Dec. 4: A brainstorming session, a trip to the Guwahati Refinery and a technical quiz. All this, and much more, is in store for the city’s engineering students.

Beginning Wednesday, the first edition of the Students’ Chemical Engineering Congress 2005 will be held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. The three-day congress is being organised by the students’ chapter of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Addressing a news conference here today, organising secretary of the congress A.K. Ghoshal said a string of events have been lined up to motivate students to take up further studies in their own field. Students have been asked to submit research papers, which will be judged by experts.

This is the first attempt by the students’ wing of the IIT, Guwahati and the Assam Engineering College to organise a conference of such magnitude. Engineering students from all over the country are expected to participate in the conference.

“The conference will help students present their views. At the same time, they get to interact with experts from the academic world, as well as from the corporate sector,” Ghoshal said. The Guwahati congress is a curtain raiser to the Chemical Engineering Congress to be held in New Delhi later. The conference theme will be Challenges and Opportunities for Energy and Environment Management in Industries. The theme assumes great significance in view of the fact that industries are searching for alternate fuels that cause less damage to the environment, explained Ghoshal. The conference is aimed at providing a boost to the chemical, environmental and energy branches of engineering. “The trip to the refinery will expose the students to practical problems,” said Ghoshal.

“Even the first edition the event has generated a positive response. Altogether 95 papers have been selected from the 320 papers submitted,” Ghoshal said.

Sushil K. Verma, director general of the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Chennai, will deliver a lecture on plastics for environment and resource conservation, while Anil Ghosh, head of the Chemgen Pharma International, Calcutta, will talk on environment management in pharmaceutical and chemical industries in India ? meeting the challenges of tomorrow.