ITIHAS IT Is Happening At SASTRA

Newsletter from SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY Vol 19 IV Quarter 2019

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR SASTRA-RAMANUJAN AWARD 2019

SASTRA has made an indelible mark in The SASTRA Ramanujan Award for 2019 was the international scientific community by awarded to mathematician Dr. Adam Harper, Assistant earning the recognition of the Royal Society Professor, University of Warwick, England. The prize at England for its SASTRA-Ramanujan carries a citation and an award of $10,000 and is Award, which it confers annually on young researchers in Mathematics. In its December conferred annually on mathematicians from across the 2019 Special Issue of the ‘Philosophical world, who are less than 32 years of age, working in Transactions’ to commemorate the an area influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Centenary of Ramanujan’s election as FRS, the Royal Society The SASTRA-Ramanujan Award has gained global has commended SASTRA’s effort by publishing a paper titled repute ever since it was instituted in 2005 and today “Ramanujan’s Legacy: The Work of SASTRA Prize Winners”. It is easily amongst the top five awards of this type for is also noteworthy that four recipients of SASTRA-Ramanujan mathematics. Dr.S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, the Vice- Award have gone on to win the Fields Medal. Chancellor of SASTRA University, in his welcome note The 2019 SASTRA-Ramanujan Award was presented to Adam mentioned that many previous winners of SASTRA- Harper of the University of Warwick for his outstanding contributions to probabilistic number theory. Ken Ono, Ramanujan Award, including Manjul Bhargava and the Vice President of the American Mathematical Society, Akshay Venkatesh, have gone on to win the Fields recalled that Harper was the Ph.D student of Prof.Ben Green Medal subsequently. The Prize was given to Adam in University of Cambridge, and that Green was the 2007 Harper in recognition of his Ph.D. thesis at Cambridge SASTRA-Ramanujan Award winner. Similarly, the 2005 award University and his paper in Crelle’s Journal. The prize winner Kannan Soundarrajan’s student won the award in 2017. also recognizes Harper’s brilliant proof of a conjecture SASTRA figures among two other deemed to be universities of Helson, and his ingenious work on S-unit equation. and a State university in the updated list of higher educational institutions released in November 2019 by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for grant of graded autonomy, entitling it to offer programmes through open and distance learning. A special International Year of Periodic Table (IYPT) 2019 lecture was held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table. Under the SASTRA-CNR Rao Award, SASTRA has decided to create Science Labs in as many as ten schools across the state in the name of Professor Rao at a cost of Rs.5 lakh each in its first phase. Our students also continue to astound everyone with their outstanding performances. SASTRA’s Cultural Team stands unbeaten in two decades when it lifted the FESTEMBER Rolling Trophy for a record 21st time. Our School of Law students shine in five contests in different events organized at different places across the country. In the regional round of the fifth Prof.NR Madhava Menon SAARC Mooting Competition, our SASTRA team has qualified to the final international round along with seven other teams. Wish you a promising New Year 2020! Prof. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam Vice-Chancellor SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019

SASTRA

DEEMEDTOBE UNIVERSITY (U/S3of the UGC Act,1956)

THINK MERIT llTHINK TRANSPARENCY THINK SASTRA SASTRA–RAMANUJAN AWARD 2019

Adam Harper was born in Lowestoft in the United Kingdom. He did a four year Math Course at Exeter College, Oxford University and won the Oxford Junior Mathematics Prize. He completed his Ph. D.in 2012 at Cambridge University under the guidanceofProfessorBen Green, and as aPhD..student won the Smith Essay Prize. He wasa Post-Doctoral Fellow with Professor Andrew Granville at CRM Montreal during 2012-13, following whichhewas aResearch FellowatJesus College, Cambridge University during 2013-16. He returned to Montreal in 2018 as SimonsCRM Visiting Professor.Heis currentlyan AssistantProfessorat the UniversityofWarwick,UK.

Adam Harper is awarded the 2019 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for several outstanding contributions to analytic and probabilisticnumber theory. The prizerecognizeshis marvellous 2012 Ph. D. thesis at CambridgeUniversity, and his paper of 2013 in Crelle's Journal in which, among other things, he disproved a widely believed conjecture on the normal distribution of partial sums of random multiplicative functions by novel use of deep probabilistic methods. The prize also recognizes Harper's recent brilliant proof of aconjectureofHelson that the partial sums have better than square-root cancellation using ideas on multiplicative chaos, and arelated paper on higher moments of random multiplicative functions to appear in Algebra and Number Theory. Harper's seminal work using the Riemann Hypothesis to determine the correct order upper bound for the higher moments of the Riemann zeta function on the critical line is an outstanding contribution to the Pield. The prize also notes that Harper proved the upper bound part of aconjectureofFyodorov, Hiary and Keating on the almost always maximum sizeof the Riemannzeta function in short intervalson the criticalline. The prizerecognizes Harper's ingenious work on S-unit equations and related results for these equations over smooth numbers that signiPicantly improves earlier important work of Konyagin and Soundararajan. The prize notes that in his 2012 Journal of Number Theory paper, Harper established certain conjecturesof Soundararajan on the equi-distribution of smooth numbers, and morerecently that Harper has established apowerful Bombieri- Vinogradovtype theorem for smooth numbers. In addition, the prizerecognizes Harper's novelproof of a famous theorem of Halasz, that led to two major joint papers on the “pretentious approachto number theory” with AndrewsGranville and Kannan Soundararajan in Compositio Math. (2019) and Proc. AMS (2018). Finally the prizerecognizes that Harper's fundamental research spans several areas, suchas the large sieve(joint work with Ben Green in Geometric and Functional Analysis (2014)), and on prime number races(joint work with Youness Lamzouri in Probabilityand RelatedFields(2018),and with Kevin Ford andLamzouri to appear in Mathematische Annalen. Harper's path breaking results in analytic number theory using deep ideas from probabilityinnovel ways is havinga majorimpact on thesePieldsand has resultedin an explosionof activity. Theaward of the 2019 SASTRA–Ramanujan Prize to Dr. Adam Harper recognizesabrilliant young mathematician who had made revolutionarycontributions to the Pield of analytic and probabilistic number theory.

