Sahyadri-Conclave day 2 - A quick round up

   Day Two started with the plenary session of Prof. Serge Haroche, Nobel Laureate who delivered a technical talk on “Controlling and manipulating single photon in a box- The scientific adventure of lifetime”. He discussed stories of his scientific life. He said being a scientist was not a profession but his passion. Between the age of 9 and 12, he was fascinated by various astronomers. He had immense interest in the field of astronomy and was keen to learn more and discover the laws beholding the same. He also spoke about mutual relationship between atoms and light. He spoke about how classical physics could not solve the puzzle of spectrum of light being emitted from heated bodies and the concept of photoelectric effect

The second plenary session was facilitated by Prof. Satish K. Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo, USA. He spoke on “Change, Risk and Success – A Personal Story”. According to him there are three principles, an individual must inculcate: i) Set long term ambition and be ready for change, ii) Be self-reliant and always be ready to learn from others, iii) Plan strategically and carefully but always be ready to take risk. He was influenced by great faculty who instilled the idea of learning. He stressed on fundamental education and humanity. He emphasised on analytical and mathematical understanding of data using decision making

Plenary Session Three was facilitated by Vice Admiral N N Kumar, the Executive Director (Production) at BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd. He delivered a talk on “BRAHMOS – A Journey of Excellence”. He spoke about India’s first launch vehicle SLV 3 and how successfully it was launched under the leadership of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He also spoke about the five projects which were executed by The Missile Study team. He spoke about classification of Missiles, technologies established and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s visionary idea-Seed for joint venture. He presented the various specifications used for deployment of BRAHMOS on SU-30. He concluded his talk by saying that “Weapons are not made to win the war, it is to avoid the war”.

While addressing the Computer Science & Information Science participants, Prof. Joseph Sifakis, Turing Awardee discussed about “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution and impact of Internet of Things (IoT)” in daily life, where he emphasized on the construction of an IoT system along with the risk factors. He stressed on the key features of the Technological convergence, the vision and also on the scientific and technical challenges with respect to IoT. He mentioned that currently, IoT is used in many applications to communicate between electronic devices.

Panel Discussion was held on the theme “Water”. The panelists were Prof. T G Sitharam, Chairman of AICTE, South West Regional Office, Prof. M N Vidyashankar, IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary & Dr. K Chidananda Gowda, Former Vice-Chancellor, Kuvempu University, Shimoga. The panelists stressed that for the sustainability of the planet water is essential. They said - access to clean water is a major challenge and according to the World Bank, every individual requires 135 liters per day to meet their basic requirements. They also discussed the reasons for water scarcity arising from increasing demand from domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. The probable solutions for water scarcity lie with the inland reservoirs, interlinking of rivers, recharging the groundwater, desalination of sea water, utilizing flood water before it joins water and rainwater harvesting.

Prof. Sathish K Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo, USA spoke on “The New World of Thinking Machines”. He discussed the evolution of Artificial intelligence, techniques and various responsibilities and goals of thinking machines. He also brought out the various uses of Artificial intelligence in daily life. He emphasised that Machine Learning & Deep Learning has proved to give excellent recognition rates for classifications. 

Mr. Amar Kumar Pandey facilitated a session on “Smart Cities”. He said urban centers like Corporation, Municipalities etc., are the reason for the Smart City mission. Retrofit is a plan where the old things or the existing systems are kept alive along with additional advancement in technology to ensure that common people live happily & healthily. Redevelopment effects can also be seen i.e., instead of retrofit if we need to change the geographic expansion of the existing cities, smart cities are going to be the best where technology is going to be a highlighting one. Prof. Robert Richardson, Scientific Researcher in Robotics, Leeds University, UK spoke about “Exploration of Robotics”. Robots even used in the angle robot, visionary robots, Sense think act cycle robots are the visionary type one. Autonomous robots are the one they decide everything and act according to the situation by ignoring human. Robots in the different field of application are like confined space exploration, flexible camera robots, utility pipe inspection, and pipe climbing, restricted access emotional type. Challenges in the field of robotics are complexity, miniaturization, 3D integration, minimal assembly.

While addressing the Electronics & Communication participants, Dr. Anish Arora, Professor, Ohio University, USA spoke on “Social Sensing Services for Smart Communities”. He said that the requirement for protecting the endangered species is to detect the movement and to analyze whether it is animal or human. The next step is to send to the base station and alert the guard. The sensors used in the forest are radar with 20k mah battery which lasts for 3 weeks. The sensor is placed in the bushes, these sensors are connected to relays and in turn, it is connected to the base station. The area where smart services can be used is smart street lights, common payment system, mobility assistance, pedestrian collision avoidance, multi-model trips then traffic control. 

Dr. Kavi Mahesh, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Dharwad spoke on “Understanding Rainfall in India through Data Analytics”. He said that data is the arrangement of known symbols which we can understand and the arrangements must also be known. Data existed before computers. The computer never understood the data, human beings tried to understand data through computers after they got invented. Data can be always collected, analyzed and managed. Data is differentiated as structured, unstructured and semi-structured. The data science is all about doing repeated experiments, getting the data, going through the data and finding a scientific solution. He concluded the session by stating the importance of data sciences - less investment, easy to implement and effective.

While addressing the Management participants, Mr. Sandeep S P, HR Lead for Engineering, Technology and SCM Centre Rolls Royce India, Bengaluru, in his first session on “Fortifying HR for future” mainly focused on the insights into trends in Business and its implications on HR. He beckoned the students to upskill their current knowledge in the area of HR and also work on their competencies as it defines their survival in the business. He said that business today is ever evolving and hence HR domain has become complex. Today, while taking any decisions one needs to take a global perspective, understand the Government policy and also the population dividend/leverage. He also went on to highlight the role of technology and business analytics in the HR Domain. In his second session on “Strategic HR business partnering - insights from a practitioner”, he apprised the audience on evolution and application of the three pillar model, effectiveness of the HR business partners, four roles of the HRBP’s and the critical roles played by HR. He also spoke on strategic workforce planning and its relevance in the dynamic business world.

