Prof. M.S. Ananth's Talk

Sep 22, 2016 - 17:00

Sep 22, 2016 - 18:00

Rm. No. LC 201 Lecture Hall Complex

Seminars

Prof. M.S. Ananth Distinguished Visiting Professor Department of Chemical Engineering IIT Bombay

Abstract: We will begin by reminding the audience about the assumptions on which the research university of today has been built. We will then discuss the nature of science and how scientists work the nature of research and what drives it and what motivates a research scholar to pursue a programme of study and research leading to a Ph.D. degree. We will try to identify the characteristics of a good researcher. We will then briefly discuss the creative process as delineated by the now famous split-brain experiments and stress the importance of nurturing intuition. We then discuss how universities manage creativity and conclude with some advice to research scholars on attitude to and ethics in carrying out research.Brief profile of the speaker: Ananth graduated from the AC College of Technology in 1967 with a gold medal in Chemical Engineering obtained his Ph.D degree in the area of Molecular Thermodynamics from the University of Florida USA in 1972 and joined IIT Madras as a faculty member in the same year. Prof. Ananth has been consistently rated a good teacher during the past 45 years and has been awarded IIChE’s Herdillia Prize for “Excellence in Basic Research” and the University of Florida’s R.W. Fahien Alumni Award for “Distinguished Professional Contributions” in chemical engineering. He is a Fellow of IIChE and INAE. He has guided many PhD students and has several publications in refereed international journals. In December 2011 I&EC Research published the Ananth-Festschrift Issue (Volume 50 No. 23) in his honour. Prof. Ananth was Director IIT Madras for ten years (2001-2011) and during this time made inter alia two landmark contributions. He was the architect of the largest open-courseware in technical education in the world NPTEL. He established the first university based research park in India the IITM Research Park in 2010 to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. Prof. Ananth was invited to participate in the Global University Leaders Forum at the World Economic Forum in Davos from 2007 to 2011. He was Member of both the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet and the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council from 2007-2011. He spent his sabbatical years as Visiting Professor in Princeton University University of Colorado (USA) and RWTH Aachen (Germany) and as a Visiting Scientist in Aspen Tech Massachussets and in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Colorado. (Attendance compulsory for CL702 students)