Place: Kumbakonam Prof. SV. aidhyasubramaniam Date: December 21, 2019 Vice–Chancellor

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SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN observed that SASTRA-Ramanujan Award has COMMEMORATIVE LECTURE gradually become one of the parameters in marking the intellectual caliber of Mathematical Scholars all Adam Harper, Assistant Professor, University of over the world. He also placed on record the fact that Warwick, England, the winner of SASTRA Ramanujan the University’s initiative has been recognized by The Award for the year 2019 delivered the Srinivasa Royal Society in a paper titled “Ramanujan’s Legacy: Ramanujan Commemorative Lecture on December 22, The Work of the SASTRA Prize Winners.” 2019. He spoke on the topic Probability, Ramanujan and Analytic Number Theory. Probabilistic number theory means the application of probabilistic ideas, viewpoints and methods to solve number theoretical problems. It is generally said to have begun in the work of Hardy and Ramanujan in 1917, who showed that a ‘typical’ natural number ‘n’ always has around log ‘n’ prime divisors. Adam Harper explained this result, and gave an idea of how new probabilistic ideas are influencing work in analytic number theory up to the present day. 17TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUMBER THEORY Prof. Krishnaswami Alladi, University of Florida, USA, The 17th International Conference on Number Chairman, SASTRA-Ramanujan Award Committee Theory was inaugurated by Prof. Ken Ono, Thomas read out the Citation of Dr. Adam Harper. Dr. V. Jefferson Prof. of Mathematics, University of Virginia Ramaswamy, Dean, Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre, and Vice President of American Mathematical Society proposed a Vote of Thanks. Mathematical Scholars on December 21, 2019. In his inaugural address, he from USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany said that research attitude rather than knowledge in presented papers on issues of vital research significance technicalities would help find solutions to several like Mean value theorems, Periodicities for Taylor problems in Mathematics. He hailed the earnest coefficients of half-integral weight molecular forms, efforts of SASTRA for building scientific temper in the The Hardy-Ramanujan-Rademacher formula for student community through conferences of high order. partitions Modular grids, Central limit theorems for He also gave away the SASTRA-Ramanujan Award Sato-Tate sequences, Random walks and random 2019 to Adam Harper, Assistant Professor, University values of polynomials and Asymptotic equidistribution of Warwick, England. In his acceptance speech, of partition. Delegates from Mumbai, USA, Canada, Harper pointed out that the good friendship between Pune and The United Kingdom participated in the Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy of Cambridge University conference. had led to quality research in Number Theory.

Dr.S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Honourable Vice- Chancellor of the University in his welcome address

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WINNER OF FESTEMBER – 2019 Cognitive Radio Wireless Networks”. Dr.Ravi Babu Mulaveesala, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, SASTRA cultural team created history by emerging Punjab, spoke on “Advanced Signal and Image victorious for the 21st year in a row by receiving the Processing Techniques”. Rolling Trophy in Festember – 2019, the annual cultural I3CPE’19 received 94 high quality papers covering a event of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy. broad range of topics including: image processing, Various events, including dramatics, photography, ad-hoc networking, artificial intelligence, high speed music and dance in different clusters of Tamil, Telugu, networks, VLSI, nano technology, power systems, English and Hindi were held from October 4-6, 2019. cloud computing, IoT, network security, data mining, NIT Trichy Director Mini Shaji Thomas gave away the cognitive radio etc. In each of the four technical sessions, rolling trophy to the SASTRA Team in the Valedictory the Best Paper was selected by the Chair based on the Function. relevance, technical content, innovation and overall quality of its contribution to the field.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER, COMMUNICATION AND POWER ENGINEERING (I3CPE’19) Dr. S. Sivagurunathan, Head, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering proposed a vote of thanks. Around 250 participants from across Tamil Nadu, A two-day International Conference was organized by Puducherry, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra the Departments of Computer Science & Engineering, Pradesh participated in the conference. Electronics and Communication Engineering and Electrical & Electronics Engineering on Computer, SIGNING OF MOU’s Communication and Power Engineering at SRC on December 27 & 28, 2019. Dr. A. Alli Rani, General Chair MoU with BUAP, Mexico I3CPE’19 welcomed the gathering. Dr.V, Ramaswamy, Dr. S. Thamotharan, Senior Assistant Professor, Dean, Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre delivered the Department of Bioinformatics, SCBT, SASTRA presidential address. Mr.V.M.Muralidharan, Chief Deemed University, has established a research Operating Officer of Global Bahwan CyberTek Group collaboration with Prof. Judith M. Percino, Polymer inaugurated the conference. The schedule comprised Research Group, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma sessions including six invited talks and four paper de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico. A formal Memorandum presentations. of Understanding signing ceremony (MoU between Dr.Mardeni Bin Roslee from Multimedia University, SASTRA and BUAP, Mexico) was held on October 17, Selangor, Malaysia spoke on ‘Device to Device Communication’ followed by Dr.Suriya Priya Asaithambi, National University of Singapore. She shared her knowledge on ‘Big Data Analytics and Intelligent Systems’. Dr.K.K.Rajan, Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited delivered a talk on the topic “Energy Security of the Nation - A Need for the Future”. Dr.P. Thiyagarajan of Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur spoke on “Consensus Protocols in Blockchain” followed by Dr.N.Renugadevi, Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Tiruchirappalli, who delivered a lecture on “Security in Cloud based

