9th Annual Educators Day emphasizes need for research and consultancy

CHENNAI, INDIA: National Instruments (NI), a technology pioneer and leader in Graphical System Design, along with NICE (Nurturing Innovation and Creativity in Engineering) committee hosted the 9th Annual Educator’s Day 2010, India’s largest academic platform for science and engineering professors today in Chennai.

The two-day event was a compelling success with participation of over 1,500 professors, scholars and eminent academicians across the country. The event focused on the need of ‘Research and Consultancy’, to play a pivotal role in enabling students and teachers on the effective use of technology in education.

Dr. Poongothai, Minister for Information Technology, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, the Guest of Honour and M. Sivakumar, CEO – ICTACT (A Consortium of Govt. of India, Government of Tamil Nadu and CII) were present at the ceremony to felicitate the students and professors for their outstanding innovations in the field of science & engineering. NI and ICTACT also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to nurture innovation in Engineering & Science education in India.

For the first time, Educator’s Day 2010, witnessed participation of over 550 students from across the country. The highly acclaimed National level technical competitions - VI Mantra and NI Yantra staged its Grand Finale on the 13th of Dec. Demonstrations, video sessions and projects counseling were part of the whole day event. The winners of VI Mantra and NI Yantra were also announced on the closing day of the event with the award distribution by Dr. Poongothai.

‘Research and Consultancy’ – was the theme of the Annual Educator’s Day 2010. The daylong event on 14th Dec was presided over by NICE Committee members, followed by a key note session by Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director, IndRA (India, Russia and Arabia) NI on the importance of Research and Consultancy in the field of engineering education.

This year, the panel discussions by renowned professors from NIT-Thiruchirapalli, VJTI, PSG College of Technology, BMS College of Engineering gave rise to thoughts, insights and views on research and consultancy, opportunities and challenges in the field of technological advancement.

The discussions were focused around a wide range of next generation embedded technologies including design track, green engineering, teaching embedded systems, robotics & mechatronics, nanotechnology and more to emphasize the importance of graphical system designs for research and consultancy. Other colleges who were also part of this two-day event included NIT Rourkela, SRM University, Anna University, Pondicherry Engineering College.

Prof. Gopikrishna Rao, Chairman, NICE Committee said: “We aim for a tremendous growth in research and consultancy in the engineering education space and we have to develop this through different learning approach in the engineering colleges. NICE, along with NI is dedicated to make a difference to the engineering community by providing them with relevant exposure to a high level of technological proficiency.

“This platform will empower professors to better prepare students for today’s engineering and science challenges by providing hands-on learning of fundamentals and concepts using the latest industry standard technologies.”

Jayaram Pillai, MD, IndRA (India, Russia and Arabia), National Instruments said: "Engineers should have an inbuilt passion and zeal in research to develop their own capabilities and also to fuel the momentum in technological advancements. With this platform, we are bringing together today’s academicians and Industry experts to share their teaching methodologies and learn about innovative National Instruments technologies and products used in academia which would enable students to pursue their dreams to create start-up companies and evolve as job creators.”

He further added: “Through Educator’s Day, we want to bring about a sea change in the existing engineering education system in India for a more promising future through research and consultancy. This event in association with NICE, will be instrumental in helping members with the development of projects based on real world applications, access to industry events, educational workshops, training sessions, certification programmes and field visits.”

The Educator’s Day serves as a platform to bridge the gap between the industry and the academia -– from bringing new technologies to classrooms to idea exchange between industry experts and academicians. Every year, the engineering community of India looks forward to this largest academic platform aimed at fostering the spirit of innovation and creativity among the engineering professors and students in the state as well as across India.