S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

NEWSLETTER

APR - JUNE 2023VOL 01 - ISSUE 02

NEWSLETTER

REFLECTIONS: FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR’s DESK

As a PhD student at Cornell University,

I was part of a vibrant ecosystem that

helped me understand the transformative

power of research.

In a pioneering approach, at Plaksha,

the BTech curriculum dismantles the

walls between diﬀerent disciplines –

it integrates research with core

engineering education. Our students

are taught to identify and understand

human needs and solve problems

creatively through sustained

critical investigation, making them the

future ﬂagbearers of high-impact

research.

I am delighted to announce our

partnership with Cornell University that

provides a framework for academic and

research collaborations in areas of

mutual interest, including sustainability

and agriculture.

I believe that harnessing the power

of global partnerships and building a

community of researchers with diverse

perspectives are critical to pursuing

high-impact research and addressing

the biggest challenges facing our planet.

On a more personal note, April 22 was

a proud moment for me, when ISROs

satellite PSLV C55 was launched in

space. The MEMS gyroscope mounted

on the satellite for attitude control, the

ﬁrst to be developed indigenously, was

developed by my dedicated research

group and ISRO engineers. It was the

culmination of 14 years of hard work.

As we embark on a journey of discovery

and innovation at Plaksha, my aspiration

is to nurture a community where our

faculty and students will experience the

same joy and pride.

Christened ‘1729’, after Ramanujan - Hardy number, the Plaksha newsletter is a

window into our thriving, interconnected, and learner centered environment

where Plakshans look beyond the obvious, just like Srinivas Ramanujan did with

the seemingly dull number '1729'.

Through this newsletter we share the contribution of each member of our vibrant

community of learners, researchers, leaders, innovators and problem solvers to

reimagining technology education.

Prof. Rudra Pratap

FOUNDING VICE CHANCELLOR

Plaksha University

Prof. Wendy Wolford, Vice Provost

for International Aﬀairs at Cornell

University visited Plaksha in April

to announce signing of an MoA

between the two universities. This

partnership will foster a truly global

classroom environment at Plaksha,

facilitate academic exchange and

support collaborative research

activities. It aligns with our goal of

addressing global grand challenges.

SUCCESS SPOTLIGHT

Our PhD scholars are taking up the

mantle of research on grand

challenges. Under the guidance of

Dr. Prashanth Suresh Kumar and

Dr. Amruta R Behera, PhD scholar

Neelam Sarmah has been advancing

her research on wastewater

monitoring. Neelam wants to empower

communities with a transformative

platform that facilitates behavioral

change within communities.

NEWSLETTER

S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

PARTNERSHIP WITH CORNELL UNIVERSITY

“The vision behind Plaksha is inspiring – the leadership team,

faculty, staﬀ and students are 100% committed to

interdisciplinary, tech-focused research and teaching

collaborations around grand challenges.” - Prof. Wendy Wolford

Leadership transcends authority; it thrives in enduring partnerships. Plaksha’s ﬁrst-ever Student Council was sworn in recently

Neelam’s initiative was recognized by NITI Aayog under LiFE

(Lifestyle for Environment) securing a position among

the top 75 ideas

At Plaksha, the aim of research is to

make a tangible impact in the real world

by actively engaging with industry,

government, and local community to

translate our ﬁndings into practical

solutions for real-world problems.

Sustainable agricultural practices lay the

foundation for addressing the grand

challenge of food security. Two of our

faculty made noteworthy progress in

this direction. Dr. Amruta Behera’s team

NEWSLETTER

S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

STORIES OF IMPACT

won the ﬁrst round of the Onion

Challenge, a hackathon organized by

the Department of Consumer Aﬀairs,

Government of India. They are

currently developing a prototype device

to aid in onion grading.

Additionally, Dr. Navjot Kaur won a

grant from DST iHub – AWaDH

to explore the potential of gene-edited

crops in co-creating sustainable

solutions with farming communities.

Our faculty are not only gifted educators, but also world-class researchers who want to solve

grand challenges. We take immense pride in the passion and dedication exhibited by our

faculty members.