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2019 at the Main Campus, to encourage student and SASTRA Law School organized two Knowledge faculty exchange between the two institutions. Leadership Forum Lectures in September 2019. Hon’ble Justice Shri N Seshasayee, Madras High Court delivered INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PERIODICAL a KLF on “Discipline in Democracy” on September 14, TABLE LECTURE 2019. Shri C. S. Vaidyanathan, Senior Supreme Court A special lecture was held on October 10, 2019 to Advocate delivered a Knowledge Leadership Lecture on celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table “Conscience of Counsel” on September 07, 2019. of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019), commemorating the 150th anniversary of the periodic table discovered by Russian Scientist Dmitri Mendelev in 1869. Delivering the lecture, Dr. C N R Rao pointed to a modern rendering of the periodic table prepared by the European Chemical Society, based on the availability of minerals. He cautioned that lithium-ion battery, which revolutionized the energy sector, will die soon. He suggested that sodium based batteries could be developed as it was available in abundance. He was presented a 3D printed Periodic Table. G.U. Kulkarni, Director, Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, Bengaluru, Indumati Rao, Fellow of National Academy Shri C. S.Vaidyanathan, Senior Supreme Court Advocate of Sciences, and Prof. R. Sethuraman, Chancellor of SASTRA Deemed University also spoke on the In the month of October, the School of Law organized occasion. two Knowledge Leadership Forum Lectures. On October 18, 2019, Shri S. Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Brakes India Pvt Ltd. delivered a KLF Lecture on “New Labour Code and Indian Industry”. On October 18, 2019, Shri K. K. Rai, delivered a KLF Lecture on “Shaping Careers in Law”.

KLF LECTURES

School of Law Shri S. Krishnamurthy

Shri N Seshasayee, Madras High Court Shri KK Rai

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Unstable and Stable Room Temperature 60 participants including Research Scholars, faculty Superconductors members and students of SEEE and SCBT. The speaker School of Electrical & Electronics Engineering (SEEE) explained the recent developments in high temperature organized a KLF Lecture on December 4, 2019. superconductivity, and had an hour of intellectual Prof. G. Baskaran, a SERB Distinguished Fellow interaction with some of the research scholars of SEEE at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), and M.Sc. Physics students at ASK-2 lab regarding Chennai and distinguished Visiting Research Chair at their present project and research work. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada delivered the Knowledge Leadership Forum Lecture on the title “Unstable and Stable Room Temperature Superconductors”. Prof. G. Baskaran is an internationally renowned Theoretical Physicist and also the recipient of SASTRA GN Ramachandran Award of 2019. He is also a distinguished Professor of Physics at Indian Institute of Technology Madras Professor G. Bhaskaran delivering the lecture (IITM), Chennai. This lecture was attended by around

FELICITATION OF SENIOR ADVOCATE SHRI K PARASARAN

SASTRA organised a homecoming felicitation to with Shri K.Parasaran’s is more than 3 generations. legendary jurist Shri K.Parasaran on November 29, Editor S.Gurumurthy recalled the bold advocacy of 2019 at Chennai. This was in honour of Shri Parasaran’s Shri Parasaran during the famous Indian Express case contribution to the Indian judiciary. Justcie N.Kumar, and how Parasaran handled PM Mrs.Gandhi without Retired Judge of Karnataka High Court, Senior Supreme Court Advocate C.S.Vaidyanathan, Senior Advocate & Madars Bar Association President Shri ARL Sundaresan and Thuglak Editor S.Gurumurhty offered their felicitations. Justice Kumar recalled his days as a judge when he got a rare opportunity to hear Parasaran and waited for Parasaran’s arguments eagerly and learnt a lot from him. Senrio Advocate Vaidyanathan was emotional in his speech and recalled the hard work and dedication that Shri Parasaran showed during the entire course of his arguments and how he placed confidence in him as he divided the work between the two. Senior Advocate Sundaresan thanked SASTRA for the opportunity and shared how his family’s relationship

6 SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019 comprommsing his professional integrity as well as words and said that India is a composite culture and embarrassing the Government. He also said that nobody Indians will fight but remain brothers and prpmote could have presented thre Ayodhya Case as forcefully as peace. Sandai seivom aanal sagodharagalaga iruppom. Parasaran as the case was not just a title dispute but had Recalling how the Ayodhya suit filed in 1958 entered other issues of spirituality, culture, history, faith, etc. its 70th year for the verdict, Parasaran also said that and it is only Parasaran who had a command on all of he entered his 70th year of professional practice in these. 2019. The VC of SASTRA S.Vaidhyasubramaniam Parasaran enthralled the audience with this scholarly in his welcome address mentioned how this 70 years acceptance speech. He said that Supreme Court dispute was argued by Parasaran in his 70th year at invoked Article 142 of the Constitution and 142 of the bar was decided by a 5-judge bench none of whom Schedule of the Limitation Act in rendering the verdict. was born when the suit was filed in 1958. Chancellor If we add the digits 142 equalling 7, Parasarn said that Sethuraman presented Parasarana and all speakers with Lord Rama was the 7th avatar of Maha Vishnu and a Thanjavur Veena and the function was attended by the divine hand of Lord Rama was written in the case. lawyers, professionals, businessmen, corporates and Parasaran emphatically recalled Mahakavi Bharatiar’s many others from public life.

SCHOOL OF LAW Laurels in moot court competitions 1. SASTRA Law School team comprising Kum. Esha Kumar (V Sem B.Com., LL.B. (Hons.), Kum. Pavithra. R (V Sem B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) and Kum. Vibhaa. won the 10th SLCU National Moot Court Competition, conducted from September 13 - 15, 2019. 3. SASTRA Law School students, Chi. Sanjay Krishnan (V Sem B.Com, LL. B. (Hons)), Chi. Shravan Ravi & Chi. K. P.Manish (V Sem BBA, LL. B. (Hons.), were Runners Up in Surana and Surana and UPES School of Law National Insolvency Law Moot, conducted from September 27 – 29, 2019.

