News and Events

 
 
 
 
May 16, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
 

Rural India lacks sufficient teachers and the right equipment to educate the hundreds of millions of students enrolled in its schools.
 

Now Amrita University’s Center for Research in Advanced Technologies in Education will help teach language, science, technology, engineering and math subjects through virtual lessons and experiments the students can access online.
 

At the Hewlett Packard (HP) Catalyst Summit in Beijing last month, the Center received a grant of $ 100,000 to support its next steps toward scale-up and to go deeper with innovations in this initiative.
 

More than seventy candidates had applied for the funding; only five were awarded. In addition to the Amrita Center, a recipient from Kenya and three from the United States were selected.
 

Jim Vanides, HP’s Education Program Manager for Sustainability and Social Interventions, extended his congratulations.
 

“The HP Catalyst Leadership Fund has been established to provide additional support to progressive Catalyst projects that have compelling, emergent evidence of learning and teaching outcomes, international collaboration and the potential to scale,” he said, elaborating on the choice of awardees.
 

The People’s Choice award, given based on the number of popular votes, was also won by Amrita. Five winners, including Amrita, and four others from USA, China and South America were showcased at the Summit.
 

Amrita is a member of the HP Catalyst’s Measuring Learning Consortium. Profs. Prema Nedungadi and Raghu Raman explained the goals of the Consortium.
 

“We are developing methods to assess STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills including innovation, creative and higher-order thinking, global collaboration and the ability to tackle big, open-ended challenges; these are often not evaluated in schools.”
 

“We want to foster dialogue and debate, challenging assumptions about what’s needed and what’s possible, to better prepare students to compete in this information economy.”
 

Commenting specifically on their participation, they said, “We are expanding the use of online labs (O-Labs) free of charge, enabling students who do not have access to expensive physical labs. O-Labs provide simulations, video demonstrations and assessment of student procedural, conceptual and interpretational skills.”
 

 
 
 
 
May 14, 2012
School of Communication, Coimbatore
 

Amma’s Amala Bharatam Campaign continues to inspire many. In this case, four students of the Amrita School of Communication, were honoured for their 3-minute short film, Indifference, at the 9th Edition of the International Film Festival, We Care, where they won the Jury’s Special Award.
 

The film evocatively portrayed the efforts of a disabled young man, who wanted to clean his surroundings, even as someone else carelessly littered them. When he failed to retrieve some trash lying on the ground, from the confines of his wheelchair, he returned the next day, with a cane. His heroic efforts to clean inspired another young man to join in, and the beauty of the place was soon restored.
 

The film was earlier showcased at the film fest organized by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in collaboration with Brotherhood, a socio-cultural organization working for the differently-abled.
 

This film fest was supported by the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan (UNIC), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the National Trust and the Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT).
 

Harsha V. H., Madhu Karan Pillai, Moulini Kottur and Rajlakshmi Kanjilal, all first-year students of MA (Mass Communication) came together to make the winning film.
 

“This project gave us a good platform to showcase our talent in directing, scripting and editing,” the students remarked.
 

The shooting for the film was completed in one day. It took one fortnight to finish the editing. The cameras and all editing equipment were made available by the department, all the shots were taken on campus. The short movie had less than 10 scenes!
 

Harsha V. H. was responsible for the scripting and direction and Moulini Kottur for the editing.
 

Madhu Karan Pillai played the part of the differently abled young man. “Our team’s hard work paid off. I am really proud of the team. Our thanks to our faculty members and our classmates for their constant encouragement and support,” he remarked.
 

Rajlakshmi Kanjilal, who also acted in the film said, “We focused on giving our best within a limited period of time. Our film had a simple concept but a profound message.”
 

The team used seven different background music scores to make the scenes appealing.
 

“We did our best within our limited time and resources to make the shots look convincing. We tried to use camera angles in a such way that a differently abled person feels very proud after watching the scenes,” team members remarked.
 

Earlier, a short film made by other ASCOM students, also with a powerful social message and titled The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, was selected for the Jury’s Special Mention at Face Video Awards in Calicut.
 

We congratulate our media students for choosing to focus on socially relevant messages when making their films!
 

 
 
 
 
May 11, 2012
School of Dentistry, Kochi
 

Dr. Balagopal Varma R., Head of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Vice Principal of the Amrita School of Dentistry was recently awarded membership to the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.
 

 He was inducted as a member of the college at its 21st biennial convocation at Queenstown, New Zealand on April 1, 2012.
 

This is the first time that a person working in India received this prestigious award, MRACDS.
 

The Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons in mutual arrangement with the Royal College of Edinburgh provides access to educational courses and program to its fellows and members. Members have voting rights and are eligible for nomination and election to the college council, and also for being on various college committees.
 

Dr. Varma completed his BDS in 1990 and MDS (Pedodontics) in 1994, both from the College of Dental Surgery in Manipal. Subsequently he worked as an Assistant Professor in Pedodontics at the College of Dental Surgery, Manipal and Mangalore.
 

Later, Dr. Varma had the opportunity to serve as Senior Registrar in Pediatric Dentistry at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, a teaching hospital of Melbourne University. This hospital is a major referral center for children with systemic conditions and syndromes.
 

Here Dr. Varma received training in dental management for children of special needs and dentoalveolar trauma. He worked with leaders in the field of Pediatric Dentistry, including Roger Hall and Nicky Kilpatrick.
 

After returning from Melbourne, Dr. Varma worked at Ragas Dental College and Hospital and Apollo Hospital, both in Chennai, before joining Amrita.
 

Dr. Varma joined the Amrita School of Dentistry in 2004. He nurtured the Department of Pediatric Dentistry during those early formative years. Today, thanks to his efforts, the Department offers postgraduate courses and in Kerala, is the only such college department to offer comprehensive dental treatment under general anesthesia to patients.
 

Over the years, Dr. Varma has contributed to three textbooks. He has also authored many scientific journal publications. He has presented several papers in national and international conferences.
 

An examiner for both BDS and MDS, Dr. Varma is a member of the Board of Studies at several Indian universities.
 

As a member of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons, Dr. Varma will now have the opportunity to learn about novel clinical techniques and practices and introduce them into Indian settings. We congratulate him on his achievement.
 

 
 
 
 
May 10, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
 

In India today, there are 634 universities and 33,023 colleges that have a total of 16,97,500 students enrolled.
 

Given the acute shortage of qualified faculty, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) launched the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) in February 2009.
 

Amrita played a key role in enabling the NME-ICT. It developed the e-learning platform A-View, which was adopted as the system of choice for deployment across all Indian universities and colleges.
 

In addition, Amrita became part of a multi-university consortium to develop virtual labs, enabling online access for thousands of students who may not have access to the instruments and technology in their own colleges.
 

Several IITs are participating in this effort; Amrita is leading the development of biotechnology-related labs.
 

Amrita development efforts to enable e-learning together with the strides that the nation has made in this arena were showcased in the first-ever International Conference on Technology Enhanced Education that was hosted at the Amritapuri campus in January 2012.
 

