IIT Guwahati: Looking back at the highlights of 2021

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has made breakthrough progress in the year 2021. Here are the highlights of the year:

Research and Innovation

· Researchers of IIT Guwahati developed technology to provide iron, arsenic, fluoride, and other contaminants-free drinking water to the rural people of Assam with the help of their various prototype units and innovative technology. Several such units are being installed in Assam and other northeastern states.

· The institute Invented biodegradable low-cost composite wound dressing film.

· The institute researchers reported novel behaviour of electrons in a conductor. The study is expected to lead to exciting outcomes in the future and will have implications in several technologies.

· The institute’s researchers also made fundamental contributions to memory architectures by preventing redundancy in data values and improving slow and frequent writes in the multi-core processor systems.

· It developed a ‘Nanometer Thick Superhydrophobic Coating’ material to modify ordinary cloth or silk masks that maintains its comfort but offers better protection against aerosol-driven infections such as COVID-19.

· A group of researchers successfully developed hydrogel-based electrodes that could enhance the performance of an energy storage device.

· As an innovative solution to address the environmental crisis, IIT Guwahati researchers have developed a novel highly porous and water repellent superhydrophobic cotton composite material containing Metal-Organic Framework (MOF), which can absorb oil selectively from the oil-water mixture.

· It also developed a novel water repellent material that can be used for real-time monitoring of human movements. The material developed is flexible, non-stretchable and environmentally friendly that can detect low strains with high sensitivity.

· Researchers succeeded in developing novel materials that can use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

· It also developed hybrid perovskite-based solar or photovoltaic devices to produce electricity from the sunlight, which are highly efficient, cost-effective, easy to manufacture, and easily recyclable.

New Infrastructure

· The chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated a new Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR) at the institute.

· In September 2021, IIT Guwahati launched the Centre for Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems (CICPS), aimed at developing indigenous technologies. The centre targets developing a minimum of five technologies a year.

· In November 2021, Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of education, skill development and entrepreneurship, visited IIT Guwahati and inaugurated the state-of-the-art Centre for Nanotechnology (CNT) building and Centre for Indian Knowledge System (CIKS) as well as two hostels. The CIKS also initiated a course on spoken Assamese language on campus.

· In November 2021, General VK Singh (retd), minister of State Civil Aviation, government of India, inaugurated India’s First Academic Centre for Drone Technology, Skill Development Center and Drone Airport at IIT Guwahati. Called ‘AHOM Droneports,’ it will be used to support cargo drones delivering urgent/medical and emergency supplies/precious supplies to remote areas of the northeast.

· The construction of a 1,000-seater hostel has been completed this year. Moreover, several other infrastructure projects such as a research park, the extension of academic complexes, EWS hostel for girls ‘students, augmentation of HVAC Plants are in progress along with extension of major other academic blocks.

· With the support of the CM, the state Cabinet has approved the setting up of a medical school and super speciality hospital at IIT Guwahati.

PPOs and placements

· The institute’s students received as many as 179 PPOs during the 2021-22 academic year, which was the highest in the last three years.

· IIT Guwahati set a new record of an all-time high in all fronts of placement. So far a total of 843 students of IITG have been placed. Last year by this time, a total of 610 students were placed. So far, students have received five offers (including one international offer) of over Rs 1 crore per annum.

Rankings

· IIT Guwahati has retained its position in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) achieving a 07 Rank in the ‘Engineering’ Category this year and ranked 08 in India in the ‘Overall’ Category in NIRF 2021.

· IIT Guwahati was ranked 41 (world rank) in the Research Citations category while jumping to 395 in QS World Rankings. The institute was also ranked within the top 51-100 in Petroleum Engineering category while also being ranked high in 10 other subject categories internationally.

Launch of new courses

· Academic activities at five new Schools and four new Centers at IIT Guwahati were initiated which include programs in Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral Degree.

· In October 2021, IIT Guwahati launched a new B.Tech program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Further, IIT Guwahati started its School of Business for various MBA courses.

Collaborations

· The first batch of international joint MTech students from India and Japan graduated from IIT Guwahati-Gifu University in 2020-21. Starting in 2019, this program is the only such degree in India that enables an enrolled student to receive an International MTech degree with a mutually participating curriculum.

· IIT Guwahati and Mizoram University collaborated to jointly develop Teaching Programmes and foster R&D activities besides promoting the exchange of students.

· In September 2021, the institute collaborated with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in the implementation of the AICTE-GAINER (Grant for Augmenting Infrastructure in North-East Region) Scheme. Under this scheme, financial support is provided to northeastern technical institutions to help solve the water and energy problems.

· The institute also collaborated with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AVV), a private, deemed-university based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in education and research activities. This will help in enriching academic programs and promote the exchange of students between two institutions.

· IIT Guwahati collaborated with Oil India to develop new technologies for energy and allied sectors and focus on the transfer of existing technologies, knowledge up-gradation, innovation partnership, training, and skill development

· IIT Guwahati and Brahmaputra Board partnered to address river-related issues and also to utilise rivers more efficiently for people’s benefit. The collaboration is expected to help to evolve with innovative technology which will help for better management of rivers like the Brahmaputra.

· The institute is working closely with Assam State Government on multiple projects related to healthcare sectors, infrastructure development, improving science education in the northeast region, communications, water resources and management, application of drone technology to various sectors, agriculture, COVID management, vaccine delivery, etc.

Reforms

In order to improve the international standing of IIT Guwahati, the institute launched “ART of an Institution”, where ‘A’ represents administration, ‘R’ represents research and ‘T’ represents teaching, with the firm hope that a fine collaboration between the three and an environment conducive to the growth of individual and collective talents is nurtured to take IIT Guwahati forward at the highest level of international achievements and best service to the society.