Department of Nanotechnology, NEHU organizes two-day National Conference

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Date: Dec 30, 2022

Department of Nanotechnology, NEHU organized two-days National Conference on Smart Materials for Future Technology during 29^th – 30^th November 2022 which ended with the valedictory function held on 30^th of Nov 2022. The conference attracted resource persons, scientists, teachers and scholars from reputed institutes of the country. Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of NEHu graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Prof. S. DorendrojitSingh from Manipur University was the Guest of Honour. Prof. Md. Iftikaar Hussein, Dean of School of Technology, NEHU presided the function.

In his address, Dr. L. Robindro Singh, the Convenor of the Conference gave the detailed report about the proceedings of the conference and also 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 is a multidisciplinary course and attracts students from different fields like Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, Material Sciences and various other fields of engineering. He exhorted on the point that youths of North-eastern region especially Meghalaya should in fact be encouraged to opt for this course as it has a wide array of prospects and that many of the alumni of 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.

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. By giving examples, he mentioned that there were days when spectacles used to be very heavy, however with the advances and research in material science, the spectacles have become ultra light without the quality being compromised. Therefore, it is the need of hour that students engage in research which can produce smart materials and nanotechnology is one field which will be helpful in getting those results.

Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, the Chief Guest for the valedictory function spoke at lengths about the advantages of Nanotechnology. With every technological advancement and innovation, we throw away the defunct version to make way for the newer, lighter model — contributing to the rising waste and pollution levels.In our quest to make our own lives easier through novel inventions, we paradoxically make it a little more complicated. He also mentioned that 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. Students from different fields like Physics, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Biochemistry and agriculture can take this course in addition to students of different engineering fields.Basic science needs to be accompanied by technology so as to produce good research and probably good patents and start-ups.