Realise role of science in daily life, Prof Ganguli tells students

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 27

The Seventh DST Inspire Internship Camp kicked-off with its inauguration by Prof Ashok Kumar Ganguli, Founder-Director, Institute of Nanoscience and Technology (INST), Mohali, here on Tuesday.

Prof Ganguli while talking on ‘Gifts of science to society: Let us think about it’, highlighted that switching on the motor for pumping water to the overhead tank, getting an X-ray of the chest in a hospital or switching on the air conditioner in the bedroom are trivial and we barely pause to think what life would have been in the absence of such developments.

He said: “It was important for students to realise science in everyday life which we take for granted but it has been possible due to ingenuity, hard work and passion of generations of scientists. There is science all around us, whether in the colour of butterflies, the ability of lizards to climb on walls, the smell of food and of course the changing colours of the sky.”

He dwelled on some amazing technologies of today such as Maglev trains, artificial skin and new technologies brought about by the nanotechnology.

PU VC Prof Arun Kumar Grover urged all students to take full advantage of the opportunity and did not hesitate to ask questions in Hindi, English or Punjabi.

He highlighted the importance of learning and not to give up at any point of their life.

Later, Prof Govindan Rangarajan, department of mathematics, and Chairman, Division of Interdisciplinary Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, gave an overview of the exciting new field of Brain Machine Interfaces (BMI). The goal of the BMIs is to “read” the mind of a person albeit in a limited sense. For example, by recording signals from the brain, one attempts to infer what kind of motor action a person wishes to perform. This research is interdisciplinary in nature and involves neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, robotics, signal processing, etc. This research can be applied to help paralysed patients, amputees and others.

Professor Kanwaljit Chopra, chairman, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, honorary coordinator of the DST Inspire, delivered the welcome address and highlighted achievements of the PU, UIPS and DST Inspire Programme Centre.

Dr Anurag Kuhad, programme coordinator, DST Inspire Internship Camp, said a total number of 532 meritorious students specifically from government schools in rural areas of Haryana are participating in the camp. Various faculty members and students of the university were also present.