A ‘Symposium on Electromagnetics and Engineering Education’ was organized by the Madras Chapter of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) at IIT Madras on January 3, 2014. This symposium was attended, among others, by Tapan K. Sarkar, the then President of the AP-S. At this symposium, a hope had been expressed by the organizing chairs Prof Krishnasamy T. Selvan (SSN College of Engineering) and Dr Harishankar Ramachandran (IIT Madras) that that the event would become a regular feature. Consistent with this hope, the ‘IEEE-INAE Symposium on Electromagnetic Education and Research’ was organized by the AP-S Madras Chapter at SSN College of Engineering in December 2016.

As a sequel to this programme, the ‘IEEE-INAE Workshop on Electromagnetics’ was held in Trivandrum, Kerala, during December 6-8, 2018. This event was organized jointly by the Kerala and Madras Chapters of IEEE AP-S. The Workshop had Dr B.N. Suresh, INAE President and Chancellor, IIST and Dr V.K. Dadhwal, Director, IIST as Honorary Chairs; Prof Krishnasamy T. Selvan, SSN CE and Dr C.K. Anandan, CUSAT, as General Chairs; and Dr Chinmoy Saha and Dr Basudeb Ghosh of IIST as Organizing Chairs. The Workshop featured 2 keynote talks  one by Dr Tapan K. Sarkar, Syracuse University, USA, on “Generation of non-minimum phase response from amplitude only data” and another by Dr V.K. Dadhwal, IIST, on “Applications of space borne microwave remote sensing.” Besides these, there were 7 invited talks and about 50 contributed papers. The programme received very good feedback from all participants and stakeholders.

Group Photo of Participants in the Workshop

Prof KT Selvan receiving a Memento

The NIAS –MNRE-TERI–INAE Workshop on “Enabling 100 GW Solar Power Capacity By 2022” was on November 9, 2017 at India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi. The objective of the workshop was to deliberate on all pertinent issues relating to enabling 100 GW Solar Power Capacity in India by 2022 with a view to arrive at actionable recommendations to be forwarded to the concerned stakeholders and policy makers for consideration. The event was attended by about 45 delegates. During the Inaugural Session Prof Baldev Raj, Chair of the workshop delivered the Welcome Address and gave a brief overview of the purpose of the workshop. The Keynote Address was delivered by Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI, New Delhi. The Programme comprised of four Technical sessions on Infrastructure and Human Resource for +100 GW Solar Power and to Add 20-25 GW Each Year; Technology Choices and Manufacturing Status; Business Models for 100 GW and Overall Ecosystem and Policy Issues related to Mission. The workshop concluded with the session on summarizing and way Forward and Final Remarks by the Chair.

INAE jointly with National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) and Vijnana Bharathi organized a Workshop on “Frugal Innovations” on July 7-8, 2017 at NIRDPR, Hyderabad. The Workshop focused on ways and means to encourage frugal innovation to happen in the country and to create much needed eco system between Government, industry, entrepreneurs and the youth. The subject Workshop was planned in continuation of the engagement of INAE with the youth in the country wherein participation of young entrepreneurs involved in Frugal Innovation and the experts in the area spread over various sessions was envisaged. The Chief Guest Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India on July 7, 2017 delivered the Inaugural Address on July 7th, 2017. Dr WR Reddy, Director General, NIRDPR delivered the Presidential Address in the Opening Session which also featured an Address by Guest of Honour, Shri Konda Vishveshwar Reddy, Hon’ble MP, Lok Sabha, Telangana. The workshop was conducted in four Technical Sessions on “Frugal Innovation”; “Frugal Innovation-Success Stories”; “Voice of Student Innovators” and “Marketing Business Models and Outreach”. The highlight of the Workshop was the participation of about 200 students from all over the country, who were selected through competitions on innovations. Their work was also exhibited in the Workshop. The structure of the Workshop was organized in such a manner, that it addressed all these vital areas and the experienced experts in these areas delivered the lectures. There was a special student’s session and 10 students who were selected through a rigorous screening, based on their work just a day prior to the workshop were given an opportunity to present their work. An intense interaction with all stakeholders was also held. The workshop concluded with a Valedictory and Panel Discussion on “Way Forward to Reach Out” that was Chaired by Dr VK Saraswat, Member Niti Aayog, Govt. of India. During this session, presentations were made by the Sessions Chairs of the four Technical Sessions and a Prize Distribution Ceremony was held for the students. After the workshop, a visit was organized to showcase Live Demonstration of different rural technologies including DRDO Life Sciences at Rural Technology Park.

