurial journey in 1987. Voyaging through all ups and downs, he reached the pinnacle of success and is currently the Founder & CEO of Omimex Resources Incorporation.

Given his humble origins, Mr. Vashisht strongly believes in giving back to the society, and through his charitable trust, the Naresh Vashisht Foundation, he makes multiple donations to projects supporting and enabling the financially weak pursue their dreams. Scholarships from his foundation also help financially weak students from IIT (ISM) and support numerous other Nobel causes. His sole advice to young people is:

“Explore as much as you can, run towards things that others run away from
taking calculated risk in order to achieve an extraordinary return on
investments, that is how I achieved all that I have today.”

Reference: The above article was taken from the IIT ISM newsletter.

Naresh Vashisht ISMAANA receives Distinguished Alumni award

Mr. Naresh Vashisht (PE’67) received Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT (ISM) Director Dr. Rajiv Shekhar during the annual Basant function at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad on February 2, 2020. Naresh received the award in 2018 but accepted it during his visit to the IIT (ISM) campus this year to review the work on Innovation and Tinkering Laboratory that he is funding. Naresh is a strong supporter of his alma mater providing 20 scholarships of Rs. 1 Lakh each annually to needy meritorious students. Our heartiest congratulations to Naresh for this well-deserved award.

Dipak Sarkar President ISMAANA receives  Distinguished Alumni award

Mr. Dipak Sarkar (PE’67) President ISMAANA received a Distinguished Alumni award from Dr. Rajeev Shekhar, Director IIT (ISM) at the annual Basant Function on February 2, 2020, at Dhanbad. During Dipak’s tenure at ISMAANA, we have been able to get sponsors for 52 merit cum means scholarships for needy meritorious students at IIT (ISM). Additionally, the start of the innovation lab as well as several awards such as outstanding teaching award, outstanding researcher award as well as innovation prizes were instituted.
In the citation for the award, IIT (ISM) recognized his outstanding contribution to his alma mater by awarding him the “Nagendra Kumar Memorial Award” for the year 2019. Below are a couple of pictures from the award ceremony.

IIT(ISM) has chosen 10 existing premier lecture halls to be converted to world-class smart classrooms. The objectives of smart classrooms are to provide an enhanced learning experience to students via real-time e-learning with help of audios and videos, multimedia, images, online web conferences, PPT presentations, and 2D & 3D animations. The work includes soundproofing, adding the latest audiovisual equipment, and installing computer equipment to teach online classes. Four ISMAANA alumni have graciously come forward to sponsor five lecture hall upgrades. They are Dr. Pramod Thakur (61ME) who is sponsoring the upgrade of MIN1, Mining Engineering lecture hall in the Heritage building, Dr. Mohinder Gulati (62PE), who is sponsoring upgrading of 2 lecture halls, one in the Petroleum Engineering building and one in the new lecture hall complex. Avinash Ahuja (67PE) is sponsoring one upgrade at the new lecture hall complex, and Yugal Gupta (68PE) is sponsoring the upgrade of the IT classroom in the new lecture hall complex.

The funding requirement of each lecture hall upgrade is Rs. 18 Lakhs. We appreciate the generous contribution of the above alumni for the smart classroom upgrades.
Dr. Dheeraj Kumar of IIT(ISM) informs us that Hyderabad based alumni Dr. A.N.Gupta (66ME) is funding two smart classroom projects and discussions are ongoing with an Indian Company Epirock to fund two more smart classroom projects. This leaves one lecture hall that still needs sponsors for the upgrade.

As with usual tradition, the alumni attending the SME (Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration) conference met at Indian Delhi Palace in Phoenix, AZ. This year the event was hosted by our beloved alumni Rohini Sharma (1967, Mining). He is also based in the Phoenix area. We are doing these get-togethers since 2008 (the first social event was in Salt Lake City), so this was our 12th social event in continuation.

Rohini sir welcomed everyone. Along with Rohini sir (SME Legion of honor member), two other senior-most alumni Dr. Madan Singh (1956, Mining) and Dr. Ramani (1962, Mining and SME Past President) shared their experiences. The event followed by a formal introduction in the ISM way. Vishal apprised the alumni of various efforts for scholarships and other activities taken up by the ISM alumni association of North America. This year was special as few guests (the better half of Dr. Ramani and Dr. Singh, and Amit Jain’s colleague from Derrick Corp) also joined the event

It was indeed a joyous occasion, and everyone enjoyed the social get-together. It’s just once a year that we all get-together during SME meeting, alumni come from different states and sometimes even travel as far from India to attend this conference and making this evening more special. With this, I would like to thank alumni to take some time out to celebrate ISMite get-together to cherish the glorious days of IIT(ISM) during the SME meeting.

