Annual Report 2014-2015 COLLEGE DAY 2015 Presented on Friday, April 17, 2015 Gargi's Mission Statatatement ……that every student who passes through the portals of the college emerges as a wholly developed individual symbolizing the spirit of enterprise and inquiry that characterises Gargi 1 CONTENTS Principal's Welcome and Highlights of 2014-15 .............................................. 3 Governing Body Members .............................................................................. 11 Students' Council ............................................................................................. 11 Academic Results ............................................................................................ 12 Faculty Achievements ..................................................................................... 16 Beyond Curriculum .......................................................................................... 42 a) Science Setu b) Antardhwani c) Academic Collaboration and Exchange (ACE) Committee d) Activities under Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility e) Enactus Gargi f) Gargi Pathfinder Award g) Gyanodaya Express h) Highlights of Star College Scheme i) Innovation Projects j) Scintillations-2015 k) The Marketing Society l) ICC Report m) Departmental Activities Activities of Cultural Societies ....................................................................... 68 Value Building .................................................................................................. 84 Add-on-courses................................................................................................ 91 Placement Cell .................................................................................................. 91 Some of the Invited Speakers of Eminence ................................................... 92 Sports Round-up .............................................................................................. 95 2 PRINCIPAL'S WELCOME AND HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014-15 Our Honourable Guests, Dr Balmiki Prasad Singh and Dr Manju Sharma, esteemed Chairperson of Gargi College Governing Body, Prof. Madan Mohan Chaturvedi, proud parents of prize winners, dearly loved alumni and other respected guests, on behalf of the faculty members, staff and students, I extend a warm welcome to you all to Annual College day function 2015. G We are fortunate to have with us Dr Balmiki Prasad Singh, former Governor of Sikkim. He is a distinguished scholar, a thinker and a public servant. He was born and educated in a small village in Patna and at the University of Patna and Oxford. He was appointed as a lecturer of Political Science at the age of nineteen. He joined Indian Administrative Services in 1964. He held many important positions in Assam as well as at the Centre. He was Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Cultural Secretary and Home Secretary to the Govt. of India. As an international civil servant, he served as Executive Director and Ambassador at the World Bank, representing India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He was one of the founder members of Development Gateway Foundation and Global Environment Facility. He was Governor of Sikkim from 2008-13. He is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship, Queen Elizabeth Fellowship, Guljari Lal Nanda Award for outstanding public service and Man of Letters Award. He has published many papers and authored books on Politics, Culture, Ecology and Governance. Dr Singh is well known as the author of Bahudha and the post 9/11 World, which outlines a path to a harmonious world as against the clash of civilization. Sir, your presence today in Gargi College is a great honour to us. We are keenly looking forward to your address today. G We are proud to have with us Dr Manju Sharma a distinguished scientist, recognised nationally and internationally for her contributions in promotion of biotechnology research and its commercialization. She is playing a key role in taking up the cause of women in science and application of science and technology for the benefit of women. She is the fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, India. She is the recipient of a large number of awards and honours; to name a few: Vasik Award; The Norman Borlaug Award, GM Modi Science 3 Award; KN Bahl Memorial Gold medal; Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award; Vigyan Gaurav from Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lifetime Achievement Award from Biospectrum; NASI Platinum Jubilee Gold Medal received from PM of India. In 2007, she was awarded Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India. During her tenure as Secretary, DBT, she was instrumental in shaping biotechnology research and its applications and making it one of the priority areas of science. She initiated many concrete international collaborations, which are paying rich dividends now. At present she is the Principal Advisor to the Dept. of Science and Technology, Gujarat and distinguished Women Scientist Chair, NASI, Allahabad. Madam, you are an example of an outstanding Woman Achiever and I am sure that you will be a role model not only for our young girls but also for Gargi College whose mission is to empower girls to become game changers in their career path. Thank you Madam for accepting our invitation. G Gargi college is lucky to have as chairman of its Governing body, Prof Madan Mohan Chaturvedi, Professor of Molecular Biology, University of Delhi. He has guided many PhD students and has more than 60 international publications. Currently, he is the Director, Cluster Innovation Centre and Dean, Research (Life Science), University of Delhi. He has been visiting professor and scientist at the University of Texas. He also served as Director, ILLL, CPHDE. He has been elected as the Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India. Sir, you have been a great source of strength for us and we look forward for your guidance and support. Gargi College was established in 1967 by Delhi administration, with an objective to provide higher education to young women. Although the college started with a handful of students, 2 courses and few teachers, now it offers 22 undergraduate and two postgraduate courses; has approximately 3800 students and almost 200 teachers. Gargi College has progressed by leaps and bounds to now become a Centre of Excellence and Star College in sciences, a status awarded by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. Gargi college is also the only women's college in DU, which has a Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) funded by DBT, Govt of India. Gargi college strives to impart academic excellence and values so that any student who passes through the portals of the college emerges as a wholly developed individual symbolizing the spirit of enterprise and inquiry that characterises Gargi. Keeping up with the tradition, I am proud to announce that one of our third year student, Vasundhara Choudhary was elected as the woman Sarpanch of Rajasthan village at a young age. 4 This year Gargi College entered into a collaboration with National Institute of Immunology by signing a MoU, which involves interaction of scientists of the Institute with the students and faculty members. This is the beginning of a partnership which will bear a major impact on science education in coming years. This year our Bioinformatics Facility funded by DBT was ranked in the top five positions amongst all BIFs of India under UG colleges, in terms of publications. Many seminars and conferences were organized by various departments on a wide array of topics. Under the Star College Scheme, science departments of Gargi college in association with DBT, organized a Lecture and an Interactive Session on "Cancer Biology" by Prof. Theresa Marteau, University of Cambridge. The session was attended by students and faculty across the streams. An international conference on 'Education, Politics and Social Change' of CESI was hosted by the department of Elementary Education, Gargi College in collaboration with Institute of Home Economics and Regional Resource Centre for Elementary Education at the Conference Centre, University of Delhi. This conference was attended by over 250 participants and had over 190 paper presenters. The college has maintained its academic standards, with almost 100% pass percentage in most courses and several University position holders. I am proud to announce that Aditi Gupta, BA(H) Applied Psychology have been awarded Gold Medal for securing first position in DU. Shreya Tripathi from Botany (Hons) topped the University in Semester II exams. Suhasini Raina has topped the University in Psychology (Hons) part I; Chitrangada Devi Philosophy (Hons) part I, is third in Delhi University and Aditi Kundra B.El.Ed. Part I has obtained the third position in DU. Also, there are many more position holders in South Campus of DU. Our students are constantly encouraged to work on minor research projects along with their regular curriculum. This year many students have also presented their work at national and international conferences. The broad areas of their work was Green chemistry, Environment , Chemical stress and bioinformatics. Many of them have been given the Best Poster Awards. Faculty members of Gargi college have always strived for the best. This year Dr Geeta Mehta, Department of Botany received The Teaching Excellence Award (2013- 14) by University of Delhi. Eight faculty members from various departments have been awarded PhD degrees. Supriya