The Chief Guest Shri. M Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting

The two and half day joint Workshop between Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) on “High Temperature Materials” was held on March 16-17, 2017 at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Dr. AR Upadhya, Dr Raja Ramanna DRDO Distinguished Fellow, Aeronautical Development Agency, Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, Bangalore and Prof Dipankar Banerjee, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore were the Coordinators of the event from INAE side. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. V.K. Aatre, former Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Director General, Defence Research and Development Organisation. Dr. B. N.Suresh, President INAE addressed the participants and the Korean delegates on the first day. Dr. Kyung Ho Shin, KIST, leader of the Korean delegation participated in the inaugural function and addressed the delegates. Both Dr.Aatre and Dr. Suresh emphasized on the necessity for concrete steps in following up the workshop with an identification of focused collaborative programmes prior to the next joint meeting to be held in Korea. Dr Banerjee elaborated on the workshop programme and also proposed a Vote of Thanks.

Inauguration: Dr. Shin, Leader Korean Delegation, Addresses the Delegates

The workshop was attended by 11 participants from the Republic of Korea, with 7 talks on various topics, and 20 participants from India with 13 talks. The programme covered the current and future directions in high temperature materials ranging from high temperature alloys & polymer matrix composites to and ultra high temperature composites, as envisaged by the Indian and Korean participants. Participants from India included scientists from DRDO, DAE, ISRO, CSIR and DST and from IISc& IIT Kharagpur while participants from Korea included scientists from Korea’s major academic and R&D institutions and industry. Applications in DAE, ISRO, DRDO and A-USC power plants were covered in the last two sessions including the status in Korean industry.

The INAE- Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) joint Workshop was held on March 13-16, 2017 at Jodhpur. Prof. CVR Murty, Director, IIT Jodhpur was the coordinator from INAE and Prof. Tony Wong was the coordinator from ATSE. The Workshop had a well-structured Agenda and useful recommendations are expected to be generated. Eight delegates from Australia and 25 experts from various national organisations participated in the Workshop. The Workshop was inaugurated by Dr.B.N. Suresh, President, INAE, on the 13 March 2017. And the most revered moment was the participation of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, His Highness Gaj Singh II, who delivered a pre-dinner talk on Water thoughts for the participants to dwell on.

Dr. BN Suresh President, INAE, Delivering his address.

The Workshop was aimed at starting the conversation, focusing on a selected number of priority themes, and influencing a transformative change in the way urban water services are delivered and managed in cities. These are necessary in responding to future uncertainties and vulnerability brought about by an increasing world population that are concentrated in cities, a continually evolving economic and governance structure and a changing climate. During the Workshop, the focus was on: Availability and Distribution, Quality and Treatment, and Policy and Management of water in Urban Areas Speakers and Participants were intensely engaged in deliberations along three tracks, namely: (1) Integrated Approach to improving Sanitation & Sewerage Services, (2) Securing Urban Water Supply through Coordinated Demand & Supply Side Innovative Management, and (3) New Urban Water Governance & Community Engagement for Integrated Urban Water Services.
During the breakout sessions of the Workshop, the Participants were divided into three groups. They discussed and explored following four issues (along each of the said three tracks), namely: (a) Identifying and Understanding the Challenges, (b) Inter-linkages and Cross-Disciplinary Issues, (c) Emerging Knowledge, Technology and Innovative Solutions, and (d) Strategies and Implementation Plans. The diverse and dynamic group of Speakers and Participants provided in-depth insights, priority projects and series of policy interventions to develop the required position paper, beneficial to both, India and Australia. Shortly, the speakers shall bring out a report in the form of a Position Paper. This Position Paper will provide road map along these three tracks – as to what India’s and Australia’s focus should be and as to which approach the two countries should take towards making WATER a sustainable resource in the years to come.