2. SASTRA Law School students Chi. Venkatesh.U, Kum. Susila.V & Kum. Tanushree. G. L (VII Sem B.Com, LL. B. (Hons.) won Juris Fiesta Inter College Moot Court Competition 2019, conducted between September 25-28, 2019.

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4. SASTRA Law School team comprising Chi. Lakshmi 7. SASTRA Law School students, Chi. Yogesh Narayana C (IX Sem. B.B.A., LL.B (Hons), Kum. Esha Srinivasan (IV B.Com LL. B(Hons)), Chi. Prajeeth P Kumar (V Sem. B.Com., LL. B. (Hons.) & Kum. (III Sem B.B.A, LL. B. (Hons.) & Chi. Prithvi K G (III Vibhaa (V Sem. B.Com., LL.B. (Hons.) qualified for Sem B.A., LL. B. (Hons.) were Runners Up in Surana the international rounds of 5th Prof. NR Madhava & Surana School of Law Raffles University, organized Menon Saarclaw Mooting Competition 2019-20, from October 11 – 13, 2019. conducted between October 18-20, 2019.

5. SASTRA law school students Chi. Shivshankar (III Sem. B.A., LL.B (Hons), Chi. Sarva Easwaran KR (III Sem. B.Com., LL. B. (Hons.) & Kum. Meenakshi 8. SASTRA Law School students, Chi. Ukkash Khan Raman (III Sem. B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) won the 11th F, Chi. Sundaresan & Kum. S. Dhivya (III Sem B.B.A, Justice Hidayatullah Memorial National Moot Court LL. B. (Hons.) were Runners Up in Dr N N Jain Competition 2019, conducted from October 18-20, National Moot Court Competition, Prestige Institute 2019. of Management and Research, conducted from October 4 – 6, 2019.

6. SASTRA Law School students team comprising Kum. Kavita Ravi (VII Sem. B.A., LL.B (Hons), Kum. Hari Priya K (VII Sem. B.Com., LL B. (Hons.) & Kum. Pavitra (VII Sem. B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) won Sri SC Javali Moot Court at Siddappa Kambali Law College, Dharwad, conducted on October 19 & 20, 2019.

9. SASTRA Law School students, Chi. Krishna V S (IX Sem B.B.A, LL. B. (Hons.) and Chi. Kumaresh S (IX Sem B.Com, LL. B. (Hons.) won The First DSNLU National IPR Quiz Competition on October 19, 2019.

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SASTRA Law School organized a Competition Law Advocacy Programme along with Competition Commission of India on October 9, 2019. Shri V. Sriraj, Joint Director, Law was the Resource person. Two-day Joint Accreditation Course “Associate at Arbitration Practice”

10. SASTRA Law School team was second Runners’ Up in the Christ 5th National Trial Advocacy and Judgment Writing Competition organised by Christ University, Bengaluru between December 13-15, 2019. Chi. Krishna won the Best Judgment Award that included a cash prize of Rs. 10,000.

School of Law, SASTRA along with Kovise Foundation Conflict Resolution International organized a two-day Joint Accreditation Course “Associate at Arbitration Practice” on October 14 & 15, 2019. Shri Inbavijayan Veeraraghavan (Managing Partner, KFCRI), Shri Deepak Narayanan (Partner, BDN Chambers) and Ms. Sheena Palanively (Advocate) were the Resource Persons.

Competition Law Advocacy Programme

Legal Aid Camps SASTRA Law School organized five Legal Aid Camps from October to December 2019. They received in total 588 petitions, which were forwarded to the respective District Legal Aid Authorities. They also organized awareness campaigns in the villages on plastic ban. In addition, they also donated utility items to the schools of the villages where the Legal Aid camps were organized.

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of Ramanujan Mathematical Society and Academy of Discrete Mathematics and its Applications (ADMA).

SCHOOL OF ARTS, SCIENCE & HUMANITIES Guest Lecture by COM-MAN Forum The Department of English organized a Knowledge The COM-MAN FORUM, the Association of the Leadership Forum Lecture on December 23, 2019. Dr. Department of Commerce and Management Studies K. Umamaheswari, Dean/SASH welcomed the speaker organized a guest lecture on December 24, 2019 at Dr. Prof. Sudhir Kumar, Professor of English, DES-Multi Hargobind Khorana Lecture Hall at SRC. Dr.N.Chitra, Disciplinary Research Centre of Punjab University. Associate Professor of Economics and Research Advisor He delivered a lecture on “Towards an Integrated of Khadir Mohideen College, Adirampattinam and World-view: Revisiting Indian Theories of Culture and Dr.R.Gopalasundar, Assistant Professor of Economics, Literature”. He dwelt at length on MMS – Macaulay’s Saraswathi Narayanan College, Perungudi, Madurai Mimicry System, where the present day education were the invited speakers. Dr.N.Chitra delivered a still followed the British System of Education without lecture on “Research Design”, paying attention to the much emphasis on moral development of students. areas of sampling techniques, framing hypothesis and He traced the etymology of education and said that a the significance of applying statistical tools and diagrams true educationist should come forward as a leader, and in research. Dr.R. Gopalasundar delivered a lecture on lead people. He insisted that leadership should have “Research Report”. He highlighted the distinguishing ethics, as knowledge becomes a weapon. features of Project Report, Dissertation and Thesis. He also highlighted the rules for writing a report. CONVOCATION OF MFA BHARATANATYAM (DISTANCE MODE)

The Graduation Day for awarding degrees to the students of B.F.A & M.F.A (Bharatanatyam) Programmes offered jointly by SASTRA and Nrithyodaya through Distance Mode, Chennai was held on October 12, 2019, at Dr. MGR Janaki College of Arts & Science for Women,

