Friday, 31 January 2014

IIT KANPUR

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur


IIT Kanpur Logo.svg
Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur
Established 1959
Type Public
Endowment [1]
Admin. staff 350[2]
Undergraduates 2506[3]
Postgraduates 1516[3]
Location Kalyanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Campus 1055 Acres[4]
Website http://www.iitk.ac.in/
The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (commonly known as IIT Kanpur or IITK) is a public engineering institution located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. It was declared to be Institute of National Importance by Government of India under IIT Act.
Established in 1959 as one of the first Indian Institutes of Technology, the institute was created with the assistance of a consortium of nine leading US research universities as part of the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP).[5]

History

Faculty Building, IIT Kanpur
IIT Kanpur was established by an Act of Parliament in 1959. The institute was started in December 1959 in a room in the canteen building of the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute at Agricultural Gardens in Kanpur. In 1963, the institute moved to its present location, on the Grand Trunk Road near the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district.
During the first ten years of its existence, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP), where a consortium of nine US universities (namely M.I.T, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Case Institute of Technology and Purdue University) helped set up the research laboratories and academic programmes.[6] The first Director of the Institute was P. K. Kelkar (after whom the Central Library was renamed in 2002).
Under the guidance of economist John Kenneth Galbraith, IIT Kanpur was the first institute in India to offer Computer Science education.[7] The earliest computer courses were started at IIT Kanpur in August 1963 on an IBM 1620 system. The initiative for computer education came from the Electrical Engineering department, then under the chairmanship of Prof. H.K. Kesavan, who was concurrently the chairman of Electrical Engineering and head of the Computer Centre. Prof. Harry Huskey of the University of California, Berkeley, who preceded Kesavan, was instrumental in providing the impetus for the computer activity at IIT-Kanpur. In 1971, the institute initiated an independent academic program in Computer Science and Engineering, leading to M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees.
In 1972 the KIAP program ended, in part because of tensions due to the U.S. support of Pakistan. Government funding was also reduced as a reaction to the sentiment that the IIT's were contributing to the brain drain. Since then IIT Kanpur has increased collaboration with industry and has achieved a reasonable level of stability.

Campus

IIT Kanpur panorama from Hall 7
IIT Kanpur is located on the Grand Trunk Road, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Kanpur City and measures close to 420 hectares (1,000 acres). The campus can be reached from Lucknow airport in two hours. IIT Kanpur is about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the Kanpur Central Railway Station. This land was gifted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1960 and by March 1963 the Institute had moved to its current location.
PK Kelkar Library
The institute has around 5,400 students with 3,400 undergraduate students and 2000 postgraduate students.

Noida Extension centre

IIT Kanpur is to open an extension centre in Noida with the plan of making a small convention centre there for supporting outreach activities. Its foundation was laid on 4 December 2012 on 5 acres of land allocated by Uttar Pradesh state government in the sector-62 of Noida city, which is less than an hour travel from the National Capital and also the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The cost of construction is estimated to be about 25 crores. The new campus will have a spacious auditorium, seminar halls for organising national and international conferences and an International Relations Office along with a 7-storey guest house. Several short-term management courses and refresher courses meant for distance learning will also be offered at extension center.[8]
Republic Day celebrations (2010)

Academic Area

Institute's Academic Area comprises academic buildings, various departments, facilities like PK Kelkar Library, Computer Centre, National Wind Tunnel Facility and SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre. It also houses faculty offices, laboratories and administrative buildings. The academic area is well connected by a long corridor which links all the major buildings. The academic area is set up in vicinity of Hostels to provide quick accessibility to students.

