ISRO Chairman urges students to be innovative

Kattankulathur: Students should be encouraged to take failure in their stride as one of the first steps to success, as taking "calculated risks" was essential for innovation, said Dr.K. Sivan, Chairman of Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore and Secretary to the Indian government's Department of Space. He addressed a convocation ceremony of over 17,000 students at the SRM Institute of Science & Technology (SRMIST).

"India is progressing and it has overcome many challenges. It is the young people who have to put your heads together, to not only discover more challenges but also find solutions," Dr. Sivan said.

He also expressed continued optimism about the job scenario in India and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' initiative as another key area to leverage. In addition to this, ISRO has already initiated reforms to make its digital assets available easily to the industry as well as start-ups for making innovative applications in navigation, earth observation as well as disaster management, revealed Dr.Sivan.

SRMIST's advances in building its own nano-satellite in collaboration with ISRO with the twin scientific objectives of monitoring and estimating carbon dioxide and water vapour in the tropical atmosphere globally were also noteworthy, said Dr.Sivan. He also revealed that ISRO was working on nationalised production of space-grade lithium-ion batteries that would expand the adoption of electronic vehicles in India.

The convocation ceremony was conducted in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. The Endowment Award in the name of Tmt Pachimmal Palanimuthu for the best outgoing MBBS student and Tmt Swarnam & Dr. Krishnamoorthy Endowment award for the best overall outgoing student of SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Center was awarded to Ms. Kritika Wadhwa for topping among all students in the final year and in the overall duration of the course in MBBS programme. Endowment in the name of Tmt Lakshmi and Dr. Renganathan for the best outgoing BDS student of SRM Kattankulathur Dental College and Hospital will be awarded to K. Shyam Sharma.

The Annual Report was presented by Vice-Chancellor of SRMIST, Dr. Sandeep Sancheti. The Convocation was held in the presence of SRMIST's Pro-Chancellor (Administration) Shri Ravi Pachamoothoo, Pro-Chancellor (Academic) Dr. P. Sathyanarayanan, Chairman of Ramapuram & Trichy campuses Dr. R. Shivakumar, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (E&T) Dr. C. Muthamizhchelvan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (S&H) Dr. R Balasubramanian, Pro VC (Medical) Lt. Col. Dr. A. Ravi Kumar, Registrar Dr. N Sethuraman and COE Dr. S.Ponnusamy among others.