Lecture on Some New Results on Graph Colorings and Matrices The Department of Mathematics at SRC, under the auspices of MATH FORUM organized a special lecture on December 31, 2019. The renowned Mathematician, Shri E. Sampath Kumar, popularly known as the Father of Graph Theory in India, Professor Emeritus, Mysore University, delivered a lecture on “Some New Results on Graph Colorings and Matrices”. Shri E. Sampath Kumar was one of the founding members

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Chennai. Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) Smt. Prabha Sridevan 13 & 14, 2019. The workshop was organized as part of presided over the function and distributed the Degrees. the Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) of the Core Chief guest of the day, Kum. S. Janaki, Editor-in- Research Grant of Dr. Srinandan C. S, APR, SCBT, Chief of Sruti presented the Director K. Subramanyam where around 25 college teachers participated. The two- Memorial Prizes (Instituted by K. Subrahmanyam’s day workshop packed with sessions on several aspects of grandson Sri.K. Ramachandran). 3 B.F.A. students and biofilm, ranging from basics to high quality research, 16 M.F.A. students, totaling 19 received their degrees was handled by both in-house faculty members and in the convocation. experts from outside SASTRA, including one expert Workshop on Solid Waste Management speaker from SCELSE, Singapore. The workshop also had experimental demonstration of Biofilm techniques and a panel discussion on effective pedagogy methods for teaching microbiology. The participants visited various research labs and TBI at SASTRA.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam - City Union Bank Chair for Development Studies at SASTRA Deemed University organised a one day ‘Workshop on Solid Workshop on Communication & Soft Skills Waste Management’ on October 11, 2019 for school teachers of Thanjavur District. 250 school teachers School of Education conducted a three day workshop from different schools participated. Dr.V.Badrinath, from December 16 – 18, 2019 for developing Dean, CREA headed the programme, and Dr. Sathya communication skills. Final year student teachers of School of Bio-Technology handled the sessions on of B.A., B.Ed. & B.Sc., B.Ed. participated in this ways of handling bio-waste. workshop. Mr. Sathish from Learner’s Cortex, Chennai gave soft skills and communication training to the students.

Workshop on 3D Modeling The School of Education organized a two days 3D modeling workshop for final year B.Ed. Workshop on Microbial Biofilms students on December 19 & 20, 2019. The The School of Chemical and Biotechnology conducted students were given hands-on experience and a two days’ Workshop on Microbial Biofilms for College were taught to use the software technology and Teachers in and around Thanjavur District on December virtual reality devices in Anusandan Kendra II Lab.

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SCHOOL OF COMPUTING University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. He gave a talk on “Challenges in Designing Defense Mechanisms for Pre-conference Workshop Critical Infrastructure”. Finally, the fourth session ended with the keynote talk of Prof. Kasi Periyasamy, Professor A pre-conference workshop was organized by the School and MSE Program Director, University of Wisconsin- of Computing, SASTRA Deemed to be University La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA on “Security and Privacy on November 21, 2019. Academic faculty members, in Healthcare Applications”. The conference was research scholars and graduate students participated in organized to encourage discussion between participants the workshop very eagerly and gained vast knowledge around the core themes. The ATIS provides valuable on the importance and application of information association between theoretical and implementation security in various fields. communities and also attracts participants from ATIS Conference academic institutions, government organizations and industries. Finally, the 10th ATIS conference The 10th International Conference on Applications ended successfully with valedictory ceremony and and Technologies in Information Security (ATIS) was announcement of best paper award. conducted on November 22 & 23, 2019 in SASTRA Deemed to be University. The conference was jointly Guest Lecture on Deep Learning and AI organized by SASTRA and Deakin University, Australia Computer Society of India-Student Chapter kick with an objective to provide a platform for discussion started its events for the even semester of the academic on innovative ideas, research outcomes, experimental year 2019-2020 with an intriguing guest lecture on results and applications of Information Security from “Deep learning and AI” on December 28, 2019. The all over the world. The two-day conference comprised orator of the lecture was Dr. A. Suriya Priya, who four sessions, with a keynote speaker for each session. is presently working as a Principal Lecturer at the The keynote speaker Prof. V. Kamakoti, Professor of National University of Singapore. She has twenty IIT Madras, Chennai, India presented “Changing years of teaching and consulting experience. Dr. A Landscapes of Cyber Attacks”. He added that there are Umamakeswari Dean, School of Computing felicitated a lot of job opportunities in the field of information Dr. A. Suriya Priya. Mr. N. Sivaramakrishnan Assistant security to indigenize the country’s information Professor, SOC hosted the event. security architecture. The session was followed by paper presentation by students, research scholars and academic faculty. The keynote speaker of the second session was Dr. Lejla Batina, Professor in Digital Security, Institute for Computing and Information Sciences, Radboud University, The Netherlands. She gave a talk on “Deep Learning and Physical Attacks on Embedded System: How Deep can we go?” The lecture was followed by paper presentations.

In her lecture, Dr. A. Suriya Priya stated how Deep learning and AI are emerging very fast, and highlighted their impacts on the modern world. She stated how mathematics plays a very crucial role in developing knowledge of Machine learning, Deep learning, Neural Networks, etc. She also introduced the basic concepts of Machine learning like supervised learning, On the second day of the conference, the third session unsupervised learning and reinforcement learning, and started off with a keynote address by Prof. Aditya their real-world applications. She shared her knowledge P. Mathur, Professor of Computer Science, Purdue

12 SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019 of different software technologies like Tensor Flow, Short-term course on “Machine Learning Techniques Spark, Hadoop, etc. She interacted with students, and using Big Data for Medical Diagnosis” responded to their queries. In her inspiring lecture, she shared her work experiences with the students. This session guided many students to take a step towards learning Deep learning and AI. SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

FDP on PET “Assembly Programming in Arduino IDE”