Halls of Residence

IIT Kanpur has 11 boys' hostels, 2 girls' hostels and one girls' residence tower all together called the 'Halls of Residence'.[9] Every hostel is equipped with excellent sports facilities like Basketball, Badminton and Volleyball courts along with Table-Tennis Tables, pool and computing facilities. Each hostel has its own mess, a canteen, a reading room for periodicals and newspapers, a TV room and a few shops (barber shop, travel, telephone, photocopy, and shop for purchasing common commodities and stationary. Hostels are spacious and have lots of open spaces and greenery; a key feature of institute architecture in general. Each hostel has a Hall Executive Committee (HEC), an elected student body that takes care of the various administrative affairs of the hostel

Students' Activity Centre (SAC)

SAC is the hub for most of the major extra-curricular activities. There are two SAC buildings, the older building(Old-SAC) and the other (New-SAC), which was recently built. New-SAC also has an open air theatre (OAT) with capacity of over 1400 people. The SAC is maintained and managed by the Students' Gymkhana at IIT Kanpur with the President, Students' Gymkhana being the warden of the SAC.

Sports Facilities

The Institute provides excellent facilities and infrastructure for promoting sports activities on the campus. The facilities include -
  • Main Stadium
  • Football Field
  • Hockey Field
  • Olympic size Swimming Pool
  • Synthetic Tennis courts
  • Badminton Courts
  • Basketball Courts
  • Volleyball Courts
  • Skating rink
  • Squash courts
  • Taekwondo arena
  • Gymnasium
  • Yoga hall
  • Artificial rock climbing
Other Miscellaneous Facilities: The institute has a railway reservation counter by Indian railway. A refilling station is there to cater to the fuel needs of the vehicles in the campus. There is a post office with speed post facility. A telephone exchange of BSNL is there to provide mobile, land line and internet services. There are two banks i.e. State Bank of India and Union Bank of India. There is ICICI 24 x 7 electronic lounge in IIT Kanpur. There 5 ATMs (2 SBI, 2 UBI and 1 ICICI Bank) with facility for transfer of mess dues and institute tuition fee. There is a shopping complex area with book store, sweet store, restaurant, laundry,etc. The institute has its own air strip for academic and research purposes as well as for the gliding club which conducts occasional joyrides.

Helicopter Service

On 1 June 2013, a helicopter ferry service was started at IIT Kanpur run by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited. In its initial run the service connects IIT Kanpur to Lucknow, but it is planned to later extend it to New Delhi. Currently there are two flights daily to-and-fro to Lucknow Airport with a travel time of 25 minutes. The service provides quick access to Lucknow Airport, which operates both International and Domestic flights to major cities. It is aimed at improving IIT Kanpur's geographical connectivity and strengthening its professional relations with universities and companies around the globe. IIT Kanpur is the first academic institution in the country to provide such a facility.[10][11]

Admissions

Undergraduate admissions until 2012 are being done through the national-level Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). Following the Ministry of Human Resource Development's decision to replace IIT-JEE with a common engineering entrance examination, IIT Kanpur's admissions will be based on JEE-Advanced level(Joint Entrance Examination)along with other IITs.
Postgraduate admissions are made through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.[12]

Student life

Student festivals

Advaita performing at IIT Kanpur in Antaragni

National events

Antaragni 2004
  • Antaragni: Annual cultural festival held over 4 days in October.It is one of the most popular college festivals in India. The festival draws the best talents of India to its competitions, covering areas ranging from music and drama to literary games and quizzing. There are several events focused on building social responsibility amongst the youth. Professional shows and workshops by groups and prodigies from all over the world are an added attraction.
  • Techkriti: It was started in 1995 with an aim to encourage interest and innovation in technology among students and to provide a platform for industry and academia to interact. Megabucks (a business and entrepreneurship festival) used to be held independently for some time but was later merged with Techkriti in 2010. Speakers at Techkirti have included APJ Abdul Kalam, Vladimir Voevodsky, Douglas Osheroff, Oliver Smithies and Richard Stallman.
  • Udghosh: Udghosh is annual inter-college sports meet held in September. It witnesses participation from around 1000 students in various sports and informal events.

