Achievements of IIT Madras reach great heights in 2020

Achievements of IIT Madras have been impressive during this year despite the challenges.

Treading through this year was not a smooth affair as COVID-19 situation brought upon us lot of challenges, but IIT Madras rose to the occasion and took up many initiatives for the welfare of this nation.

Achievements of IIT Madras reach great heights in 2020

Convocation
Among the impressive record of achievements of IIT Madras was the convocation.

It is for the first time in its history that the institution conducted its convocation using a mixed reality mode that saw a combination of physical and virtual worlds.

The video related to the convocation of 2020 is available on the link ‘https://fromsmash.com/IIT-Madras-Convocation-2020’

Also among the impressive list of achievements of IIT Madras is the launch of world’s first-ever BSc.
Degree in Programming and Data Science which is being offered completely online and is open to all candidates who have passed plus-two (12th standard).

Academics
With the launch of online B.Sc. Degree in Programming and Data Science, IIT Madras took a major step towards eliminating barriers to quality education such as academic background and geographic location.

This program aims to create a thoroughly trained programmer, proficient in application development, data sciences and machine learning.

The program is flexible with multiple entry and exit points for learners from different backgrounds with different aspirations.

The best moment for the institute came when it once again gained an admirable ranking.

This has really been an awesome one in the long list of achievements of IIT Madras.

The Institute was ranked No: 1 in India in both ‘Overall’ and ‘Engineering’ Categories in NIRF 2020.

This is second consecutive year, IIT Madras has bagged the Top Rank in ‘Overall’ Category and No: 1 in ‘Engineering’ category for the fifth consecutive year.

IIT Madras has also been identified as an ‘Institution of Eminence’ by the Government of India.

That is not all, another worth mentioning one among the achievements of IIT Madras was its rank in ARIIA.

IIT Madras won first rank in Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) launched last year by the Innovation Cell of the Ministry of Education.

Achievements of IIT Madras were not limited to the education alone.

Innovation and entrepreneurship
Achievements of IIT Madras in connection with entrepreneurship and innovation too are no less admirable.

With the country facing a threat of proportions never witnessed before in the form of COVID-19, IIT Madras and the start-ups incubated by the Institute went all out in helping the nation.

From infrastructure and diagnostics to PPEs, the faculty and start-ups came up with solutions for problems across the board.

Private sector too did not stay behind in recognising the long list of achievements of IIT Madras in connection with innovation and entrepreneurship.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) judged the institution as ‘The most innovative institute of the year for its disruptive innovations.

There is much more to the achievements of IIT Madras on the innovation front.

Achievements of IIT Madras will be no less glorious when startups supported by it come out with fantabulous innovations.

Modulus Housing Start-up developed a portable hospital unit that can be installed anywhere in the country within a few hours to treat COVID-19 patients.

Called ‘MediCAB,’ these microstructures have already been deployed successfully in Wayanad district of Kerala with more deployments in the pipeline.

Muse Wearables, another IITMIC-incubated start-up, developed and launched a smart wearable tracker that could detect COVID-19 Symptoms.

IIT Madras-supported start-ups such Fabheads Automation and Axis Defence Labs developed PPEs such as face shields from 3D Printers as well as commonly available stationery materials besides to protect frontline healthcare professionals.

In addition, a team led by Dr. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, partnered with Helyxon, a healthcare startup in IIT Madras Research Park, to develop and deploy a remote patient monitoring solutions for COVID-19.

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The device is a first-of-its-kind in the market that does clinically accurate continuous monitoring of four critical parameters – Temperature, Oxygen Saturation, Respiratory Rate and Heart Rate.

Dr. V.V. Raghavendra Sai, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, collaborated with RICOVR Healthcare Inc., a US-based rapid diagnostics platform company, to develop a revolutionary point-of-care COVID-19 antigen test that can provide results in five minutes using saliva.

This project won the prestigious ‘Ignition Grants’ Award from the U.S. India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF).

Dr. Kavitha Arunachalam, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, collaborated with the industry to develop a touchless sanitizer dispenser that can be deployed in running vehicles such as cars, vans, buses and even auto rickshaws.

This design was scalable for use with both AC and DC power.

Internships and placements
List of achievements of IIT Madras is long enough even on the placement and intership front.

The institute also witnessed a robust placement season, which was conducted completely online for the first time.

A noteworth point as far as achievements of IIT Madras is concerned is that, as many as 186 Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) offers were made to IIT Madras students this academic year of 2020-21 as against 170 offers during 2019-20 academic year.

The driving force of this performance in PPOs was the strong internship programme of the institute.

The internship drive was conducted completely online this year, for the first time in the history of the Institute, to overcome the logistical restrictions due to the pandemic.

The first day of the internship drive alone saw the participation of 20 companies who made as many as 152 offers to undergraduate students.

The last year’s figure was 147 offers, made on day one of 2019.

Research
Research is another arena where too achievements of IIT Madras is very long.

Faculty, researchers and students of the institute published papers in reputed peer-reviewed high impact journals on various fields

Some of the fields on which research was taken up include:

$ producing hydrogen from seawater,

$ treating cancer using clove oil,

$ detecting tuberculosis from urine samples,

$ various aspects of COVID-19,

$ Lithium ion batteries,

$ electric vehicle braking systems,

$ text-to-speech conversion,

$ how dust impacts snow melt in the Himalayas,

$ energy efficiency in Indian industries, and

$ Post-Quantum Cryptography, among many other areas.

Faculty
The faculty at IIT Madras have done the institution proud.

The long list of achievements of IIT Madras also feature its faculty who have won prestigious Padma Awards.

Professor Pradeep Thalappil, Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras won Padma Shri.

Honorary Professor of Practice at IIT Madras Venu Srinivasan received Padma Bhushan. Mr. Venu Srinivasan is the chairman of TVS Group.

Prem Watsa, alumnus of IIT Madras and founder chairman of Fairfax Financial Holdings was also conferred Padma Shri.

The achievements of IIT Madras with regards to its faculty does not end there.

Two faculty members of IIT Madras were selected for prestigious Swarnajayanti Fellowship Awards for 2019-20 given by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Professor. Prabhu Rajagopal, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras and Dr. P. Anbarasan, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras, were among the only 21 researchers in India to have been selected for this recognition.

IIT Madras director

The achievements of IIT Madras on various fronts have made it proud.

IIT Madras director Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi highlighting the priorities for the next year said in the midst of the challenges posed by Covid-19, the faculty, students and staff at IIT Madras discovered their inherent resilience.

‘Looking back, we can say that we have not just kept the needle moving on all fronts – teaching, research, industry engagement, and start-ups – but actually discovered hitherto hidden reserves in ourselves which will enable us to move forward even faster and better once the pandemic is behind us.’