Prof. Lakshmi Narayanan Samavedham from National University of Singapore visited SASTRA Deemed University under the SPARC program on December 16, 2019 and delivered a short-term course on “Machine Learning Techniques using Big Data for Medical Diagnosis”. He gave nearly 40 hours lecture during his visit starting from December 16-31, 2019. Totally 60 learners, including UG & PG students, faculty and research scholars of the university participated and interacted with the Professor during this program. A PET (Personal Embedded Trainer) kit comprising an The entire course was video graphed in TIFAC core USB programmable Arduino Board along with keypad auditorium and is planned to be put up as an archive and LCD interface module for real-time I/O support has titled ‘SPARC Courses’ in the university website. been introduced in the Microcontroller Laboratory for He interacted with the faculty and research scholars the students of B.Tech. ECE, EEE, EIE, Mechatronics involved in this collaborative research project and also & Bio-Engineering programs. In this regard, a delivered a series of talks on the best practices involved Faculty Development Programme on PET “Assembly in teaching and learning for the faculty of SASTRA. Programming in Arduino IDE” was conducted by the Session on “Life of a Control Engineer” Department of ECE, SEEE on December 13, 2019. An interaction session on “Life of a Control About 28 participants enthusiastically took part in the Engineer” was conducted for III-EIE students by Dr. FDP including faculty members, Research Assistants Lakshminarayanan Samavedam, Professor, Department & Teaching Assistants, handling laboratory course of Chemical and Biomolecular Studies, National on Microcontroller for the students of SEEE, from University of Singapore, Singapore on December 23, Main campus and SRC. Participants were provided 2019. insights on the usage of PET kit by students to carryout open ended experiments using assembly language on AVR microcontroller platform using the open source software tool Arduino IDE. The FDP concluded with a brain storming session on encouraging the students to utilize the PET kit to develop prototypes for embedded applications as a part of their Assignment/Mini/Major projects using Arduino library. Dr. Siva and Dr. N. Raju, SAP, ECE, SEEE served as resource persons to facilitate both theory and hands-on sessions of the FDP.

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his 25 years of breakthrough research experience at the national and international platforms in his lecture titled “A Materials Perspective on Bridging Electromagnetic Spectrum for Technological Applications”. He has opened various research ventures for young researchers in the field of crystal growth for nonlinear applications. SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL & BIOTECHNOLOGY

National Conference on Advances in Process Engineering (CAPE)

OSA SASTRA Student Chapter: The Optical Society of America (OSA) SASTRA Student Chapter is a student run association started in the month of April 2019 at SASTRA Deemed University with a mission statement of enriching its members through professional networking, technical programming and career development. This OSA SASTRA Student Chapter will also raise awareness among the students and researchers about the importance of optics and science learning through participation in events at the institution or at the local community over youth education outreach activities CAPE is the annual event of the Indian Institute such as invited talks, science fairs, lab tours, classroom of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) Student Chapter, demonstration etc. OSA, to support chapter activities SASTRA Deemed to be University. The seventh to create a network inside /outside SASTRA including edition of National Conference on Advances in Process the researchers and students who are involved in optics Engineering (CAPE) was held on October 12 & 13, and laser research, also provides financial supports. 2019. Dr. V. Ponnusami, Associate Dean, Department of Chemical and Biotechnology, in his address talked about how CAPE has been growing ever since its inception. Dr. K. S. Rajan, Dean, School of Chemical and Biotechnology appreciated the efforts taken by the students and also extended an invitation to the external participants to look upon SASTRA as a destination for their Masters and Research. On October 12, 2019 Prof. Abhijith P Deshpande, Professor, Department

As part of the chapter activities, an invited talk by Dr. S. Brahadeeswaran, Professor and Head, Department of Physics, Bharathidasan Institute of Technology Campus, Anna University Tiruchirappalli was organized on December 27, 2019. The speaker was honored by Dr. K. Thenmozhi, Dean, School of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University with a memento and a certificate of appreciation in the presence of Chapter faculty advisors, chapter officers, members, scholars and master students. In this event, Dr. S. Brahadeeswaran shared

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Hindu University, Varanasi, between November 15 – 18, 2019.

of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, delivered the Plenary Lecture on the topic “Optimizing microstructure Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birthday Anniversary for products and processing.”. He spoke on various Celebration factors that control the production of microstructure, and how altering these factors could produce significant changes for optimizing the microstructure. The Volume 08 Issue 02 of ChemUnique magazine was released by the Editorial Board. On October 13, 2019, Mr. S.V.R. Krishnan, Executive Director-Operations, Tamil Nadu Paper Limited shared his work life experiences to make the students understand the importance of chemical engineers in an industry. He also briefed on instrumentation, and the need to be updated on the technology being used School of Education celebrated Mahatma Gandhi’s in industries. He emphasized on the need for chemical 150th Birthday Anniversary in a grand manner engineering students to choose core chemical industries on October 4, 2019. Dr.K.Kannan, Dean/School as is the demand. of Education welcomed the gathering. Professor. Oral and poster presentation events, and other events N.Seshadri gave a special lecture on Mahatma Gandhi, like Quizzard and Decipher were conducted by the and various cultural programs like Tamil & English technical team. “Know your product”, which was recitation, Speech & Quiz on Gandhiji, and singing introduced last year, was also conducted successfully and dancing on Gandhian thoughts were conducted by this year. These events saw a good turnout of internal students exposing their talents. and external participants. All India Radio Program Alumni members across the batches made a small video sharing their experience of CAPE. This alumni connect video served as a testimony to School of Chemical Engineering’s bonding across various batches. SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Invited talk at an International Conference Dr. K. Kannan, Dean / School of Education and TATA Realty Srinivasa Ramanujan Research Chair for Discrete Mathematics, gave an invited talk on the All India Radio, Trichy, conducted a cultural programme topic “Hypergraph Imaging”, in the 6th Taiwan-Indo under the title “KALLURI GALATTA” on October 10, International Conference (ITCDM) 19, held in Banaras 2019. First and second year student teachers of School

15 SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019 of Education actively participated in this programme On November 8, 2019, Dr. Sujatha E Ramani from and explored their innate talents. School of Civil Engineering gave a talk on awareness about Disaster Management. Dr. Rajalakshmi, Siddha Doctor, CARISM Department explained about medicinal plants. Dr.B.N.Vedha Hari, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Biotechnology gave a lecture on first-aid awareness.

