Intl Conference on ‘Nanotechnology 2019’- ‘Opportunities & Challenges’ at St Aloysius College
Mangaluru: St Aloysius College managed by the Mangalore Jesuit Educational Society (MJES), provides education to the students without discriminating against any religion, caste or creed. St Aloysius College was started in 1880 to cater to the Academic needs and for the growth and development of the youth of this area. It was granted the status of Autonomy in June 2007. Since then, the College has been making rapid progress by introducing innovative courses, regularly updating the syllabus with transparent and objective evaluation strategies. Presently the College offers 7 undergraduate and 20 postgraduate programmes at two campuses. The college is recognized as “College with Potential for Excellence” (CPE) by UGC. In addition, the College is conferred with ‘Star Status’ by the DBT, Government of India.
The College is re-accredited with ‘A’ Grade by NAAC with a CGPA of 3.62 out of 4, and is also ranked 94 among the colleges in the country by NIRF MHRD. St Aloysius College has been ranked 44th by India Today & 23rd by Week Hamsa for the year 2018. With over 15,000 students, boys and girls, from primary to postgraduate classes including doctoral studies, the campus is known for its salubrious atmosphere, community culture, excellence in teaching, high degree of discipline, deep mutual respect, abiding spirit of tolerance, strong appreciation for all cultures, deep reverence for all religions, intense attachment to ethical values, state of the art facilities, multiplicity of avenues for all-round growth of the individual and efficient as well as enlightened administration, drawing appreciative accolades from the University as well as government bodies.
Nanotechnology is one of the new and fastest growing areas in Science and Engineering. The subject is multidisciplinary in nature and has the potential to provide solutions to many of the world’s major problems in agriculture, electronics, energy, environment, health and other issues. The aim of this conference is to review the current state of knowledge in the field of Nanotechnology along with its novel applications and challenges. The conference had invited Scientists, Research Scholars, Undergraduate and Post graduate teachers and students in the field of Chemistry, Physics, Material Science, Bio-science, Biomedical Science and Engineering. The conference has already garnered an enthusiastic response from Research Scholars, teachers and students across the country. Nearly 400 participants are participating in the conference.
The Departments of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies in Chemistry, St Aloysius College(Autonomous), Mangaluru organized a two-day INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON “NANOTECHNOLOGY – 2019: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES” on 10th and 11th of January, 2019 in the L.F. Rasquinha Hall, LCRI Block. Prof Karanam Uma Maheshwar Rao, Director, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal was the Chief Guest. Fr. Dionysius Vaz, SJ, the Rector of St Aloysius Educational Institutions presided over the Programme. Rev Dr Praveen Martis, SJ, Principal, St Aloysius College(Autonomous) released the book of abstracts. Prof. Zineb Mekhalif, Director, Laboratory of Chemistry and Electro-chemistry of Surfaces (CES), University of Namur, Belgium delivered the Keynote Address.
Chief Guest, Prof Karanam Uma Maheshwar Rao-Director, NITK, Surathkal in the inaugural address highlighted the recent advances in the field of Nanoscience exemplified by the importance of the Gold and Uranium in the field of mining. He posed the challenges of Nano-science saying that it would be the end of the world if Nano robots would take over humans if the field was misused and gave a call to carefully exploit and utilize the benefits of Nanotechnology as this field provides immense scope for improvement.
Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ in his presidential remarks said that the Departments of Chemistry have been instrumental in organizing innovative programmes throughout the year of which this International Conference was another innovative achievement and highlighted the usefulness of nanoscience and nanotechnology for the betterment of the society.
Addressing the gathering, Principal Rev Dr Praveen Martis SJ said that there is uniqueness in the field of Nanoscience. The field is highly exploited and is still rapidly growing in terms several challenges that is providing enormous opportunities to the scientists. He quoted the contributions of Michael Faraday and Richard Feymann in this field and highlighted the innovations of nanotextiles, nanoflaments etc.
Dr.Richard Gonsalves-Director of LCRI block welcomed the gathering, Dr.Ronald Nazareth-Convener introduced the chief guest, Prof RajgopalBhat –Head Department of UG Chemistry graced the occasion, Ms. Preema Cealla Pais, the organizing secretary proposed the vote of thanks, Ms. Prajna from M Sc Chemistry compered the programme and Prof Zineb Mekhalif- University of Namur delivered the keynote address.
Besides this, Dr. Simon Detriche, Arvind K Bhakta, Sebastien Vivegnis from University of Namur, Belgium, Dr. ArunIsloor, NITK Surathkal, Ms Danica Pinto- University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Prof. Eshwarmoorthy- JNCASR, Prof Suresha SJ-Technology Manager, MNCF, CeNSE, IISc, Bangalore, Dr. Navinchandra G Shimpi- University of Mumbai, Dr. Belkhiri Samir- Algeria, Dr Halley Menezes -Japan will deliver the lectures during these two days.
The Valedictory programme will be held on 11th January, 2019 at 3:15 PM in Fr L F Rasquinha Auditorium (LCRI). Prof.Zineb Mekhalif, Director Laboratory of Chemistry and Electro-chemistry of Surfaces (CES), University of Namur, Belgium will be the chief guest for the valedictory programme. Rev. Dr.Leo D’Souza SJ, Director -Laboratory of Applied Biology, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru will preside over the programme.
