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Indian Institute of Technology
Mandi
IIT MandiLogo
TypeEducation and Research Institution
Established2009
DirectorTimothy A. Gonsalves
Location, ,
CampusSpread over 520 acres (2.1 km2) along river Uhl in Kamand, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
AcronymIIT Mandi
Websitewww.iitmandi.ac.in

Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi) is an autonomous university located in Mandi. It is one of the eight new IITs established by MHRD. The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2011 which declares these eight IITs as well as IT-BHU as an IIT[1] was passed in the Lok Sabha in March 24, 2011[2] and Institute of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2010 was also passed by the Rajya Sabha on April 30,2012 which makes the new 9 IITs capable of granting degrees to the engineers that pass out. [3][4].

It is the youngest Indian Institute of Technology in India, established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, in 2009. It is mentored by IIT Roorkee, which hosted the first batch of students. Presently, IIT Mandi functions from transit campus at Mandi town in Himachal Pradesh. Permanent campus (about 12 km from historic city of Mandi) is under construction along Uhl River (a tributary of River Beas) at Kamand, Mandi. The institute admits students into various B.Tech., M.S, and Ph.D. programs (as of 2010). Timothy A. Gonsalves joined as Director of IIT Mandi on 15 January 2010.


History

File:IIT Mandi Transit Campus.jpg
Transit Campus of IIT Mandi

The laying of the foundation stone at Kamand, the site for the permanent campus of IIT Mandi, took place on 24 February 2009. IIT Mandi was registered as a society in Uttarakhand on 20 June 2009. Admission of the first batch of students took place in July 2009, and classes started in IIT Roorkee, the mentoring IIT, in 27 July 2009. The transit campus at Government Post graduate College, Mandi aws handed over by the Himachal Pradesh Government 16 November 2009.

Director

Prof. Timothy A Gonsalves

A native of Ooty in the Nilgiris, Tamilnadu, Professor Gonsalves studied in local schools in Ooty. After graduation from Breeks Memorial School, Ooty, he joined IIT Madras where he completed his BTech in Electronics. He continued his education in Electrical Engineering, first at Rice University in Houston where he earned his MS, and then at Stanford University for his Phd. During his PhD, he did path breaking experimental research at Stanford and Xerox PARC that established the capabilities of the then nascent Ethernet data LAN for real-time voice traffic.

He began his career in teaching as an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department in WPI, Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1989, he joined the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras. He served IIT Madras for 21 years, becoming Professor and Head. He also served as Head of the PG Senapathy Centre for Computing Resources. On 15th January 2010, he took charge as the first Director of IIT Mandi. Working in the areas of Networking and Distributed Applications, he has published over 50 papers in journals and conference proceedings, and 2 chapters in books. He has guided/co-guided 4 PhD and 30+ MS theses, and 100+ MTech/BTech projects.

After joining IIT-Madras, along with 2 colleagues he started the TeNeT (Telecommunications and Computer Networks) Group with its vision of "world-class technology at an affordable price". Subsequently, he was a founding Director of the IIT-Madras Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI). Through TeNeT and RTBI, he helped IIT alumni and others found R&D and service companies that work towards the TeNeT vision. He placed a special emphasis on developing sophisticated telecom software with small-town talent. He accomplished this by choice of location in the Nilgiris, and by guiding programmers drawn mostly from towns and villages to develop telecom software products that are in commercial use in India and many other countries around the world.

Prof. Gonsalves is perhaps the first computer scientist working in academia in India to develop commercially successful products tailored to the needs of India. He was the software architect of award-winning telecom products including the corDECT WLL, DIAS, NovaSwitch and CygNet NMS. Some of these products are based on the pioneering soft-switching concept.

At IIT-Madras, he has been a Principal Investigator for R&D projects worth over Rs. 7 crores, with sponsors from India and the US. He was actively involved in many other projects with a total value of more than Rs. 15 crores. He collaborates with academia and industry in India, UK, US, Sweden and Ireland.

An inspiring and popular teacher, Prof. Gonsalves has taught diverse courses. These range from introduction to computing and programming for freshers, to core courses such as computer organisation, networks and operating systems, to electives including distributed systems, device drivers practicum and network management systems. Prof. Gonsalves is a Senior Member of ACM, and a Member of IEEE and CSI.

Campus

The permanent campus is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Mandi town. The location is in the forested hills of Kamand on the banks of the Uhl, a tributary of River Beas. A total of 565 acres (229 ha) of land has been allocated for the campus by the government of Himachal Pradesh.

Temporary campus

The sites allocated for the use of IIT Mandi transit campus are located within the Mandi town, They are

Schools

Currently, the Institute has 5 Schools. This may change in the future. School of Computing and Electrical Engineering This School brings together faculty involved in the key technologies of the Information Age. These include computer science, communication, VLSI and microelectronics, and electrical energy. The underlying fundamental principles are information theory, theory of computation, communication theory, quantum mechanics and the laws of electromagnetism.


School of Engineering This School covers tangible physical structures and artifacts such as transport vehicles, transport systems, machines, materials, manufacturing, designs etc. The underlying principles are classical mechanics, atomic physics, thermodynamics. Many faculty from the traditional departments of mechanical, civil, aerospace, metallurgy engineering would be in this School.


School of Process Technologies Faculty whose interests are in the process industries would belong to this School. It encompasses the traditional departments of chemical engineering, biotechnology, and some parts of chemistry. School of Basic Sciences This School includes mathematics, physics, chemistry and life sciences. While some faculty may work in pure research, others would work on applied research in collaboration with colleagues in the engineering Schools.


School of Humanities and Social Sciences Modern engineers work in teams to create, improve and apply technology for the good of society. A good understanding of language, culture, sociology, economics, management, ecology, etc. is essential for the well-rounded engineer, for development of technologies, products and processes that will see widespread use. This School is thus an important part of IIT Mandi.

International Ventures

The important organizations / Institutions with whom collaborations have been finalized / under progress in respect of IIT Mandi are as follows:-

Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden - MoU signed for exchange of faculty and students, and collaboration in research.

IT University, Copenhagen, Denmark - exchange visits of students and faculty.

Stuttgart University and the TU9 Institutions, Germany - MoU signed for exchange of faculty and students, and collaboration in research.

Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland - joint research in atomic and molecular physics.

University of Western Ontario, Canada - discussions in progress.

India-UK Advanced Technology Centre www.iu-atc.com - participation in research on next generation networks


Students

Student activities have been distributed into 3 broad categories, Technical, Cultural and Sports.

Student societies grouped under these include:


Technical Societies:

1. Robotics

2. Information Management Group

3. Web Development Team

4. Electronics Club


Cultural Societies

1. Dramatics

2. Choreography

3. Music Section

4. Program Management

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2010" (PDF).
  2. ^ "LS passes bill to provide IIT status to 8 institutes, BHU". deccanherald.com. March 24, 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  3. ^ "Parliament passes IIT bill". ThetimesofIndia.com. April 30, 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  4. ^ Parliament passes IIT bill