The one week course on Instrumental Techniques for Chemical and Material analysis (ITCMA-2015) from 21-25th Dec, 2015 conducted by Department of Applied Sciences, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh concluded successfully with 50 participants from different institutes in the region. For the inaugural function the chief guest was Dr.S.K Mehta, Director, CIL and Professor of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh who enlightened the participants about the importance of the course and informed about facilities at CIL. Dr. Manoj Arora, Director, PEC, presided over the function and encouraged the participants and suggested that we increase collaborative research among the CKRIC Institutions. Dr.Vasundhara Singh, Head Department of Applied Sciences gave an account of the achievements of the Department which provided a platform for conducting the course.
The participants included Masters, PhD students and faculty members from institutions such Delhi Univ ,DTU, NIT Jalandhar, SLIET, Hindustan University, Chennai, Desh Bhagat DRDO, Thapar, Panjab University ,Punjabi Univ, GCG-sec-11,PEC.Interestingly the participants were from diverse backgrounds of Physics,Chemistry,Chemical Engg, Environmental Engg, Materials and Metallurgical Engg and Mechanical Engg which ensured cross learning between various fields of Science and Engineering.
The participants were exposed to 14 different techniques. On day one, Lectures on NMR Spectrocopy by Prof Ramachandran ,IISER ,Mohali highlighted the quantum mechanical approach and applications of Solid state NMR for characterization of proteins, while, Dr.Rajeev Mehta, Professor in Chemical Engineering,Thapar University talked on polymer characterization such as TGA, DTA, Rheology and GPC. On day two, Prof Ashish Garg from IIT,Kanpur gave lectures on XRD and SEM analysis for characterization of solid powder materials and Dr.Ujjwal Gautam, Professor ,IISER ,Mohali talked about TEM, as an Engineering Marvel. On Day three ,Faculty from INST,Mohali, Dr.Neha Sardana and Dr.Suvankar Chakravorty talked on Raman Spectroscopy as a fingerprint technique and on magnetic properties of materials introducing the concept of magnetic monopole and skyirmions. A visit to CIL,Panjab University, Chandigarh was organized and participants were given demonstration of FE-SEM,XRD,NMR,TEM. Industry experts were invited from Key sight technologies who lectured and demonstrated instruments for electrical measurements and Dr.Gurpreet Kaur, Manager( RandD), PCPL, Derabassi gave a talk on HPLC including practical demonstration. Faculty from Panjab University, Prof.Amrit Toor ,Deptt of Chemical Engineering gave a talk on on UV-Vis DRS spectroscopy and its application in Reaction Engineering. Prof.Ranju Bansal ,Deptt of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University give a Talk on FT-IR Spectroscopy and its applications in identification of all materials and both qualitative and quantitative analysis, Dr.Sanjeev Gautam, a talk on XRF technique for elelemental analysis of materials.
The Valedictory Function was graced by DR.Manjit Singh, OS and Director TBRL( DRDO), Chandigarh who congratulated the participants and encouraged them to have deep understanding of these important techniques along with good knowledge of their subject as alone the techniques will not be that useful.Dr.Manoj Arora Director,PEC also congratulated the participants and organizers for the well conducted course.A vote of thanks was proposed by Dr.Sanjeev Kumar and thanked the participants and the Industry sponsors.
The Co-ordinators of the course were Dr.Sanjeev Kumar, Associate Professor in Physics and Dr.Prem Lata, Assistant Proessor in Chemistry who whole heartedly ensured the smooth conduct of the course along with warm hospitality to all participants. The research scholars of the Deptt particularly Mr.Naveen Sethi, Nandini Sharma and Sitanshu worked very hard and provided all support to the co-ordinators. All Faculty members and Supporting Staff in the Laboratories particularly Dr.Amutha and office were actively involved.
Dr.Vasundhara Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Applied Sciences, concluded that the course was a good learning experience for all participants which shall be helpful in both teaching and research and also the interaction had enhanced the visibility of research in the Deptt for future collaboration among the CKIRC Institutions. Such courses will be conducted by the department on a regular basis.
