RNS: Altogether, 56 students of Class IX to XII from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Maithon and DAV Public School Koylanagar explored the Geological Museum of IIT (ISM)’s rich and varied collection of minerals, rocks, and fossils and learned about the institute’s cutting-edge laboratories and tinkering, innovation, and research.
The occasion was the day-long lab visit of the school students being organized by the Media & Branding office of IIT (ISM) under the K-12 outreach programme aimed to inspire young minds to explore careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the learning environment at IIT (ISM).
The tour, which is the third of its kind, began at around 10 a.m. this morning with the students divided into three groups visiting over a dozen laboratories of three different facilities, including Naresh Vashisht Centre Tinkering and Innovation (NVCTI), the innovation hub of undergraduate students; TEXMiN, the coal technology innovation hub and Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC), all of which are situated in the Institute Innovation Hub (i2h) building of the institute.
The students, accompanied by their teachers during their session at NVCTI, situated in the i2h building, explored the state-of-the-art equipment in its different laboratories, including Electronics and IOT Centre, Pouch Battery Lab, Animation and Design Unit, Robotics and Automation Centre and Mechanical Tools and Rapid Prototyping Unit.
During their tour of the TEXMiN, the Mining Technology Innovation Hub, the students got a first-hand account of the research being carried out there to ensure safe, smart and sustainable mining and particularly the researches being carried out about digitalization and automation in mines and also about usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in Mining arena.
They also took keen interest in the different centers of excellence, including that of Dassault, Sandvik and ESRI, besides the Centre of Excellence (COE) of Coal India Limited (CIL) operational at IIT (ISM) to carry out innovative researches under the leadership of TEXMiN.
They also visited the Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC), where they learnt the training and research activities meant to solve to day to day issues of the local community being carried out under the guidance of experts.
During the last leg of their visit in the Geological Museum, they also explored the rich and varied collection of over 12000 typical as well as rare specimens of minerals, rocks and fossils, including a rock as spongy as rubber, a fossilized skull of the elephant of several centuries ago and a fossil of a venomous snake preserved in alcohol.
Sampa Dey, a Post Graduate Teacher accompanying the students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Maithon, said, “The unique initiative of IIT (ISM) to let the school students explore the state of art laboratories and cutting edge equipment will motivate the students to make a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).”
Tuhin Bhattacharjee, a student of DAV Public School, Koylanagar, said, “The experience was quite interesting as they got to learn about a lot of technologies and the best part of the tour was the visit of TEXMiN during which we came to about the new technologies being used in Mining operations.”