Long live IIT(ISM)

During Basant Festival at IIT (ISM) on February 1 and 2, Diamond Jubilee of 1960 batch and Golden Jubilee of 1970 batch were celebrated with much fanfare and several gatherings where the alumni met to reacquaint old friendships and reminisce of good old student days.

Among 1960 batch Dr. Piyush Dutta of ISMAANA and sponsor for innovation prize attended the reunion. Other notables among the attendees were Mr. D.V. Pichamuthu and Mr. M.M. Seam.

Several ISMAANA members attended the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1970 batch. Those included Dr. Ganesh Thakur, Pradip Gangopadhyay, and Ishwar Singh. Below are couple of group photos of the attendees.

Dear ISMAANA members:

We wish happy holidays to all our alumni. May the new year bring fulfillment of your fondest wishes.

ISMAANA continues to work on many projects to assist our alma mater as well as our North America based alumni. During the last academic year (2018-19), 38 merit cum means scholarships were awarded to IIT (ISM) students. Twenty-nine students are carrying over their scholarships to the new academic year (2019-20). Selection of 23 remaining scholarships are currently underway for a total of 52 merit cum means scholarships to be awarded in the current year.

This is in addition to 8 merit scholarship being awarded to eight fourth-year students in four earth science branches based on their academic performance during the first 3 years. More details are provided under ISMAANA scholarship programs.

Work has started to build an innovation and tinkering lab at IIT (ISM). Naresh Vashisht (PE’67) has generously agreed to fund this project estimated to cost $1.2 million. A detailed announcement of the project is provided in this newsletter.

Dr. Piyush Dutta (60’Mining) has instituted an annual Innovation prize of Rs. 1 lakh at IIT (ISM) for the student who develops and prototypes the best original idea in the Mining technologies. The process for such selection has already started.

IIT (ISM) alumni in North America alumni had several gatherings around the country. We meet on different occasions to develop fellowship among alumni and to strengthen bonds between us and with our alma mater. We have provided coverage of such gatherings in this newsletter

ISMAANA newsletter is being published on a regular basis to exchange communication with our North America based alumni. Our thanks to Vishal Gupta, Secretary, for this sincere effort.

An alumni database development program is ongoing for the last two years with dedicated efforts of Gaurav Seth. If you know of any alumnus who is not receiving our newsletter, please let Gaurav know at smile.gaurav@gmail.com.

We started a fund-raising program in 2018 to enhance our endowment funds to continue and expand the merit scholarship program and to fund outstanding research projects at our alma mater. Additional funds are also needed to help IIT (ISM) students attend international seminars and conferences. The scarcity of funds limits us from considering many such requests during the year. Many of you have already contributed to the alumni fund. We seek your continuous support to enhance the ISMAANA endowment fund. You may write your tax-deductible donation check to “Indian School of Mines Alumni” and send it to our treasurer Atul Kumar at 46 Huntsman Horn Circle, The Woodlands, TX 77380.

If you have any feedback to improve ISMAANA’s role or would like to contribute articles or news events or have any other comments, please send us a note.

Thank you.

Sincerely
Dipak Sarkar
President ISMAANA (’67 PE)
dksarkar@aol.com

Currently, ISMAANA has two types of ongoing scholarship programs.

1) Merit Scholarships – Eight final year students were awarded ISMAANA merit scholarship earlier this month. ISMAANA started these scholarships in 2015 to recognize the top two students in four earth science branches based on the first three years’ academic performance. As our funds permit, we plan to extend these scholarships to other branches of study. Below is a list of merit scholarship winners with their pictures of receiving the award along with faculty advisors.

2) Merit cum means scholarships – These scholarships started in 2017 and currently, ISMAANA has alumni commitment for 52 such scholarships that are based on family income and academic performance. The amount of these scholarships range from $1000/year to $1370/year. These scholarships are intended to mainly cover student expenses related to room, board, and transportation. During the 2018-19 academic year, 38 such scholarships were awarded to undergraduate students. For the current academic year of 2019-20, 29 students carry over their scholarships from last year while 9 final year students graduated. IIT (ISM) has advertised for applications for the remaining 23 scholarships.

Scholarship donors with number of committed scholarships in parenthesis are Naresh Vashisht (20), Avinash Ahuja (10), Suresh Chugh (4), Mohinder Gulati (1), Pramod Thakur (1), Jatinder Tuli (1) Dipak Sarkar (1), Zoeb Mogri (1), Shishir Agrawal (1), Yugal Gupta (4), Mahendra Verma (2), Atul Arya (1), Sriram Muralidharan (1), and Raj Prasad (1). During 2019 we received sponsorships for 3 more scholarships, 2 from Bijay Banthia (61’PE) and one from Rana Roy (94’PE).
As news of these scholarships spread more alumni are coming forward to offer these scholarships to needy meritorious students. If you need more information about these scholarships, please call Dipak Sarkar at 714 826-2810 or write to dksarkar@aol.com.