Intra-IITK events

Various Intra-IITK events are organised throughout the calendar to instil cultural and technological values in the students of Institute, as well as to promote competition.
  • Galaxy: Annual inter-hall cultural championship.
  • Takneek: Annual inter-hall technology championship.
  • Inferno: Annual inter-hall sports championship.
  • Spectrum: Annual inter-hall films and media competition.
  • Green Opus: Energy Saving Competition
Apart from this, each year Josh,an open intra-IIT Sports festival is organised to create a fun filled atmosphere for students to enjoy sports.

Students' Gymkhana

The Students' Gymkhana is the students' government organization of IIT Kanpur. Established in 1962, the Gymkhana seeks to cultivate qualities of leadership amongst students to foster a corporate life and to advance the general cause of the student body of the student body of the Institute.[13]
The Students' Gymkhana functions mainly through the Students' Senate, an elected student representative body composed of Senators elected from each batch and the five elected executives:
  • President, Students' Gymkhana.
  • General Secretary Cultural Council.
  • General Secretary Films and Media Council.
  • General Secretary Games and Sports Council.
  • General Secretary Science and Technology Council.
The number of Senators in the Students' Senate is around 50-55. A senator is elected for every 100 students of IIT Kanpur.
The meetings of the Students' Senate are chaired by the Convener, Students' Senate, who is elected by the Senate. The Senate lays down the guidelines for the functions of the executives, their associated councils, the Gymkhana Festivals and other matters pertaining to the Student body at large.
The Students' Senate has a say in the policy and decision making bodies of the institute. The President, Students' Gymkhana and the Convener, Students' Senate are special Invitees to the Institute Academic Senate. The President is usually invited to the meetings of the Board of Governors when matters affecting students are being discussed. Nominees of the Students' Senate are also members of the various standing Committees of the Institute Senate including the disciplinary committee, the Undergraduate and Postgraduate committee, the scholarship committee etc. All academic departments have Departmental Undergraduate and Post Graduate Committees consisting of members of the faculty and nominees of the Students' Gymkhana.

Presidential Council

The aim of the Presidential Council shall be to help the President in discharging his/her duties and any other duty assigned by the Senate. The council consists of the following sub groups:
  • Gymkhana Lectures and Discussion Club
  • Prayas
  • GE3 - The Group for Environment and Energy Engineering
  • Book Club
  • The Entrepreneurship Cell
  • Vivekananda Samiti
  • Alumni Relation Cell

Cultural Council

The aim of the Cultural Council is to organize and promote all cultural extracurricular activities and any other duty assigned by the Senate. The council consists of following clubs and hobby groups:
  • Quiz Club
  • Music Club
  • Dance Club
  • Dramatics Club
  • Fine Arts
  • English Literary Society
  • SPIC MACAY
  • Hindi Sahitya Sabha

Films and Media Council

The aim of the Films & Media Council is to organize and promote all Cinematic activities on behalf of the Students’ Gymkhana and any other duty assigned by the Senate. The FMC is responsible to look over the following:
  • The Campus Magazine
  • Animation Club
  • Photography Club
  • Movies & Archive Club
  • FILM Club
  • Design Club
  • Students Editorial Board

Science and Technology Council

The aim of the SnT council is to organize and promote all scientific and technological activities. Science and Technology Council is a part of Student's Gymkhana and provides opportunity and a platform for students to pursue their hobbies in field of science and technology.The Council currently comprises 8 clubs and a Rubik's Cube hobby group.
  • Astronomy Club
  • Business Club
  • Electronics Club
  • Programming Club
  • Gliding Club
  • HAM Club
  • BRaIN Club
  • Aeromodeling Club
  • Robotics Club

Student publications

The students bring out a student magazine 'The Campus Magazine',a monthly newspaper, Vox Populi and NERD, Scientia a science and technology magazine.

Student voluntary services

The students participate voluntarily in social services and organisations, "Prayas" being one of them, where they involve local underprivileged children in educational activities during their free time, conduct awareness programs and provide for campus visits.

