A grand event to commemorate the 175th year of the Institute was held on the Foundation Day (25 Nov) at the LBS. The Union Education Minister, Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan was the chief guest at the event.

As is tradition, the Kulgeet was sung by the members of the music section, followed by a short briefing by Deputy Director Prof. Manoranjan Parida on the evolution of IIT Roorkee from a Military Engineering college to a Civil Engineering College to what it is today.

NEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

The event saw the announcement of 6 new infrastructure projects, including

• A 1400 seater hostel at Vigyan Kunj
• A new building for the Department of Chemistry
• River View Apartments (Phase-I) at Vikas Nagar

and the inauguration of

• Aarohi Child Care Centre and Play Group at the Old Teacher’s Hostel (OTH)
• Centralized Air-Conditioned Ganga & Cautley Bhawan Mess
• The Renovated Faculty Club at KIH

Towards a Greener Campus

This was followed by a short speech on the flora, and fauna IIT Roorkee has to offer by the Director of Wildlife Institute of India, who praised IIT Roorkee for being a green campus despite the developmental measures it has undertaken in the past.

Research and Outreach.

Thereafter, Prof. Sanjeev Manhas (Department of ECE) talked about outreach and partnering with institutes in India and around the world, strengthening research capabilities, creating augmented labs, attracting funding, and startup incubation. Several new initiatives were launched including

• Mentoring five institutes in Uttarakhand for research purposes
• 2 fellowships to institutes within a radius of 200 km of IIT Roorkee with a stipend of 15K per month
• 25 2-month internships to B. Tech. students with a stipend of 10K each
• 6-month research internships for M. Tech. students every year with a stipend of 10K
• Incubation of 5 promising startups.

Arranging visits to IIT ROORKEE for school students.

Mr. Anshul Sachdeva, a 3rd-year Undergraduate at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee introduced a schene of 20 one-day trips for school students in and around Roorkee during the entire 175th year. A total of 40 exemplary and underprivileged students, both boys and girls in a fair ratio shall be invited to IIT Roorkee where they will be given complete exposure to what IIT Roorkee has to offer along with career-counseling sessions.

Unveiling the Logo and the Tagline

The Logo and tagline selected by holding open competitions were revealed. The tagline framed by Abhishek Jha, a third undergrad student at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering for the 175th year celebrations was “Leading into the Future.”

Mr.Pradeep Batra, the MLA of the Roorkee Constituency, gave a short speech, highlighting how Roorkee City and IIT Roorkee move hand in hand.

The Director’s message

Towards the end of the event, the Director - Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi - shared his thoughts on the institute’s future and pledged to build on the foundations built by our forefathers. He also inaugurated two new projects

• A 1.3 petaflops supercomputing facility as part of the national supercomputing mission.
• A Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) based Smart Energy Management System, which will establish an integrated monitoring analytics and control center for systems ranging from energy assets to transport, water, and waste.

The event was concluded by a vote of thanks by the Deputy Director, Prof. Manoranjan Parida, and the National Anthem.