Group Photograph of the Delegates

The workshop concluded with a Panel Discussion between INAE and NAEK experts to bring out the recommendations and Way Forward for the subject workshop. The coordinators of the Panel Discussion were Dr. V. K. Aatre, Dr. Kyung Ho Shin,. Prof.Vikram Jayaram, and Prof.Dipankar Banerjee. Brief presentations were made by the Indian and Korean participants indicating potential areas for collaboration followed by a discussion from the participants. The Panel Discussion identified coordinators from Indian and Korean sides in 3 major areas: (i) aluminum alloys and polymer matrix composites (ii) titanium and nickel base superalloys and high temperature steels, and (iii) high temperature materials based on refractory metals, SiC based continuous fibre composites and ultra high temperature ceramic matrix composites.

INAE, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and ETC jointly organized the Workshop on “Energy Transitions – The Global Challenges & Opportunities” on Feb 13, 2017 at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Dr Ajay Mathur, FNAE, DG TERI was the Convener of the Workshop. Mr Ashok Chawla, Chairman, TERI delivered the Welcome Address in the Inaugural Session followed by presentations by Lord Adair Turner, Chair- Energy Transitions Commission, Dr Ajay Mathur, FNAE, DG TERI and Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE. The Chief Guest Mr. Piyush Goyal, the Hon’ble Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines inaugurated the subject Workshop and released three reports viz. INAE Research Study Report on “Engineering Interventions Necessary for Achieving 175 GW of Renewable Power by 2022″; TERI Report on “Transitions in Indian Electricity Sector 2017-2030″ and the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) Report on “Shaping Energy Transitions” during the Inaugural Session and delivered the Ministerial Address. In addition, Special Addresses were delivered by Mr Susheel Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Ms. Shalini Prasad, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power and Mr Rajeev Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Government of India.
The Workshop featured three Technical Sessions on “Global Energy Transitions”; “Indian Electricity Transitions” and “Indian Renewables Challenge”. Mr Pradeep Chaturvedi, FNAE, Coordinator of the INAE Research Study on “Engineering Interventions Necessary for Achieving 175 GW of Renewable Power by 2022” presented the findings of the report during Session 3 of the event. The technical sessions were followed by the Valedictory Session during which Mr Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Cabinet Secretary, Government of India delivered the Valedictory Address. The Workshop ended with the Vote of Thanks by Dr Ajay Mathur, DG, TERI.

The INAE Research Study Report “Engineering Interventions Necessary for Achieving 175 GW of Renewable Power by 2022” has been converted to an e-flipbook form and has been uploaded on INAE website. The same can be viewed at the link given below.

Click here to view PDF

Release of the three Energy Reports by Mr. Piyush Goyal, the Hon’ble Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines (second from right)

Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE delivering his Address in the Inaugural Session

A Study Group of Indian Engineering Heritage on Metallurgy was constituted to carry out studies related to metallurgical heritage. Prof. S Ranganathan, FNAE & Distinguished Fellow, NASI Platinum Jubilee Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Dr. Baldev Raj, Past-President, INAE & Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, and Dr. S Srikanth, FNAE & Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur are the three co-Chairman of the Study Group. Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali, FNAE & Director, Materials Chemistry and Metal Fuel Cycle Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalapakkam is the Chairman of the Study Group. INAE Study Group on “Indian Engineering Heritage – Metallurgy” organized a two-day Workshop on “Indian Heritage Metallurgy – Recent Developments and Future Directions”, at SASTRA University, Tanjore, on January 27-28, 2017 in association with SASTRA University, Tanjore. Dr U Kamachi Mudali, was the Coordinator of the workshop. The objective of the workshop was to deliberate upon the current status of metallurgical heritage study, and arrive at recommendations to move forward so as to utilize the recent data and analysis to unravel the mystery and excitements in ancient metallurgical objects. In this regard, specialists of Heritage Metallurgy were invited to Tanjore, a famous location for various metallurgical achievements in the past – bronzes, cannons, metal plates, buildings and architecture. The workshop was attended by 20 specialists and 15 scholars in metallurgy heritage besides faculty and students from SASTRA University. Dr U. Kamachi Mudali, FNAE, welcomed the gathering of 35 delegates and gave a brief overview on the objective of generating information and creating a database through systematic studies of various archaeological objects. Dr. Baldev Raj, Past-president, INAE & Director, NIAS, Bangalore, the Chief Guest, suggested that the workshop should highlight the newer techniques and their utilisation, and create awareness among the professionals engaged in archaeo-metallurgy studies. The Concluding Session started with a request from Dr.U.KamachiMudali to all members to express their views, way forward and contributions to studies on ancient metallic objects. The deliberations during the Workshop were appreciated by the experts who participated in the event.

