OST Business Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 14:

SOA
Former chairman of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Col. SP Wahi and former head of the department of Physics at IIT, Delhi Prof KL Chopra were conferred with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual convention of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) at the SOA University here on Friday.

The INAE, the highest body of engineers and technocrats in India, gives away several awards in recognition of excellence in the field of engineering every year.

The awards were presented by INAE president Dr Baldev Raj, a distinguished scientist and former director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, at a function held in the ITER premises of the university.

Prof Jai Krishna and Prof SN Mitra Memorial Awards for 2013 were presented to Prof ML Munjal, honorary Professor, IISc, Bangalore, and Prof N Balakrishnan, associate director and Professor, Supercomputer Education and Research Centre and Department of Aerospace Engineering, IISc, Bangalore.

The INAE outstanding teachers award, instituted this year, went to Prof Souvik Bhattacharyya, deputy director, IIT, Kharagpur and Prof JC Mishra of department of Mathematics of SOA University, Bhubaneswar who is a former teacher at IIT, Kharagpur.

Besides, 11 young engineers below the age of 35 years were presented the INAE Young Engineer Award for excellence in design and technology transfer, innovative development and engineering research work.

The Innovative Student Projects Awards were presented to 10 students at the B Tech level, five students at Masters’ level and five at the Doctoral level.

Speaking on the occasion, the INAE president informed that the organization had taken an initiative to organise an annual mega event of engineers as “Engineers Conclave” starting from the current year which would be jointly organized with Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of Space (DOS), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

“Each conclave will have two themes, one specific to the host department and other specific to some social problem where engineering intervention was desired”, he said adding the first such Engineers Conclave was held jointly with DRDO during September last at New Delhi.