IIT Bombay to offer course in energy science

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has proposed a new specialised B.Tech programme in energy science and engineering stream this year to mark its golden jubilee celebrations which begin in the month of September 2007.

The country's premier engineering institution is also gearing up to offer dual degree option and expand its research activities as well as engage in a comprehensive faculty development programme.

IIT Bombay's Director Ashok Mishra told media that the golden jubilee celebrations will trigger major initiatives in the area of research into the technologies that the world will be faced with in the coming years.

Energy management will be among the biggest challenges of the next century and we have introduced a specialised course in energy science and engineering which will focus on subjects like physics, chemistry and alternative fuels which deal with the fundamentals of energy and include engineering and conservation.

Mishra said the institute has started a dual degree programme for the B Tech students this year where one can opt for credits in economics or management or information technology while pursuing a basic engineering degree.

"To widen the options for the dual degree courses we will need to expand our faculty and we will create a corpus from the golden jubilee celebrations fund for the faculty development," Mishra said.

He informed that IIT Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct research in nanotechnology. This is a Rs 100 crore project jointly funded by the institutions, he said.

Mishra said though the alumni have been donating for the different projects of the institute, there is a plan to raise Rs 500 crore comprising Rs 200 crore from the alumni, Rs 200 crore from corporate sector and Rs 100 crore from the government as an open ended corpus on the occasion of the golden jubilee.