India is not alone in setting up an extensive e-learning network. Recently Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US announced a joint initiative wherein they will offer online classes to any interested student located anywhere in the world.
 

In 2005, Marconi University of Italy founded GUIDE (Global Universities in Distance Education) to develop and support international cooperation in open and distance learning.
 

GUIDE conducts research studies in collaboration with its members and publishes books and original papers in order to disseminate information to a wide audience.
 

Amrita University was recently invited to become an honorary member of GUIDE.
 

“As a GUIDE honorary member, our university will receive support for implementation of projects and networking activities that can help showcase research outcomes. Members can discuss key issues, educational policies and sustainable development on a common platform,” shared Dr. Shyam Diwakar, Assistant Professor, School of Biotechnology.
 

“We may be collaborating with Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi, the main patron of GUIDE for an international research project,” he added.
 

“This possible partnership will help strengthen the role of institutions of higher education as drivers of innovation and development and unearth insights and best practices to meet the needs of stakeholders,” he summed up.
 

 
 
 
 
May 8, 2012
School of Arts and Sciences, Amritapuri
 

Management is a practice where arts, science and crafts meet.
 

This adage came to life when a team of three students, Hardik Bhate, Michael Darling and Philip Garcia, won the second prize of $10,000 in a Technology Business Plan competition, organized by UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
 

Hardik Bhate is final-year student of the Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, enrolled in the Bachelor for Business Management (BBM) program. Currently an exchange student at the University of New Mexico, he teamed up with Michael and Philip, undergraduate students of engineering at the American campus.
 

The trio brought together arts and science to craft a unique solution, SpeakEasy, for the differently-abled. The app (application) is made for the Android platform and meant to be used on Amazon’s Kindle device.
 

“The app currently provides supports for people with a speech disability, but we are expanding and researching so that the solution can also cater to people who are visually or hearing impaired,” shared Hardik.
 

Without divulging too many competitor details, he shared the group’s motivation for creating the app.
 

“The idea came because although some devices and applications exist for differently-abled people, they are very expensive. Our goal was to create an innovative solution that was also affordable and easy-to-use. A similar kind of app is available for $ 200 in the market. Ours is better technically and we plan to charge only $ 35 in this niche market.”
 

The team wants to commercialize their venture and make their app available on amazon.com. In fact, the two American students have already registered a company. Hardik is not yet part of the company, since he is planning to return to Amritapuri in May.
 

Hardik worked on the detailed business plan as part of the winning team, focusing on the major financials for the competition.
 

“We projected a startup capital of $ 40,000 only. Judges included many venture capitalists such as those from New Mexico Angels, Sun Mountain Capital and Bioprocess Diagnostics. When we presented, we were asked tough questions regarding our business model. But our answers satisfied the judges. Our low product pricing will be accompanied by an additional $5 for every add-on.”
 

Hardik, Michael and Philip formed the only team of undergraduate students who competed. Other teams included either MBA or PhD students. Most of the students on the other teams had prior work experience, as well.
 

“All three of us were very busy with class presentations and final exams, yet we somehow made the time for this. I am glad to see that our efforts were so well recognized,” Hardik said.
 

Hardik had a message for his classmates and junior students. “Folks, be cool and not hyper. Communication is the key. If you can speak and justify what you do, no one can stop you and you will achieve all the best. But, here, never get confused with having an over-confident attitude. Rather have the mind to accept a critique and learn and improve constantly.”
 

 
 
 
 
May 5, 2012
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
 

Vineeth Mohan, Paul Leons, Rizwin Shooja and Ajay Mohanan, final-year students of BTech (Electronics and Communication Engineering) at Amrita teamed up to make a Smart Traffic Controller.
 

“With our controller, vehicles can dynamically interact among one another, helping curbing traffic congestion and reporting other traffic-related problems in a cost-effective manner,” team members shared.
 

The team won the Yahoo Accenture Innovation Jockeys Contest together with another team from Amrita.
 

The second team, also of final-year BTech students, Ramesh Nair, Sai Manoj and Mithun Mohan won the award for their gesture-based wheelchair.
 

“The wheelchair is useful for those who have lost the ability to use their limbs due to old age, paralysis or congenital birth abnormalities. The system includes a preloaded map of the home that could help the elderly, who might otherwise inadvertently forget their way around, when moving inside the house,” shared team members.
 

Both student teams were guided by Br. Rajesh Kannan.
 

The two winning Amrita student teams together with four teams from other universities in India were the only ones to make it to the final round of this contest.
 

The contest was launched by Yahoo! India and Accenture to seek out, honor and reward India’s innovative minds in her campuses. Everyday Innovations for Home, College and City; so ran the theme line of the contest.
 

The winning team that created the smart traffic controller shared their motivation for taking up the project.
 

“Indian cities are synonymous with ultra busy traffic zones and very poor traffic management. Road accidents are touching all time highs; automation of traffic management can help a great deal, wireless sensor networks also hold the key.”
 

Explaining the workings of the system, they said, “Traffic congestion is determined by estimating how many vehicles are there in a particular time interval in the traffic zone. The system is meant to communicate live traffic status feeds among the vehicles through wireless nodes having radio receivers and sensors.”
 

“Our Smart Traffic Controller is efficient in the use of power and high on performance. It is non-intrusive, which means that no digging of roads, or erecting of traffic monitors is required. There is a very low infrastructural cost.”
 

Students of both winning teams received a gift hamper from Apple, which included an Apple iPad and an Apple iPod.
 

Amrita congratulates both winning teams on this achievement.
 

 
 
 
 
May 3, 2012
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
 

The highest grossing Bollywood film of all times, 3 Idiots, inspired Rohith Narayanan, to make his own home grown version that explored the theme of friendship among college-going students.
 

His film titled 4 Idiots is loosely based on a popular short story wherein the friends persuade their professor into giving them a re-exam. They claim to have missed writing the original exam due to a flat tyre preventing them from reaching the exam venue on time.
 

The professor obliges, but includes a surprise question in the re-exam. “Which tyre?” The students have to answer. Was it the front or rear tyre, was it the left or right tyre? The students decide to come clean and add a fifth choice that they mark – None of the above.
 

Their professor is amused.
 

“Although this didn’t really happen during our college days, the characters in the film are all based on my wonderful friends at Amrita. Rajan, Manu, Vinu and Vincent are four boys who study together and help each other out. But they don’t always make the best decisions and sometimes get into trouble,” shared film maker Rohit.
 

As final-year student of B.Tech. (Electronics and Communication Engineering) at Amritapuri campus, Rohit has spent nearly four years now with his friends from his engineering class.
 

He was thrilled when he recently received admission into the Whistling Woods International Institute in Mumbai, where he will pursue a Diploma in Film Making (Direction), upon graduation from Amrita.
 

The Institute ranks among the top 10 film making schools around the world.
 

Why the switch in career?
 

“I chose to enter the film industry solely because of the interest I have in this field. I want every one of my films to impart a relevant message,” he said.
 

