Foundation Day Celebration, Open House and S&T Exhibition

Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar observed its 10th Foundation Day on 12th February 2018 (Monday) at its Argul Campus, Jatni, Bhubaneswar.  Hon’ble Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha, Shri Aditya Prasad Padhi, IAS graced the programme as the Chief Guest and inaugurated the Ceremony. C. Uday Bhaskar, Director, Society for Policy Studies attended and delivered Foundation Day Lecture as the Guest of Honour.

Prof. R V Raja Kumar, Director of the Institute welcomed the Guest and the invitees gave brief development of the Institute growing from strength to strength. 

The Chief Guest gave a brief introduction of the development of the technology in all fields helping the country to shine in the International arena.  He lauded the spirit of IIT Bhubaneswar in utilizing state of the art technology to bring disruptive technologies to address societal problems. He was pleasantly surprised to see green and vibrant campus in place not too long ago was a barren land. Mr. Padhi also emphasized on use of data for next generation economy and encouraged students to start indigenous technology driven companies.

The Chief Guest and the Director felicitated faculty and staff members and students of the Institute for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields.  These are as follows:

1)  Dr. C Bhamidipati – Award for Teaching Excellence (Best Teacher)
2)  Dr. Kausik Samanta – Award for Teaching Excellence
3)  Dr. A. Venugopal - Award for Teaching Excellence
4)  Dr. K P N Murty - Award for Teaching Excellence
5)  Dr. S Manikandan – Outstanding contribution in services
6)  Mr. P K Sahoo – Outstanding contribution in services
7)  Mr. Sambit Ranjan Mohanty – Outstanding contribution in services
8)  Mr. K Saikiran – Outstanding contribution in services
9)  Mr. Ramesh Chandra Biswal - Outstanding contribution in services
10)Mr. Biswajit Pegu – Best Male Athlete in Inter IIT Staff Sports
11)Ms Sunita Burma – Best Female Athlete in Inter IIT Staff Sports

The vote of thanks was given by Prof. V. R. Pedireddi, Chairman, Organising Committee.

The program was shortly followed by the foundation day lecture by the Guest of Honour, Mr C Udaya Bhaskar on “National Security – the role of youth”. He emphasised that it is the responsibility of every citizen of the country to contribute to national security. He talked about the importance of maintaining national integrity. He also talked about role that a nation’s security forces have to play to ensure the well being of the populace of the country, by giving various historical examples. He asked the audience to read through the Constitution of India to truly understand the idea of “Republic of India” which was founded on 26th January 1950 and said it will go a long way in maintaining the cohesive integrity within the country. The lecture was followed by in-depth question and answer session.

The day witnessed organising an Open Day in the campus from 11:30 AM to 5: 30 PM for participation of School students from Class-VIII to Class- XII and Junior Engineering students from across the city and the state. On the eve, as a part of the open day, a Science and Technology exhibition was organized by the students of IIT, spanning across all of its schools.  More than 100 exhibits were exhibited and demonstrated to the visitors.  The visiting students went through S&T exhibits and working models from school to school and enthusiastically participated in the science exhibition and shared their views with the students and faculty.  It was very exciting and enriching experience for all the school children.  More than 1000 students from more than 25 schools and colleges participated in the programme.