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Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore Organizes International Conference on Advanced Materials (SCICON’ 16)

December 26, 2016 - 2:45
Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore Organizes International Conference on Advanced Materials (SCICON’ 16)

The first International Conference on Advanced Materials was inaugurated in the presence of a galaxy of scientists from over all the globe on December 19, 2016, by Dr. Amit Goyal, Director RENEW, University of Buffalo, USA. He emphasized the need of translating research findings in the field of materials sciences to useful products in order to help the society. “Recycle, Reuse and Re-manufacture are the need of the hour,” he added. He congratulated the institution for organizing a conference which addresses the need of sustained development.

Dr Amitava Das, Director, Center Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavnagar, released the proceedings of the conference, which has the abstracts of 300 papers submitted. He highlighted the variety of topics covered in the conference and the implications for society in shaping it in the immediate future, justifying the theme of the conference – Materials for a Better Tomorrow.

Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, in his presidential address, said that the need of the hour is to look at society, understand its problems and orient research to find solutions. Materials research should focus on solving issues in the field of water purification, energy applications and green technology.

Dr. Bipin Nair, Dean, Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri, felicitated the organizers for arranging such a conference with eminent scientists from all over the globe to discuss issues of immense relevance to mankind.

The three day conference had 10 plenary talks, 38 invited talks, 70 oral presentations and 150 posters in various tracks like such as: nanomaterials, biomaterials, green technologies, high energy applications, translational research composites, computational chemistry, polymeric materials, optical materials , electronic materials and magnetic materials. Plenary and invited talks were given by Prof. Umapathy, Prof. A. K. Shukla, Prof. Dinesh, Prof. Rajan, Prof. Roy Mohapatra from Indian Institute of Science, India; Prof. Ramachandra Rao, Prof. Gopalan Subramaniam, Prof. Sadhasivam, Prof Tarashankar Pal from Indian Institute of Technology; Mohamed from Institute for Scientific and Engineering Research(ISER), Prof. Ajay Gjosh from National Institute For Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST); Prof. Swapan Pathi from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNSCAR); Prof. Shanti Nair, Dr. Deepthy Menon, Prof. Jayakumar from Amrita Center for Nanoscience; Prof. Sinhafrom, Bose Institute; Prof. Amith Goyal,University of Buffalo, USA; Prof. Mohan Srinivasa Rao from Gerogia Tech, Atlanta, USA; Prof. Ajayan Vinu from University of South Australia; Prof. Homma, Waseda University; Japan, Dr . Masato Tominaga, Saga University Japan; Chun Gon Kim from KAIST Korea, Prof. Sabu Thomas from M. G. University; Prof. Sadhasivam from Bharathiar University; Prof. Abraham John and Dr. Sethuraman from Gandhigram Rural University; Prof. Mahadevan Pillai from University of Kerala; Dr K. N. Maruthy from Narayana Medical College, Nellore; Dr. Annamalai Senthil Kumar from VIT; Dr. Krishnan Venkitakrishna from Rayson University, Canada and Prof. Soma Venugopal from University of Hyderabad.

Advances in the field of Femtosecond Laser Raman spectroscopy and its myriad of applications in the field of biochemistry, medicine and industry was the topic covered by Dr. Siva Umapathy from Indian Institute of Sciences. Dr. Siva Umapathy, a Bhatnagar awardee, laid open the exciting field of Laser Raman Spectroscopy to the audience. He said, “Femtosecond lasers will help us to reveal the secrets of molecular bonding, formation of biomolecules and may throw some light on our understanding of the formation of universe.”

Prof. Takayuki Homma, from Waseda University, Japan, threw open to the audience the wide variety of carbon nano tube applications in fields varying from industrial engineering to drug delivery. He said, “The ever expanding research interest in the field of carbon nano tubes is expected to address many varieties of societal problems, from electronic sensors for medical applications to large variety of display devices.”

Prof. A. Ajay Ghosh, Director NIIIT, Thiruvanathapuram and recipient of prestigious Bhatnagar Award, discussed the applications of nanomaterials in many current problems of society. He explained, “Nano particles can be made use of to produce variety of security measures including security ink which can help in preventing economic terrorism in the form of fake notes.”

Prof. A. K. Sukla, Professor, IISc, talked about the ever increasing energy requirement of society, especially in countries like South America, Africa and some parts of Asia, including India. He explained the various methods of producing power including super capacitors and nickel-iron batteries. He stated, “The most important problem faced by society today, second to clean water, is the need of electric power.”

Prof. Sabu Thomas, Director School of Nano sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, shared the wide variety of their research work carried out in the field of nano clay and its variety of applications. He said, “Mixing of nano clay with synthetic rubber can result in a wide range of products ranging from sensors, scaffold for fast curing of wounds and detectors of organic solvents, which will provide low cost solutions to the burning needs of society.”

Dr. Bipin Nair, Dean, Amrita School of Biotechnology  discussed the work done by his group about the extraction and processing of cashew nut shell liquid in to a low cost anticancer drug.

Dr. Shanhikumar Nair, Dean Research and Director, Amrita Center for Nanosciences, shared the exciting research activities done at Amrita Nanoscience Center, Kochi. He shared that research in Nanoscience has already found solutions to the problems of energy by way of clean energy harvesting by Dye sensitized solar cells, early cancer diagnosis techniques using biomarkers, efficient drug delivery systems

Dr. K. Sankaran, Registrar, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham presided over the valedictory function on December 21st, 2016. Prof. Siva Umapathy, Prof. Mohan Srinivasa Rao, Prof. A. K. Sukla and Prof. Sabu Thomas summarized the proceedings of the conference and gave valuable feedback. All the participants were highly satisfied with the organization of the conference and they spoke highly about the student community of Amrita. Best oral and poster presentations were given awards.

The conference concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. T. G. Satheesh Babu, Associate Professor, Department of Sciences, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, and Organizing Secretary of SCICON 16.

SEE ALSO
International Conference on Material Sciences (SCICON’ 16)

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