A Round Table meeting on “Regional Transport Aircraft Development” coordinated by Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE was held on June 14, 2016 at NIAS, Bangalore. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Roddam Narasimhan, an eminent expert in the field and Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE; Dr Baldev Raj, Director, NIAS; Mr T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL; Dr Girish Sahni, DG CSIR; Mr AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO; Dr. K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman, ISRO; Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Formerly Programme Director, ADA, Bangalore; and Industry experts from Tata, Mahindra and Reliance, besides others participated. All pertinent issues related to the topic were discussed in detail and the experts were able to converge on a possible mechanism for managing the Civil Aircraft programme in the Country. The recommendations have been finalized and submitted to the concerned Ministries for follow up actions.

A Round Table meeting on “Regional Transport Aircraft Development” coordinated by Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE was held on June 14, 2016 at NIAS, Bangalore. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Roddam Narasimhan, an eminent expert in the field and Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE; Dr Baldev Raj, Director, NIAS; Mr T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL; Dr Girish Sahni, DG CSIR; Mr AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO; Dr. K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman, ISRO; Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Formerly Programme Director, ADA, Bangalore; and Industry experts from Tata, Mahindra and Reliance, besides others participated. All pertinent issues related to the topic were discussed in detail and the experts were able to converge on a possible mechanism for managing the Civil Aircraft programme in the Country. The recommendations have been finalized and submitted to the concerned Ministries for follow up actions.

DST requested INAE to provide engineering interventions required in the field of ‘Clean Coal Technologies’. Accordingly, a Round Table meeting on “Clean Coal Technologies in India: Current Status, Demands and Aspirations – Pathways to Achievements” under the chairmanship of Dr. Baldev Raj, Immediate Past President, INAE was conducted on June 10, 2016 wherein about 35 domain experts from Industry, Academia and R&D participated. During the final session of the workshop, it was decided to prepare a comprehensive report highlighting the specific areas, gaps if any, and further actions needed to bridge the gaps, including the identification of research areas where further funding can be considered. The specialists were also identified to prepare the report and the inputs have since been obtained from the authors on the topics identified during the subject Round Table.

The meeting to finalize the comprehensive report containing inputs from all the authors on the selected topics in the area of Clean Coal Technologies identified earlier; was subsequently held on Oct 26, 2016 at New Delhi. During the meeting, it was also proposed to finalize the list of research topics in each of the areas identified in the comprehensive report by the authors; for onward submission to DST, as required. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, NIAS. The meeting commenced with the welcome Address by Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE. Dr Baldev Raj then gave a Brief Overview of the Current Status in the area of Clean Coal technologies. Short presentations were given by the authors followed by a Discussion Session. During the Concluding Session Chaired by Dr. BN Suresh and Dr. Baldev Raj the recommendations towards identification of research proposed for funding by DST and policy interventions were arrived at. The meeting was attended by about 25 experts in the area of Clean Coal technologies. With this, INAE was able to provide inputs to the DST on the existing state of technologies in the country, technologies available internationally and the short-term and long-term plans for adoption of technologies in the field of Clean Coal Technologies. The e-proceedings were released subsequently.

During the meeting a total of 11 proposals were also discussed and approved for submitting to DST. The authors were requested to submit the details of the proposals covering Background; Timeframe; Ball Park Cost and Participating Agencies for onward submission. The lists of topics and were submitted to DST for consideration during a meeting on Nov 19, 2016.

The National Workshop on “Towards Self-Reliance in Advanced Ceramics for Strategic Sectors” was organized by INAE in association with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre on July 14-15, 2016 at Thiruvanthapuram. Shri AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, DoS; Dr S Christopher, Secretary, DoD (R&D) & Director, General, DRDO and Dr BN Suresh, President, INAE were the Patrons of the Workshop. Ceramic experts and end users across the nation mainly in the strategic sector participated in the workshop. The event featured invited talks by eminent experts on topics related to processing, characterization and application of advanced ceramics. A Panel discussion was convened among professionals to work out future directions and formulate a comprehensive approach towards meeting goals of self-reliance in advanced ceramics.