Expressing his gratitude to his friends in Amrita who fully supported his journey in exploring a creative new world, he said, “It was the interaction with classmates while making my short film at Amrita that encouraged me to pursue my dream. I feel all my experiences in Amrita will really help me in the future.”
 

Rohit does not believe that creative artists should lead undisciplined lives.
 

“A disciplined life can offer simplicity and a clear mind with which one can work. Most important is divinity. Talent along with divinity is at the root of creativity. One must be as close to God as one is to the camera,” he said.
 

 
 
 
 
April 30, 2012
School of Business, Amritapuri
 

In their finance classes, MBA students learn about the basics of the derivatives market and the use of derivative products in speculating, hedging and arbitraging.
 

Moreover they learn about the trading, clearing, settlement, risk management, regulatory, accounting and taxation issues related to equity derivatives.
 

Second-year students at the Amrita School of Business at Amritapuri campus not only learned all these concepts in their Financial Derivatives class offered in the final trimester, they also received a certification recognized by industry.
 

Nine students of the class underwent the National Stock Exchange (NSE)’s exam and successfully obtained the National Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM).
 

The certificate is valid for three years. Should they choose to, they can renew the certificate by re-taking the exam after three years.
 

“This certification will enhance the employability of our students, as many financial services firms have made it mandatory for their employees,” informed Prof. Sougata Ray, who taught these students.
 

The students obtained certification in the Derivatives Market (Dealer) Module.
 

Certifications are currently available in 32 modules, which cover different sectors of financial and capital markets, both at the beginner and advanced levels.
 

The National Stock Exchange conducts online examinations to awards these certifications.
 

“The exam tests the practical knowledge and skills required to operate in financial markets,” shared Sougata. “The tests are conducted at NSE offices and NSEiT centers across the country. Our students took the exam at NSEiT Kochi.”
 

More information was shared by Aravind N, second-year MBA student at Amrita, who obtained the NCFM Certificate.
 

“The two-hour online test consisted of 60 questions for 100 marks, where 60% was the cutoff for obtaining the certificate,” he said.
 

“Our class helped us become active participants in the stock market, and we learned about the processes and the complexional outlook of the market. This was one of the best courses in our curriculum,” he added.
 

“Our students are now getting certificates that more experienced people in finance usually get. We plan to encourage more students to get similar certifications in other finance courses also. In the coming months, we can make it an integral part of the curriculum,” stated Prof. Jay Misra, Chairperson, Amrita School of Business, Amritapuri.
 

 
 
 
 
April 28, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
 

Women from Kerala made global headlines recently (see Aljazeera news), when they broke through many barriers to successfully take on the challenging profession of plumbing.
 

Now some of the poorest women from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu will have the chance to undergo the same computerized training, as part of a new project funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
 

The project titled Empowerment of Women in India through Innovative Vocational Education and Training will be implemented by Amrita University’s AMMACHI (Amrita Multi Modal Applications using Computer Human Interactions) Labs.
 

This multi-disciplinary research center of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham promoting the use of innovative educational technologies will partner with Amrita Self Reliance Education and Employment (SREE), Amrita Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), the Amrita Vidyalayam schools and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) for the project.
 

The collaborative partners will provide support as per their areas of expertise and offer the required infrastructure.
 

“The objective of our project is to economically and socially empower 3000 impoverished women by providing them computerized vocational and educational training certified by Amrita University,” explained Ms. Bhavani B., Director, AMMACHI Labs.
 

“This training will be coupled with life enrichment education in order to really empower the women socially and democratically. Women who have unstable and underpaid jobs remain trapped in the cycle of poverty, which is so detrimental to true democratic functioning,” she added.
 

“Our training will be made available to women with a total household income at or below Rs. 100 per day as well as those who are unemployed, widowed or otherwise lacking financial independence,” she underlined.
 

In addition to plumbing, the women will have the opportunity to also choose from tiling and installation of solar panels for their vocational training.
 

Non-technical trades such as fabric painting, mushroom cultivation, soap making, bee keeping and geriatric nursing assistant will be taught as well.
 

The project will especially target to empower women in those communities that were relocated due to construction of dams and not provided with adequate compensation.
 

In Kerala, the targeted districts will be Kozhikode, Wayanad, Idukki, Kollam, Trissur, Palakkad, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Mallapuram. In Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, Virudhanagar, Ramanthapuram will be included.
 

The Government of India has announced that over the next ten years 500 million skilled workers should be trained, 33 percent or 165 million of whom should be women. Information and Communication Technologies is one of India’s strengths and has proved to be the most effective way to educate large numbers of people.
 

This Amrita project will help meet the ambitious targets set by our Government.
 

 
 
 
 
April 28, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
 

Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri spoke to the Amrita fraternity during Campus Day celebrations at Amritapuri on April 27, 2012.
 

The thousands of students enrolled in various programs offered by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham at this campus sat in pin-drop silence as they listened to Swamiji’s powerful words.
 

Given below are some excerpts from Swamiji’s talk.
 

Salutations to all my divine sisters and brothers here. All of you are very fortunate to be part of Amrita University, as members of the large Amrita family. Amma tries to break the walls of caste, religion, country, trying to unite us as one family.
 

Your Chancellor Amma is a Self-realized Master. It is not very common to study in such a special university. Do you know the educational qualification of your Chancellor? Amma has studied upto the fourth standard. But the State University of New York gave Amma an honorary doctorate degree. All the professors in that university listened to Amma’s speech, when she spoke for about an hour there.
 

Amma’s knowledge is not coming out of her intelligence; it is coming from intuition or the Cosmic Intelligence.
 

When some French movie makers came to the ashram for making a movie about Amma, they went to the teachers who taught Amma during her school days. They wanted to know what was special about Amma, when she was studying. Was she was a special child? Many teachers recalled that Amma had the habit of accepting the punishment on behalf of other students, who might have done some mischief.
 

Before the mischief-makers could own up, Amma would usually say that she committed the mistake and happily accept the punishment.
 

When the teachers finally understood what was actually happening, they questioned Amma. To their surprise, the small girl replied, “I love to suffer for the sake of others. My life is for others.” Remember Amma was very young then. Even now Amma is suffering for the whole world.
 

It is not very easy to suffer for others. But Amma demonstrates through her life and actions. She also shows us how to overcome all the suffering of life.
 

Amma says, “Our life can become a celebration.”
 

All of us want happiness. But throughout our lives, we are engaged, we never really get a chance to enjoy life. We may think that after all these exams are over, we can relax. When we get a job, we can finally relax.
 

But actually after you get a job, you can never relax.
 

Some might say that they are going to relax after marriage. But is that going to happen? Ask the people who have married.
 

After I have children, I will relax, some others might think. But again, it won’t happen.
 

You will never get a chance to relax and enjoy life unless you learn certain secrets of life. These secrets can be learned through spirituality. Spirituality teaches us how to live in this world, how to face the problems of life and how to lead a blissful life.
 

Life is so precious. Each and every moment can become a celebration.
 