Citizenship Training Camp To develop a positive attitude towards society and also to instill feelings of a democratic citizen in the four years National Unity Day Celebration integrated B.A. B.Ed. / B.Sc. B.Ed. student teachers, the School of Education conducted a citizenship camp for three days from November 6 – 8, 2019. On November 6, 2019, student teachers did temple cleaning and divine service at Sri Abathsagayeswarar Temple, Bhudalur with unity and co-operation.

School of Education celebrated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s Birthday Anniversary as National Unity Day On November 7, 2019, as a part of CT camp, Student on November 31, 2019. All the first year students of Teachers of the School of Education actively participated B.A.B.Ed / B.Sc.B.Ed dispensed their artistic skills in campus cleaning and tree plantation. Saplings were through poster presentation on Indian culture and planted behind Vidhya Vihar Block, AHALYA (Girls tradition. hostel) and old hostel.

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Bharthiyar’s Birthday Celebration Shri. Paramasivam Pillai, the Former Vice- President of Mauritius visited the house of Srinivasa Ramanujan at Sarangapani Sannithi Street, Kumbakonam on December 12, 2019. The house of Srinivasa Ramanujan is maintained as a monument by SASTRA. The guest also visited The House of Ramanujan Mathematics, a museum at the campus of SRC. Dr.V. Ramaswamy, Dean, SRC, The Administrative Officer, Deputy Registrar and Members of the Department of Mathematics at SRC briefed on the efforts taken by the University to encourage quality researches in the field of Mathematics influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan. The Guest was delighted to hear that every year in the month of December an international conference is held, and On December 19, 2019, School of Education celebrated the youngest Mathematician in the world within the Bharathiyar’s Birthday at Chanakya Auditorium. All age of 32, is honoured with the prestigious SASTRA- fourth year students participated in various activities. Ramanujan Award for his outstanding contributions M. Keerthana and V. Indu recited Bharathiyar’s to the world of Mathematics. It is commendable that Kavithai, and S. Shyam Sunder and R. Soundharya SASTRA-Ramanujan Award comprises $ 10,000 and gave a speech on Bharathiyar. P.R.Amisha Sona and a citation. B.Harisha sang Bharathiyar’s songs and a group song was sung by K.Haritha & team. Mr. Sathish Kumar (trainer of soft skills) from Learners Cortex delivered a special lecture.

Recruitments at SASTRA Upto the month of December 2019, about 75 companies have visited SASTRA and about 2800 job offers were made. About 1600 students have been placed in different positions in different companies. Information Session on Higher Education Former Mauritius Vice-President’s Visit to The Opportunities in Stanford University House of Srinivasa Ramanujan

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On October 11, 2019, Department of Training and Mr. Punniamoorthy, Retd. Professor of Veterinary Placement organised an information session on Higher University gave training in natural herb treatment Education Opportunities in Stanford University. Mrs. methods for cattle and Mr. Mahendra Manivasagam, Pavithra Srinivasan, alumna of Stanford University trained the farmers in organic farming. This training and the founder of Galvanize Tech Prep shared her programme covered the importance of organic farming, experience with the third and final year students. She enriching, soil fertility, preparation of organic manure also shared valuable inputs on the ways and means and pesticides. of applying for different courses, and through active Solar Eclipse Observed at SASTRA interaction clarified the doubts of the students in her session. A team of students including Ph.D. scholars of Stellaria/ SEDS, the Astronomy Club at SASTRA University, Alumni Meet at SRC observed the annular solar eclipse at Sengipatti on Mathematics Department of Srinivasa Ramanujan December 26, 2019. A telescope fitted with Mylar Centre held an Alumni meet for 2002-2019 batch Solar Filter was used to enable the local residents and students under B.Sc., M.Sc., and M.Phil. programmes children to view the eclipse. Simultaneously, in the on October 13, 2019. Many former students including Main Campus, another team of students assembled a Mr. Srinivasan, an Advocate, Mr. Swaminathan, radio telescope to study the solar magnetic field. Mr. Balan, professors at Kumbakonam Government KS UPAHAAR Autonomous Arts College, Ms. Prabha, professor at Poondi Pushpam College, and Mr. Naresh Kumar, Volunteers of KS UPAHAAR professor at Guindy VelTech Deeemed University shared visited Kangaroo Illam at Trichy their college experience. SRC Dean Dr. Ramasamy on October 2, 2019 as a part of presided over the meet and Dr. Allirani delivered the Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrations. keynote address. The students took an oath to extend A group of four boys and their greatest efforts for the upliftment of the society. eight girls, alongwith the Coordinator Dr.Balamurugan, Digital Literacy Training SEEE, bought provisions and groceries required for Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam – City Union Bank Centre the Home and interacted with around 40 old aged and for Development Studies conducted a digital literacy mentally retarded adults. They interacted with the team camp for 20 Women Self Help Groups on November and served them lunch. 23, 2019. Dr.V. Badrinath, Dean CREA and Chair Professor of Dr. Kalam-CUB Centre for Development Studies delivered the keynote address and City Union Bank’s Tirumalaisamudram’s Branch Manager Mr. Radhakrishnan was also present. Capitalization, raw material procurement, its marketing, net banking and mobile banking through electronic media for effective financial management by the SHGs were explained in detail. Organic Farming Training SASTRA Deemed University organized a four-day free training on organic farming and introduction of On the eve of Christmas on December 25, 2019 Team modern technology in farming for agricultural farmers. KS UPAHAAR visited Happy Old Age Home at Trichy. Around 80 farmers successfully completed the training A group of eight boys and four girls accompanied by sponsored by ONGC, New Delhi and Indian Institute Dr.S.Rakesh Kumar, SEEE, distributed furniture, of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), Thanjavur, toiletries and groceries. The volunteers interacted with and Farmers Producers for Organizations (FPO). Dr. nearly 29 old aged and mentally retarded adult inmates. V. Badrinath, Dean CREA inaugurated the training. Aadhaar Enrollment and Updation Camp An Aadhaar enrollment and updation camp was held in the University campus on account of Gandhi Jayanthi

