- 8:08 PM, Friday, 19 Apr 2024
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The first alumni meet was attended by 51 alumni from various batches, out of which 4 alumni joined the meet through video conferencing over Google Hangout. The occasion was graced by the special invitees Dr. BN Suresh, Dr. KN Ninan and Dr. V Radhakrishnan, along with the Director, IIST, few Deans and other faculty members. (List of attendees is attached herewith.) Students of IIST joined the meet for the Keynote address.
Dr. BN Suresh delivered the keynote address, through which he shared anecdotes of his career under the regime for various Chairmen of ISRO, showcasing leadership and vision. The inaugural session was webcasted online using youtube, which received a maximum audience of 16 viewers at any given point of time.
The next session of interaction between alumni and faculty, IIST harboured an enthusiastic exchange of views and ideas. In his opening remarks, Director, IIST welcomed all the alumni to the meet and emphasized on regular and closer interaction between the alumni and the alma-mater for mutual development, and invited them to visit the campus often. He also said that development of a website dedicated to alumni should be a priority, for everyone to stay connected.
Prof. V Radhakrishnan in his remarks mentioned that alumni play a very important role in branding IIST. Branding depends on the quality of the product, and for IIST, alumni are the products.
Dr. KN Ninan said that, as IISTians have a large presence in ISRO,it enables them influence decisions; alumni can give feedback to improvise curriculum at IIST; alumni should give talks/lectures in IIST.
Suggestion of including more practical knowledge and familiarity with software in the courses by Marsha was voiced by Prakhar in her absence. On this, Maneesh proposed a course on "introduction to projects" in the first or second year. Prakhar mentioned that a full course may not be feasible. But students can start off with simple projects. Innovations and new designs of aircrafts, etc., can be discussed. Navjot mentioned that the Aerospace Vehicle Design course can address the actual design of an aircraft. Aman also said that the Aerospace Vehicle Design course is very useful, and can be made more elaborate. Prakhar added that with the start of undergraduate studies, each batch can be given a target of coming up with 2 new designs of aerospace vehicles before they graduate and later the designs can even be patented.
Dr. UmeshKhadane mentioned that Mithun, Anand and Kiran worked on developing an ion source since their 1st year, which is often used in various other experiments and projects now. He appreciated the excellent job done by the team, and hence emphasised on initiatives to be taken by students for success of such projects.
Prateep made a presentation of his proposal to initiate anbusiness incubation center in IIST, oriented towards innovations in space technology and taking them to market. He envisages involvement of ISRO, industry, academia, and IIST alumni network in the center. Dr. Ninan said the incubation center can act as an extended lab of ISRO. Divyanshu said that there is a need for change in approach towards students taking up the risk to start-up an enterprise. It was mentioned that ISRO allows senior scientists to take upto 5 years off to develop startups. Nakul mentioned that IIST is more accessible than ISRO, which makes it a good place for start-ups. Gagan said that India is seen as a low cost option.Director welcomed the idea, and said it can be taken up after discussion with Chairman. He asked Prateep to submit a detailed report to take it further forward.
Dr. Shaijumon invited suggestions on how can alumni help IIST and how faculty can help help alumni. Dr. Ninan suggested that alumni can identify good guest faculty from ISRO for IIST. Alumni who have ideas can also do research in IIST. Maneesh said that the gap between current students and alumniis high. It was mentioned that one of the roles of the alumni cell would be to facilitate greater interaction between current students and alumni. Prof Radhakrishnan mentioned that very good institutes have alumni representation in the Board of Management. Dr. Ramana mentioned that IIT Kanpur has an Alumni Lab. Rachana suggested that alumni can help during counseling by interacting with candidates and parents.
The Alumni hoped to be allowed to teach and conduct workshops for the students.Director and Dean, Student Activities welcomed the idea and asked the interested Alumni to contact them or the respective HODs directly.
It was mentioned that IIST graduates are not able to get transcripts when they want to apply for a job or higher studies outside ISRO. Director said that the issue will be taken to Board of Management.
Rachana asked if students can get letters of recommendation from faculty before being relieved. Director clarified that there is no restriction on this, and faculty can give recommendation letters while an alumnus is still an employee of ISRO.
The issue of convocation for 2009 batch not being held yet was raised. Director said that it is in the process of being finalized. There was a general opinion that a specific day in the year should be identified for IIST convocation so that the important functionaries who are required to be on the dais, but are generally very busy, can block that date well ahead of time.
On a question raised by Kiran PVK, Director, IIST clarified that students need not pay to stay back and do projects during summer and winter vacations.
Abhishek mentioned that Vyom was a very good project and IIST@Schools is a very good initiative. He suggested that projects related to problems in society can also be taken up.
Deepak suggested that a newsletter can be started to keep alumni up to date with the important happenings in IIST.
Amol said that as date of promotion linked to date of joining, it is important to expedite the date of IIST graduates joining ISRO.
It was mentioned that security in IIST is even tighter than in some of the ISRO Labs, and suggested that it be relaxed.
Amol said that while some level of discipline is required, imposing too much discipline could be detrimental.
Shwetankexpressed that the PhD stipend is quite low.
Saurabh raised the issue of ISRO no more hiring MTechs from IITs. Director clarified that there was a legal issue which stopped the process.
In the post lunch session alumni interacted with the students of IIST; and three of them also made a presentation to share their ideas.
NakulKukar presented about Team Indus and their endeavour to compete for Google Lunar X-Prize. He shared the challenges faced by his team and latest updates of the project.
DivyanshuPoddar shared about his start-up Rocketeers India, which would be conducting workshops of model rocketry for school and college students.
Nitish Kumar shared his views on the importance of close interaction between alumni and IIST, and the role alumni can play in development of the institute.
Alumni answered various questions raised by the students and motivated them in general.
This session was chaired by Dr. V Radhakrishnan; and discussion on formation of Alumni Association and on future activities was held. Draft of Memorandum for the constitution of alumni association was also discussed and edited. It was suggested to decide an acronym for IIST Alumni Association. It was decided to organize such Alumni Meets annually and suitably be planned and informed at least three months in advance. In future the day of the meet would be fixed permanently for all the concerned to block their calendars in advance.