Amma says that to enjoy life, we should be able to invoke our divine nature. In the olden days, in the gurukula system of education, when the student was sent to the gurukula, the teacher gave the first teaching. Matru Devo Bhava. Imagine your mother as God. Try to see goodness in your mom. Pitro Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in your father. Acharya Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in your teacher. Atithi Devo Bhava. Try to see goodness in a person who comes to your house, even without an invitation.
 

Gradually try to see goodness everywhere. When you have the purity of mind to see goodness everywhere, you will reach the divine state.
 

Before giving intellectual education in those days, this kind of knowledge was given to invoke the divine nature. Unless knowledge is given to a pure heart, it can be misused. Purity of our heart is much more important than our intelligence.
 

Intelligence alone is not enough in our lives, we need intuition.
 

This whole world is the result of the flow of divine energy. This is what the scientists as well as our rishis say. This divine power is flowing through each and every object of this world. The stones cannot express it. Trees express it a little bit. Animals can express a little more. Human beings can express much more. But the body of a mahatma like Amma can express it completely.
 

So when we become a good conductor for that divine energy, we can reach the state of perfection. This world is designed for that to happen.
 

Amma says when you live in this world, try to become a giver of love. Don’t run after love. Try to give more and take little. When we live in this world, we have to take. But there should be some contribution from our part also.
 

In nature, we consume so many things without paying a bill. Sunlight. Do we pay a bill like we pay the electricity bill for it? No. We use oxygen without paying any bill. We use the natural resources without paying anything. But they are not free. We are supposed to give something back, otherwise nature knows how to charge it with compound interest. That is suffering.
 

We are supposed to do good and selfless actions. That is why Amma says, “take minimum and give maximum.”
Whatever is natural is beautiful. When we become closer to nature, we become more and more innocent. In the olden days, education was imparted in such a way that one could become closer to nature.
 

In today’s world, we have lost our connection with the sand, the earth, Mother Nature. We have become like machines, like robots. Robots can do some work even better than human beings can. But they cannot give love. Amma says that the world today is filled with intelligent robots, not loving human beings.
 

Human beings have become like robots.
 

If you try to give, more will come to you. If you try to love everyone, more and more love will come to you. Blessings will come to you.
 

Life will become a celebration, you will enjoy every moment of your life. Through purity, through innocence. May Amma bless all of you to attain the Supreme state. Om Namah Shivaya!
 

 
 
 
 
April 28, 2012
Amritapuri Campus
 

“This is a good day to feel proud and inspired, and happy about the achievements of one of the younger campuses of one of the fastest growing universities in India today – our Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,” noted Dr. Bipin Nair, Dean, School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri.
 

Dr. Bipin was welcoming participants at the annual Campus Day celebrations that brought together students and faculty from the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Ayurveda, Biotechnology, Business and Engineering on campus.
 

“One of the first US patents for our university was granted this year to an invention that came out of this very campus – the insulin pump,” stated Dr. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, speaking next, outlining some of the major accomplishments during the year gone by.
 

“A Nobel Laureate agreed to join our university as an adjunct professor; this was a first for any Indian university. US universities of repute signed MoUs with us, recognizing our degrees on par with theirs,” he added.
 

Addressing the graduating students, he said, “Each one of you should feel very lucky to have studied in a university that has one of the greatest masters of all times, as its Chancellor and guiding light.”
 

Exhorting students to become forces of transformation and happiness for the entire world, he noted that even major landmarks in technology were usually brought about by one or two individuals who worked hard to make a change, and not by central, large-scale efforts.
 

The benedictory address by Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri encouraged these students to try and develop a mind that seeks to take a minimum from nature and society, but give the very maximum possible.
 

“If you try to give more, more will come to you,” Swamiji said, outlining the irrefutable laws of our existence. Read More »
 

“You are very fortunate to be part of Amrita University,” Chief Guest Sri. P. H. Kurien, IAS, Principal Secretary, IT and PWD, Government of Kerala, told the assembled gathering.
 

“Continue to have a strong belief in yourself, face competition by being compassionate to others,” he said.
 

The presentation of the campus annual report was followed by the release of the campus magazine.
 

The next part of the program honoured those students and faculty who had published and presented research papers or won national / international recognition for their projects with Awards of Excellence and Certificates of Appreciation.
 

Proficiency prizes for first-year students were distributed on the previous evening during Samavarnam celebrations by Sampoojya Swami Poornamritananda Puri.
 

Having become a powerful icon for the value education imparted at Amrita, this annual cultural festival of the Amritapuri campus, featured many song and dance presentations based on the Indian scriptures. The first issue of Samvit, the student journal of the Amritapuri campus, was released.
 

The special Samavarnam highlight was Swamiji’s satsang followed by a beautiful flute recital. As the soulful melodious notes transformed the program hall into a meditative setting, yet one more unforgettable memory was etched in the minds of the Amrita fraternity, even as one more chapter was written in the annals of its history.
 

 
 
 
 
April 26, 2012
School of Pharmacy, Kochi
 

Dr. B. Ranganathan, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Amrita School of Pharmacy won the best oral presentation award in the National Convention of the Association of Pharmacy Professionals.
 

The event was convened on April 7, 2012 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
 

The Association of Pharmacy Professionals was formed in early 2011. An organization of academics, researchers, scientists, industry experts as well as students, it is now gaining attention from the pharmacy community in India.
 

The convention was attended by about 100 delegates from different parts of the country.
 

Dr. Ranganathan won the award for his presentation titled Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of some novel chalcone derivatives as anti – inflammatory agents.
 

The presentation centered on the subject of rational drug design.
 

“I put forth the idea that small changes in a simple molecular scaffold could lead to reasonable gains with regard to activity in the context of chalcones and inflammation,” Dr. Ranganathan explained.
 

Chalcones form the central core for a variety of important biological compounds. Dr. Ranganathan presented an in-silico strategy to design focused libraries of such molecules.
 

“A rationally designed 51-member library of chalcones consisting of members with varied electronic and steric properties together with markedly different polarities was trimmed down to a subset of ten compounds through a primary filter utilizing the docking program called Argus Lab,” he explained.
 

“This set of pre-screened ligands was subjected to a rigorous, computationally intensive suite of molecular modeling testing through the software AutoDock, which acted as a suitable secondary screen when compared with the corresponding data for clinically used anti-inflammatory drug Ibuprofen.”
 

“A final assessment of drug-likeness was also carried out to ascertain the suitability of the hits generated above for oral administration.”
 

Cautioning that computational technique will only provide probabilistic values, Dr. Ranganathan said that the results always have to be assimilated with an open-minded approach.
 

“If used judiciously at an early stage of drug discovery, such a strategy can be very beneficial with regard to economy of time, money and energy to be invested in subsequent medicinal chemistry efforts,” stated the scholar.
 

 
 
 
 
April 25, 2012
School of Engineering, Bengaluru
 

The annual Mobile World Congress is organized by a trade group representing network operators, manufacturers and suppliers of GSM technology.
 

This year, nearly 67,000 delegates from around the world participated during February 27-March 1 in Barcelona. For the second year in succession, Amrita students attended.
 

