Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Bhopal
IISER Bhopal
Motto विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते
(vidyayā amṛtaṃ aśnute)
(Sanskrit)
Motto in English
 Eat nectar through knowledge, i.e. be immortal through knowledge
Type Institute of National Importance
Established 2008
Director Vinod K Singh
Undergraduates 750[1]
Postgraduates 200[1]
Location Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
Campus 200 acres[2]
IISER Bhopal IISERB
Website www.iiserb.ac.in

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (Hindi: भारतीय विज्ञान शिक्षा और अनुसंधान संस्थान, भोपाल ; IISER-B; also referred as IISER - Bhopal) is an autonomous research and education institute in Bhauri, Bhopal district, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 2008 in order to incorporate research in basic science at undergraduate and graduate level, with equal emphasis on higher education for research and education in science. It is an autonomous institution awarding its own degrees.[3]

Vision

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal was established in 2008 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. The mission of the institute is to aim for a seamless integration of teaching and education with state of the art research motivating entry of bright students and world class faculty into the institute. IISER Bhopal is dedicated to imparting high quality science education in a research oriented environment to young and academically motivated undergraduate and postgraduate students.[4]

Background

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) were created in 2006 through a proclamation of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India,under the category of institiutes of national importance, to promote quality education and research in basic sciences. Soon after the announcement, two of these institutes at Pune and Kolkata, respectively, were started in 2006. This was followed by an institute at Mohali (2007) and at Bhopal and Trivandrum in 2008. Each IISER is a degree granting autonomous institution with a prime focus to integrate science education and research, with a motive of attracting bright students and world class faculty.Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal will provide a platform for the faculty to engage in high quality pedagogy, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to perform cutting edge research in frontier areas of basic sciences. The Institute is also committed to impart high moral and ethical values to students and create a genuine concern for social and environmental issues. With these set of broad objectives, it is believed that IISER Bhopal will emerge as a world-class Institute within a few years of its inception.[5]

Academics

IISER Bhopal offer BS-MS (Dual Degree) programme, Integrated Ph.D. programme in Mathemetics and Physics and Ph.D. programme in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics and Physics.[6][7]

Bachelor of Science - Master of Science (BS-MS)

The five year BS-MS (Dual Degree) Programme is offered in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. All BS-MS students are eligible for either Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) or Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scholarship.

BS-MS (Dual Degree) programme consists of mandatory, common courses (core courses) for all disciplines during the first two years and discipline dependent professional courses during the remaining three years. Core courses include topics from all the four science disciplines in addition to interdisciplinary courses in earth and environmental sciences, computer science and humanities. During the final year BS-MS students are required to undertake project work with a faculty supervisor, relevant to their major discipline.

In addition to majoring in one of the five (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, and Physics) science disciplines, BS-MS students can also minor in another disciplines.

The Institute encourages and rewards academic excellence exhibited by its students. To this end, Professor C. N. R. Rao Education Foundation Prize with a prize amount of Rs. 5000/- per semester is awarded to a student scoring the highest CPI during the first year (in both the first and second semesters) of the BS-MS (Dual Degree) programme.

In addition, the Institute awards the President's Gold Medal for the best academic performance in the graduating class in all disciplines of the BS-MS program. Proficiency Medals are the awarded for the best academic performance in the each discipline of the BS-MS program to the graduating class. A Director's Gold Medal is awarded for outstanding all-round achievement and leadership in the graduating class in all disciplines.[8]


Integrated Ph.D. program (I-Ph.D.)

The Institute offers Integrated Ph.D. programme in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. All admitted students will receive a fellowship of Rs. 10,000/- pm in the initial two years subject to satisfactory performance in their course work. Subsequently the fellowship will be revised to comply with the existing MHRD norms.

Students must successfully complete course work, qualifying examination, seminars, and a dissertation. Besides the mandatory requirements, students are encourages to participate in several professional activities such as workshops, review meetings and conferences.

Doctoral program (Ph.D.)

Admission to the doctoral program is after a Master's degree in science. Besides the students of the Integrated Master's program, postgraduate students with a Master's degree in science from other Universities/Institutes are also admitted to the doctoral program.