18 SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019 for three days from October 1-3, 2019. The camp aimed execution of solid waste management activities in the to solve problems related to biometric updation, photo village. Prof.Srinivasan, Head CEEP and the Professors update, name change, address etc. faced by faculty from Bangalore University visited and inspected various and students holding an Aadhaar card. Furthermore, places. new enrolments for Aadhaar were also entertained and processed suitably. The applicants who had corrections in their Aadhaar were charged a processing fee of Rs.50 by the officials, whereas the new enrolments were done free of cost. Over 100 students and a number of faculty benefitted by this camp and were able to solve their issues successfully. Dr. V.Badrinath organised this programme successfully with the support of the concerned officials of Head Post office, Thanjavur. Plasma Compendium

IPAA Thanjavur Division Inter Polytechnic Tournament From October 1-28, 2019, team Plasma Compendium Shanmugha Polytechnic College organized the IPAA donated a total number of 7 units of blood (2 types of Thanjavur Division Inter-Polytechnic Badminton, blood groups) for emergency needs around Thanjavur Carrom, Chess & Table Tennis Tournament (Boys) and Trichy. Thanjavur Medical College Hospital and for the year 2019-20 at the campus on December 18, KMC Trichy, Tennur were the hospitals to which 2019. Shri.R.Chandra Mouli, Principal distributed the major donations were made. The donations were prizes to the Winners. made for delivery operation, surgery and kidney failure The Prize Winners are: operation. Dr. D. Sivaselvi of Meenakshi Hospital, Thanjavur appreciated the effort of the team. Badminton: Winner - Chendhuran Polytechnic College, Pudukottai UBA - SCORE Runner - Government Polytechnic College, Aranthangi Third -Manora Polytechnic College, Pattukottai Carrom: Winner -Vandayar Polytechnic College, Thanjavur Runner -Venkateswara Polytechnic College, Pudukottai Third -Annai Polytechnic College, Kumbakonam Chess: As part of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan activity, a team of Winner - Shanmugha Polytechnic College, Thanjavur faculty visited Marudakkudi village to inspect the Runner -Chendhuran Polytechnic College, Pudukottai venues of Solid Waste Management at several places. Third -Arasu Polytechnic College, Kumbakonam Dr.Veerapadman, Professor from Bangalore University Table Tennis: and also a consultant, Tamil Nadu Government helped Winner - Chendhuran Polytechnic College, Pudukottai the University in this regard. Earlier, Dr V.Badrinath, Runner - Annai Polytechnic College, Kumbakonam Dean CREA discussed with the visiting team to find Third -Periyar Centenary Polytechnic College, out the ways and means to do both awareness and Vallam

19 SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY ITIHAS Vol 1,9V IQuarter - 2019 IT IS HAPPENING AT SASTRA The following events have been scheduled for the next few months at SASTRA Deemed University: 1. A one day workshop on “MATLAB - Control System Tool Box” for III-EIE students by Dr. S. Venkatesh, SAP, EIE/SEEE, SASTRA Deemed to be University is scheduled to be held on January 4, 2020. 2. A guest lecture by Mr. K. Prapakaran, Director, Spectra Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai on the topic “Application of Laser Instruments in Medical Field” is planned to be held on January 10, 2020 by the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. 3. The Department of EIE has scheduled a guest lecture on “Application of Laser Instruments in Medical Field” by Mr. K. Prapakaran, Director, Spectra Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai on January 10, 2020. 4. The COM-MAN Forum of the Commerce Department of SRC has scheduled a workshop on “Ways to Conquer your Future-Work for Others or Work for Yourself” on January 11, 2020. 5. The School of ECE/SEE is planning to hold a Workshop on “5G Wireless Technologies: mmWave MIMO, Massive MIMO – Hands-on using MATLAB” on January 10 & 11, 2020 at Vidyut Vihar, Conference Hall (First Floor) for Final year B. Tech Students, M. Tech Students & Research Scholars from Main Campus and SRC Campus. 6. A KLF lecture on Bio-medical Instrumentation by experts from Philips – Health Care, Bangalore is planned for the second week of February, 2020. 7. A special lecture on Bio-Sensors by experts from Sundaram Medical Devices, Chennai is planned for the second week of March, 2020. 8. A KLF lecture on “Bio-medical Instrumentation” by experts from Philips – Health Care, Bangalore has been planned for the second week of February, 2020. Editorial Board 9. A special lecture on “Bio-Sensors” by experts from Sundaram Medical Devices, Chennai is planned for the Prof. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam - Vice-Chancellor second week of March, 2020. Dr. S. Swaminathan - Dean - Planning & Development 10. The Students’ Association of School of Mechanical Dr. G. Sashi Kala- Dept. of English Engineering, MECASSSO has planned to hold its inauguration on January 10, 2020 with a special lecture Dr. R. Ravi - Dept. of English, SRC on “Failure Analysis” by Dr.N.Krishnaraj, Consultant Metallurgist. A Quarterly Newsletter published by SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITY, Thanjavur-613 401, Tamil Nadu. Designing & Printing : Sumukha Agencies, BANGALORE.

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