Convocation

Every year convocation is held in the month of June, where degrees are awarded to graduating students.

Rankings

University and college rankings
General – International
QS (World)[14] 295
QS (Asian)[15] 51
Engineering – India
India Today[16] 2
Outlook India[17] 4
Dataquest[18] —
Government colleges:
Mint[19] 2
Internationally, IIT Kanpur has been ranked 295th in the QS World University Rankings of 2013,[14] and 51st in the QS Asian University Rankings of 2013.[15] In India rankings, among engineering colleges, it was ranked second by India Today in 2013[16] and fourth by Outlook India in 2012.[17] In the Mint Government Colleges survey of 2009 it ranked second.[19]

Academic Bodies and Activities

IIT Kanpur Faculty Building

Undergraduate

IIT Kanpur offers four-year B.Tech programs in Aerospace Engineering, Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The admission to these programs is procured through Joint Entrance Examination. IITK offers admission only to Bachelors degree now (discontinuing the integrated course programs), but it can be extended by 1 year to make it integrated, depending on the choice of student and based on his/her performance there at undergraduate level. IIT Kanpur also offers four-year B.S. Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in particular) and in Economics.[20]

New academic system

From 2011, IIT Kanpur has started offering a four-year BS program in sciences and has kept its B.Tech Program intact. Entry to the five-year M.Tech/MBA programs and Dual degree programme will be done based on the CPI of students instead of JEE rank.[21] In order to relieve students from high number of exams, IIT Kanpur has also abolished the earlier system of conducting two mid-term examinations. Instead, only two examinations (plus two quizzes in most courses depending on the instructor-in-charge, one before mid-semesters and the other after the mid-semesters and before the end-semesters examination), one between the semester and other towards the end of it would be held from the academic session starting July 2011 onward as per Academic Review Committee's recommendations.

Postgraduate

Postgraduate courses in Engineering offer Master of Technology (M.Tech) and Ph.D. degrees. The institute also offers M.Des. (2 years), M.B.A. (2 years) and M.Sc. (2 years) degrees. Admissions to M. Tech is made once a year through Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.Admissions to M. Des is made once a year through both Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering(GATE) and Common Entrance Exam for Design(CEED). Until 2011, admissions to the M.B.A. program are accomplished through the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET), held yearly, and followed by a Group Discussion/Personal Interview process. In 2011 JMET was replaced by Common Admission Test (CAT).[22][23]

Departments

The academic departments at IIT Kanpur are:
Engineering Humanities and Social Sciences Inter Disciplinary
Science Management Design

Laboratories and other facilities

title=Shot in the arm for CAT, as Baterial Science Program
* Chemistry * Physics * Mathematics * Biological Sciences & Bio-engineering * Chemical Engineering * Civil Engineering
Samtel Research and Development Building
The campus is spread over an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1,100 acres). Institute facilities include the National Wind Tunnel Facility. Other large research centres include the Advanced Centre for Material Science, a Bio-technology centre, the Advanced Centre for Electronic Systems, and the Samtel Centre for Display Technology, Centre for Mechatronics, Centre for Laser Technology, Prabhu Goel Research Centre for Computer and Internet Security, Facility for Ecological and Analytical Testing. The departments have their own libraries.
The institute has its own airfield, for flight testing and gliding.
PK Kelkar Library (formerly Central Library) is an academic library of the institute with a collection of more than 300,000 volumes, and subscriptions to more than 1000 periodicals. The library was renamed to its present name in 2003 after Dr. P K Kelkar, the first director of the institute. It is housed in a three-story building, with a total floor area of 6973 square metres floor area. The Abstracting and Indexing periodicals, Microform and CD-ROM databases. technical reports, Standards and thesis are part of the collection. Each year, about 4500 books and journal volumes are added to the collection.
The Western Labs
The Computer Centre has about 200-300 Linux terminals and more than 100 Windows-NT terminals supported by the PARAM 10000 supercomputer, and is continuously available to the students for academic work and recreation. It hosts about 50 SUN workstations. The IITs (and especially IIT Kanpur) and BITS Pilani are among the first large academic institutions in India to be networked[citation needed], with an institute-wide LAN and Ethernet access to every student room in the residence halls.
IIT Kanpur has set up the SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre(SIIC) in collaboration with the Small Industries development Bank of India (SIDBI) to foster innovation, research, and entrepreneurial activities in technology-based areas. SIIC provides a platform to business Start-ups to develop their ideas into commercially viable products. SIIC conducted the Nettech Summer Program 2007 for engineering students from all over India at IIT Kanpur Campus.[24]
A team of students, working under the guidance of faculty members of the institute and scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have designed and built India's first nano satellite Jugnu, which was successfully launched in orbit on 12 Oct 2011 by ISRO's PSLV-C18.[25]

