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| In Conversation With Sudhir Jain |
Ranjani Saigal
10/13/2011
At IIT Kanpur, Professor Jain has taught earthquake and structural engineering and has mentored a large number of students and young engineers from Industry. He is an active researcher in earthquake engineering and has published more than 150 research papers
He is the key person behind the development of the National Program on Earthquake Engineering Education (NPEEE) in India to build capacity in earthquake engineering in numerous civil engineering and architecture colleges across India. He was the National Coordinator of NPEEE during 2003-07. More than 1,300 faculty members from across India were trained in earthquake engineering under this program.
Dr. Jain serves on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (2000- ) and is currently its Executive Vice President (2008- ). He was on the Board of Directors of the World Seismic Safety Initiative (2002-2009 ), an organization that promotes earthquake risk reduction in developing countries. Professor Jain was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2003.
To learn about IIT Gandhinagar, please go to their website at http://www.iitgn.ac.in/
Congratulations on becoming the director of IIT Gandhinagar. How did it feel when you offered this great honor? Why did you choose to be the director of this over other IITs?
When I was asked to consider applying for this position I was initially very reluctant. I was not in favor of opening new IITs for a variety of reasons. I was particularly worried about the speed at which they were opened. A friend of mine later convinced me that since the new IITs are indeed a reality, by becoming a part of the system I could help shape their future.
Earthquakes are my field of study. I had the opportunity to work in Gujarat after the major Earthquake in 2001. I was very impressed with the state of Gujarat and its people. Thus during my interview I clearly stated that I would take the offer only if I was the Director of IIT Gandhinagar. I am also blessed to have Dr. Mashelkar as the Chairman of the Board. I could not have asked for a more inspirational individual.
Building an IIT seems like a gigantic task. Do you consider this a challenge or opportunity?
It is a very exciting opportunity – just like in a start-up enterprise. We are young and flexible. I think our flexibility, innovation, motivation and single-minded focus on excellence sets us apart. Our first batch started in 2008. Currently we have three disciplines, Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering. Being small it is easy for us to experiment with every aspect of education. Be it teaching, academic curriculum or any other aspect.
We have focused on research from day one. We have engaged in multidisciplinary research and development projects, have funds, scholarship and other incentives to set up research activities and have partnered with industries and other organizations to develop new products.
We are very excited with the opportunities that we have and hope we can work to capitalize on it to produce a first rate educational experience for all our students.
What are some of the unique things that you are implementing?
We firmly believe that it is our role to graduate students who are citizens first and engineers later. Being a young and small institute, we are able to have closer ties between the students and the faculty. I almost have a parental feeling towards all of our students.
We have a unique fun-filled five week Foundation program for incoming freshman where they get exposed to a wide variety of things none of which are engineering related. We have sports, music, arts and several other workshops. Students are exposed to work at local NGOs. We even had a day when we went along with students and swept a street in Ahmedabad.
We also are creating opportunities for students to intern at universities and companies abroad. We also have ample opportunity for students to get engaged in research. I personally believe in providing choices for students to choose their major and we are making that as easy and flexible as possible.
What is the purpose of the US visit?
I am here to create awareness about the institute and our work. I am also here to recruit high caliber faculty. We have been successful in recruiting significant number of PhDs who have graduated from prestigious universities and are of high caliber. A good university requires excellent interactions with external agencies. I am here to establish those connections.
What can we in New England do to help?
We are looking for people to get engaged in our institute – to become stakeholders. If distinguished people contribute in a real way, it brings more credibility to our work and it will also help us convince others to get engaged. We are a small team and we love for people to be our ambassadors to establish relationships within their organizations on our behalf so that we can expand and refine our activities.
We welcome you all to come to IIT Gandhinagar and learn more about us. We promise to take good care of you. We have great ambitions for the institute and we hope you will support us in our effort.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
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