They were participating in the University Mobile Challenge Contest, which was organized as part of the Congress by Berkley Mobile International Collaborative, a non-profit organization.
 

While the contest attracted world-wide participation, only the top 14 teams were invited to make a presentation in Barcelona. These student teams had the opportunity to pitch their mobile apps and business plans to venture capitalists, who could decide to actually provide funding.
 

Teams from only two universities in India received invitations viz. Amrita University and IIT Kharagpur.
 

“Their apps were game changing and their business plans had the potential to generate revenue and become the basis for successful companies,” the organizers stated.
 

Amrita was represented by four final-year students of engineering. Aaditya Sriram, Rohan Prabhu, Nikhil Nandagopal and Kedar Karthik. While the first three will graduate in May 2012 B.Tech. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering, Kedar will complete his degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering.
 

The former three in the team focused on the technical aspects of the project, and Kedar was their business executive and market research specialist.
 

Together the students built a retail business app for Android and named it Acolyte. The effort took a few months from November 2011 to February 2012.
 

The students explained their creation.
 

“Our application Acolyte can help customers and vendors make the most out of products they respectively buy and sell. It leverages the power of bulk to fetch customers the best price for a product they wish to buy and at the same time makes sure that the vendor does not lose out on his margin, by helping him drive sales.”
 

“Ours is a crowd sourced application that believes in making buying a social phenomenon. It provides the best of the deals to a user with almost no effort on his end; the only thing a user has to do is make a wish list!”
 

Did the venture capitalists in Barcelona like the idea?
 

“Our team received a very good response from the judges and our peers, who really appreciated our enthusiasm and passion for the product we had built. In the future, we will be trying to build up own company to market this application.”
 

“For us, computer science is the license to innovate beyond imagination, and we are happy to have used this opportunity! We were excited about Android apps ever since we ourselves got Android Smartphones.”
 

“Participating in the contest gave us an idea of how many amazing things are happening in universities around the world. We interacted with students from Egypt, Lebanon, USA, UK, Canada, France, Spain and Italy. We exchanged ideas and thoughts. We realized that failure to innovate is not an option at all.”
 

SEE ALSO
Amrita Student Wins International Contest

 
 
 
 
April 25, 2012
School of Arts and Sciences, Amritapuri
 

“In reality, nature is nothing but God’s visible form which we can experience through our senses. Indeed by loving and serving nature we are worshipping God Himself.”
 

“Just as nature creates favorable circumstances for a seed to transform itself into a huge tree, nature creates the necessary circumstances through which an individual soul can merge in eternal union with the Supreme.”
 

First-year students of Bachelors of Business Management (BBM) contemplated on these quotes by their Chancellor Amma, even as they beautifully inscribed them on greeting cards made from recycled paper.
 

Their goal? Making 500 such cards to be displayed during Earth Day on campus.
 

The entire class came together as students formed themselves into ten groups to finish the stipulated number of cards.
 

“The team work helped us gain enough confidence to want to initiate such events in future too,” shared Veena Vimal and Nishanth C. P.
 

Other students remarked that rather than a single day of reminder, they wished to have sustainable and eco-friendly activities ongoing in campus throughout the year.
 

“In our class, we learn about planning, leading, organizing and managing. We saw these principles come alive as they never could in theory text books, as we executed this project,” excitedly stated student Joel Sebastian.
 

Joel and his colleagues not only used recycled paper; they also sourced original and beautiful designs from discarded magazines, old wedding cards, used brochures, posters and pamphlets. As they saw waste being transformed into wealth, they felt thrilled beyond words.
 

The students extended their gratitude to their department as well as the university for providing them an opportunity to creatively explore their talents and ideas, while at the same time doing something for Mother Nature.
 

“This year Earth Day was made memorable on our campus by the students’ efforts,” appreciatively noted a faculty member.
 

Earth Day is globally celebrated on April 22 every year by over 500 million people in 175 countries around the world.
 

 
 
 
 
April 20, 2012
Coimbatore Campus
 

Dr. P. K. Krishnan Namboori was recently conferred the Bharat Jyoti Award by the India International Friendship Society.
 

The Society honors Indians who have made significant contributions in their chosen fields. Former recipients include Mother Teresa, Justice M. Fathima Beevi, Justice P. N. Bhagwati and sarod matesro Amjad Ali Khan.
 

Among the awardees from the academic world have been Vice-Chancellors and professors from top universities such as the IITs. Scientists from top research labs have been honored as well.
 

Amrita’s Dr. Krishnan was chosen for his notable research contributions; he has performed computational studies to identify potential treatments and drugs for combating Alzheimer’s disease.
 

The award will be presented to Dr. Krishnan on May 4, 2012 at the International Conference on Economic Growth and National Integration in New Delhi.
 

Currently serving as Assistant Professor in the Computational Chemistry Group of the Center for Computational Engineering and Networking at Amrita’s Coimbatore campus, Dr. Krishnan has also co-authored a book titled Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling Principles and Applications. The book was published by Springer International.
 

His research team at Amrita focuses on computational approaches for designing molecules that interact in specific ways with other molecules of drugs. Having completed over 80 projects, the team is now also working on projects that will be useful for patients suffering from cancer.
 

Dr. Krishnan’s research interests include computational chemistry, molecular modeling, understanding molecular simulation, drug design and delivery systems, bio nanotechnology and bio software engineering.
 

Amrita students and faculty came together to congratulate the professor for the honor received.
 

“I had the chance to work with Dr. Krishnan on many research projects,” Rohit V., final-year student of MTech. “He has been most helpful. Currently I am working on a new method to solve the Schrodinger equation under his guidance – the project is titled Multi Resolution Quantum Chemistry Using Wavelet Bases.”
 

“We are very proud of Dr. Krishnan,” remarked Dr. Soman, Professor and Head, Center of Computational Engineering and Networking. “Dr. Krishnan has been with us since 2004; this award encourages all to explore and contribute more towards the research for the benefit of society.”
 

 
 
 
 
April 19, 2012
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

Five third-year students of B.Tech. (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) won laurels for their university when they placed third in the nation-wide Texas Instruments India Analog Design Contest.
 

The team of Amrita students consisting of Akshayakrishna U., Dhananjayan P. S., Lohit L., Sabarinath S. and Shiva D. built a Wireless 3D Robotic Arm with Force Quantification using EMG, as their entry in this all-India contest.
 

In all, five teams from Amrita participated. Each submitted an abstract, basic block diagram of the circuitry, equipment required and estimated cost of the proposed project. Every project was required to make use of two analog ICs manufactured by Texas Instruments along with micro-controllers.
 

All but one of the five Amrita teams qualified to participate in the next round of the contest, along with some 150 teams from other colleges in the nation.
 

In the next round, unique problems were posed to each of the teams, which they were required to solve with the help of kits provided. 15 teams were selected from this round to proceed to the final round; one of these was the Amrita team. 
 