The Institute offers Ph.D. programmes in five disciplines. All selected candidates not receiving external fellowship will be awarded an Institute fellowship. Currently, the Institute offers Ph.D. programmes in the following disciplines: Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics. All doctoral students are also expected to participate in the undergraduate teaching programme of the Institute as a part of their training.[9] The program involve dcourse work, a qualifying examination, a state-of-the-art seminar, thesis work, open seminar and a thesis examination, leading to the award of a PhD degree.[10]

Postdoctoral Studies

Postdoctoral studies are possible in Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Sciences.

Departments

Biological sciences

Department of Biology at IISER-Bhopal started functioning in August 2008 with the enrolment of the first batch of students for the BS-MS integrated course. The aim of the department is to foster knowledge in students pertaining to basic and advanced areas of biological sciences by not only pursuing both teaching and high-quality research but also through integrating biology with physics, chemistry and mathematics. The academic and research contributions of the faculties in this department have been recognized in the form of publications, projects, fellowships and awards.

Chemistry

The department of Chemical Sciences occupies a seminal position among the five departments of IISER Bhopal. The department provides ample opportunity for an undergraduate student to accumulate a thorough fundamental knowledge of all fields of Chemistry. After successfully completing the core courses in the first two years, a student can take up Chemistry as his/her major subject for the next three consecutive years. Meticulous lecture courses in the general areas of inorganic, organic and physical chemistry are conducted regularly in addition to the state-of-the art laboratory courses which provides hands on experience to all the students. The main focus of the department is to instill the necessary spark and provide the scientific impetus so that the students can virtually experience the jiggling and wiggling of atoms and molecules. The course layout is rather demanding, subject to constant up-gradation and designed to compete with the best in global academia. To enable students to have a glimpse of contemporary research, both in terms of academia and industry, the final year students in Chemistry will be completely engaged in project works. The Institute also plans to include a placement cell, which will facilitate students to join the industry, in case they do not want to pursue higher education.

Earth and Environment sciences

This multi-disciplinary, systems-based approach will form the basis for our graduate degree programs. IISER Bhopal intends to offer a holistic learning scheme encompassing several courses that incorporate multiple instruction methods and opportunities for individual study under the aegis of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. The courses offered here will opens doors to careers in environmental monitoring, public policy, environmental health studies, natural hazards, petroleum and mineral exploration, and water resources.

Mathematics

The department has well-recognized faculty with research interests in the areas of harmonic analysis, differential geometry, Group theory, number theory, non-commutative algebra, Topology, classical algebraic geometry, dynamical systems and operator algebras. The Department of Mathematics at IISER Bhopal currently offers three programmes: BS-MS (Dual Degree), Integrated Ph.D. and Ph.D. programme. The goal of each of these is to provide students with a solid foundation in mathematics, thereby giving them the opportunity to pursue an academic career in mathematics, while also giving them the balance they need if they wish to pursue a career in industry.

Physics

Department of Physics of IISER Bhopal offers BS-MS dual-degree, Ph.D. degree as well post-doctoral positions. The BS-MS course is a five-year program designed to foster the understanding of core physics subjects and to inculcate much desired interdisciplinary aptitude through elective courses from physics as well as other areas. The BS-MS curriculum consists of courses from all major science disciplines during first two years, professional courses of Physics and interdisciplinary subjects during third and fourth years, and project work combined with a few elective courses in the fifth year. In first four years the department also offers basic and advanced laboratory courses to BS-MS students. The experiments in these laboratory courses are designed and distributed over various semesters in a way that it complements the concurrent theory courses. The experiments are aimed to imbibe experimental skills simultaneous to learning and the students are encouraged to set up and perform the experiments independently. As a part of the curriculum, the department is also planning to have a full phased Cosmic ray observatory that would be unique in India. In fifth year of BS-MS program, the students have to undertake a research project that includes submission of a dissertation followed by an open seminar. This is aimed to provide the flair of research and encourage students to pursue a research career in the areas of basis and applied physics.

