TThe Department of Chemistry in association with Research and Development Council (RDC) of the university organized a Special Lecture on Polymer Nanotechnology by Dr. Debdatta Ratna, Scientist-G and Head, Directorate of Polymer Science and Technology, DRDO on October 11, 2023. It was followed up by an interactive session with the students, research scholars and faculty members. Prof. Amiya Priyam, Head, Department of Chemistry and Dean, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences co-ordinated the event. He told that Dr. Ratna has made immense contributions to defence research. He has been providing scientific solutions to the problems faced by Indian Navy. He has developed several products based on polymer nanocomposites which are currently in service. He has published more than 100 research papers in reputed international journals and authored several books as well. Previously, he had completed his PhD from IIT Kharagpur and also received prestigious Humboldt fellowship from Germany. The entire department was excited about listening to the success story of a renowned scientist from DRDO.
The programme began with the welcome address by Prof. Amiya Priyam. He said that Department of chemistry is relatively younger department, yet it has been involved in cutting edge research since its inception in 2018. Several Govt -funded research projects are running and the first patent of the university was also filed by the department. The MSc programme lays high emphasis on research and aims at creating a good bench-strength of future scientists. He said that special lecture by Dr Ratna and the interactive session would motivate students to opt for scientific research as a career. Prof. Venktesh Singh, Head, Dept. of Physics and Coordinator, IQAC (Internal Quality Assurance Cell), asked students to never be afraid of failures, believe in themselves and keep striving for excellence. Further in the programme, Prof. Durg Vijai Singh, Director, Research & Development Council apprised the audience of the overall research outlook of the university. He further emphasized on the need to have interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations so that products are developed which provide scientific solutions to daily life problems of a common man. He also said that on the need to indigenise the various high end-technologies to fulfil the dream of “Atmnirbhar Bharat”, and in this regard DRDO is doing great work.
During the special talk, Dr. Ratna discussed several core areas of DRDO. Particularly he discussed the core concept of stealth technology, which is used to hide the naval ships or submarine from detection by enemy’s radar. He further elaborated how he developed a polymer nanocomposite based paint which imparts stealth characteristics to the navy ships. Dr. Ratna also talked about how they discovered a new type of polymer nanocomposite which helped design a fuel-cell which generates energy using Hydrogen as a fuel. This is remarkable development as it help design engines which causes no pollution at all as the only byproduct is water. Dr. Ratna discussed how these polymer-based nanomaterials have been employed to provide scientific solutions thereby enhancing the operational capability of Indian navy.
The special lecture was followed up by interactive session. Several interesting questions were asked by faculty members as well as students to which Dr. Ratna answered in a lucid manner. Most importantly, the students were thrilled and excited by the presentation made by Dr. Ratna. The students learned some of the fundamental aspects of polymer science as well as latest advancements made in the interdisciplinary field of field of polymer nanotechnology. For many of the students, who aspire to become scientists in DRDO, this session was invaluable as they could freely interact with a top scientist from the same organization. Overall, the interactive session was awe-inspiring and motivating one for the students. The session was well-anchored by Pranati Gupta, PhD student of the Dept. of Chemistry. The programme ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Jagannath Roy. The faculty members of the chemistry department, Dr. Girish Chandra, Dr. Angad Kumar Singh, Dr. Mahender Khatravath and Dr. Mouni Roy acted as cohesive unit to organize the event and their efforts were highly appreciated.
Honourable Vice-chancellor, Prof. Kameshwar Nath Singh, congratulated the department of Chemistry and Research and Development Council to organize such an event. He reiterated that, we, at CUSB Gaya, are committed to providing a well-rounded education that inculcates the culture of innovation and research. These ethos are also ingrained in New Education Policy 2020, which visualizes our education system to be inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based. He further said that these activities are well thought out and in the right direction to achieve the avowed goals of the university.