In the final round, these selected teams had the opportunity to complete their initially proposed projects. Each team presented their respective working models at the company premises in Bangalore on April 6, 2012. It was here that the Amrita robotic arm was named a winner.
 

“Our 3-d robotic arm operates in synchronization with the human arm, making use of the EMG (electromyography) signals and force quantification techniques,” explained the winning students.
 

“Such an arm would lead to further enhancement in the area of Human Machine Interaction, allowing for remote control of robots, performing robotic surgery and tele-education,” they added.
 

The team explained the technical features of their creation.
 

“EMG is a bio-electric signal which is produced by the muscles and neural system. The signal generation mechanism comprises of the summation of many muscle unit action potentials (MUAPS) which are located in the muscle fibers. These impulse-like signals from the muscles are captured by a surface sensor through the skin interface. The motion of the hand during the formation of a character is associated with the firing of thousands of MUAPs which occur at different times and with different amplitudes.”
 

“The surface sensor can only see the summation of these individual signals. The EMG signals along with the signals from the 3-axis accelerometers (which are used to recognize the motion, e.g. wrist motion) are processed and transmitted wirelessly through trans-receivers and are received at the robotic arm. The robotic arm decodes the received signal and imitates the motion of the human arm by controlling the different motors.”
 

These Amrita students were guided by Mr. Sivraj P., Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Coimbatore campus.
 

 
 
 
 
April 26, 2012
School of Arts and Sciences, Mysore
 

“Adulteration has become a major issue in developing countries. In addition, population explosion coupled with urbanisation and changing life styles is leading to many metabolic and degenerative disorders,” outlined Dr. H. Honne Gowda, Director, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka.
 

As an invited guest at the National Conference on Applications of Data Mining in Management of Metabolic and Degenerative Disorders, he was addressing nearly 200 delegates who participated from across the country.
 

The conference was organized by the Amrita School of Arts and Sciences at Mysore.
 

“Computer technologies provide the best solution for maintaining and handling large amounts of data in health care management,” the invited guest emphasized.
 

Data mining is a field of study in computer science that makes it possible to extract useful information from a database of medical records. Examining relationships and patterns in datasets helps in gaining new insights and unearthing new medical knowledge.
 

How science is moving increasingly from hypothesis-driven to data-driven discoveries was expounded on by keynote speaker, Dr. K. P. Soman, Head, Computational Engineering and Networking, Amrita University.
 

Dr. Soman touched upon the emergence of high performance computing in universities today in his address.
 

Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, noted that data management had revolutionized many fields but had not yet made the same impact in the field of medicine.
 

He also reverentially recalled hos Chancellor Amma had the far sightedness to suggest the introduction of information technology in the Amrita hospital more than a decade ago.
 

Various plenary sessions enlightened delegates on Alzheimer’s disease, time series analysis, biometrics, biometric sensors, web usage mining and web personalization. The talks focused on opportunities for research scholars in the field of data mining.
 

In the valedictory session, Sri. G. Madhusudhan, MLC, South Graduate Constituency and Dr. S. Ananth Raj , Executive Secretary, Vision Group of Science and Technology spoke.
 

The fact that our metabolic disorders are because of our changed eating habits was highlighted again. The Sanskrit dictum, Akala Bhojanam Anarogya Karanam was quoted.
 

Thirty-five delegates presented research papers. Two best paper awards were announced. Sagar B. from L&T Mysore (guided by Dr. Somashekar Umadi) shared the award with a team of Amrita engineering students Pavan Kumar, Srinath S Kamath, C P Shankar Menon and Pramod S. (guided by Dr. Ganesh Udupa).
 

“The presentations provided new insights into the concept of data mining,” stated Shruthi, a delegate from Hubli, who attended.
 

“The deliberations were excellent,” added Dr. Hanumanthachar Joshi, Principal, Sharada Vilas College of Pharmacy, Mysore.
 

“The event was well organized,” summed up Prof. T. N. Nagabhushan, HoD, Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore.
 

 
 
 
 
April 15, 2012
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
 

Vineeth Mohan, Paul Leons, Ajay Mohanan and Rizwin Shooja won yet another accolade when their B.Tech. student project was chosen for the IEEE Standards Education Committee (SEC) grant of US $500 on February 24, 2012.
 

This team of final year students of Electronics and Communication Engineering at the Amritapuri campus had earlier won the second prize in the Mentor Graphics University Design Contest 2011.      Learn More »
 

In this contest, 187 entries from 68 universities including IITs and NITs were received; the Amrita team was the only one comprised of undergraduate students.
 

At that time, the team was felicitated at the User2User International Conference at the Taj Vivanta, Bangalore. A certificate of recognition accompanied the prize money of Rs.1 lakh.
 

Their project titled Comparative Study and Implementation of JPEG & JPEG2000 Standards for Satellite Meteorological Imaging Controller in HDL began in 2011 and is already attracting rave reviews.
 

“The students are doing the project with knowledge about the standards, semantics and syntax of encoders and decoders and the basic JPEG standard. This defines many options and alternatives for the coding of still images of photographic quality,” explained Br. Rajesh Kannan, who is guiding these students.
 

“The team plans to successfully complete the task and come up with the final model, making use of JPEG standards,” he added.
 

Br. Rajesh is also guiding another student team that is working on a Wireless Gadget for Home-Bound Patients (using IEEE Standard1073) for Medical Device Communications.
 

The team comprised of Vineeth Radhkrishnan, Deepak Krishan M U, Denny C. Jacob and Akhil K. S. was also recently awarded the IEEE Standards Education Committee (SEC) grant of US $500.
 

“This project is aimed at building a working prototype of an assistive wireless gadget for bedridden patients. The gadget will continuously monitor the heart rate and temperature of the patient. The device will also detect the tilt and fall of the patient,” shared Br. Rajesh.
 

“The SEC has agreed to publish the final student application paper in IEEE based on lessons learned in implementing the prototype,” he added.
 

“In a short period of three months, two Amrita teams have received the IEEE SEC grants; this is a tremendous achievement for our students.”
 

“It is their hard work and Amma’s blessings that brought them funding for their final-year B.Tech. projects. On behalf of IEEE Student Branch at Amrita, I congratulate these students on their achievement.”
 

 
 
 
 
April 13, 2012
School of Communication, Coimbatore
 

Who creates and controls the public mind? Who are the haves and have-nots in media?
 

Questions such as these were explored by Ms. Somali Chowdhury, Assistant Professor, Amrita School of Communication, Coimbatore when she was invited to speak at the International Conference on Diversity and Plurality of Media at M.C. National University of Journalism in Bhopal.
 

“The Indian media industry is very powerful as compared to the industry in various other democracies. A significant percentage of skilled Indian labor is employed by the media sector,” stated Ms. Somali.
 

Examining contemporary Indian society with reference to media industry, Ms. Somali named four separate categories. These included people with or without access to media, people with or without access to the internet, people with or without control over messages transmitted through media and finally people with or without influence over media.
 

These four categories would correspond to the haves and have nots. The rich were not necessarily the haves, if they didn’t use the internet; they belonged to the have-nots.
 