Engineering sciences

IISER Bhopal believes that it is important for a science-focused institution to encourage its scientists to work towards engineering solutions, as well as have engineers working on fundamental problems of science. Additionally, we believe that with a strong Engineering Sciences program, the Institute will be able to meet its overall objectives better.

Keeping in mind the above, the Institute recently established a Department of Engineering Sciences. To start with the Department will offer a Ph.D. programme and a ‘minor’ in Engineering Sciences to BS-MS students. The ‘minor’ will enable them to engage in translational curriculum and research, where knowledge gained in pure science subjects will be interfaced with engineering science fundamentals. Initially, an Engineering Sciences curriculum focused on Computer Science, Material Science, and Electrical, Chemical, and Mechanical Engineering will be offered.

Admissions

BS-MS

Students are admitted to the programme through the following channels[11]

I-Ph.D.

Admission to the Integrated Ph.D. programme will be made once a year during May/June. Advertisement would be floated between March/April. Candidates must have a Bachelor's Degree. A written or oral exam will be conducted at the campus. A prospective candidate should have completed a graduate programme (B.Sc./B.Tech./B.E.) in a discipline relevant to his/her choice of Integrated Ph.D. programme. Candidates seeking admission in Chemistry should have a valid JAM score.

Ph.D.

Applications are invited twice a year.A prospective candidate should have completed a postgraduate programme (M.S./M.Sc./M.Tech./MBBS) in a discipline relevant to his/her choice of Ph.D. programme along with qualifying a national entrance exam. Students should have a valid rank in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and/or have qualified the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)/University Grants Commission (UGC)/National Eligibility Test – Junior Research Fellowship (NET-JRF), or other equivalent examinations. All selected candidates not receiving external fellowship will be awarded an Institute fellowship.

Student life

Students Activity Council

Students Activity Council (SAC) is a union of the students for organization of extracurricular activities in the Institute and to address their concerns. It is totally managed, organized and maintained by the students themselves. SAC contains 6 different Activity Councils:

And a Representative Council. The Activity Councils manage the extracurricular affairs that come under their realm, while the Representatives Council works as the channel to address all the issues of the students related to academics, hostels and student life in general. The Students Senate is the overall governing body of SAC; all the decision-making regarding the students is done here. SAC Elections are conducted once a year to appoint the President, Vice-President, Treasurer of SAC and the Secretaries of the respective Councils. All the students except those in their first year are eligible to take part in these elections. Students are also appointed for various other responsibilities in SAC. SAC ensures smooth and continuous conduct of student activities in the Institute. It also aims at quick and proper resolution of the issues of the students. SAC also provides an opportunity to the students to be engaged in the extracurricular activities apart from their regular curriculum, and present and enhance their creativity, technical and managerial skills.

IISER Bhopal is going to host 4th INTRA IISER SPORTS MEET, 9 institutes are participating in this event ( 6 IISER, IISC, NISER, CBS Mumbai).

Fests

Enthuzia

Enthuzia is the cultural festival of IISER Bhopal. It was started in 2010. Three editions were conducted till now and the third edition was in October 2014.

Singularity

Singularity is the science festival of IISER Bhopal. It was started as a science club by a group of Science enthusiasts in IISER Bhopal to promote scientific thinking and rationale. Many science activities, talks were organized by this club in their initial years. In 2014, a step ahead was taken to promote science not only in the institute but beyond, in colleges and schools of India by conducting a Science fest of the same name. It witnessed students of all ages, who got inspired and excited about pure science through workshops, talks by eminent scientists of India, competitions, and other science related events. Singularity'14 was inaugurated by then Governor of Chhattisgarh, Shekhar Dutt. Singularity'15 is announced to happen from April 3.

References

  1. 1 2 "MS Students". Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  2. ↑ "Location". Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  3. ↑ "Institutions of Higher Education". Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
  4. ↑ "Visions and Missions".
  5. ↑ "Background".
  6. ↑ "BS-MS Program". IISER Bhopal.
  7. ↑ "PhD Program". IISER Bhopal.
  8. ↑ "Academics". Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Admissions open for PhD at IISER-Bhopal". One India Education. April 7, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Academics". Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  11. ↑ "Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal". iiserbhopal.ac.in. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

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