SHILLONG, Nov 30: A two-day national conference on ‘Smart Materials for Future Technology’ organised by the Department of Nanotechnology, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), came to an end on Wednesday with a valedictory function.
The conference saw participation of resource persons, scientists, teachers and scholars from reputed institutes of the country.
Vice-Chancellor of NEHU Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla was the chief guest of the occasion while Prof S Dorendrojit Singh from Manipur University was the guest of honour. Dean of School of Technology, NEHU, Prof Md Iftikaar Hussein, was also present during the function.
In his address, Dr. L. Robindro Singh, who was also the Convenor of the Conference, gave a detailed report about the proceedings of the conference and spoke about the benefits of Nanotechnology and Material Science.
The Convenor also put to the knowledge of all present that Department of Nanotechnology, NEHU runs two courses namely M.Tech and PhD in Nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology, one of the two courses run by the department, is a multidisciplinary course and attracts students from different fields like Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, Material Sciences and various other fields of engineering, he said while exhorting on the point that youths of Northeastern region, especially Meghalaya, should in fact be encouraged to opt for this course as it has a wide array of prospects.
He also mentioned that many of the alumni of the Department of Nanotechnology, NEHU, are either working in reputed institutes like IITs and NITs or are pursuing higher studies in countries like Taiwan, Germany and South Africa.
Meanwhile, Prof Hussein, Dean of School of Technology, congratulated the organisers of the conference and exhorted upon the point that Material Science is the mother of all engineering.
Citing examples, he mentioned that there were days when spectacles used to be very heavy but with the advances and research in material science, they have become ultra light without the quality being compromised.
NEHU VC Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla, on the other hand, spoke at lengths about the advantages of Nanotechnology.
He said nanotechnology is being used and applied in almost every field, be it engineering or material science, agriculture or pharmacology.
“It is an emerging field and students need to be encouraged to opt for such multidisciplinary course. Many people do not know about this field and hence sensitisation is required so that the young minds of this nation especially this region know about it and in turn inculcate interests in pursuing higher studies and research in the field of Nanotechnology.Nanotechnology being a multidisciplinary field also serves the purpose of New Education Policy 2020,” the VC said.