During the afternoon session of Day Two, Prof. Ada E Yonath, Nobel Laureate who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry spoke on the topic - “From Eco-problems to Eco- Friendly antibiotics”. She said that the ribosomes are universal. They function in a very similar way in all cells regardless of their source and hardly make mistakes. Most of the ribosomal antibiotics are extensions of small organic molecules that cannot be digested by eukaryotes and non-degradable in the environment. Therefore, they may penetrate into agricultural irrigation systems; enter the human system and hence spreading antibiotic resistance.

Prof. Robert C Richardson, the Director of the Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimization and Director of the Leeds EPSRC National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems spoke on “Robotic Inspection maintenance and repair of urban water systems”. He held a prestigious research contract to explore the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt using robotic technology and has discovered writing in the Great Pyramid that was hidden for thousands of years. He explained regarding the structure, motors, and sensors required to build the robot. He also explained about under-water robotics.

Dr. T. G. Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE, South West Regional Office spoke on “Sustainable Strategies for Water Resource Development using Rain Water”. He explained about replenishing groundwater, river rejuvenation and coastal reservoir. He said that water storage is essential for irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower to provide a buffer for flood management. He also spoke about the construction of an underground dam, India’s traditional water harvesting structures, coastal fresh water reservoir, various possible schemes for sea based/coastal reservoirs, Sea Based Reservoir Vs Land Based Reservoir, the Gulf of Khambhat Development project in Gujarat and advantages of the coastal reservoir.

Mr. Hisashi Yamasaki San I, the Director of OTC Daihen India Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon, Mr. Kapil Dev Sharma, the Manager, technical support department of OTC Daihen India Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon and Mr. Kiran Thamankar (Deputy GM Sales Department), presently working with Japanese Welding & Robotic Multinational M/S OTC Daihen India Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon delivered a talk on “Trends on Welding Automation and Future for Welding automation in India”. They spoke about manpower challenges in India and the fields these challenges can be dealt with like requirement of skilled personnel, financial assistance, return justification to the investment on the technology and so on. They enlightened the gathering on the different trends in automation and its future in the Indian market. They touched upon the various welding technologies currently used in India and how it can be efficiently replaced by Robotic welding such as in thermit welding, arc welding etc. Finally, they briefed about their company right from its incubation in 1919 to its current status in the global market. 

Dr. K. Chidananda Gowda, former Vice-Chancellor of Kuvempu University delivered a talk on “Disruptive Technologies”. Disruptive technology displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground. It involves breaking product that creates technology. It alters the way in which a business operates. “Innovator’s Dilemma” shares a brief explanation of the disruptive technology. He highlighted that Clayton Christensen first introduced the concept of disruptive technology. Some of the common disruptive technologies are PC displaced typewriters; email replaced the way we used to communicate using letters. Smartphone’s replaced cell phones and PDA’s. We are currently in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial revolution used water and steam power to mechanize products. The Second Industrial revolution used electric power for mass production while the Third Industrial revolution evolved around the digital revolution. The Fourth Industrial revolution involves fusion of technologies, blurring lines between physical, digital and biological spheres. It has been evolving exponentially rather than linearly. He emphasized that Clayton contrasted disruptive innovation with sustaining innovation which simply improves existing products. Mckinsey’s 12 disruptive technologies changing the world were discussed during the session. 

Mr. M V Subramanian, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Future Focus Infotech Pvt. Ltd. (FFI) and Mr. Sundaram Moorthy, the CEO of Caliper Engineering & Lab Pvt Ltd, Sahyadri Campus spoke on “Industry 4.0 with respect to Mechanical Engineering”. They spoke about Bot technology, enlightened students with information of coding, programming, the importance of various engineering fields in today’s scenario i.e. interdisciplinary approach etc. Students were motivated to take programming as a hobby rather than the syllabus, to have hands-on experience rather than theoretical study. They also briefed about the several opportunities provided at Sahyadri to students and stimulated them to grab these opportunities with the positive attitude. Finally, the session was concluded with the quote - “Watch around and what happening approach?” which helps students to achieve their goals in the best possible way. 

Prof. M N Vidyashankar IAS, Former Additional Chief Secretary spoke about “Water Revolution 2”. He explained how water sectors can be sustained in the country and the need to recycle wastewater. Recycling of wastewater is the need of the hour as water shortage is felt throughout the world. He emphasized the need of effective methods for water recycling. He also explained how the countries like Israel and Singapore adopting new technology which has proved sustainable methods for water treatment.

Mr. H V Dinesh Prasad, Founder Chairman & Principal, Noble School of Business, Bengaluru spoke on “Business Analytics”. He started his session by describing data analysis and various data measurement scales. He emphasized the relevance of data-driven decision-making process using a live example. He went about discussing the uses and application of data analytics in day to day life by quoting varied examples. He showed the relationship that exists between analytic capability and organization value addition. He concluded his session by showing the application of SPSS software and interpretation of the same.

Mr. Ramakrishna Y B, the Chairman - Working Group on BioFuels Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India spoke on “Climate change challenges – Importance of Western Ghats”. He told the Western Ghats are one of India’s largest natural carbon sinks and a biodiversity hotspot. He also mentioned that uncertain rainfall pattern is one of the biggest impacts of climate change. He explained how human consumption is outstripping the earth resources. He emphasized on the necessities for the conservation of ecosystems in order to sustain the biodiversity, hydrology, and ecology.”

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