Workshop 1 Micro and Nano Technologies
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Nanotechnology revolution is expected to play a key role in the 21st century
technology, similar to the Silicon Integrated Circuits (IC) revolution in
the 20th century. The evolution of microsystems technology into the nano
world is a natural evolution of miniaturization trend of electronics
devices. However the material properties and physics at nano scale can be
quite different compared to continuum theory at micro and macroscale. This
presents several technological challenges, but at the same time the ability
to engineer materials and devices at the nanoscale, using a variety of
nanofabrication techniques, gives unlimited opportunities. The complex
systems with nanoscale building blocks will integrate sensing, control and
actuation by combining multitude of building blocks such as mechanical
structures, electronics circuits, optical devices, chemical and biological
sensors. This will also require an interdisciplinary effort cutting across
several branches of science and engineering. The expert speakers in the
workshop will discuss and deliberate their views on some technical areas,
various initiatives launched at IISc and the roadmap for IISc and India to
take a leadership role in this emerging technology.
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Workshop 2 Energy and Materials
| Session Co-Sponsored by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi |
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Recent crises in oil prices and in carbon dioxide driven global warming
have highlighted the need to diversify our energy production base
and increase the efficiency of generation while minimising the harmful
consequences of fossil fuel use. Arguably, the major bottlenecks to
progress in this area come from the lack of materials that can deliver
better function in photovoltaic conversion, high temperature
stability, gas separation, carbon dioxide sequestration and so on.
In this workshop on energy-materials, internationally recognised experts
from universities, national laboratories and industry will
explore a range of critical issues in materials technology as they impact
energy production and utilisation.
- Materials Challenges for a Sustainable Automotive Industry
Alan Taub, Executive Director, General Motors, USA
- Fuel Cells
Subhash Singhal, Director Fuel Cells, Battelle Pacific Northwest Lab., USA
- Biofuels in Energy & Transportation
R.V. Ravikrishna, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, India
- Sunshine to Petrol
Ellen Stechel, Sandia National Lab., USA
- Advances in Silicon-based Photovoltaic Technologies
G. Rajeswaran, Chief Technology Officer, Moser Baer Ltd., India
- How Gallium Nitride can help solve some major world problems: energy, global warming and purifying water
Colin Humphreys, Goldsmith's Professor of Materials Science, Cambridge University, UK
- Clean coal and Integrated gasification combined cycle power generation
N.V.S.Ramani, Additional General Manager, Bharat Heavy Electricals, India
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Workshop 3 Integrative Biology
| Session Co-Sponsored by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi |
In recent years, it is perhaps in the field of human health, agriculture and
bioethics that the impact of science and technology has made
a lasting impression. In this scenario, focus on the complex issues
regarding workings of a living cell, the big issues such as brain structure and
cognition, molecular medicine, transgenics, governmental regulation and
bioethics among others, can inform and shape scientific agenda and public
policy.
In this workshop on Integrative biology, leading researchers and
entrepreneurs, who have made notable contributions to the advancement of basic science and
technological innovation from academic, government and industrial laboratories
will focus on a wide spectrum of topics in biology that impact human
health, agriculture and technology.
The speakers are:
Professor Makkuni Jayaram: Difference Topology: Analyzing DNA-PROTEIN
assemblies by tying DNA into knots and links
Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology,
UT Austin, Austin, TX, US
- Dr. Ganesh M Kishore:
Managing Director, Burrill & Company
and CEO of Malaysia Life Sciences Capital Fund, San Francisco, CA, US
- Professor Mriganka Sur: Brain wiring and brain disorders
Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and
Head, Dept of Brain and Cognitive Sciences,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
- Dr. Imran Siddiqi: Seeds Without Sex: What Use Is It?
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology(CCMB), Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh
- Professor Rajesh Gokhale: Versatility of Polyketide Synthases in Generating Metaboic Diversity
Staff Scientist, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
- Professor Umesh Varshney: Role of ribosome recycling factor in eubacterial protein synthesis
Microbology and Cell biology,
Indian Institute of Science
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Workshop 4 Earth and Climate Sciences
Among the challenges that modern societies face are the threats from
natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and the disasters
triggered or accelerated by human forcing, most significant being the
global climate change. Disasters of the first kind are intrinsically
related to the dynamics of an evolving planet. They cannot be prevented,
but their effects can be minimized through an understanding of the
processes that govern them. The effects of human forcing on the natural
systems, however, can be mitigated, through careful strategies. In the
workshop on Earth and Climate sciences, internationally recognized experts
from universities and national laboratories will address a wide range of
problems from threat from earthquakes to climate change.