Further elaborating, Ms. Somali added, “Aldous Huxley, the famous English novelist and critic, illustrated a rather grim portrait of media’s role in his book, Brave New World. He believed that society was controlled by an impersonal force or a ruling elite, which manipulated the population using various methods.”
 

“On the one hand, Huxley criticized the role of media in influencing our minds because ultimately the business and political classes controlled what the media barons said. On the other hand, according to another view, the common masses are so bewildered and confused that they need to be controlled by a few taking decisions.”
 

Asserting that the most common source of information, misinformation, distortion, and stereotypes is the media, Ms. Somali said, “Media should truly work as a watchdog, disseminating relevant information but not become dogs of the classes who have stakes in ownership and control.”
 

She noted that because of media control and ownership, some privileged channel representatives easily gain interviews, while other sincere journalists struggle for a single glimpse of a prestigious political leader or CEO.
 

Commenting on a modern phenomenon, she underlined that netizens were eager to participate in information sharing through various virtual social networks daily and around the clock, even though citizen journalists and bloggers did not have direct control over the media.
 

“Yet their influence is reflected by the fact that favored leading channels duplicate the same news content, indicating an indirect control of media,” she said.
 

 
 
 
 
April 10, 2012
Schools of Engineering, Amritapuri and Coimbatore
 

After graduating with a B.Tech. degree, students fueled by a love for engineering subjects, may opt to enroll for an M.Tech. degree in a premier university.
 

They have to qualify in the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) exam first before seeking admission into any M.Tech. program.
 

This year nearly 6.8 lakh students wrote the exam; of these 1.08 lakh students qualified.
 

Amrita students fared especially well. For example, M. Sathish Kumar, final-year student of B.Tech. (Aerospace Engineering) at our Coimbatore campus ranked second in the nation in his discipline.
 

“It was with Amma’s blessings and my teachers’ guidance that I was able to achieve this. Before I joined Amrita University, I studied in Amrita Vidyalayam at Ettimadai and I would like to thank all my school teachers there as well for having mentored me. Besides, right from my childhood I received encouragement from the large Amrita family to work hard,” shared Sathish.
 

Sathish’s stellar performance in the exam did not eclipse the equally bright performance by several of his classmates – Sreekanth S.H. who ranked fourth; R. Hariharan who ranked seventh, and Jibu Tom Jose who ranked fifteenth.
 

“Remarkable performance by the students,” stated Dr. J. Chandrasekhar, Chairman, Department of Aerospace Engineering at Coimbatore.
 

The winning students shared their sentiments.
 

“We truly experience a beautiful feeling when our hard work bears fruit. No special coaching is required if one systematically learns well what one is supposed to learn. Four years of undergraduate studies at Amrita laid the right foundation for this meritorious achievement,” stated Sreekanth who obtained the fourth rank.
 

“The unstinting support and guidance of our learned professors not only gave us technical knowledge but also moulded our values and character,” chimed in Hariharan, who placed seventh.
 

“Our faculties have always emphasized the importance of fundamental concepts and this indeed paved the way for acquiring a deep understanding of the subject. Our faculties are very well qualified,” added fifteenth rank holder, Jibu Tom Jose.
 

In all, 21 students from the same class obtained top ranks in the GATE exam.
 

Students graduating from other departments and campuses fared just as well.
 

For example, 13 students of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Amritapuri scored above 90 percentile. Anil C.S. topped the list with a score of 99.99 percentile and rank of twentieth in the nation.
 

The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering on the same campus saw not only 17 of its final-year students but also 5 recent graduates obtain top ranks. Akash ranked 128, Sreenivas ranked 158 and both Gayathri R. Prabhu and Arunkumar G.K. placed at 194. In all, 8 students scored more than 99 percentile and 14 students scored over 98 percentile.
 

“Our students have done a great job and have made all of us proud. They got what they rightly deserved. Their success also speaks volumes about our curriculum and the kind of exposure they get at the Amrita campus,” stated Br. Karthi, Assistant Professor, who mentored many of these students.
 

 
 
 
 
April 9, 2012
School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri
 

Through the holding of hands and sharing of experiences, new horizons of knowledge will open in the highest realms of science and technology to those thirsting for knowledge in India and others parts of the world—especially to students, teachers and researchers.

                                                               - Chancellor Amma
 

Research teams from India and Italy will come together to work on a project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
 

Italian universities including University of Milan, University of Pavia and Italian Institute of Technology will join hands with Amrita to investigate a cerebellum-inspired approach for pattern classification in robots.
 

“Recent successes in machine learning and robotics have expanded the robotic applications. Nevertheless, both robotics and machine learning still have a long way to go, as far as adopting bio-inspired approaches,” explained Dr. Shyam Diwakar, Assistant Professor, who will lead the project on the Amrita side.
 

Dr. Shyam leads all research efforts at the Amrita Lab for Computational Neurosciences.
 

Explaining the project goal, he said, “Decades of research into the structure and function of the cerebellum have led to some understanding of how learning takes place. There are many theories on what signals the cerebellum operates on, and how it works in concert with other parts of the central nervous system. Computational cerebellar models built with this knowledge are being applied for controlling robotic dynamics. This research worldwide is in its infancy stage.”
 

Elaborating further, he added, “In this joint venture, we will develop a cerebellum inspired pattern recognition algorithm for robotic data classification. We will investigate the temporal and spatial dynamics in the cerebellar network models capable of predicting cerebellar input-output transformations by analyzing the mathematical and computational properties of the network.”
 

“The cerebellum has long been known for its role in movement and articulation. Cerebellar motor articulation control algorithms have existed for more than 35 years although such methods do not faithfully reproduce cerebellar architecture,” he further added.
 

“We will exploit biophysical neural network models to solve the problems of pattern recognition and navigation in mobile robots to achieve practical algorithms for surgery or disaster mitigation. This project will rely on biological basis for design and function of a pattern classifier that can be used in motor articulation,” he underlined.
 

The project will not only allow technology transfer between the two countries but will also support researcher mobility; a maximum of two visits from either side per year will be permitted.
 

Prof. Egidio D’Angelo, a world-renowned expert on cerebellar physiology from University of Pavio will also be part of the team.
 

The project is expected to be completed by 2015.
 

 
 
 
 
April 6, 2012
School of Arts and Sciences, Amritapuri
 

Scott Rice has been visiting the Mata Amritanandamayi Math for several years now.
 

It was during one of these visits that he learned about cotton scraps discarded by the textile industry in India. Where others saw waste, he saw potential wealth. He was quick to grab the idea of using these cotton scraps to make artistic packaging material for photographers.
 

As Founder-President of a US-based business, he embarked on this green initiative to help reduce the burden of waste and pollution on Mother Earth.
 

Today, after nearly two decades of existence, Scott’s company, Rice Studio Supply is the top distributor of packaging material to the photo industry in the US. Many leading photographers have been inspired to source their albums and frames from this pioneer. Its eco-friendly approach has generated much customer goodwill.
 