Students' research related activity

Research is controlled by the Office of the Dean of Research and Development. Under the aegis of the Office the students publish the quarterly NERD Magazine (Notes on Engineering Research and Development) which publishes scientific and technical content created by students. Articles may be original work done by students in the form of hobby projects, term projects, internships, or theses. Articles of general interest which are informative but do not reflect original work are also accepted.
Along with the magazine a student research platform PoWER (Promotion of Work Experience and Research) has been started. Under it several independent student groups are working on projects like the Lunar Rover for ISRO, alternate energy solutions under the Group for Environment and Energy Engineering, ICT solutions through a group Young Engineers, solution for diabetes, green community solutions through ideas like zero water and zero waste quality air approach. Through BRaIN(Biological Research and Innovation Network) students interested in solving biological problems get involved in research projects like Genetically modifying fruit flies to study molecular systems, Developing bio-sensor to detect alcohol levels,etc.A budget of Rs 1.5 to 2 crore has been envisaged to support student projects that demonstrate technology.
The students of IIT Kanpur made a nano satellite called Jugnu, This small satellite was given by president Pratibha Patil to ISRO for launch. Jugnu is an Indian technology demonstration and remote sensing satellite which will be operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It is a nanosatellite which will be used to provide data for agriculture and disaster monitoring. It is a 3-kilogram (6.6 lb) spacecraft, which measures 34 centimetres (13 in) in length by 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in height and width. Its development programme cost around 25 million rupee. It has a design life of one year. Jugnu's primary instrument is the Micro Imaging System, a near infrared camera which will be used to observe vegetation. It also carries a GPS receiver to aid tracking, and is intended to demonstrate a microelectromechanical inertial measurement unit.
  • IITK Motorsports
IITK motorsports is the biggest and most comprehensive student initiative of IIT Kanpur, founded in January 2011. It is a group of self-motivated students from varied disciplines who aim at designing and fabricating a Formula-style race car for international Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) events. The event encompasses all aspects of any real world engineering project including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management, and fund raising. Most of the components of the car, except the engine, tyres and wheel rims, are designed and manufactured to precision by the team members themselves, implementing their theoretical knowledge to practical aspects of engineering. The car is designed to provide maximum performance under the constraints of the event, while ensuring driveability, reliability, driver safety and aesthetics of the car are not compromised.[26]
IITK Motorsports: The 2013 car at the Riccardo Paletti circuit, Italy.
The institute is part of the European Research and Education Collaboration with Asia (EURECA) programme since 2008.[27]

Centers and programs

  • Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy
  • Center for Education Research and Development
  • Center for Environmental Research
  • Center for Industrial Research and Development
  • Center for IT and Software Research
  • Center for Integrated Science
  • Center for Nuclear Engineering
  • Center for Research and Innovation
  • Center for Technological Innovation
  • Center for Urban Research and Planning
  • Center for Ocean Engineering
  • Center for Laser Technology

Notable Alumni

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