Lectures will be delivered on:
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A tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean
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Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth
Sciences
- Isotopomer studies to trace material cycles in climate change and the
Earth's history, Professor Naohiro Yoshida, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Yokohama 226-8502, JAPAN
- Constraining Carbon Sequestration in Oceans, Professor R. Ramesh, Paleoclimate and Oceanography Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India
- Bridging river geomorphology and river ecology, Professor S.K. Tandon, Delhi University, India
- River dynamics, hydrological variability and climate change: Insights from the Gangetic rivers, Professor Rajiv Sinha, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
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Workshop 5 Intelligent Transportation systems
| Session Co-Sponsored by the Wipro Technologies, Bangalore |
Intelligent transportation Systems (ITS) integrate a large range of wireless and wire line communications-based information and electronics technologies with transportation systems, fleet management, pollution monitoring and control. The integration may be with the transportation system's infrastructure, or with a fleet of vehicles. These technologies are expected to decongest traffic movement, improve safety, reduce vehicular pollution and enhance utilization of infrastructure in an optimum manner. ITS are divided into intelligent infrastructure systems and intelligent vehicle systems. The proposed Inter disciplinary workshop on ITS addresses various issues in the ITS.
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Workshop 6 Complex Systems and Networks
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At the turn of the 20th century, speaking at the White House Millennium
Council, in a lecture titled "Science in the Next Millennium," Professor
Stephen Hawking had opined:
"The Star Trek vision of the future that we achieve an advanced but
essentially static level may come true in respect of our knowledge of the
basic laws that govern the universe. But I don't think we will ever reach
a steady state in the uses we make of these laws. The ultimate theory
will place no limit on the complexity of systems that we can produce and
it is in this complexity that I think the most important developments of
the next millennium will be."
While much of complexity research has been concerned with natural systems
such as human and animal societies, climate phenomena, natural neural
systems, and biological cellular systems, we believe that Professor
Hawking's observation points us towards complex human-made systems or
complex engineered systems. Examples of such systems would be: road
transportation networks, power systems, wireless sensor networks, social
networks, global supply chains, urban systems, brain-machine interface,
self-organizing systems, etc.
The objective of this collaborative workshop is to bring together experts
in this area to discuss and debate on the emerging challenges in the area
and to provide inspiration to researchers and graduate students to explore
the fascinating problems offered by this area.
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Workshop 7 Sustainable Technologies/Technology Outreach
The Modern world has thus far sustained themselves through unchecked
resource consumption, severe deterioration and depletion of the
natural habitat, lack of minimum facility for survival and ubiquitous
environmental pollution. Consequently, humanity is currently at the
cross-roads of an uncertain unsustainable future, with no choice but
to rewrite the paradigms that underlined development in the past
century. Sustainability is the new development paradigm and has been
well recognized, though inadequately imbibed/effected, in the past two
decades.
Modern problems are consequences of an increasingly technology driven
lifestyle, and technology driven lifestyles’ need technology driven
solutions’, viz., sustainable technologies. Among the crucial
technologies that hold answers to a sustainable future to meet the
unmet demand are in the areas of energy, buildings, communication, sanitation, and
climate change. Five eminent speakers would provide an overview on
these areas and the promise they hold in enabling a sustainable
future.
The talks are:
- Enabling Rural India through Innovation in ICT
Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala
Professor, Electrical Engg., I.I.T. Madras
- Taking a Fresh Approach: Combining partnership and technology to build a business which holds the needs of India's emerging consumer at its heart
Mr. Mahesh Yagnaraman
CEO (ECM), BP Energy India Pvt Ltd
- Bioenergy at IISc - Past and future
Professor H. S. Mukunda
Hon. Advisor ABETS, I.I.Sc, Bangalore
- Water and Sanitation in India: Socio-Technical Status
Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak
Founder, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation
- Role of Simulation in Energy Conscious Building
Professor J. K. Nayak
Professor, Mechanical Engg., I.I.T Bombay
- Sparking scientific curiosity among rural Indian children and teachers
Mr. Ramji Raghavan
Chairman, Agastya International Foundation, India
- Research and Promotion of Sustainable Technologies for Development and Climate Change Mitigation: Experience of Centre for Sustainable Technologies
Professor N. H. Ravindranath
Professor, Centre for Sustainable Technologies & CES, I.I.Sc. Bangalore
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