Scott was recently in the Amritapuri campus where he spoke to first-year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Business Management program.
 

Describing his entrepreneurial journey as that of a shy and timid young man who began his business in his garage, he detailed his transformation to the confident and successful business man he is today.
 

“Amma speaks so much about protecting the environment. I am glad that my company is able to help in some humble way. The fact that we source such products from India contributes also to supporting sustainable livelihoods in this land,” he said.
 

When a businessman embraces the greener perspective and shares his experiences, that is potentially of much benefit to students.
 

“The session was very useful for us. We got the chance to listen to some interesting experiences,” shared BBM students Reshma Suresh and Vivek V. Nair.
 

Next time Scott is here, he may be teaching these students a 4-credit course.
 

“The students have a class on e-commerce in their curriculum. In my class, they will have the opportunity to also develop websites for entrepreneurial commerce ventures. This will definitely help them as they step out into the corporate world, whether they work for a company or start one.”
 

The green entrepreneur will be sure to emphasize eco-friendly approaches in his teaching.
 

“Such approaches can help one become more efficient and cut costs, not to mention that they help the planet and us,” he underlined.
 

 
 
 
 
April 4, 2012
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

“For constructing buildings, one chooses an appropriate plot (of land) and builds storeys. In film making also, one needs to develop the plot through stories.”
 

Seeking to draw a parallel between their studies (BTech in Civil Engineering) and their hobby (making short films), final-year students at Coimbatore campus Dheeraj V. and Karthik C. S. added, “The bottom line for us is that whatever the task, creativity and passion plays a vital role.”
 

The duo recently won the People’s Choice Award for their short film, beating 250 other entries.
 

The contest was jointly organized by D. G. Vaishnava College of Communication and PVR Cinemas. It attracted participation not just from hobbyists such as Dheeraj and Karthik but also students of communication and seasoned professionals.
 

“We never thought we would win this award when we submitted our entry. There was intense competition from professional film makers in the contest. Majority of the films that showcased were professionally made,” the students remarked.
 

“We were so surprised but delighted when the results were announced,” they added.
 

Their film Pariyadhum Veruoom (Tamil) depicts the journey of the hero who tries hard to meet the expectations of the people around him. He fails, but does not give up; he tries again and again. Finally, he understands that he needs to be true to his passion. His ultimate triumph results when he follows his heart and joins the army.
 

“The hero of our movie represents all youngsters who don’t follow their dreams, their passion, but live like ordinary human beings, trying to satisfy other people,” explained the winning students.
 

“We made this movie to encourage youngsters to choose the path they feel is right in life.”
 

Where did they learn the basics and nuances of film making?
 

“We have not really learned. Whatever we know is from watching movies and trying to apply the principles we saw working. We have not done any courses in film-making.”
 

“The fact that we still got the award was totally God’s grace.”
 

“It was a moment of jubilation for us. When the audience in a packed theatre accepts you and votes for you. Even though our movie was a zero budget movie, we got this tremendous response.”
 

“The best thing is that through films, we can touch many hearts.”
 

This film had brought accolades to the students in earlier forums as well. They received the Special Jury Award and the Best Director Award in an International Film Festival AVTAR.
 

 
 
 
 
April 3, 2012
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

“I am typically found under highways and railway tracks; I allow water to be channeled underneath; what am I?”
 

“Culvert,” answered Amrita students Hema Sharanya and Rini John Alappat.
 

These final-year students of B.Tech. (Civil Engineering) recently won the first prize in a technical quiz competition organized by Ultra Tech Cement.
 

The contest drew participation from 148 teams representing different colleges in South India.
 

The multi-level contest consisted of preliminary rounds in the respective college that enabled the two top students from each college to participate.
 

Hema and Rini were chosen from Amrita. “These two students consistently get top ranks; both are very enthusiastic and dynamic,” their faculty members remarked.
 

At the subsequent regional-level round the Amrita students placed first. Next they competed in the state-level round, where they were second.
 

In both these rounds, they solved crossword puzzles in addition to answering questions based on visual and other clues.
 

Teams that placed at first and second positions in each of the four South Indian states viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were invited to Bengaluru to compete in the South India finals.
 

Participants mostly included final-year students of Civil Engineering; questions tested both theoretical knowledge and practical aspects of the discipline.
 

“How does one determine the workability of a concrete mix with a low water-cement ratio?” the Amrita students were asked during the finals.
 

“Compaction factor test,” they answered, with confidence.
 

“Born in Illinois, USA in 1880, I was a scientist. I was Director of Portland Cement Association in Chicago. I developed a test method for determining the workability of concrete mix by using a piece of equipment that came to be known by my name. Who was I?”
 

The Amrita students knew. “Duff A. Abrams,” they replied.
 

“It was our teachers who equipped us with the theoretical knowledge. They also took pains so that we gain real exposure to the world of construction, by arranging frequent field trips. Over our four years of study, we had the opportunity to interact with resource personnel from both industry and academia, who enthusiastically shared their insights with us,” the duo stated, with gratitude.
 

The quiz is being conducted since 2006. It is hosted by Mr. Giri Balasubramanian.
 

 
 
 
 
April 9, 2012
School of Medicine, Kochi
 

A one-day national conference on Gen-X Hospital Management Mantras was organized by the Department of Hospital Administration at the Amrita School of Medicine on April 2, 2012.
 

Titled NOVUS 2012, the conference included didactic sessions delivered by experts in the field of healthcare administration.
 

The session commenced with a talk by Mr. Sunil Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City, Bangalore.
 

Speaking about operational excellence in healthcare, he asserted that the focus should be on the need of the customers, empowering the employees and optimising existing activities.
 

“Most organizations can plan, very few can implement. Implementation is key for achieving excellence. Prioritize and implement that first which has the highest priority,” he said.
 

Dr. D. K. Sharma, Medical Superintendent of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, spoke next. Elaborating on laws applicable to management of patients, hospitals, drugs, safety issues in hospital premises, employment of staff and environment safety, he underlined, “Laws related to health and hospitals help healthcare teams function with maximum efficiency.”
 

Others who spoke included Mr. Samuel N. J. David, Senior Personnel Manager and Coordinator of Healthcare Management Programmes from Christian Medical College, Vellore and Dr. Vimalkumar Govindan, Medical Director at the PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore.
 

While the former shed light on competencies in human resources management, the latter explained the need for accrediation, emphasizing that the focus should be on continuous improvement of health services.
 

Dr. Uma Nambiar, CEO of the Global Health City, Chennai also spoke. “We have to deliver business excellence if we are to be the leaders. We need to create our own brand. Branding helps in building the image of the organization.”
 

Mr. Joy Chakraborty, Director-Administration, P. D. Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai and Dr. S. K. Jawahar, Senior Administrator, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram also shared their insights with the participants.
 

Paper presentations by students as well as cultural events followed the expert sessions.
 

“The conference provided us with the recent updates in the field of healthcare administration. Many thanks to Amrita for organizing NOVUS – 2012,” remarked Ms. Shilpa who attended from Sree Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam.