Dhanbad: Rajeev Shekhar, who was professor of material science at IIT-Kanpur, took over as IIT(ISM) director from Durga Charan Panigrahi here on Monday.

"We will concentrate on R&D activities based on the needs of local industries to promote the Make in India concept. Our focus will be solving problems faced by the local manufacturing units," said Shekhar, who specialises in extraction of metals, manufacturing technology and environmental remediation.

"We will follow IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Mumbai's footsteps in terms of promoting start-ups. Although IIT(ISM) and IIT Kanpur have different education cultures, my effort will be to put to use the best of both the institutions," he said.

Shekhar, son of Raj Kish-ore, general manager of SAIL (Chasnala), did his Class X from De Nobili School, Digwadih, in 1975 and Class XII from St Xavier's, Ranchi, in 1977.

During the day, he held a meeting with registrar Colonel (Retd) M.K. Singh followed by another 30-minute discussion with all the deans. They included dean of student welfare Jairam Manam, dean of research and development Vishnu Priye, dean of infrastructure J.K. Patnayak, dean of faculty S.K. Paul and dean of academics, G. Udayabhanu.

All the associate deans including Somnath Pan (academics), Atul Kumar Verma (faculty), G.N. Singh (hostel management), Dhiraj Kumar (infrastructure), A.K. Mishra (international relations and alumni affairs), N.R. Mandre (research and development) and A.K. Pathak (students welfare) were also present at the meeting.

This was followed by a two-hour meeting with the heads of different departments such as engineering, pure science and humanities.

Shekhar, an alumni of IIT-Kanpur (BTech), later met the institute's convocation committee and project management unit. "We plan to organise a grand convocation ceremony. We have already sent an invitation to PM Narendra Modi. The date will be fixed after getting a confirmation from the PMO," he said.