GLOBAL ENGAGEMENTS

Five students from the UG cohort were

on summer internships in top

international and Indian universities

– UC San Diego, SUTD Singapore, Brown

University, IIT Bombay and IIIT Delhi.

Our young faculty, Dr. Amrik Sen

and Dr. Navjot Kaur visited

Purdue University and North Carolina

State University, respectively under

the summer sabbatical program for the

tenure track faculty. These programs

are a step in the right direction as they

train the next generation of faculty

leaders.

The Havells Research Building is where we will create signiﬁcant impact in the ﬁeld of technology research

PLAKSHA UPDATES

NEWSLETTER

S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

Young Technology Scholars:

The 6th Edition

The Young Technology Scholars (YTS)

program is a two-week intensive

summer program, aimed at providing

hands-on and interdisciplinary

learning to a select cohort. This year

masterclasses and mentorship sessions

helped our young learners understand

and address complex societal

challenges early in their lives.

Hands-on learning and interdisciplinary coursework under the guidance of stalwarts like Prof. Ravi Jasuja,

(Founder of Plaksha University and Director of Translational Research and Discovery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,)

and Prof. Hanumant Singh (Director, Multidisciplinary Center of Robotics, Northeastern University)

Plaksha faculty and the visionary founders of Plaksha

mentored the students

Students worked on ﬁve projects: ECG machine, EMG machine,

game designing, tele-operated robots, and Agbot

200 talented 9 to 12 graders enrolled for the program

Young Technology Scholars 2023 on campus

NEWSLETTER

ndian Engineers and an

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Two papers authored by Prof. Rucha

Joshi and a team of Research Scholars,

Divya Monga, Navaneeth Chand S

and Ridhima Jain, explore the

entrepreneurial mindset in Indian

engineering students. The papers

were accepted at International

Conference on Interactive Collaborative

Learning (iCL). The conference will

be held in Madrid, Spain later

this year.

Realities of A

An interesting read this month was the

article by Dr. Nitin Upadhayaya on

Exploring the Marvellous & Unsettling

Realities of AI. Published in Business

World, the article explores how AI

systems like ChatGPT reshape education

and emphasizes the need for

institutions to adapt, fostering a

harmonious blend of collective

consciousness and personal growth.

S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

PLAKSHA THINK TANK

Filling Gaps in Google Translate

Paper titled Sanskrit grammar-based

model to identify and address gaps in

Google Translate’s Sanskrit-English zero-

shot NMT written by Research Scholar

Amit Rao and Prof. Kanchi Gopinath

was accepted at the Learning with

Small Data (LSD 2023) conference in

Sweden. The team proposed a strategy

to create a diﬀerential parallel corpus

as corrective learning data to address

several gaps in the approach and make

the system more robust.

ndegene Chair Professor for

Digital Health

Plaksha joined hands with

Indegene, a digital-ﬁrst, life sciences

commercialization company, to oﬀer

students the best of its kind tech

education in the healthcare space.

Prof. Ravi Jasuja, Director of

Translational Research and Discovery,

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was

appointed as the Indegene Chair

Professor for Digital Health. He will

serve as an Advisor for the Indegene

Digital Health initiative at Plaksha,

and help bring an independent,

academic perspective to improve the

healthcare ecosystem.

PLAKSHA AT A GLANCE

Full-time

Faculty

233

Students

118

Executives

Research

Fellows

Visiting

Faculty

S P O T L I G H T S S T O R I E S U P D A T E S I N I T I A T I V E S

Plaksha University

Alpha, Sector 101, IT City Road, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Punjab 140306

Collaborate with Plaksha: We are keen to collaborate with

faculty members and researchers from both within and

outside Plaksha to leverage our collective expertise and

push the boundaries of knowledge.

Virtual Tour: Explore the vibrant campus of Plaksha

from the comfort of your homes. Take a virtual tour to

see our state-of-the-art facilities and collaborative

learning spaces.

NEWSLETTER

Ten students and two faculty members from Plaksha attended a Writing Retreat organized by the Center for Thinking, Language

and Communication (CTLC) at The White Owl, Dimapur. Each student is writing a 6000-word chapter for a book on Technology

and Grand Challenges to be potentially published by Cambridge University Press. Every student author has at least one faculty

co-author writing along with them.